Google has released AlphaGenome Atlas, a tool that predicts the functional impact of swapping in any of the three alternative bases at every position across the roughly 3-billion-base human genome, amounting to 9 billion base substitutions analyzed. The system focuses heavily on non-coding DNA, which makes up over 97% of the genome and includes regulatory elements that control gene activity alongside leftover viral sequences with no clear function.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-09
The United Nations passed a resolution, backed by the African Union, urging adoption of map projections that preserve the true relative size of continents instead of the 500-year-old Mercator projection. The vote passed 164 to 1, with the United States the lone dissenting country. Togo's foreign minister argued that maps shape how people understand the world's balance of power.
not-ship.com
· 2026-09-09
Several U.S. states that previously granted multi-decade tax exemptions to lure data center investments from Amazon, Meta and Google are now reconsidering or rolling back those deals. The reversal follows growing public backlash over the facilities' strain on local resources and limited job creation relative to the tax revenue forgone.
wsj.com
· 2026-09-09
Android Authority found code in a beta build of the Google app (version 17.56.14) suggesting Gemini's floating overlay could soon let users assign tasks to Spark, Google's autonomous AI agent, without launching the full Gemini interface. The same handover option is also being tested in the main Gemini app, alongside a possible model-switching shortcut in the overlay.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-09
Microsoft, acting through TracerAI, has withdrawn its DMCA takedown notice that accused the open-source voxel game Luanti of infringing Minecraft's copyright. The Luanti app has been reinstated on Google Play immediately, without needing to wait out the standard counter-notice period, signaling Microsoft has abandoned the case entirely.
blog.luanti.org
· 2026-09-09
Google is rolling out a Live Game Feed in mobile Search that shows play-by-play updates, social commentary, video highlights and AI-generated insights for NFL games, starting with tonight's season opener. Search is also getting a scores carousel and expanded player stats covering categories like passing touchdowns, sacks and yards after catch. Users can now link Yahoo Fantasy or Sleeper accounts to get AI-based lineup suggestions without manually entering data.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-09
Google's Gemini chatbot is being highlighted as a travel-planning tool that draws on the company's broader ecosystem, including YouTube, Maps, Gmail and Google Flights. Users can ask it for optimal ticket-buying windows, flight recommendations, hotel suggestions at various price points, and personalized itineraries based on past trips mentioned in their email.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-09
The developer of RACE, a native macOS terminal multiplexer written in Rust, ran a $500 Google Ads campaign for the app and its companion site race-term.com, only to have the account suspended for 'Malicious software' and 'Compromised Site' violations. Despite the app being signed and notarized and the static site containing no third-party trackers beyond Cloudflare Analytics, an appeal was rejected with no explanation of what was flagged, leaving the developer pointed toward generic account deletion or EU redress options.
xlii.space
· 2026-09-09
DeepMind has published the AlphaGenome Atlas, a free online database containing precomputed predictions for every possible single-letter change across the human reference genome—about 9 billion variants. Built on its AlphaGenome model introduced earlier in 2025 and detailed in a January Nature paper, the Atlas lets scientists browse results through a web interface instead of writing code or running the model themselves.
spectrum.ieee.org
· 2026-09-09
The US Department of Energy has issued a $1.9 billion loan guarantee to support restarting a nuclear power plant tied to a deal with Google. The financing is meant to help bring the previously shuttered reactor back online to supply carbon-free electricity for growing data center demand.
hardware.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-09
Google Research and HHMI Janelia released MaleCNS v1.0, a dataset mapping over 166,000 neurons from a male fruit fly's brain and nervous system, built by converting millions of 2D images into 3D neural reconstructions. Developers quickly began using the model outside its intended scientific purpose, wiring its simulated neurons to control games like Doom and Super Mario 64, where sensory input from game frames drives neural activity that translates into player actions.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-09
Google announced plans to invest $15 billion in AI infrastructure in Finland, expanding its data center footprint in the country. The move adds to a wave of similar large-scale investments by U.S. tech companies aiming to grow AI computing capacity outside the United States.
wsj.com
· 2026-09-09
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