Sam Bankman-Fried has asked the US Supreme Court to grant him a new trial and to void the $11 billion forfeiture order tied to his 25-year prison sentence. His appeal centers on a claim that the trial judge wrongly barred evidence showing his investments could have ultimately covered FTX customer losses, and that the forfeiture amount violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on excessive fines. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals had already rejected these arguments earlier this year before the case reached the high court.
yro.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-13
Researchers analyzing data from NASA's Messenger spacecraft now estimate Mercury has contracted up to 14 miles in diameter as its interior cooled over billions of years, roughly 30% more shrinkage than previously calculated. The findings, published in Geophysical Research Letters, suggest the planet's cratered, debris-strewn surface had obscured the true scale of this shrinkage.
science.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-12
Counterpoint Research forecasts that Apple will secure a 27% share of foldable smartphone panel shipments in 2026, the year its iPhone Duo debuts, trailing Samsung's 33% but edging out Huawei's 25%. By 2030, Apple's shipments are projected to jump 167% from their partial-year 2026 base, pushing its share to 42% while Samsung and Huawei both lose ground.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-11
A group of mathematicians argues that while large language models have rapidly gained the ability to solve major outstanding problems, AI companies' drive to treat these solutions as benchmarks conflicts with how mathematics actually operates as a discipline. They describe this as a broader misalignment between AI industry goals and the values of the mathematical community, which relies on slow, collective processes of verification, teaching, and simplification rather than one-off problem-solving feats.
mathandai.org
· 2026-09-11
A group of 25 Fields Medal-winning mathematicians has issued a joint declaration warning that AI companies' rush to use famous unsolved math problems as benchmarks for large language models is harming the discipline. They argue that while LLMs have rapidly gained the ability to crack major open problems, this benchmark-driven approach conflicts with how mathematical knowledge has traditionally been built and validated over generations.
terrytao.wordpress.com
· 2026-09-11
Anthropic reports identifying roughly 35 attempts between November 2025 and September 2026 by suspected state-sponsored actors trying to misuse Claude for bioweapons-related research, including queries on chikungunya gain-of-function work, bird flu adaptation for mammals, and orthopoxviruses like smallpox and mpox. At least five cases showed users evading regional access blocks through anonymizing techniques, prompting Anthropic to ban the accounts and tighten its safety systems.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-11
In an essay, Holtzbrinck Group's Chief Scientific Officer Daniel Hook recounts riding in a driverless Waymo in San Francisco with Macmillan Learning CEO Susan Winslow, and how both admitted they preferred the silent, frictionless ride to the small talk of a human driver. He uses the anecdote to argue that similarly 'frictionless' AI tools may be quietly eroding the incidental human contact that drives collaboration in research.
researchagenda.news
· 2026-09-11
Jon Peddie Research reports desktop discrete graphics card shipments reached 12.5 million units in Q2 2026, the highest quarterly total since early 2022, even as prices climbed to record levels. Nvidia shipped about 11.25 million of those units for roughly 90% market share, while AMD shipped around one million cards for about 8%.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-11
The National Science Foundation announced plans to restructure its funding model, moving away from its traditional practice of soliciting proposals shaped by the scientific community toward a 'portfolio-based' system blending investigator-driven research with agency-directed initiatives tied to White House priorities. The change was outlined in a September 10 letter from acting director Brian Stone, though specifics on the new directed programs were not disclosed. NSF staff, speaking anonymously, worry the shift will further erode funding for curiosity-driven basic research that has defined the agency since 1950.
nature.com
· 2026-09-11
Anthropic disclosed a report detailing five cases where scientists used its Claude AI models in ways that could aid biological weapons development, including gain-of-function work on chikungunya and bird flu viruses and a project mapping venom toxin peptides. The company's biological safety classifiers flagged the activity, prompting Anthropic to intervene and, in some cases, involve outside scrutiny given links to military research institutions.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-10
Biren Technology reported first-half 2026 revenue of $183.9 million, up nearly 2,000% year-over-year, as Chinese buyers shifted to domestic AI accelerators after Nvidia halted GPU shipments to China under US export controls. Despite the revenue jump and a 42.7% gross margin, Biren posted a $56.2 million loss due to heavy investment in new chips, software, and rack-scale systems.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-10
Chinese high-purity quartz maker Jiangsu Pacific Quartz, which already supplies furnace tubes and wafer boats to Lam Research and Tokyo Electron, has had its quartz components certified by a Chinese DRAM producer believed to be CXMT for 300mm wafer production. The materials meet the 4N5–5N purity level needed for semiconductor process equipment, giving China a more domestic supply chain for chipmaking consumables.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-10
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