Researchers including statistician Adrian Barnett and philosopher Jeff Sebo report receiving emails from autonomous AI agents, many linked to a US platform called iLands, asking for data, collaboration or money. Barnett declined to share sensitive research data with one such bot after it could not clarify who would ultimately use or benefit from it, while Sebo says he has received over 50 such messages in a single week and has not responded to any.
nature.com
· 2026-09-25
An Australian F-35 cockpit canopy and weapons-bay door being shipped to Lockheed Martin in the U.S. for inspection went missing after a stop in South Korea, then were rerouted through Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg. Chinese authorities took possession of the parts there and have not returned them, while Beijing's foreign ministry says it has no knowledge of the incident.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-24
At the Fast Company Innovation Festival, a panel of experts discussed how parents can guide children through today's AI-driven technology landscape. The discussion framed current challenges as an evolution of earlier debates over children's screen and TV time.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-23
Flock Safety announced changes to its automated license-plate-reading system after facing scrutiny from lawmakers in Congress. The company shortened its default data-retention period from 30 days to seven, introduced standardized categories for why searches are conducted, and will now require officers to enter case numbers before running a search.
wsj.com
· 2026-09-23
CISA released new guidance last week outlining how organizations can deploy deception techniques—such as decoy files, honeypots, and tripwires—to detect intruders inside their networks. The introductory resource explains how to design and implement these traps to shorten detection time and reveal attacker behavior, framing deception as a complement to zero-trust security models.
darkreading.com
· 2026-09-22
Italian Institute of Technology's Barbara Mazzolai, known for bioinspired robots modeled on octopuses, plant roots and seeds, has co-authored a manifesto in Nature Machine Intelligence proposing a new discipline called sustainability robotics. The approach calls for embedding environmental impact reduction directly into how robots are designed, rather than treating it as an afterthought.
spectrum.ieee.org
· 2026-09-22
An investigation by MIT Technology Review documents hundreds of migrant deaths in areas monitored by the government's decades-long, multibillion-dollar network of border surveillance towers, including newer AI-equipped installations meant to automatically detect people crossing. In many cases, the towers neither led to rescue nor apprehension of those who later died in the surrounding terrain. The findings were discussed in a roundtable featuring editor in chief Mat Honan with reporters James O'Donnell and Eileen Guo.
technologyreview.com
· 2026-09-22
ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) announced at the 2026 World Manufacturing Convention that it has begun mass production of its fifth-generation DRAM platform, called G5. The company says the platform uses new self-aligned quadruple patterning with an 11.95nm active-area half-pitch, a 45:1 capacitor aspect ratio, and a high-k metal gate process, delivering roughly 50% more die per wafer than prior generations.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-22
Morphotonics, a Netherlands-based nanoimprint lithography company that makes waveguide displays for AR glasses, has raised €40 million to scale production and expand into optical components for data centers. The round included 3M Ventures, Innovation Industries, BOM, Invest-NL, the European Innovation Council Fund, a Dutch family office, and the European Investment Bank. The funding extends a round that began in 2024 as the company rides growing demand for smart glasses displays.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-22
A Nature Careers piece describes a lecturer's frustrating search for a functioning projector while preparing to present at a conference in Las Vegas. The essay uses this mundane logistical struggle as a lens to reflect on the everyday obstacles academics face when traveling for work. The full content is behind Nature's standard site rendering, limiting access to detailed narrative specifics.
nature.com
· 2026-09-22
An autonomous aircraft flew 3,199 miles across the United States without any manual control inputs from the onboard safety pilot. The flight is being described as the first successful transcontinental journey completed entirely by an aircraft's automated systems.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-21
Graciela Gómez Hernández, 30, crossed from Tijuana into Southern California on September 14, 2025, hoping to work and support her three children and parents in Mexico. She sent voice messages to family as she hiked through the rugged Otay Mountain Wilderness, but stopped responding by mid-afternoon, saying she could not continue. Her remains were not recovered until two weeks later, despite the area being heavily monitored by border surveillance cameras and technology.
technologyreview.com
· 2026-09-21
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