Z Machine - GoKawiil

Developer finds memory-corruption bug and compiler flaw in Infocom's Infidel

A developer analyzing Infocom's 1983 text adventure Infidel discovered a 'wild pointer' bug that corrupts memory, tracing it to a flaw in the game's original compiler. The bug, found using a memory-level debugger on the 1984 Macintosh release (and present in the original 1983 version too), affects how the game tracks objects left in its endless desert area.

blog.zarfhome.com · 2026-10-03

Sandia's Z machine used to test how Earth's mantle stores water

At Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, mineral physicist Alisha Clark completed the final shot of a multi-year project using the Z machine to recreate the extreme pressures found deep inside Earth. The device, normally used to test the reliability of US nuclear weapons, fired an electrical pulse into water-infused glass samples to examine how water behaves when trapped in Earth's interior during planetary formation.

nature.com · 2026-09-30