Climate campaigners march on the sidelines of the COP30 summit in Belém, Brazil PABLO PORCIUNCULA/AFP via Getty Images Ten years on from the Paris Agreement, we should be seeing a massive ratcheting up of climate action. Instead, the past four years have seen almost no progress – including at the latest COP summit, which failed…
COP30 president André Corrêa do Lago (centre) with his advisers and UN climate secretary Simon Stiell (left) Pablo PORCIUNCULA / AFP via Getty Images The United Nations COP30 climate summit in Brazil was flooded by torrential rainfall, stormed by protesters and partially burned down by an electrical fire. The final session was briefly suspended due…
These “killer koalas”, or marsupial lions, are a highlight of the show Apple TV Back in 1999, the BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs series spawned a new format: wildlife “documentaries” featuring long-extinct animals. I’m a big fan of this genre, and Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age, made by BBC Studios for Apple TV, is taking it to…
An unknown number of pupils have been abducted by armed men from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, marking the second school kidnapping in less than a week. The latest attack targeted St Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger state, where authorities had already ordered the temporary closure of all boarding schools due to rising security…
On September 19, 1982, Carnegie Mellon University computer science research assistant professor Scott Fahlman posted a message to the university’s bulletin board software that would later come to shape how people communicate online. His proposal: use 🙂 and 🙁 as markers to distinguish jokes from serious comments. While Fahlman describes himself as “the inventor ……
A pilot has died after an Indian fighter jet crashed while performing a display at an airshow in Dubai, officials have said. The Indian Air Force said in a statement: “IAF deeply regrets the loss of life and stands firmly with the bereaved family in this time of grief. “A court of inquiry is being…
As sentences go, “Apple Intelligence now works in Apple Shortcuts” isn’t the most likely to inspire a lot of people to click a link. And that’s too bad: This change, one of the more overlooked new features in macOS 26, means you can use Apple’s on-board AI to do all kinds of things while designing…
It turns out that when an AI-friendly super PAC with $100 million in backing from Silicon Valley bigwigs identifies you as its first target, it ends up generating a lot of attention. “I want to thank [the PAC] for their partnership in raising up the issue of how we regulate an incredibly powerful technology so…
Elevated levels of CO2 lead to reduced cognitive ability and facilitate transmission of airborne viruses, which can linger in poorly ventilated spaces for hours. The more CO2 in the air, the more virus-friendly the air becomes, making CO2 data a handy proxy for tracing pathogens. In fact, the Australian Academy of Science described the pollution…
Someone needs to say it. Someone has to speak up in defense of being mid. I am a mid runner. Most of us are, as that is the definition of being mid. I work out every day, but I have a full-time job, two kids, a dog, and a spouse. I volunteer, and I have…