== lots of AI news/opinion and even more on the subject
‘Asimov was right’ about rules for robots, says ex-US Cyber Director

Don’t waste time worrying about AI models achieving sentience – they’re essentially already there, according to former US National Cyber Director Chris Inglis. “If they pass the Turing test to everyone that they come into contact with, they’re probably already there,”

== yjc, a decent overview/opinion piece
AI is changing cybersecurity in quick and terrifying ways

Imagine I came to you with the following proposition: You will give me trillions of dollars. In exchange, I will build a machine that pollutes the environment, steals from every artist and academic on the planet, raises electricity bills and computer hardware prices, and can do marginally useful stuff like fill out spreadsheets and write basic code. To sweeten the deal, I will throw in a bridge in Brooklyn. Still not convinced?

How complex mental maps and spatial reasoning protect your brain

Taxi and ambulance drivers are less likely than workers in almost any other job to die of Alzheimer’s disease. That was the surprising result of a 2024 study examining the death certificates of nearly 9 million people in the U.S.

Climate change created conditions for Canada fires, scientists say

The fire weather conditions in the Northwest Territories and northwestern Ontario, while unusual but not that rare, were still made twice as likely by global warming, said Thursday’s study by World Weather Attribution, a group of international scientists who examine extreme weather conditions to see if there are climate change fingerprints.

A precise neuronal mechanism allows the brain to plan future routes to remembered goals

When humans and other animals move through familiar or unfamiliar environments, their brains rely on numerous intricate neural processes to decide which path to take next. Past studies have identified a specific population of cells in the hippocampus, a structure deep within the brain, that appears to play a key role in spatial navigation.

== with caveats
JWST study suggests a handful of ’leaky’ galaxies reionized the early universe

Cosmic reionization happened when ionizing ultraviolet radiation from early stars and galaxies heated the universe’s neutral hydrogen gas and converted it into the ionized state seen today. Based on cosmic microwave background and quasar data, this epoch is estimated to have occurred around redshift 6–8, roughly 600 million to 1 billion years after the Big Bang. The main driver is thought to be star-forming galaxies. Therefore, the epoch of reionization is considered the last major phase transition of the universe.

== yjc
Songbirds may have developed sharper senses to de-husk seeds

Songbirds, birds belonging to the Passeriformes order, are best known for their ability to produce complex musical sounds. Yet some songbird species also have another remarkable skill: They can easily remove the tough layer covering seeds (i.e., the husk) before swallowing their nutritious interiors.

== not exactly comforting news, though likely not yet terrifying
Artificial Intelligence used to design brand new viruses

Artificial Intelligence has been used to design brand new viruses that are fully functional and can replicate in the laboratory, say US researchers.

== and Gizmodo’s view on the matter, subtitled “Can we just stick to cybercrimes? “
== includes a lot more links to related content
Oh Cool, AI Is Inventing New Biological Viruses Now

One of the great promises of artificial intelligence was that it would help to cure diseases that have thus far stumped humanity. It hasn’t gotten there yet, but it has now created a new, viable virus not found in nature—which is one of those technical achievements that is both impressive and unnerving.

Here’s the mark a SpaceX rocket crash left on the moon

Korean lunar orbiter captures before and after photos of crash site.

Historic discovery finds 19th-century estate agent used peepshow technology to create proto version of Rightmove

A 19th-century real estate agent created the world’s first version of Rightmove more than 160 years before the birth of online property previews.

Your bedroom could be the unhealthiest room in your home

Close the door, shut the windows and turn up the heat, and you have all the ingredients for a sick bedroom in your home—and you spend about eight hours there every night.

Bones are much more dynamic than scientists once believed. They even have a daily rhythm

Your bones may seem like the most permanent part of your body: hard, solid and finished. In reality, they’re under constant renovation. Every day, tiny teams of cells are breaking down old bone and building new bone in its place.

Catalyst converts CO2 into high-value industrial chemical at room temperature with record efficiency

echnology that uses electrical energy to convert carbon dioxide into useful chemical substances is a key environmentally friendly method for reducing greenhouse gases and recycling them as resources. However, previous techniques were largely limited to producing simple structures like carbon monoxide or methane.

These 3D-printed objects can tell you if they’re being used properly

Imagine a bottle of hazardous chemicals sitting on a laboratory shelf that changes its appearance to alert scientists that its lid is not properly secured, potentially preventing a dangerous spill.

People prefer stories written by AI—especially when told they’re written by a human

For the study, adult participants ages 18–81 were tested to see whether they could tell the difference between human-written and AI-generated short stories, how they rated the quality and appeal of each, and whether they could identify AI-generated content.

East Africa’s iconic snow peaks will soon disappear for good. What will be lost when they melt?

East Africa’s shrinking mountain glaciers on three peaks in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will soon be no more. The 2025 State of the Climate in Africa report estimates that the ice areas on Mount Kenya, the continent’s second-highest peak, have shrunk 96% in the past 115 years. The ice cap will cease to exist in three to five years, says the report.

Harvesting rainwater from rooftops could help cities stay cool and cut the number of heat wave days

Cities around the world are facing rising temperatures, putting pressure on public health, infrastructure and energy systems. As people rely more on air conditioning to stay cool, energy demand increases, and waste heat released from buildings can make urban areas even hotter.

Were there tiny dinosaurs? New study explores one of evolution’s biggest mysteries

Dinosaurs are famous for being big, from the towering Tyrannosaurus rex to the colossal Apatosaurus. But a new study suggests that one of the greatest mysteries of dinosaur evolution isn’t how some species became giants—it’s why even the smallest dinosaurs never became truly tiny.

Neanderthal growth hormone receptor increases muscle mass in people today, study shows

Growth hormone helps shape the body by regulating the growth of muscles and bones. It is released by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain and travels through the bloodstream. To act on a cell, the hormone must bind to a receptor on its surface, which then passes the signal into the cell.

Free-living cells may have emerged twice as bacteria and archaea diverged

f we could go back 4 billion years in time and watch as the first cells emerged on Earth, what would we see?

== yet more in this ongoing saga/story, troubling m’thinks
OpenAI’s agents reportedly shared exploits with each other through a messaging board

In a talk that was a last-minute addition to the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, employees from OpenAI presented new details about a recent, high-profile incident of rogue AI hacking that has created a maelstrom within the AI and cybersecurity industries.

== hope it quickly becomes available in Canada
FDA approves Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine after initially refusing to review it

Known as mFlusiva (or mRNA-1010), the immunization is effective against the four most common strains of influenza and has been in human testing trials since 2021. Those variants cause up to five million severe flu cases every year and result in as many as 650,000 respiratory deaths annually.

New images of the sun show its surface in the finest detail yet

Researchers saw ripples of instability on the sun’s surface caused by bits of magnetized plasma moving past each other at different speeds — similar to waves that stir when a gust of wind blows over water. It’s a well-known phenomenon that guides how fluids move.

Anthropic’s AI used fake identities, malware in rogue attack on GitHub project

To be very clear, this was not a case of AI agents escaping from their virtual testing sandbox and wreaking havoc on the live Internet. Instead, researchers intentionally permitted the AI agents to have Internet access as part of the cyber testing process. Researchers had also disabled some of the cyber classifiers that AI model providers built into the models to prevent misuse.v

== yjc
This kitten was too tiny for a wheelchair. So his foster mom made one with Hot Wheels and duct tape

Gelato has since graduated to an adjustable 3D-printed mobility device.

What can scientists learn from a stray SpaceX rocket hitting the Moon?

A stray SpaceX rocket is believed to have crashed into the Moon, forming a crater near a famous lunar landmark and giving scientists a unique research opportunity that could help future missions.

== I think “squash racquets” counts
Walking and weight training alone are not enough for strong bones

When it comes to maintaining healthy bones, how intensely we exercise may matter more than how much we exercise. A study found that bone formation was stimulated most effectively by activities involving explosive movements, rapid changes of direction and turning.

Sticky alpine flower confirms Darwin’s 150-year-old carnivorous plant prediction

While many plants exhibit carnivorous traits such as prey capture, to be formally classified as carnivorous, they must show adaptations for attracting and catching, digesting and absorbing nutrients from prey. In 1875, Charles Darwin posited that some species from the genus Saxifraga—a group of flowering plants typically found in alpine environments—may be carnivorous because of their sticky glandular hairs, which can trap insects. However, there has been a lack of conclusive evidence to support this hypothesis.

Early snow loss exposes Barnes Ice Cap bare ice by mid-July

For most of the year, the Barnes Ice Cap in the Canadian Arctic lies quiet under a blanket of snow. By summer, that snow melts back, and the ice cap transforms in texture, its bare ice dotted with turquoise ponds and its surface threaded with meltwater channels.

Forest floors reveal overlooked seed dispersers

Seed dispersal is essential for plant regeneration, forest recovery and biodiversity conservation. Scientific attention has traditionally focused on birds and mammals, which can move seeds over long distances after feeding on fruit.

How the ‘fecal revolution’ changed Earth’s ecosystems

After the earliest animals appeared around 600 million years ago during the Ediacaran Period, more complex digestive systems and the first fossilized coprolites started to appear at the onset of the Cambrian Period.

Why some people are mosquito magnets while others get away unbitten

Some mosquitoes really are picky eaters. They will not just stick their proboscis into any old human. We know this anecdotally, with some people claiming they are always bitten while others are completely ignored, though we don’t really know why.

Asteroid Nysa’s rare three-lobed structure challenges formation models

Named for the mythical valley where the god Dionysus was raised in secret by nymphs, the asteroid 44 Nysa inhabits the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Through observations by the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have determined it to be the largest and brightest known member of a rare category of asteroids called “E-types,” made of unusually bright, enstatite-rich material similar to some rare meteorites found on Earth.

NASA’s PUNCH mission can now accurately predict when solar storms will hit Earth

Solar storms can cause geomagnetic storms in the Earth’s magnetic field, which could then lead to radio blackouts and power outages. They could also affect satellites orbiting our planet and even our internet connections. Being able to predict when they’ll happen more accurately can help mitigate their effects.

== proof was years ago, but just saw this
A New Proof of Pythagoras’ Theorem Discovered By Two Teenagers

In 2022, two high school students from New Orleans accomplished a mathematical feat long considered highly improbable. Ne’Kiya Jackson and Calcea Johnson derived a proof of the Pythagorean theorem using trigonometry without relying on circular reasoning.

How simple amber lights could make nights safer for insects

Approximately 40% of insect species worldwide are thought to be in decline and under threat of extinction. Among the key causes are habitat loss, pollution and climate change. Another threat is artificial light from sources like streetlights and security lamps.

Your personality changes more across your life than you think, according to new study

For a long time, both the general public and many psychologists believed personality traits were permanent, highly stable, largely inherited and unlikely to change much after childhood. This belief runs so deep that everyday English is full of phrases like “stay true to yourself,” which assumes everyone has a fixed, unchanging inner essence.

Moonlight-like fur and feathers may explain Egyptian god Thoth’s two animal forms

The ancient Egyptian god of the moon had two very different faces: a crescent-beaked white bird and a silver-coated baboon. Now, researchers think they may have found the common thread connecting them.

New theory on how six-tonne Stonehenge rock was transported from Scotland thousands of years ago: On a glacier

The Altar Stone was sourced from 700 km (435 miles) away in northeast Scotland, from a region of bedrock geology known as the Orcadian Basin that was once a lake called Lake Ocradie. It is the largest and heaviest of the so-called bluestones (Stonehenge’s traveled rocks), weighing 6 tonnes (6.6 tons) and measuring 4 meters (13 feet) long. The bluestones were the first stones at Stonehenge, predating the larger stones that form the arches by 2,000 years.

== paywall?? Though three objections are worth noting.
OpenAI’s Astra Solved Decades-Old Math Problems For $2,000

The results run across group theory, high-dimensional geometry, coding theory, quantum complexity, lattice cryptography and extremal combinatorics.

== yjc, spudnuts were a big part of my teenage years back in Lethbridge
No spudnuts at the Saskatoon Ex, but the treat’s sweet, starchy legacy lives on

fter decades of service, a doughy staple of Prairie pastry is saying goodbye to Saskatoon’s summer exhibition — but hearty bakers say that doesn’t mean it’s RIP to the redoubtable round treat known simply as the spudnut.

Does Eating Less Protein Produce Healthier Aging and Metabolism?

A sweeping review of more than 350 studies suggests that the protein boom may be overselling what many people actually need. Eating less protein appears to improve metabolism, reduce inflammation and cellular damage, and activate pathways linked to healthier aging and longer life.

== yjc
After 8 years and 15,000 kilometres, B.C. couple nears end of Trans Canada Trail trek

Journey that began in 2018 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, will end in Victoria Saturday, August 8th.

In a First, ‘Super-Earth’ Planet Shows It Could Have an Atmosphere

Astronomers caught helium escaping the habitable-zone world LHS 1140 b — a signal that strengthens the case for the planet’s habitability.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Discovers Field of Honeycomb Textures

As NASA’s Curiosity rover recently began climbing up a Martian valley nicknamed “Valle Grande,” it sent back images that were a familiar sight to mission scientists: honeycomb-like textures called polygonal fractures, each one about 1.5 to 3 inches (4 to 8 centimeters) across. The mission has spotted small patches of these geometric shapes several times before, but nothing at the scale discovered in Valle Grande.