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Secretive game developer codes hit 'Balatro' in Canadian prairie province

There are no photos or videos of LocalThunk, an anonymous computer programmer who lives in the vast and desolate prairies of Canada's Saskatchewan province, far from Silicon Valley.

Scientists observe 'negative time' in quantum experiments

Scientists have long known that light can sometimes appear to exit a material before entering it -- an effect dismissed as an illusion caused by how waves are distorted by matter.

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Great Barrier Reef ocean temperatures hit 400-year record: study

For the past decade, water temperatures along Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef have been the warmest in 400 years, a major study said on Thursday.

Hiroshima remembers A-bomb victims as 'global tragedies' unfold

The mayor of Hiroshima said Tuesday that wars in Ukraine and Gaza were deepening fear and distrust worldwide, on the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing that devastated the Japanese city.

X's AI chatbot spread election misinformation, US officials say

Five US states sent an open letter Monday to Elon Musk, urging him to fix his social media platform X's AI chatbot after it shared misinformation about the upcoming presidential election.

Greenland fossils reveal greater sea-level threat from climate change

In the not-too-distant past, Greenland lived up to its name.

Elon Musk suing OpenAI, Altman again

Elon Musk revived a lawsuit on Monday against OpenAI, accusing its co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman of betraying the artificial intelligence company's founding mission.

Inbred, gibberish or just MAD? Warnings rise about AI models

When academic Jathan Sadowski reached for an analogy last year to describe how AI programs decay, he landed on the term "Habsburg AI".

The bloodied trajectory of Guinean ex-dictator Dadis Camara

Moussa Dadis Camara once described himself as the "little captain who became president by destiny" but is associated with one of the darkest periods in Guinea's history.

One year on 'Mars': Inside NASA's ultra-realistic isolation study

Sealed inside a habitat in Texas and cut off from the outside world for over a year, Kelly Haston was the commander of a first-of-its-kind simulation for NASA to prepare for a future mission to Mars.

Solar storms could cause more auroras on Tuesday night

Massive explosions on the Sun have triggered warnings of geomagnetic storms that could create dazzling auroras in the northern United States, Europe and southern Australia on Tuesday night.

Musk's superhuman vision promise is dangerous: researchers

Researchers have criticised billionaire Elon Musk for promising that his brain implant technology could eventually provide patients with vision superior to normal human sight.

Musk faces criticism over deepfake Kamala Harris video

Billionaire X owner Elon Musk was facing criticism Monday for sharing a deepfake video featuring US Vice President Kamala Harris, which tech campaigners said violated the platform's own policies.

From ice baths to osteopaths: unproven therapies at the Olympics

The Paris Olympics have been a showcase not only for athletic prowess but also for therapies such as ice baths and osteopathy which have little scientifically proven medical value, according to experts.

AI startups swap independence for Big Tech's deep pockets

It's the case of the vanishing startup: some of Silicon Valley's most promising names in the fast-developing generative AI space are being gobbled up by or tied to the hip of US tech giants.

NASA Mars rover captures rock that could hold fossilized microbes

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has made what could be its most astonishing discovery to date: possible signs of ancient life on the Red Planet.

SpaceX cleared to launch Falcon 9 rocket again

SpaceX's stalwart Falcon 9 rocket has been cleared for launch after experiencing a rare failure earlier this month, officials said Thursday.

Mark Zuckerberg, AI's 'open source' evangelist

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook and CEO of Meta, has become an unexpected evangelist for open source technology when it comes to developing artificial intelligence, pitting him against OpenAI and Google.

US lawmakers urge Meta to delay shutting down transparency tool

US lawmakers voiced "concern" Wednesday over Meta's decision to shut down CrowdTangle -- a digital tool considered vital in monitoring falsehoods –- in a major election year, urging the tech giant to delay the move by six months.

France quietly catches rivals in battle for data centre supremacy

At the end of a narrow suburban street north of Paris, a giant structure shrouded in a skin of mesh and steel looks like a football stadium, but is in fact a vast data centre.

UK warned Israel over 'out of control' troops in 2002: archives

Britain accused Israel of allowing its troops to run "out of control" during a huge military operation in the occupied West Bank two decades ago, UK government archives showed Tuesday.

Delta still struggling with effects of IT outage

Delta Air Lines struggled on Monday with lingering effects from a global IT outage, canceling hundreds more flights than US aviation rivals.

Massive global IT outage hits airlines, banks, media

Airlines, banks, TV channels and other business across the globe were scrambling to deal with one of the biggest IT crashes in recent years on Friday, apparently caused by an update to an antivirus program.

'Large-scale' IT outage hits companies worldwide

A major outage wrought havoc on global computer systems on Friday, grounding flights in the United States, derailing television broadcasts in the UK and impacting telecommunications in Australia.

Australia, New Zealand hit by large-scale technical outage

A large-scale outage wrought havoc on IT systems across Australia and New Zealand on Friday, causing travel delays, hampering television broadcasts, and forcing supermarket systems offline.

'Well-preserved' dinosaur fossil revealed by Brazilian flood

Torrential rains causing historic flooding in southern Brazil have revealed a "very well-preserved" dinosaur fossil dating back some 200 million years, according to the research team who discovered it.

'Hong Kong's Dr Fauci' sounds alarm on next pandemic

Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung has done battle with some of the world's worst threats, including the SARS virus he helped isolate and identify. And he has a warning.

Billionaire Ken Griffin revealed as $44.6m dinosaur fossil buyer

The buyer who spent a record $44.6 million to buy a stegosaurus fossil at auction was Ken Griffin, CEO of the Citadel hedge fund, according to a person familiar with the acquisition.

Seventh person likely 'cured' of HIV, doctors announce

A 60-year-old German man is likely the seventh person to be effectively cured from HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant, doctors announced on Thursday.

NASA cans lunar rover after spending $450 million building it

NASA announced Wednesday that cost overruns and delays have forced it to cancel a planned Moon rover it already spent $450 million to develop, marking a significant setback for the agency's lunar exploration program.

Dinosaur skeleton breaks auction record with $44.6 mn sale in New York

The largest stegosaurus skeleton ever found, nicknamed Apex, sold for a record breaking $44.6 million at auction in New York on Wednesday, Sotheby's said.

A bird? A plane? Meteor grazes skies above New York City: NASA

New York has been the backdrop to countless "end of the world" storylines in film and TV.

Musk to move companies out of California over transgender law

Elon Musk on Tuesday said he will move the headquarters of SpaceX and X to Texas after a California law blocked schools from forcing teachers to notify parents about changes to a student's gender identity.

France celebrates national day as political crisis rumbles on

France does not know where its government is headed and on Sunday the armed forces will also take an unusual detour at the start of their annual Bastille Day march.

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