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Experts divided over claim that Chinese hackers launched world-first AI-powered cyber attack — but that's not what they're really worried about
By Carly Page published
Anthropic said a Chinese espionage group used its Claude AI to automate most of a cyberattack campaign, but experts question how autonomous the operation really was, and what it means for the future of AI-powered hacking.

Controversial startup's plan to 'sell sunlight' using giant mirrors in space would be 'catastrophic' and 'horrifying,' astronomers warn
By Harry Baker published
California-based startup Reflect Orbital aims to build a swarm of 4,000 giant mirrors in low Earth orbit to "sell sunlight" to customers at night. Experts warn that the mirrors could mess with telescopes, blind stargazers and impact the environment.

Jane Goodall revolutionized animal research, but her work had some unintended consequences. Here's what we've learned from them.
By Sophie Berdugo published
Following Jane Goodall's death, chimp experts explain how her early observations still influence our understanding of our ape cousins.

Extreme weather caused more than $100 billion in damage by June — smashing US records
By James Price published
After damaging wildfires in LA, tornadoes and series of floods, the first six months of this year smashed multiple extreme weather records in the U.S., data show — and experts say this trend is likely to continue.

AI can now be used to design brand-new viruses. Can we stop it from making the next devastating bioweapon?
By Stephanie Pappas published
Scientists have used AI to design bacteriophages, or viruses that infect only bacteria. Does the prospect of designing viruses with AI pose threats to biosecurity?

Scientific breakthrough leads to 'fluorescent biological qubit' — it could mean turning your cells into quantum sensors
By Roland Moore-Colyer published
Fluorescent proteins can be turned into qubits within cells and could give us a deeper understanding of biology at the nanoscale level.

Tiny 'brains' grown in the lab could become conscious and feel pain — and we're not ready
By Kamal Nahas published
Lab-grown brain tissue is too simple to experience consciousness, but as innovation progresses, neuroscientists question whether it's time to revisit the ethics of this line of research.

Electronics breakthrough means our devices may one day no longer emit waste heat, scientists say
By Tristan Greene published
A new "optoexcitonic switch" already achieves state-of-the-art performance over current electronics and could serve as the basis for classical and quantum computing devices capable of operating at room temperature.

'Extremely alarming': ChatGPT and Gemini respond to high-risk questions about suicide — including details around methods
By Patrick Pester published
Researchers have found that OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude can give direct responses to 'high-risk' questions about suicide. In Live Science's testing, ChatGPT and Gemini responded to even more extreme questions.
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