In "Biological War," Annie Jacobsen imagines society collapsing from a man-made plague--part of a wave of such prophecies. But what do we miss when we try to predict the future? In the fall of 1989, a select group of Soviet scientists was summoned to Obolensk, a secluded municipality on Moscow's periphery, and gathered at what appeared to be an insane asylum to discuss a pioneering technique for mass murder. If someone had been observing the institutional activity from space--a distinctly non-theoretical possibility--they might have seen a shuffle of patients roaming the grounds or playing volleyball in their pajamas. These were actors, hired to play the disturbed as a cover story for something even more disturbing. The eight-story glass building at the center of the complex, which had putatively been devoted to vaccine manufacturing, was in fact a highly classified defense facility. Its remit was called, or "biological preparations"--what one participant later described as "the most ambitious Soviet arms program since the development of the hydrogen bomb." The most recent experiments there had at last demonstrated the viability of a weapon that could wipe out entire enemy populations without leaving a scratch on their infrastructure. It was a pathogen genetically engineered to spread within hours, to kill within days, and to resist all existing treatment.

From the beginning of my course, I've been thinking about what my graduation dress was going to be, says Keerthana Krishnadas. I had to make sure I looked 10 out of 10, I couldn't compromise on that. She is one of hundreds of thousands of university students graduating this summer and, like many, has been figuring out what to wear for a photo marking one of life's milestones - without breaking the bank. You can save some bucks if you thrift your outfit because you're only going to wear it once, says Keerthana. She bought hers second hand.

Warning shot or publicity stunt - how worried should we be about the OpenAI hack? This week the tech world was gripped by a story that has it all - and which started like a sci-fi thriller. Hugging Face - a kind of app store for artificial intelligence tools - announced on 16 July it had been hacked by a cyber criminal wielding enormously powerful AI. The bombshell announcement was full of scary, highly technical terms: a swarm of sandboxes, agentic attacker, and self-migrating command and control. Hugging Face said the hack was different from anything it had handled before because it was done at superhuman speed by an AI with little or no human guidance. The AI performed 17,000 actions in less than two days, successfully breaching the large wealthy tech company to steal secrets.

With an acting defence minister in place and a new commander-in-chief in charge of the military, Ukraine's recent political crisis is over, right? The political fallout from President Volodymyr Zelensky's 15 July decision not to re-appoint Mykhailo Fedorov as defence minister, as part of a cabinet reshuffle, continues to reverberate about Kyiv and beyond, even as air raid sirens wail and Russian drones and missiles are intercepted overhead. Fedorov's mostly young supporters are still mounting daily street protests, demanding that Zelensky reinstate the popular young innovator widely credited with driving much of Ukraine's recent technological innovation. On Thursday, Fedorov said he had rejected Zelensky's offers of alternative posts in government, saying there were only three positions worth having to influence the course of the war: minister of defence, commander-in-chief of the military or president of Ukraine. If you don't have a ministry under you, you don't have a budget, ex-deputy defence minister Alina Frolova said, and you don't actually have the authority to do something. Fedorov's reference to the presidency did not go unnoticed.

Paramount Skydance and rival Warner Bros Discovery have agreed to pause their $110bn (£82.8bn) The pause follows lawsuits from 12 US states and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), who argue the deal would harm competition and lead to higher prices for consumers. The decision comes just days after European regulators approved the deal, on the condition Paramount would end a major film distribution partnership with Universal Pictures in the region. With the deal on hold in the US, emergency court hearings have now been cancelled. Despite the court freeze, Paramount and Warner Bros insist that combining their operations is essential to compete with digital streaming giants and tech conglomerates.

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That's one way to keep track of delays. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. The available plans only display U.K. information, but can likely be tweaked as needed. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

Is the war entering a new phase? A Romanian fighter jet has shot down a drone, suspected to be Russian, that breached the country's airspace. The incident on Friday marked the first time the Eastern European country has intercepted an intruding aircraft since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, President Nicusor Dan noted. Romania is one of several alliance members to confront repeated stray drones recently, as Russia and Ukraine launch hundreds of drones daily. Dan reported that a Romanian F-16 jet shot down the drone after it entered the country's airspace, adding that the fighter had shot over an uninhabited area.

A Romanian F-16 fighter jet shot down a drone that entered the country's airspace without authorization, marking the first such interception by the NATO member on its eastern flank.

'Pryce's Buoy' is an unfinished romance tale between two men. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. 'Pryce's Buoy' is a six-page draft clearly based on Turing's own experiences. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .