In quantum computers, the information is contained in qubits that can work through vast numbers of different outcomes, which is not possible with classical computers. In quantum computers, the information is contained in qubits that can work through vast numbers of different outcomes, which is not possible with classical computers. The UK will not let quantum computing talent slip through its fingers and must learn lessons from US dominance of the AI race, the technology secretary has said, as the government announced a £1bn quantum funding pledge. Liz Kendall said the government hoped to retain homegrown quantum startups, engineers and researchers rather than lose them to competing countries, with the US stealing a march on its western rivals in AI. "I do look at what's happened on AI," said Kendall. "I do think we need to learn the lessons and make sure we give our brilliant scientists, spinouts and startups the ability to stay here and make it happen. And that requires a government that is bold and ambitious and confident in these technologies of the future."

Graves being prepared for the victims of an airstrike on a school in Minab in southern Iran, 2 March 2026. Graves being prepared for the victims of an airstrike on a school in Minab in southern Iran, 2 March 2026. A photo of Iran's bombed schoolgirl graveyard went around the world. T he graves, freshly dug, lie in neat rows of 20 across. More than 60 have already been carved out of the earth, with a few clusters of people standing gathered around them.

In 2025, when Elon Musk joined the government as the de facto head of something called the "department of government efficiency", he declared that governments were poorly configured "big dumb machines". To the senator Ted Cruz, he explained that "the only way to reconcile the databases and get rid of waste and fraud is to actually look at the computers". Muskism came to Washington soaked in memes, adolescent boasts and sadistic victory dances over mass firings. Leading a team of teenage coders and mid-level managers drawn from his suite of companies, Musk aimed to enter the codebase and rewrite regulations and budget lines from within. He would drag the paper-pushing bureaucracy kicking and screaming into the digital 21st century, scanning the contents of cavernous rooms of filing cabinets and feeding the data into a single interoperable system. The undertaking combined features of private equity-led restructuring with startup management, shot through with the sensibility of gaming and rightwing culture war. To succeed, he would need "God mode", an overview of the whole. If the mandate of Doge was to "[modernise] federal technology and software to maximise governmental efficiency and productivity", in the words of the executive order that launched the initiative on 20 January 2025, the reality was a strengthening of the state's surveillance capacities. Over time, Musk had become convinced that the real bugs in the code were people, especially the non-white illegal immigrants whom he saw as pawns in a liberal scheme to corrupt democracy and beneficiaries of what he called "suicidal empathy". He understood empathy itself in coding terms.

India's outsourcing industry is worth $300bn. Indian technology stocks have seen an unprecedented rout over the past few weeks over fears of artificial intelligence upending the traditional outsourcing model that powers the country's $300bn (£223bn) back-office industry. The sell-off - part of a global correction in traditional software and IT stocks - preceded the market nervousness caused by recent geopolitical uncertainty, and is particularly significant for India. Over the past three-and-a-half decades, India's software industry has created millions of white-collar jobs, spawning a new middle class driven by high ambition and strong purchasing power. This, in turn, has fuelled demand for apartments, cars and restaurants across top-tier cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurugram over the past 30 years.

AI firm Anthropic seeks weapons expert to stop users from'misuse' The US artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic is looking to hire a chemical weapons and high-yield explosives expert to try to prevent catastrophic misuse of its software. In other words, it fears that its AI tools might tell someone how to make chemical or radioactive weapons, and wants an expert to ensure its guardrails are sufficiently robust. In the LinkedIn recruitment post, the firm says applicants should have a minimum of five years experience in chemical weapons and/or explosives defence as well as knowledge of radiological dispersal devices - also known as dirty bombs. The firm told the BBC the role was similar to jobs in other sensitive areas that it has already created. Anthropic is not the only AI firm adopting this strategy.

Australia's eSafety commissioner wrote to X in January after its AI chatbot Grok was used to generate sexualised images of women and children online. Australia's eSafety commissioner wrote to X in January after its AI chatbot Grok was used to generate sexualised images of women and children online. Child abuse material'systemic' on Elon Musk's X amid Grok scandal, Australian online safety regulator warned The Australian online safety regulator warned Elon Musk's X amid the Grok sexualised image generation scandal that it found child abuse material was "particularly systemic" on X and more accessible than on "any other mainstream service", correspondence obtained by Guardian Australia reveals. The eSafety commissioner wrote to X in January after its chatbot, Grok, was used to generate sexualised images of women and children online, which the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, described as "abhorrent". In the letter, obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws, eSafety's general manager of regulatory operations, Heidi Snell, pointed to Musk's promise when taking over the platform in 2022 that "removing child exploitation is priority #1", but said "the availability of CSEM [child sexual exploitation material] continues to appear particularly systemic on X".

The ocean’s bad boys don’t just cruise alone—they have preferred swimming partners.

'As soon as we got Pong to work, people said: 'When are you going to do Doom?' a biological computer playing the 90s video game. 'As soon as we got Pong to work, people said: 'When are you going to do Doom?' a biological computer playing the 90s video game. A petri dish of human brain cells is currently playing Doom. Scientists in the US have uploaded a fruit fly to a computer simulation, while an Australian lab has taught neurons on a glass chip to play a 90s video game. How long before we are all living in a sci-fi movie? I t sounds like the opening of a sci-fi film, but US scientists recently uploaded a copy of the brain of a living fly into a simulation.

Hundreds of passengers flying to Dubai spent 11 hours on a flight to nowhere after their plane was turned back over Egypt. The Emirates flight EK24 set off from Edinburgh at 21:26 on Sunday and was due to land in Dubai at 06:49 on Monday. However, as the plane flew over Egypt, flights at Dubai International Airport were suspended following a fire caused by an Iranian drone hitting a fuel tank. The plane was forced to return to Edinburgh. Travel journalist Simon Calder told the BBC's Radio Scotland Breakfast programme that although Dubai was on the UK Foreign Office's No go list, many people were still taking the risk of flying there. No injuries were reported following the drone strike but officials said they had taken all necessary measures to ensure public safety.