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Siri AI Hands On: A Smart, Helpful Assistant

WIRED

The new Siri AI is conversational, omnipresent, and actually helpful. I'm outside hiking and testing a developer beta of Siri AI, Apple's revamped voice assistant, when fog engulfs the Golden Gate Bridge behind me. So, I pull out my iPhone and ask this new Siri where I can grab some fluffy pancakes nearby. A translucent orb at the top of the smartphone screen spins around a few times, then the voice assistant responds with a recommendation: a spot called Eats in the Inner Richmond. This version of Siri--conversational, omnipresent, actually helpful--has been long delayed.


Scientists ' First Exam: Probing Cognitive Abilities of MLLM via Perception, Understanding, and Reasoning

Neural Information Processing Systems

Scientific discoveries increasingly rely on complex multimodal reasoning that integrates information-intensive scientific data and domain-specific expertise. Empowered by expert-level scientific benchmarks, scientific Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) hold the potential to significantly enhance this discovery process in realistic workflows. However, current scientific benchmarks mostly focus on evaluating the knowledge understanding capabilities of MLLMs, leading to an inadequate assessment of their perception and reasoning abilities. To address this gap, we present the Scientists First Exam (SFE) benchmark, designed to evaluate the scientific cognitive capacities of MLLMs through three cognitive levels: scientific signal perception, scientific attribute understanding, scientific comparative reasoning. Specifically, SFE comprises 830 expert-verified VQA pairs across three question types, spanning 66 multimodal tasks across five high-value disciplines. Extensive experiments reveal that current state-of-the-art GPT-o3 and InternVL-3 achieve only 34.08% and 26.52% on SFE, highlighting significant room for MLLMs to improve in scientific realms. We hope the insights obtained in SFE will facilitate further developments in AI-enhanced scientific discoveries.


MacOS 27 Golden Gate: Top New Features

WIRED

Apple has announced the latest version of macOS. It's all about the reintroduction of Siri, which is now accessible from anywhere on the Mac desktop. The official name of the Mac's operating system is macOS 27 Golden Gate, keeping the California naming scheme around. This year's update is focused on the relaunched Siri (now known as Siri AI), which really strives to transform into a proper AI chatbot along the lines of ChatGPT or Google Gemini--with a unique Apple twist. Is Your Mac Compatible With macOS Golden Gate?


Mysterious giant sharks that outlived the dinosaurs lurking in Puget Sound

Popular Science

Researchers from Seattle Aquarium are studying the sixgill shark to learn more about their elusive lives. 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. Most sharks have five gill slits on either side. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Most sharks have five gill slits on either side.


Scientists uncover identity of mysterious 'golden orb' discovered miles underwater in 2023

FOX News

The mysterious "golden orb" pulled from over two miles beneath the Gulf of Alaska in 2023 has been identified as a remnant of a rare giant deep-sea anemone, researchers say.


Data centers under scrutiny by California lawmakers as fears rise about health and energy impacts

Los Angeles Times

Due to health and energy concerns, the California Legislature is considering bills to prohibit data centers from being exempted from the state's stringent environmental law and impose new tariffs on new major energy users that strain power supplies.


'We don't tell the car what it should do': my ride in a self-driving taxi

The Guardian

Steve Rose goes for a spin. Steve Rose goes for a spin. 'We don't tell the car what it should do': my ride in a self-driving taxi Driverless'robotaxis' will be accepting fares in Britain's biggest city by the end of next year. Can they deal with London's medieval roads, hordes of pedestrians and errant ebikers? 'I'm really excited to show you this," says Alex Kendall, the CEO of Wayve, as he gets behind the wheel of one of the company's electric Ford Mustangs. The car pulls up to a junction at a busy road in King's Cross, London, all by itself. "You can see that it's going to control the speed, steering, brake, indicators," he says to me - I'm in the passenger seat. "It's making decisions as it goes.


Chinese fishing 'militia' formations signal rising gray-zone pressure on Taiwan

FOX News

China's People's Armed Forces Maritime Militia deployed thousands of fishing vessels in coordinated formations that could disrupt global shipping lanes, analysts warn.


The world's oldest wild bird has a new grandchick

Popular Science

Environment Animals Wildlife Birds The world's oldest wild bird has a new grandchick Biologists have been tracking Wisdom, the roughly 75-year-old Laysan albatross, since the 1950s. Albatross chicks are getting stronger. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is shining a light on a new member of a famous feathered family--that of the world's oldest known breeding bird, a Laysan albatross called Wisdom. The agency posted a video on social media featuring a scruffy looking hatchling seemingly yawning as it hangs out in the sand in close contact with a giant bird --presumably one of its parents.


Mysterious UFO hotspots uncovered around underwater canyons off US coasts

Daily Mail - Science & tech

Horrifying next twist in the Alexander brothers case: MAUREEN CALLAHAN exposes an unthinkable perversion that's been hiding in plain sight Alexander brothers' alleged HIGH SCHOOL gang rape video: Classmates speak out on sick'taking turns' footage... as creepy unseen photos are exposed Model Cindy Crawford, 60, mocked for her'out of touch' morning routine: 'Nothing about this is normal' Kentucky mother and daughter turn down $26.5MILLION to sell their farms to secretive tech giant that wants to build data center there Tucker Carlson erupts at Trump adviser as she hurls'SLANDER' claim linking him to synagogue shooting NFL superstar Xavier Worthy spills all on Travis Kelce, the Chiefs' struggles... and having Taylor Swift as his No 1 fan Heartbreaking video shows very elderly DoorDash driver shuffle down customer's driveway with coffee order because he is too poor to retire Amber Valletta, 52, was a '90s Vogue model who made movies with Sandra Bullock and Kate Hudson, see her now Nancy Mace throws herself into Iran warzone as she goes rogue on Middle East rescue mission: 'I AM that person' Hidden toxins in kids' treats EXPOSED: Health guru Jillian Michaels' sit-down with Casey DeSantis reveals dangers lurking in popular foods READ MORE: I communicated with non-human intelligence... and what they told me proves God's existence New research has suggested that UFOs could be clustering around underwater canyons off the US coastline, raising fresh questions about whether mysterious craft could be operating beneath the ocean. An analysis of more than 80,000 reports found concentrated clusters of sightings near steep submarine canyon systems, particularly along the West Coast. The findings stem from an independent study testing the so-called'cryptoterrestrial hypothesis,' which proposes that unidentified aerial phenomena could originate from hidden non-human intelligence on Earth rather than distant planets. Using publicly available UFO sighting data and detailed ocean depth maps, the report identified correlations between reported sightings and deep underwater terrain features. The analysis also uncovered a striking geographical anomaly, with clustering patterns appearing on the West Coast but not on the East or Gulf coasts.