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From 'sand theft auto' to space BABIES: The global innovations and trends set to shape 2026

Daily Mail - Science & tech

Trump's ominous warning to Colombia as acting Venezuelan president issues message to world calling for'peace and dialogue, not war' Trump plans a military'quarantine' of Venezuela's oil to strong-arm Maduro's successor I got a GLP-1 drug with few questions asked... and never meeting a doctor face-to-face. But could that convenience have put my health at risk? Addicted, arrested and dead in a hotel corridor...Victoria Jones is the latest child of a famous parent to tragically spiral. So why ARE so many children of the rich and famous cursed? Marco Rubio'runs laps' around CBS reporter who asked why US commandos didn't nab Maduro associates in daring night time raid Prince Harry'desperately wants King Charles to come to Montecito and see Archie and Lilibet' Travis Kelce finally addresses possible retirement as Chiefs lose to NFL's worst team in what could be humiliating end to his iconic career State of Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Lopez's relationship revealed by insiders... as parents gossip about'less sociable' star at school play NASA's'queen of diamonds' EXPOSED: Genius is accused of treachery over top secret mission... as chilling details emerge Michael B. Jordan's unimpressed face sends fans wild as Timothee Chalamet cries on stage over Kylie Jenner North West, 12, sparks face piercing speculation after backlash over'risky' body modification'Out-of-touch' Gayle King slammed for complaining that her upper class seat doesn't have a window on her eight-hour flight'back to work' from Hawaii American family of seven stranded after Venezuela raids say they're trapped in a living hell... while oblivious influencers BOAST about getting stuck Ten people who spread false claims France's First Lady Brigitte Macron was born a man are found guilty of cyberbullying in Paris EXPOSED: The Air Force vet who let China steal America's nuclear secrets... and KEPT his $200K tax-funded salary From'sand theft auto' to space BABIES: The global innovations and trends set to shape 2026 From the rise of the humanoid robot to the weird world of AI girlfriends, 2025 had no shortage of strange and transformative inventions. Now, experts from the Nesta research foundation have revealed the global innovations and trends set to shape the world in 2026.


AI Deepfakes Are Impersonating Pastors to Try to Scam Their Congregations

WIRED

Religious communities around the US are getting hit with AI depictions of their leaders sharing incendiary sermons and asking for donations. Father Mike Schmitz, a Catholic priest and podcaster, addressed his congregation of more than 1.2 million YouTube subscribers in November with an unusual kind of homily. You couldn't always trust the words coming out of his mouth, Schmitz said, because sometimes they weren't really his words--or his mouth. Schmitz had become the target of AI-generated impersonation scams . "You're being watched by a demonic human," said the fake Schmitz in one video that the real Schmitz, wearing an L.L. Bean jacket over his clerical suit, included in his public service announcement as an example.


What's next for AI in 2026

MIT Technology Review

Our AI writers make their big bets for the coming year--here are five hot trends to watch. In an industry in constant flux, sticking your neck out to predict what's coming next may seem reckless. But for the last few years we've done just that--and we're doing it again. How did we do last time? Here are our big bets for the next 12 months. The last year shaped up as a big one for Chinese open-source models.



At CES 2026, Everything Is AI. What Matters Is How You Use It

WIRED

At CES 2026, Everything Is AI. Integrated chatbots and built-in machine intelligence are no longer standout features in consumer tech. If companies want to win in the AI era, they've got to hone the user experience. The New Year's Eve champagne isn't even warm yet, and CES week is already upon us. The giant annual celebration of consumer tech kicks off the first full week of January as companies across the world convene in Las Vegas to hawk their latest innovations.


Forthcoming machine learning and AI seminars: January 2026 edition

AIHub

This post contains a list of the AI-related seminars that are scheduled to take place between 5 January and 28 February 2026. All events detailed here are free and open for anyone to attend virtually. Fiona Spuler (University of Reading) ECMWF Teams link is here . Iyad Rahwan (Max Planck Institute for Human Development) The Digital Humanism (DIGHUM) Initiative The talk will be livestreamed on YouTube here . Christopher O'Reilly (University of Reading) ECMWF Teams link is here .


The best new science fiction books of January 2026

New Scientist

Big hitter Peter F. Hamilton has a new sci-fi novel out this month - and Booker winner George Saunders ventures into speculative fiction with his latest book, Vigil Is it an asteroid or an alien in Van Jensen's Godfall? Welcome to January, a month when many of us are keen to escape from the world into the pages of a book. Thankfully, science fiction is here to help, whether that's with a story set on a generation ship where things aren't as they seem, courtesy of Peter F. Hamilton, or journeying to an alternate version of this world where the Roman Empire is still in charge, in Solitaire Townsend's . Add to the mix a time-loop murder, a UFO romance and some eco-horror, and there's plenty of choice for sci-fi fans this month. A generation ship is in search of a new home in Peter F. Hamilton's latest sci-fi novel Big hitter Peter F. Hamilton sets his latest outing on a generation ship in search of a new world, where people are only allowed to live for 65 years so they don't deplete the ship's resources. When a teenager Hazel's brother has an accident that means he is no longer productive, he is set to be killed off.


Flu Is Relentless. Crispr Might Be Able to Shut It Down

WIRED

Innovative research into the gene-editing tool targets influenza's ability to replicate--stopping it in its tracks. As he addressed an audience of virologists from China, Australia, and Singapore at October's Pandemic Research Alliance Symposium, Wei Zhao introduced an eye-catching idea. The gene-editing technology Crispr is best known for delivering groundbreaking new therapies for rare diseases, tweaking or knocking out rogue genes in conditions ranging from sickle cell disease to hemophilia . But Zhao and his colleagues at Melbourne's Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity have envisioned a new application. They believe Crispr could be tailored to create a next-generation treatment for influenza, whether that's the seasonal strains which plague both the northern and southern hemispheres on an annual basis, or the worrisome new variants in birds and other wildlife that might trigger the next pandemic.


US action in Venezuela not legal, senior Labour MP says

BBC News

The US military action in Venezuela breaches international law and the UK should make clear it is unacceptable, the chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has said. Dame Emily Thornberry is the most senior Labour MP so far to criticise Donald Trump's strikes on the country over the weekend, which saw President Nicolas Maduro and his wife captured. The UK government has so far refused to say whether the move was illegal, insisting it is for the Americans to lay out the legal basis for the action. But the US president's actions have been criticised by some Labour MPs, as well as the leaders of the Lib Dems, Greens and the SNP. Dame Emily told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour the strikes were not a legal action and she cannot think of anything that could be a proper justification.


I'm watching myself on YouTube saying things I would never say. This is the deepfake menace we must confront Yanis Varoufakis

The Guardian

I'm watching myself on YouTube saying things I would never say. These inventions trigger rage, but also optimism. I t was my blue shirt, a present from my sister-in-law, that gave it all away. It made me think of Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin, the lowly bureaucrat in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novella The Double, a disconcerting study of the fragmented self within a vast, impersonal feudal system. It all started with a message from an esteemed colleague congratulating me on a video talk on some geopolitical theme.