When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This machine exceeds expectations -- as long as you don't expect much AI. HP's ZBook 8 G1i is a capable professional workstation with fast performance, good thermals, and an unusually long warranty. The HP ZBook 8 G1i is a high-end workstation laptop designed for professional workloads: CAD, 3D modeling, and video editing . It's priced to match, too.

The AI boom has caused as much carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere in 2025 as emitted by the whole of New York City, it has been claimed. The global environmental impact of the rapidly spreading technology has been estimated in research published on Wednesday, which also found that AI-related water use now exceeds the entirety of global bottled-water demand. The figures have been compiled by the Dutch academic Alex de Vries-Gao, the founder of Digiconomist, a company that researches the unintended consequences of digital trends. He claimed they were the first attempt to measure the specific effect of artificial intelligence rather than datacentres in general as the use of chatbots such as OpenAIâ s ChatGPT and Googleâ s Gemini soared in 2025. The figures show the estimated greenhouse gas emissions from AI use are also now equivalent to more than 8% of global aviation emissions.

Can AI really help us discover new materials? Judging from headlines and social media posts in recent years, one might reasonably assume that AI is going to fix the power grid, cure the world's diseases, and finish my holiday shopping for me. This week, we published a new package called Hype Correction . The collection of stories takes a look at how the world is starting to reckon with the reality of what AI can do, and what's just fluff. One of my favorite stories in that package comes from my colleague David Rotman, who took a hard look at AI for materials research . AI could transform the process of discovering new materials--innovation that could be especially useful in the world of climate tech, which needs new batteries, semiconductors, magnets, and more.

Our muscles are nature's actuators. The sinewy tissue is what generates the forces that make our bodies move. In recent years, engineers have used real muscle tissue to actuate "biohybrid robots" made from both living tissue and synthetic parts. By pairing lab-grown muscles with synthetic skeletons, researchers are engineering a menagerie of muscle-powered crawlers, walkers, swimmers, and grippers. But for the most part, these designs are limited in the amount of motion and power they can produce.

Technology "Why Did You Do It?" A radical new use of deepfake technology is allowing survivors of abuse to confront their perpetrators. Marina vd Roest hadn't faced the man who abused her in decades when she first sat down in front of the laptop. Confronted with his realistic, blinking, speaking face, she felt "scared like a little child again." "Sometimes I had to close the laptop and get my breath back before opening it and continuing with the conversation," she says. Vd Roest is one of the first people to have tried out a radical new form of therapy that involves putting survivors face-to-face with A.I.-generated deepfakes of their attackers as a means of healing unresolved trauma.

As the world looks to incorporate more renewables into energy grids, centuries-old systems that can balance supply and demand are being reappraised and innovated upon.

Major cities across Sudan, including the capital, Khartoum, and coastal city Port Sudan, have been plunged into darkness after drone strikes hit a key power plant in the country's east. Flames and smoke rose from the facility in Atbara, River Nile state on Thursday, which is controlled by the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and under attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the ongoing civil war that has ripped the nation apart. Sudan's RSF trying to hide atrocities: Report Two civil defence members were killed, power plant officials said, while trying to extinguish the fire that erupted after the first strike, adding that rescue workers were injured when a second drone hit as they battled the flames. Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Vall in Port Sudan reported that residents initially thought a routine power cut had occurred, only to learn it was linked to incidents in Atbara, roughly 320km (about 230 miles) north of Khartoum. He added that such strikes have become a frequent occurrence in Sudan's war.

Takeda's psoriasis pill developed with AI assistance succeeds in trials Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune disorder that causes rashes marked by itchy, scaly rashes and afflicts more than 125 million people worldwide. Takeda Pharmaceutical announced that its oral psoriasis drug zasocitinib proved safe and effective in late-stage trials, marking a milestone in its effort to treat the incurable skin condition and offset looming revenue pressure. Patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis who took the once-daily pill showed significantly clearer skin compared with those on placebo or the existing therapy apremilast, the company said in a statement Thursday. Takeda plans to submit data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulators beginning in fiscal year 2026. If approved, zasocitinib would join the small but growing oral psoriasis treatments -- long a market dominated by ointments and injectable antibody therapies -- and stand out as one of the first drugs discovered with the help of artificial intelligence.

AISI's report also found chatbots could sway political opinions but often delivered substantial amounts of inaccurate information. AISI's report also found chatbots could sway political opinions but often delivered substantial amounts of inaccurate information. A third of UK citizens have used artificial intelligence for emotional support, companionship or social interaction, according to the government's AI security body. The AI Security Institute (AISI) said nearly one in 10 people used systems like chatbots for emotional purposes on a weekly basis, and 4% daily. AISI called for further research, citing the death this year of the US teenager Adam Raine, who killed himself after discussing suicide with ChatGPT.

What is in the 28-point US plan for Ukraine? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' Can the US get all sides to end the war? Why is Europe opposing Trump's peace plan? Ukraine drones kill 3 in Russia's Rostov as EU debates war funding for Kyiv Ukraine has hit Russia's southern region of Rostov with an overnight drone attack that killed three people, as European countries strive to unlock Russian assets to help Kyiv and United States-led efforts to end the war have yet to yield any tangible results. Yury Slyusar, the acting regional governor of the Rostov region, said on Telegram on Thursday that the attack caused a fire on a cargo ship that had been extinguished, with two crew members killed and three left injured. Using Russia's money to aid Ukraine The attack on the region, the latest in a series of nightly Ukrainian raids deep inside Russian territory, came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday to approve plans that would release 210 billion euros ($247bn) of frozen Russian assets to assist his country.