Report finds secrecy impacted handling of nuclear test veterans' records Image caption, Nuclear test veterans met then Labour opposition leader, Sir Keir Starmer, in 2021, campaigning for full disclosure of the impact of the UK's nuclear bomb testing programme. High levels of Cold War secrecy were a factor in the haphazard approach taken towards the medical records of nuclear test veterans, an official report has found. The lack of a centralised approach means that the system will appear complex and inconsistent to the veterans who have been campaigning for the full release of their medical records. The findings come in a series of official documents released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in response to years of campaigning by the veterans. Andy Burnham spoke up in favour of the nuclear test veterans on Tuesday evening in his first speech in parliament since his re-election last month, endorsing their call for a special tribunal. As many as 25,000 members of the UK armed services, scientists and civilians took part in the nuclear testing programme between 1952 and 1967 at sites including Australia and several islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Apple's upgraded AI assistant is finally here. Apple is finally attempting to deliver the next-gen, AI-infused Siri experience. The iOS 27 beta is centered around an elevated Siri, transformed from a basic voice commander to something closer to the intelligent, personal helper we were promised years ago. In iOS 27, Apple is prioritizing day-to-day utility over flashy gimmicks. The new Siri is smarter and faster, and it even has its own app to call home, while the company has focused on software efficiency gains -- especially on older devices.

Could Sheepstealer and other'House of the Dragon' dragons actually fly? A dragon consultant weighs in on Westeros physics. 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. Making fantastical creatures like dragons believable is often a battle between ecology and biomechanics. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week.

The Star Wars director has called AI technology'the future' of film-making and advised'there's nothing you can do about it' Star Wars director George Lucas has added his voice to the growing chorus of film-makers receptive to the rising use of AI tools in moviemaking. Speaking in an interview with A Rabbit's Foot, Lucas, 82, said: "Artificial intelligence means it's much easier for us to make movies." Resistance to the new technology, he continued, is "very much like sitting here saying, 'Well, I believe the horse and the buggy is really where it's at. These cars, they break down, they need gas, there's all kinds of problems with them and pretty soon they'll be making them into tanks, and then they'll be killing people. Adoption of such tools, continued Lucas, is an inevitability. "There's nothing you can do about it.

There's now only one worth buying--but you can still access new features on older models you might already own. Google's smart speaker approach has always been minimalist. With the Google Home Speaker's arrival in June, the tech giant's lineup is now simpler than ever: just a single speaker and two smart displays. That's not the only change Google has made to its smart home ecosystem this year. It also rolled out a new AI-powered assistant, Google Gemini for Home, replacing the longtime Google Assistant.

Loons, gulls, puffins, and petrels are some of the 100 species of birds that can both fly and swim. These diving birds can plunge in water to swim after prey, and then leap back into the air to fly away. Now, inspired by these naturally aquatic aviators, engineers at EPFL and MIT have designed a robot that can swim underwater, and flap out of the water to continue flying through air, much like diving birds. The "flapping-wing aerial-aquatic vehicle," or FAAV, weighs less than 300 grams and is designed to help scientists study the mechanics that enable diving birds to fly through air and water. The robot has a central body, or fuselage, two flexible, flapping wings, and a steerable tail.

Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson explains why ads appear on smart device ads like refrigerators, Jeep and vehicle dashboards and Windows 11 lock screens, and how to turn them off.

My Ebike Delivery Went Missing. We live in an especially hilly area of Atlanta, which is an especially hilly city, and we'd both just gotten bonuses at work, making the nearly $2,000 per bike feel, for a moment, digestible. We placed our orders online, and days later, my fiancée's beautiful, feature-rich bike arrived at our door. Mine, bought separately from a different retailer, was delayed, then delayed again, and again. Finally, one Wednesday evening, I got a text from FedEx confirming that my bike had been delivered to our address and signed for.

Long-range drone and missile strikes on Russian soil have shifted the balance of the conflict--will they be enough to end it? In recent weeks, Donald Trump--whose attitude toward Ukraine and its President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has been notoriously fickle, when not outright hostile --has appeared to warm to Ukraine's chances in the war with Russia. On the sidelines of the summit in Ankara, he met with Zelensky and later spoke of him in flattering terms, declaring "We've actually developed a good relationship. Trump has a history of favoring those he perceives as winners, and his change in attitude regarding Ukraine seems driven by the country's newfound ability to strike targets deep inside Russia--"an escalation that can help lead to an end," Trump said. In Ankara, Zelensky, the inveterate entertainer, riffed on a question from Trump, who asked if Zelensky would consider travelling to Moscow for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That would be dangerous, Zelensky ...

OpenAI employees have donated more than $215,000 to a political effort opposing Leading the Future, a group backed by the company's president, Greg Brockman. A group of rank-and-file OpenAI employees have donated more than $215,000 to a super PAC pushing for stricter regulations on frontier AI labs. Guardrails Alliance, which launched last month with $5 million in total initial funding, bills itself as a populist effort supported by tech workers, labor unions, and other groups. It's aiming to be a counterweight to Leading the Future, a pro-AI industry super PAC bankrolled with more than $100 million from technology industry leaders, including OpenAI president and cofounder Greg Brockman. Seven current OpenAI employees have donated to Guardrails Alliance, as well as one former employee, WIRED has learned.