Scientists fear'time-traveling' pathogens could be leaked into the world as their icy prison in permafrost is melting - and they could spark the next planet and destroy the environment. Ancient viruses, sealed in permafrost for thousands of years, could survive and evolve to become the dominant free-living species- killing up to one-third of bacteria-like hosts. The stark revelation was made by researchers at the European Commission Joint Research Center, who used computer simulations to find about three percent of virus-like pathogens became dominant after being released from the ice. The new findings suggest that the risks posed by time-traveling pathogens – so far confined to science fiction stories – could be powerful drivers of ecological change and threats to human health. Scientists fear'time-traveling' pathogens could be leaked into the world as their icy prison in permafrost is melting - and their escape would be detrimental to the environment.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund announced Thursday a reward of $5,000 for information on the person or people who operated a drone that crashed-landed in May into nesting grounds at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach. About 3,000 elegant terns -- notable for their orange bills and black crests -- fled the reserve after the crash in mid-May. They left behind 1,500 to 2,000 unsavable eggs, the largest abandonment that scientists who work there could remember. The operators of drones that fly over state wildlife preserves and disturb habitats can face charges for nest destruction and harassment of wildlife, according to Officer Nick Molsberry of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Tim Daly, a spokesperson for the agency, said that he had no knowledge of the drone operator in the Bolsa Chica incident having been identified or of the birds having returned to the reserve, which spans more than 1,000 acres.

The Daily Star's FREE newsletter is spectacular! Scientists have warned that humanity risks losing control of Artificial Intelligence if it keeps developing. AI software is becoming more common, with companies such as Amazon trialling self-automated vehicles. Experts recently made a major breakthrough with a revolutionary new AI system that never stops learning. But as technology develops, an international group of researchers have warned that there are increasing dangers of standalone software. In a study published in the Journal of Arititial Intelligence Research Portal, author Manuel Cebrain said: "A super-intelligent machine that controls the world sounds like science fiction.

One of the most popular movie franchises of our time is the "Terminator" series, launched back in the early 1980s and featuring six-time Mr. America bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger as a futuristic humanoid killing machine As noted by Great Power War, the backstory to the film is that the creation of the nearly-invincible cyborg Terminators stemmed from a "SkyNet" computer system that controlled U.S. nuclear weapons and "got smart," eventually seeing all humans as its enemy. So, in one fell swoop, the system launched its missiles at pre-programmed targets, which, of course, invited a second-strike counter-launch and created a nuclear holocaust that nearly destroyed all of humankind. While the Terminator series never really identified the'smart' SkyNet computer system as having artificial intelligence, some years later after AI became more of a thing it was understood that's the kind of system the fictional SkyNet operated. The "machine-learning" aspect of AI is how SkyNet "got smart" one day and launched the nuclear payloads it controlled. But the Terminator series are just movies, right?