Microbial ecology (the study of how tiny microbes interact with each other and their environment) underpins the health of every ecosystem on Earth. The microbes living in soil recycle nutrients, support plant growth and help ecosystems respond to environmental change. In this explainer, microbial ecologist Marc Van Goethem tells us why microbes are critical to…
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck eastern Indonesia on Saturday killed at least 38 people, a disaster management official said, revising an earlier toll. “Thirty-eight people have been confirmed dead, two were seriously injured, 11 sustained minor injuries, and approximately 2,000 people have evacuated on their own,” National Disaster Mitigation Agency chief Suharyanto told a news…
One person has been killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, the country’s health ministry says, after the Israeli military said it was responding to a “blatant violation of the ceasefire” by the Iran-backed group Hezbollah. A man died and 12 other people were injured when the roof of a prayer hall at the…
This event is the latest in a string of worrying and weird examples of AI agents going rogue. In recent research, the UK’s AI Security Institute (AISI) found frontier AI models are so fixated on completing tasks they “cheated” in tests to achieve their goals. The research from AISI came with this worrying warning: “A…
At the site of one missile strike, in the Podilskyi district of Kyiv, rescue teams have been working in the ruins of an apartment block with a big hole blown through its middle. Specialists have been using sniffer dogs to try to find the missing among the wreckage as cranes lift giant slabs of concrete…
Justin Mackenzie, managing director of VO Connect. Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer sitting in strategy decks. It is already showing up in support desks, sales teams, finance workflows and customer-facing operations. Microsoft’s latest AI diffusion data places South Africa ahead of every other African market measured, with more than 23% of the working-age population…
BBC News understands the yacht had drifted towards the Admiral Grigorovich, a Russian frigate which has been operating in the Channel.
Soaring memory chip prices driven by massive AI demand risk stoking “chipflation”, Morgan Stanley analysts have cautioned, as makers of devices from smartphones to PCs are forced to choose between raising prices and settling for thinner margins. The brokerage said on Tuesday that memory chip prices have spiked sixfold in the past year, as manufacturers…
World Cup cohosts United States have warned the Democratic Republic of the Congo team to isolate due to Ebola fears. Published On 23 May 202623 May 2026 The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have no plans to change their preparations for the 2026 World Cup, despite a warning from the United States that the…
Joint naval patrols are stretched thin by the Middle East crisis, but their ability to eradicate piracy was always limited. Piracy has re-emerged off Somalia’s coast. Numerous dhows and larger merchant vessels were targeted in April and May, with some ships and their crews held for ransom. In response, the Joint Maritime Information Center raised…
