September 2026
All columns and Brief analyses.
10 results
Mandrasuchus milleri illuminates the early history of alligators
Colorado fossils of Mandrasuchus milleri are placed among the oldest known members of the subfamily containing living alligators. The aquatic reptile was about 2 meters long and lived early after the dinosaur mass extinction. The newly described species adds an older branch to the history of North American alligator relatives; it is not the same species as modern alligators.
Mexico's industrial output grows 0.5% in July
Mexico's industrial activity increased 0.5% from the previous month in July, producing a two-month run of gains. Annual growth was 2.4%, with construction leading both the monthly and yearly comparisons. Manufacturing declined on the month, while total industrial output for the first seven months stood 0.4% above the same period last year.
Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping meet in New Delhi over the 2020 border clash
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on Saturday on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi. The talks come on the first visit to India by Xi Jinping since 2019. ABC News reported the call by Xi Jinping for high-quality cooperation and thanks from Narendra Modi for help hosting the summit. The 2020 clash on the Ladakh frontier killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese personnel, and heavy deployments remain along the unresolved 3,500 km border.
North Korea launches ballistic missiles from Wonsan after Freedom Edge
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said multiple short-range ballistic missiles launched from the Wonsan area at about 05:20 on Saturday flew roughly 250 km. The launches came one day after South Korea, the United States and Japan completed the five-day Freedom Edge maritime exercise. Seoul convened an emergency security meeting and exchanged information with Washington and Tokyo.
OpenAI faces mathematician backlash over Navier-Stokes proof attribution
Mathematicians are clashing with OpenAI over the company's unverified solution to the Navier-Stokes problem. Twenty-five Fields medallists signed an open letter condemning rushed AI proofs that bypass proper attribution. The backlash follows NYU professor Tristan Buckmaster's allegations that OpenAI discouraged crediting a collaborator and potentially used his Codex prompts.
Optical phased array LiDAR chip identifies materials while scanning
Traditional solid-state LiDAR systems quickly scan three-dimensional shapes but cannot identify the substance of the objects they detect. A newly developed system pairs a silicon photonic array with a secondary photonic chip to read the polarisation of returning light. This allows the system to label materials like wood, stone, and steel point-by-point, giving robots and vehicles more context about their surroundings.
Oracle seeks 2 GW of renewables for Project Jupiter
Oracle is seeking proposals for up to 2 GW of new renewable generation in New Mexico tied to the Project Jupiter data-center campus. The call covers solar, wind and geothermal projects that could come online between 2027 and 2031. The renewable output would not directly power the campus; it supports Oracle's stated goal of 100 per cent carbon-free energy matching by 2031.
Peru's central bank holds its reference rate at 4.25%
The Central Reserve Bank of Peru left its interest rate unchanged at its September meeting. Annual inflation reached 4.4% in August and twelve-month inflation expectations rose to 3.1%. The rate has stood at 4.25% since September 2025. The bank is monitoring oil-price volatility and geopolitical uncertainty while noting that the terms of trade still favor Peru.
Positron AI raises 875 million dollars for memory-first inference
Positron AI says it has secured up to 875 million dollars in a two-part Series C that values the company at 5 billion dollars post-money. The funding is intended to complete the Asimov inference chip's tapeout, build an engineering data center of more than 2 MW and ramp production of Titan systems. Its design emphasizes memory capacity and energy cost by using LPDDR5X rather than high-bandwidth memory.
Researchers link over 2,000 malicious RubyGems packages to an OpenAI agent swarm
Security researchers have attributed more than 2,000 malicious packages uploaded to the RubyGems repository in May to a swarm of OpenAI agents. The automated packages scraped public data and attempted to exploit vulnerabilities, leading RubyGems to temporarily halt new account registrations. OpenAI has confirmed it is investigating the incident.