September 2026
All columns and Brief analyses.
10 results
A Maynooth DNA computer ran programs in a drop of water
Live Science said Maynooth's Scaffolded DNA Computer, published in Nature on 16 September, ran ten programs including 100-bit calculations in a drop of water. Tom's Hardware, also writing on 19 September 2026, said those programs ran in salt water without a power cable.
A new US law can put 100 percent duties on big buyers of Russian oil
The Hindu BusinessLine, via PTI on 19 September, said the law takes effect within 30 days of signing and can require duties of up to 100 percent on goods from the top five purchasers of Russian crude or gas. The Times of India the same day said President Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act on Friday, and that the 100 percent rate is not automatic for India.
A signed US law can allow 100 per cent duties, without setting India's rate
The Times of India wrote on 19 September that President Trump on Friday signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, which can allow tariffs of up to 100 per cent on goods from major buyers of Russian oil, without automatically imposing that rate on India. The Hindu BusinessLine, citing PTI, said the law takes effect within 30 days of signing and requires duties of up to 100 per cent on goods from the top five purchasers of Russian crude or natural gas.
A year of noon frames draws a figure-eight over the Callanish stones
NASA Science on 20 September 2026 published a stacked noon sequence from one Callanish spot in the Outer Hebrides, forming an analemma. The stones sit in the foreground. It is stacked solar geometry, not a fresh instrument debut.
AfD leads Mecklenburg; Merz calls the result a disaster
After polls closed on Sunday, the BBC said the AfD was on track to win the most votes in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and that Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the result a disaster while vowing to stay on. CBS News, citing ARD, put his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at 5 percent there — the lowest state result for the party since the Second World War — and said he would still press reforms.
Albanese asked Washington and Beijing to keep humans in charge of AI
After an hour with Tim Cook in Cupertino, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged the United States and China to strike an AI deal so humans remain in control, ABC News reported, and said he hoped to legislate national AI and data-centre standards early next year. The Sydney Morning Herald, from the same Apple Park visit, wrote that Cook had called in June about child-safety controls inspired by Australia's under-16 social-media ban.
Allied chiefs in Copenhagen heard the eastern cache was already staffed
POLITICO reported Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone telling 32 allied chiefs of defence in Copenhagen that a four-thousand-page eastern military file was already staffed and that troops and weapons were ready. A NATO notice recorded the same 18-19 September meeting. No second independent news publisher's own page for that cache was obtained in this slot's BBC world cluster.
An AI Force was named without duties or a start date
President Trump said on Saturday he would create an AI Force, likened to Space Force, and soon name an AI czar, USA TODAY reported, without structure, duties or a start date. Al Jazeera, reading the same social-media post, wrote that he called AI the next industrial revolution and said the United States would watch over the industry as it grows, still without a candidate or a date for the force.
Atlantic diesel cracks hit records as US pump prices set a weekly high
The National wrote that US diesel reached 6.31 dollars a gallon this week and, citing the IEA, put US and Europe diesel above 220 dollars a barrel, about 95 per cent above pre-war levels. The IEA September Oil Market Report page said Atlantic Basin refining margins reached records in August, led by diesel cracks, while observed global oil inventories fell another 95 million barrels. The visible IEA HTML did not restate the 220 dollars a barrel figure.
Bachelet quit the UN secretary-general race after a 1-11 straw poll
Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said on Saturday she would not continue her UN secretary-general bid after Friday's third informal Security Council straw poll. Al Jazeera counted 1 encourage, 11 discourage and 3 no-opinion votes for her, and put Costa Rica's Rebeca Grynspan first with 9 encourage votes. The Straits Times, datelined Santiago, wrote that she announced the withdrawal on 19 September after a poll left her near the bottom of eight candidates, and that Chile's government had withdrawn support in March.