Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

In a chaotic few months, OpenAI has demonstrated it can do two things with remarkable consistency: make impressive breakthroughs in mathematics, then colossally screw up announcing them. OpenAI is now trying to do better. Somehow, it has botched that too.OpenAI’s latest attempt to repair fractured relations with a mathematical community it has repeatedly alienated is to consult a new independent advisory group of elite practitioners. But mathematicians speaking to The Verge, including one of the group’s members, describe a messy and confusing affair bearing many of the hallmarks of OpenAI’s previous rushed forays into mathematics, suggesting the company has learned…

The JadePuffer ransomware operator is targeting Azure tenants with agent-driven attacks that conduct reconnaissance, steal credentials, and destroy core components. The malware emerged in July, with researchers at cloud security company Sysdig highlighting that it uses AI agents to automate the entire attack chain, from reconnaissance, credential theft, and lateral movement to persistence and data encryption. Shortly after, the company noted that JadePuffer expanded its focus to AI assets, training datasets, and vector databases, using a tool called EncForge. Microsoft Security Research observed two JadePuffer attacks in June that mapped cloud resources, retrieved storage account keys, and deleted Azure Storage…

EigenLayer held $19.7 billion at its peak and liquid restaking tokens grew more than 1,000% in the first six weeks of 2024. But the services buying security never paid enough to cover both the base staking yield and a premium on top, so the second yield restaking promised never materialized.On Sept. 8, DefiLlama’s restaking category held $10.02 billion and generated $99,977 in fees over the prior week. The liquid staking category, on $51.87 billion, generated $27.35 million. Per dollar secured, ordinary staking earns roughly 53 times more.Restaking earns almost nothing (CoinDesk/Oliver Knight)Two developments then removed what was left of the…

Coffee may affect far more than alertness. New research suggests that both regular and decaffeinated coffee can alter the gut microbiome and may influence mood, stress, memory, and attention through the gut brain connection. Scientists at APC Microbiome Ireland, a research center at University College Cork, investigated in detail how coffee may influence communication between the digestive system and the brain. The study published in Nature Communications and sponsored by the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC), found that both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee were associated with changes in the gut microbiome as well as differences in mood and…

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. A mountain lion in front of the Hollywood sign sounds almost too convenient. When photographer Steve Winter proposed the picture, National Park Service biologist Jeff Sikich thought he was crazy. There were, as far as Sikich knew, no mountain lions in Griffith Park. Then P-22 turned up. Winter spent more than a year trying to get the photograph. Remote cameras were stolen, and equipment failed. Eventually, he captured P-22 walking beneath the Hollywood sign at night, his tracking collar visible around…

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump restricting voting by mail in ways that could have thrown the upcoming midterms into chaos. But the White House originally had far more disruptive plans, ProPublica has learned.  According to several people knowledgeable about the discussions, the administration initially floated an idea that would have virtually shut down mail voting: requiring all ballots to be delivered exclusively through certified mail. The proposal — which would have required voters to be home and sign for delivery of their ballots — was ultimately abandoned, after vehement Postal Service…

False claims that the former MP for Makerfield Josh Simons has been named as the new head of the No 10 policy unit under Andy Burnham have been circulating online.This is not true, as Mr Simons himself has confirmed with us. Although some news stories earlier in the summer did link Mr Simons to the role, according to widespread media reports Graeme Cooke was instead appointed to the role in July 2026—at least a month before some claims about Mr Simons’ supposed appointment were shared on Facebook. Mr Simons served as the MP for Makerfield between July 2024 and May…

South Korea has summoned Ukraine’s acting ambassador after President Volodymyr Zelensky last week announced his government had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to Seoul.Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo lodged a formal complaint with Andrii Vieshkin and expressed “strong regret” that Zelensky had revealed the transfer, which Seoul says was supposed to be a secret.The two North Koreans, who were among thousands of soldiers supporting Russia in the Ukraine war, had earlier told local media they wanted to be sent to South Korea.President Lee Jae Myung called the disclosure “greatly disappointing” and said the transfer was a “highly sensitive issue”…

British-American relations soured towards the end of Keir Starmer’s tenure as prime minister, after Britain refused to give the U.S. military support for its war with Iran, including the full use of British military bases for strikes on Iran. New Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s Labour government is now seeking to repair the alliance. Part of the challenge from Donald Trump’s administration to Britain is to raise defense spending to record post-World War II levels. Britain doesn’t currently have a costed plan to reach its NATO commitment to spend 3.5% of GDP on defense by 2030. Ahead of next month’s budget,…

ZDNET’s key takeaways An upcoming Bose firmware update brings Bluetooth LE Audio to the QuietComfort Ultra headphones. LE Audio enables Auracast and audio streaming. The firmware update also brings refined USB-C audio performance. Nearly a year after releasing the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen), Bose is gifting its headphones with some of the latest Bluetooth audio upgrades in an upcoming 10.12.12 firmware update. The flagship headphones will soon support Bluetooth LE Audio, enabling Auracast and audio streaming via the LC3 codec. Review: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) Additionally, this firmware update includes expanded USB-C audio support, enabling higher-quality audio…