Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

For more than seven decades, doctors have used the drug 6-thioguanine (6-TG) to treat leukemia. Its effects in patients are well documented, but researchers are still working to understand the molecular details that determine why some cells are killed by the drug while others manage to withstand it. A team at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, working with scientists at the University of Oxford, the Weizmann Institute of Science and the University of Dundee, has now identified an unexpected factor in that response: a protein called NUDT5. The finding follows a recent…

Where does the data come from? This lookup uses data from the HadUK Grid dataset (opens in new tab), which is produced by the Met Office Hadley Centre. HadUK Grid is one of the main products used by scientists to monitor and research the UK’s changing climate. The data for 2026 is provisional, with fewer observations feeding into calculations due to lags in data availability. As such, the precise values could change slightly in future as more data comes available. The historical averages are calculated over a 30-year period from 1991-2020, which matches the standard period used by the UN’s…

I agree with the Fabian Society’s finding that many people struggle to access apprenticeships because the system is so confusing (Only 160 apprenticeship starts in eight months on Labour’s flagship scheme, 21 September).In my work in youth employment, students often tell me that they do not want to go to university and want to pursue an apprenticeship instead. But finding suitable opportunities is extremely difficult.Even with specialist staff available to help them, navigating the process remains challenging, so it is hard to see how young people are expected to manage it independently.Apprenticeships are extremely important. We need far more of…

Claim: Pope Leo XIV and U.S. Vice President JD Vance publicly criticized each other’s thoughts about compassion. Rating: In September 2026, a claim circulated alleging Pope Leo XIV and U.S. Vice President JD Vance had a back-and-forth of verbal jabs criticizing each other on the subject of compassion. For example, Sept. 23, a Facebook user named Dee Wallace after the “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” actor, shared (archived) an image with photos of Vance and Leo. (@DeeWallaceOfficialFB via Facebook) According to the post’s caption, Vance responded to one of Leo’s messages, with Vance calling compassion a form of weakness. Leo then supposedly…

Netanyahu, who is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes, launched scathing attacks on nations and leaders who have criticised him.”They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism – some colonialism. And who’s accusing us? Among them are people in Britain and in France. For God’s sake, they invented the term,” he said.He went on to label Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “tyrant”, accusing him of supporting the Palestinian armed group Hamas.Erdogan told the UN on Tuesday that the injustices faced by those in Gaza and the West Bank “deeply offends the conscience of humanity”.New…

Last year, Maddie Kowalski was a regular sophomore attending the University of Florida. Then a series of burner accounts on X started proliferating explicit, nonconsensual videos of her. This week, Zoë Schiffer sits down with WIRED senior writer EJ Dickson to discuss the burnerverse, a sprawling, loosely organized network of anonymous accounts that have turned the sexual humiliation of young women into an online participatory sport.You can follow Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer and EJ Dickson on Bluesky at @ejdickson. Write to us at [email protected].How to ListenYou can always listen to this week’s podcast through the audio player on…

A new variant of the MacSync info-stealing malware targeting macOS systems now uses public iCloud calendar events to deliver fresh payloads. MacSync is a Swift-based malware that emerged in April 2025 and has been observed recently being delivered in ClickFix campaigns disguised as Homebrew and macOS disk space analyzer tools. Kaspersky researchers say that while earlier versions of the malware were derived from the AMOS stealer family, MacSync evolved and added new capabilities via modules. Delivery chain MacSync has been distributed to victims through social engineering, including ClickFix-style attacks, and through software presented as free, cracked, or as new applications.…

In brief The Federal Reserve proposed rules requiring Board-supervised payment stablecoin issuers to fully back their tokens with permissible assets like short-term Treasury bills, plus standardized capital requirements, risk-management standards and rules for safekeeping reserves. A second proposal would create a tailored application process for Board-supervised banks seeking to issue stablecoins, with procedures for appeals and hearings; the comment period closes 60 days after Federal Register publication. The move adds the Fed’s piece to a multi-agency GENIUS Act rollout, alongside the OCC’s November push and Treasury’s restrictions on noncompliant stablecoins. The Federal Reserve is moving to set the ground rules…

Warnings of an El Niño unlike any other are starting to become reality. For months, scientists have cautioned that the natural climate pattern could grow into a record-breaking beast, releasing extraordinary amounts of heat from the ocean and fueling droughts, floods, heat waves and severe storms. Now, a traditional strength measurement of El Niño, called the Oceanic Niño Index, indicates that the pattern has reached an intensity unseen in recorded history. On September 21, the daily sea surface temperature in the region where El Niño develops — the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean — reached 3.08 degrees Celsius warmer…

EL PASO—While Texas officials have hit pause on data center permitting, one project is still moving ahead: Meta’s $10 billion, 1-gigawatt data center in northeast El Paso. Meta had already signed tax abatement agreements with El Paso, jumped through regulatory hoops and started construction before Texas officials tapped the brakes on data center development this year. But one hurdle the project must still clear is securing approval for El Paso Electric’s application to the Public Utilities Commission of Texas to build a 366-megawatt natural gas facility, using modular generators, to power the data center. Once operational, Meta’s data center would…