Author: NCIJ NETWNCIJ NETWORK

A week of intensive meditation and other mind and body practices may be capable of producing measurable changes far beyond simple relaxation. In a recent study, researchers at the University of California San Diego found that a seven-day retreat was associated with changes in brain activity, blood chemistry, immune signaling, metabolism, and the body’s natural pain control systems. The researchers also found signs of increased neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to adapt, reorganize, and form new connections. The findings, published in Communications Biology, offer new clues about how mental practices and conscious experiences may influence physical biology. Measuring the…

Human-induced climate change has more than doubled the likelihood of the extreme weather conditions that fueled Canada’s destructive 2026 wildfire season, finds a rapid analysis. As of early August, thousands of wildfires torched more than 3.8 million hectares (9.4 million acres) across the country — an area already significantly in excess of Canada’s 30-year annual average of 2.7 million hectares (6.7 million acres). The 2026 wildfire season has escalated with astonishing speed, with approximately 94% of the total burned area accumulating in a brief five-week window between late June and late July. In its analysis of Canada’s wildfires,…

A British national was shot dead in Pakistan-administered Kashmir during clashes between security forces and protesters, the Guardian can reveal.Another Briton has been held in a regional prison for more than two months despite his family’s efforts to secure his release through the Foreign Office.The details, which have not been previously reported, shed light on how Britons with familial ties to the region have been affected by the clashes, which have killed dozens in the Himalayan territory and posed the biggest challenge for Pakistani authorities in recent years.Mohammad Akhtar, 50, a resident of Peterborough, was killed on 9 June after…

The NHS Modernisation Bill is currently at the report stage and due for a third reading on 7 September. Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Helen Morgan said this was “a catastrophic step backwards” and described it as the “greatest backward step in patient safety in a generation”. “Andy Burnham must urgently put an end to this, and fix the Health Bill so that modernising the NHS doesn’t come at the expense of accountability, transparency or patient safety,” Morgan added.In a speech on NHS reform in January, then-Health Secretary Wes Streeting said “there are many decent people working at Healthwatch who care,…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Europe faces a shortage of homegrown rocket launchers by the end of the decade, the head of the European Space Agency has warned, as growing demand to launch new satellites into space outpaces the region’s independent capabilities.ESA’s expectation “today [is] that Europe has a shortage of launchers around the 2030 timeframe,” said director-general Josef Aschbacher, in a frank acknowledgment of the scale of Europe’s challenge in catching up with their main competitors, the US and China.The agency was in the process of…

For years now, executives at companies that are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars a year into developing various artificial intelligence tools have insisted that the technology will ultimately mean people will spend less of their time working.An engineering director at Google said four years ago that AI would deliver a four-day work week by 2025, external.Earlier this year, and just one year after that engineering director’s prediction, OpenAI took up the challenge, in a manner of speaking. It formally urged companies to start testing out a four-day work week (with no change in pay), claiming that AI will soon…

DEF CON — A security researcher has revealed severe, now-resolved security vulnerabilities in the Connective digital identity system, a browser extension used by over two million users in Belgium.  Developed by Nitro Software Belgium, the software is used by eight of Belgium’s ten largest banks and over 60 government agencies to manage digital identity authentication and execute legally binding electronic signatures. James Arnott, security researcher and founder of cybersecurity firm Bay Area Labs, discovered that the software failed to verify which website was attempting to communicate with the user’s computer. Because these checks were missing, any website or embedded online…

Australia’s anti-money laundering watchdog has suspended the operation of Cryptolink’s Bitcoin ATMs for three months, citing “ongoing concerns” about its compliance with anti-money laundering obligations. Australia has the highest number of crypto ATMs of all countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Australian authorities have been cracking down on the criminal use of crypto ATMs since at least late 2024. AUSTRAC CEO Brendan Thomas said Monday the company’s Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registration has been suspended for three months starting Sunday, meaning its crypto ATMs will not be allowed to operate during that time. AUSTRAC said Cryptolink failed to meet basic reporting requirements,…

For more than a decade, atomically thin semiconductors have stood out as a promising route beyond conventional silicon. These materials can be just a single atom thick while still offering impressive electrical properties. In principle, they could enable transistors that are smaller, faster, and more energy efficient than today’s devices. Yet even as researchers have discovered increasingly capable two-dimensional semiconductor materials, one stubborn engineering problem has remained. A working transistor requires an extremely thin insulating layer known as the gate dielectric. This layer sits above the semiconductor and helps control the movement of electrons. As transistors shrink, making this insulating…

The confirmation of Todd Blanche as attorney general of the United States reveals just how far President Donald Trump has shifted the Overton window—the spectrum of thought that is considered acceptable—with regard to the Department of Justice. During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings last month, the acting attorney general’s nomination hit a snag when two senators, Tom Tillis and John Cornyn, demanded that Blanche sign a document assuring them he would not revive the president’s proposal to set up a $1.8 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund providing support for individuals allegedly persecuted by the federal government. Although he initially hesitated, Blanche…