MSPs vote for strict environmental impact assessments and will delay decisions until national strategy is developed
Holyrood has voted to pause planning applications for all new AI datacentres for up to a year until the Scottish government has developed a national strategy.
On Wednesday, MSPs backed a Scottish Labour motion to halt new schemes for up to 12 months while rules on hyperscale datacentres are developed in what could be a blow to the British government’s AI strategy.
Anthropic, the AI company behind the large language model Claude, has done a deal to lease the site of its first Australian datacentre in western Queensland.
The $31.9bn datacentre will be the largest of its kind in Australia, according to planning documents.
Queenslanders’ right to object to mining projects – including coal – would be “gutted” by new legislation that would ban opponents from being heard in court without the minister’s approval and then only if they owned a property within a 125km radius of the project.
The Greens have called the move “corrupt” and community action group Lock the Gate Alliance said the state’s LNP government was “tearing up democratic and environmental protections just to make life easier for mining companies”.
iPhone 18 Pro arrives with Apple concentrating its biggest changes in three areas: camera control, sustained performance, and battery life. The new Pro models retain familiar 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch display sizes, but introduce a variable-aperture main camera, the 2-nanometer A20 Pro chip, redesigned thermal hardware, and a smaller Dynamic Island.
The lineup consists of iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, starting at $1,199 and $1,299 in the U.S., respectively. Both begin with 256GB of storage and are available in black, silver, glacier, and a new burgundy finish. Preorders opened September 12, with retail availability beginning September 18 in more than 65 countries and regions.
Rather than treating the Pro models as a cosmetic update, Apple has focused on changes that become more noticeable during demanding use, particularly photography, video work, gaming, AI processing, and long sessions away from a charger.
iPhone 18 Pro brings variable aperture to the main camera
The centerpiece is a new 48MP Fusion Main camera with a physical variable aperture, a first for the iPhone.
Six laser-cut aperture blades can adjust the amount of light reaching the sensor while also changing depth of field. The camera supports four aperture settings: ƒ/1.48, ƒ/1.8, ƒ/2.8, and ƒ/4.0.
At the wider end, the camera can gather more light in darker scenes. A narrower aperture can keep more people or background detail in focus, giving photographers another tool beyond computational depth effects and Portrait mode.
Apple also gives users direct access to those settings through new Pro controls in the Camera app. Aperture, shutter speed, and white balance can be adjusted manually, while a histogram provides a more conventional way to monitor exposure.
The feature is paired with a new main-camera sensor and updated computational imaging pipeline. Apple says the combination improves low-light performance and detail, while Photographic Styles gain texture and grain controls for additional control over an image’s appearance.
Video receives several additions as well. Cinematic effects can now be applied after recording to footage captured at up to 60 frames per second, while Time-lapse can record in 4K with Dolby Vision HDR. Audio Mix has also been updated with improved voice processing and the ability to isolate music.
For photographers who want more evidence of how an image originated, Apple is introducing Apple Reference Image. In Reference mode, the main camera signs sensor data, which Private Cloud Compute uses to create an unalterable reference version that can be compared with an edited image in Photos. Apple is also preparing support for the SynthID standard as another way of identifying AI-generated or altered content.
Image Credit: Apple Inc.
iPhone 18 Pro uses A20 Pro and a redesigned vapor chamber
A20 Pro is built using a 2-nanometer manufacturing process and contains a six-core CPU, seven-core GPU, and dual 16-core Neural Engine.
Apple says memory bandwidth is 50% higher than on A19 Pro, while GPU performance can be up to 40% faster. The Neural Engine provides 32 cores in total, doubling the AI processing capability of the previous Pro chip.
The silicon change is closely tied to a redesigned cooling system. Apple has rearranged the chip package so that the silicon die sits beside the memory rather than beneath it in the thermal path, allowing A20 Pro to connect more directly to a next-generation vapor chamber.
That vapor chamber has three times the surface area of the previous generation and uses new materials to move heat away from the processor more effectively. Apple claims the design can deliver up to a 40% gain in sustained performance compared with iPhone 17 Pro.
That distinction is more relevant than peak benchmark numbers for workloads such as extended gaming sessions, video editing, computational photography, and local AI models, where heat can force a phone to reduce performance over time.
Connectivity has also moved further toward Apple-designed silicon. The N1 wireless chip supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread, while the new C2 modem succeeds C1X. Apple says C2 uses 15% less energy while offering faster uploads and adds mmWave support in the U.S.
Image Credit: Apple Inc.
iPhone 18 Pro Max reaches 45 hours of video playback
Battery improvements are another major part of the new hardware.
Apple rates eSIM-only versions of iPhone 18 Pro for up to 36 hours of video playback, while iPhone 18 Pro Max reaches as much as 45 hours. Apple says Pro Max receives the largest battery-life increase ever delivered in an iPhone.
Some of that gain comes from using the space previously occupied by a physical SIM tray. In markets receiving eSIM-only models, including the U.S., Canada, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, the larger internal battery provides an additional two hours of rated video playback.
Charging has accelerated as well. iPhone 18 Pro can reach 50% charge in approximately 15 minutes using a supported wired setup, while wireless charging reaches 50% in around 30 minutes. Apple says five minutes of wired charging on iPhone 18 Pro Max can provide roughly seven hours of video playback.
Both devices use aluminum unibody construction with Ceramic Shield 2 on the front and Ceramic Shield on the back. Storage options run from 256GB through 2TB.
The iPhone 18 Pro weighs 211 grams, while iPhone 18 Pro Max weighs 249 grams. Display sizes remain 6.3 inches and 6.9 inches, respectively.
Image Credit: Apple Inc.
iOS 27 brings Siri AI and new Apple Intelligence tools
The hardware launches alongside iOS 27, which places Apple Intelligence and the new Siri AI more prominently across the system.
Siri AI can use personal context from information stored across apps, respond to onscreen content, perform actions in supported apps, and handle more open-ended questions. A new Siri mode in Camera lets users ask questions and take action based on objects or information visible through the viewfinder.
Photo tools include Spatial Reframing, Extend, and an upgraded Clean Up feature, while Safari can monitor selected webpages for changes such as a product restock or price adjustment.
The Dynamic Island has also been physically reduced and redesigned. It can display up to three Live Activities simultaneously while continuing to support Face ID.
Apple released iOS 27 on September 14, while Siri AI is rolling out initially as a beta in English, with additional language support planned. iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max reach stores September 18, giving Apple a Pro lineup whose most substantial additions are less about a new exterior shape and more about physical camera control, heat management, and how long the hardware can sustain demanding workloads.
Despite major strides in education and conservation efforts, rabies remains a serious public health issue. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates around 90 percent of cases occur in wildlife, but their consequences still reverberate across ecosystems and routinely endanger humans. Combating the viral disease costs the United States over $300 million every year, but the hefty price tag is justified. Contracting one of the oldest known diseases invariably causes severe symptoms like abnormal sensations, violent movements, hydrophobia, and loss of consciousness. Rabies is fatal in virtually every documented case, and still kills around 59,000 people around the world each year.
Once primarily associated with dogs, rabies has since spread to wildlife such as raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes—making the issue much more difficult to track and control. Since 1995, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has overseen a National Rabies Management Program in cooperation with state and federal departments, university researchers, and other organizations. After over 30 years of work, one of the most preferred mitigation methods is regularly placing oral rabies vaccine (ORV) bait in strategically selected wildlife areas. The easiest way to spread millions of bait blocks across thousands of square miles? Airdrops.
The bait isn’t toxic, but the USDA recommends using gloves to handle it. Credit: USDA
Next month, the USDA will once again begin tossing fishmeal-coated ORV packets from planes throughout the Southeastern states of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. These tiny edibles are specifically crafted to target the most prominent rabies variants seen in raccoons, coyotes, and gray foxes.
“The goal is to prevent westward spread of raccoon rabies by creating a continuous vaccine barrier that stays in front of rabies occurrence on the landscape,” a USDA spokesperson recently told FOX Carolina News. The representative added that although the distribution’s scope doesn’t currently include South Carolina, they are “very close to establishing an ORV area in South Carolina counties bordering North Carolina and Georgia in the next few years.”
If all goes as planned, the National Rabies Management Program’s geographic scope will shrink over time as the disease is regionally eliminated. Until then, anyone who accidentally comes into contact with an ORV bait brick shouldn’t worry about contracting the disease. The vaccine inside each brick is proven safe for over 60 animal species, including cats and dogs. If you happen to locate one in a residential area, the USDA recommends to either simply leave it alone, or use gloves to move it to a more remote location for its intended recipients. Always wash your hands thoroughly after handling ORV bait—and try to ignore the pungent odor of fishmeal.
Yellowstone National Park attracts more than 4.5 million visitors from around the world every year. Many sightseers arrive well prepared to admire the hotsprings, geysers, scenic lookouts, and wildlife, but there is only so much anyone can do about life’s little unexpected accidents. Each season, Yellowstone’s gusty winds are responsible for blowing away hundreds of hats, maps, and even sunglasses from the heads and hands of onlookers. And every season, park workers scour the grounds to gather up any lost items that landed far from the walkways and trails.
While the tally so far isn’t quite as large as last year’s haul, Yellowstone officials still impressively retrieved more than 280 hats from the hydrothermal areas. Workers cited standouts including a FIFA 2026 Men’s World Cup souvenir and a baseball cap ironically emblazoned with “Cowboy Hat.” But just because they aren’t suited for floating around roiling geysers doesn’t mean they’re destined for a landfill. Once the 2026 season draws to a close, all of the collected hats will be cleaned and donated to local clothing organizations.
Yellowstone officials recommend storing items deep in your pockets and always throwing litter into trash bins. Credit: Yellowstone National Park
Caps are only one type of lost item located amid the hunts. Workers scooped up more than $18 in coins from around the world during the summer search. Canadian dollars, euros, pesos, and yen were scattered among the U.S. change, many apparently tossed into hot springs and geysers as if they were wishing wells. Yellowstone officials took the occasion to remind everyone that hydrothermal formations are not made to receive wished-upon coins. Not only will your dream remain unfulfilled—the foreign additions often introduce destructive algae and bacteria into the delicate ecosystems.
Other common detritus in the haul included plenty of paper and plastic trash, hair ties, hotel key cards, children’s toys, eyewear, and camera lens caps. Standout oddities such as AirPods, an inhaler, and even a single Uno card also made the list of finds.
A single Uno card was also among the fines. Credit: Yellowstone National Park
As always, Yellowstone workers reminded everyone that the seasonal roundup also serves as an excellent reminder to “stash your trash.” Visitors are encouraged to place any litter or lightweight items deep in their pockets or bags until they reach a trash can. And although headwear is always important protection from the sun, people may want to consider temporarily removing their hats while trekking through especially windy areas of the park.
A centuries’ old “witness tree” that survived not only the Revolutionary War but a direct hit from lightning is facing yet another existential threat. Ironically, the famous oak in Eutaw Springs, South Carolina, is struggling to survive due to the strategies conservationists first used when attempting to preserve it decades ago.
The nearly 300-year-old tree was already nearing its semicentennial on September 8, 1781, when around 2,000 British and 2,500 American troops met at the Battle of Eutaw Springs. Believed to be the American Revolution’s last open-field engagement, the vicious combat was later remembered by colonial Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene as “by far, the hottest action I ever saw, and the most bloody for the numbers engaged.” Records indicate 1,461 troops were killed, wounded, captured, or missing by the end of the conflict—although both sides claimed victory.
“That tree probably took a few lead balls itself,” arborist Aron Landsaw recently said in an Associated Press profile.
The original support chains had begun to suffocate the tree itself. Credit: SavATree KRIS MEADE
Landsaw and other conservationists are working to preserve the 45-foot-tall tree from succumbing to lingering injuries. About 50 years ago, lightning struck its base and almost split the oak in half. In an attempt to save the tree, workers at the time wrapped its splintered branches in a series of steel chains and cables. Although the strategy successfully granted the oak a reprieve, it grew so much over the last five decades that those metal lashes are cutting into the tree itself. In some areas, the cabling is now completely encased in bark.
“The chains and cables are actually choking it out. It can’t nutrients up from the soil,” explained Landsaw.
As part of the nation’s 250th anniversary, South Carolina partnered with the American Battlefield Trust and New York state-based arborists to once again bring the oak tree back from the brink of death. This time, the strategy is more high-tech than metal chains. Using specialized equipment to generate supersonic air, workers have essentially loosened all the heavily compacted earth around the tree’s roots. From there, they added a nutrient-rich kelp concoction into the dirt to further bolster the oak’s health.
The new accessories will divert any future lightning strikes away from the tree. Credit: SavATree KRIS MEADE
Other additions were tapped directly into the tree’s primary branches. These small, strategically placed lightning rods embedded into the oak are strung together with copper cables that all connect to a primary grounded copper rod located about 10 feet away from the tree. The odd-looking accessories are intended to prevent a repeat of the incident from 50 years ago.
“If lightning does hit it, it’ll run down the copper cables and dissipate into the ground,” said Landsaw.
The last phase will involve connecting a new set of reinforcement cables into the branches before carefully getting rid of the old chainwork. The replacement cables will all connect in the center so that the tree will remain flexible during wind gusts. No tree lives forever, but with the extra TLC and a little luck, the historic oak could easily bear witness to another 100 years of history.
Three little letters - bnb-side’s name is a play on the local b-side arts festival, but Silicon Valley colossus sees threat to global brand
In one corner is bnb-side, a six-room bed and breakfast on the Isle of Portland – a tiny wedge of limestone tied by a narrow ribbon of shingle to the Dorset coast – that was created to help secure the future of the rock’s much-loved arts festival, b-side.
On the other is Airbnb, the San Francisco-based booking colossus. The battle between them is over the three little letters they share.
Staff at St. Louis Zoo in St. Louis, Missouri recently opened up a very special delivery in the mail: an overnight shipment of 500 adult Partula snails.
Their journey began at the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak, Michigan, and it’s not quite over yet. The small invertebrates’ final destination is Tahiti, where they will be released into the wild as part of an international effort to reestablish wild populations of Partula snails.
“The snails are sent ‘priority overnight’ via either FedEx or UPS. The snails are carefully packed using insulating materials and special ‘phase change’ packs to stabilize the temperature inside,” Mark Vassallo, Curator of Amphibians at the Detroit Zoological Society, tells Popular Science. “Currently the Detroit Zoological Society bred snails are taking a pit-stop at St. Louis Zoo where they will be fed a special diet in order to prepare them for the wild.”
Partula snails are small, tree-dwelling native to islands in French Polynesia. In Polynesian cultural heritage, each unique Partula snail shell represents an island. When humans introduced the predatory rosy wolf snail to the region to manage another invasive snail species, it wrecked Partula snail populations.
A Partula snail is weighed and measured by keeper Tom Maunders, during the annual weigh-in at Whipsnade Zoo in England. Image: Joe Giddens/PA Images via Getty Images.
For decades, the Detroit Zoo has been breeding and raising Partulasnails and helping return them to their native habitat by the thousands in Tahiti. In fact, the 500 en route right now were all bred at the zoo. Each of their shells features an orange dot of animal-safe paint that glows in UV light, which identifies them as one of the snails released in 2026. Each year has a different color, and the dots also allow conservationists to easily monitor them in their natural habitat.
This upcoming release is part of an international recovery program that has returned 11 different Partula species formerly deemed extinct in the wild to their native environments, consisting of over 17,000 individual snails. The Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans, Louisiana, also recently sent 200 Partula snails to Tahiti.
Orange markings on Partula nodosa snails bred at the Detroit Zoo glow under ultraviolet light. The markings will help researchers identify and monitor the 2026 release group after the snails are returned to the wild in Tahiti. Image: Detroit Zoo.
When asked what “success” looks like, Vassallo explains that, “Success for a conservation project can be defined in stages but ultimately, a self-sustaining population with consistent reproduction and very importantly, proper habitat that is protected to sustain that species to allow long term recovery and stabilization of that population.”
Some species of Partula snails are already extinct in the wild, such as Partula nodosa. In the wake of reintroductions of the species, however, experts were excited to observe offspring born in the wild.
Wild condor parents usually make a great parenting team. But when one female California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) in Pinnacles National Park in Central California found herself in the role of a single mother, park biologists stepped in to help.
The condor mother wasn’t able to provide sufficient care and food for her chick while on her own. Field biologists realized that when hunting for food, she returned to the nest less frequently. The chick needed more nutrition to grow and develop appropriately.
“Based on her behavior, she had largely abandoned the nest, and the chick was unlikely to survive without intervention,” a spokesperson for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance tells Popular Science.
Pinnacles National Park biologists took the chick when it was around one month old and sent him to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s California condor breeding facility. There, he’s receiving care in a specialized puppet-rearing program.
“The puppet-rearing program is a specialized care method used to raise young California condor chicks without allowing them to see or bond with human caretakers,” says the spokesperson. “Wildlife care specialists use hand-crafted puppets that resemble adult California condors and completely cover the caretaker’s hands and arms. Caretakers use the puppet’s beak to deliver food directly to the chick, mimicking the way an adult condor parent would feed its young in the nest.”
The chick was named Cayic (pronounced Chai-eech), meaning “strong” in the Mutsun language of the Indigenous people of California’s Central Coast. Thankfully, Cayic is demonstrating normal growth and development, and experts plan on returning him to the wild next fall.California condors are still considered critically endangered, after nearly going extinct.
As for the chick’s father, he had stopped returning to the nest and eventually died while receiving treatment for suspected lead poisoning. Lead poisoning is the greatest cause of death for California condors and a severe obstacle in the species’ recovery. The species is also threatened by the consumption of microtrash.
California condors, or “thunderbirds” for Native Americans, are North America’s largest flying birds. Their wingspan is almost ten feet long, but their mighty reach didn’t keep them from reaching the brink of extinction. During the 1980s, there were fewer than two dozen of them in the wild. In 1986, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put them all in a captive breeding and release program, including at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Six years later, the program had bred enough chicks to return the first condors to the wild.
As of the end of 2025, there are 607 California condors in the world, 392 of which are in the wild. One of them is Cayic’s mom.
“The mother may go on to pair with another male, and we hope she will have another opportunity to breed during a future breeding season,” says the spokesperson.
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