As Photo Ark turns 20, Joel Sartore photographs 18,000 animal species
Joel Sartore photographed his 18,000th animal species for the Photo Ark project, which has been running for 20 years. The milestone photograph was taken somewhere in Australia this year, though Sartore is uncertain which specific animal crossed the threshold.
Anthropic Brings Claude for Teachers to Schools and Districts
Claude for Teachers is now available free to schools and districts as an Enterprise offering, with qualifying organizations receiving a full year of free access if they sign up by June 30, 2027. The product allows school and district leaders to manage educators and staff under a single centrally managed organization with K-12 specific terms.
Experimental eye drops help blind mice see again
Light-activated drugs delivered as eye drops restored light perception in blind mice and enabled visually guided behavior without requiring gene therapy or implants. Two of the most promising compounds proved effective when applied directly as eye drops rather than through invasive procedures.
a16z has raised $1.1bn to invest in the physical layer of AI
Andreessen Horowitz closed a $1.1 billion fund focused exclusively on AI hardware investments, covering chips, memory, networking, storage, and complete systems. The Machine Age Fund targets the physical infrastructure layer that supports artificial intelligence operations, including the buildings that house computing equipment.
NASA’s Roman telescope will see 100 times more sky than Hubble
The Roman Space Telescope will observe a field of view 100 times larger than Hubble while maintaining similar detail. This capability will enable astronomers to detect hidden planets, catalog billions of cosmic objects, and study dark matter and dark energy.
Ethereum (ETH) Researchers Draft a Deposit-Contract Overhaul to Prepare Staking for Quantum-Resistant Keys
Ethereum researchers drafted a proposal to overhaul the deposit contract that admits new validators, enabling quantum-resistant staking keys before current cryptography becomes vulnerable. The plan targets the deposit contract, the gateway where operators lock funds to participate in network validation.
Abu Dhabi Ice Cream Entrepreneur Uses Her National Crop to Make Healthier Soft Serve
Amira Al Dosari developed date-based soft serve ice cream using her country's national crop after years of experimentation and breaking multiple machines. Her Abu Dhabi ice cream parlor serves soft-serve blends made from dates as the primary ingredient.
The conservation population of Australia’s endangered eastern quoll welcomes joeys
Eastern quolls, an endangered Australian marsupial species, have successfully produced joeys in a conservation population program. The small nocturnal carnivorous marsupials have light fawn or blackish-brown coloring with white spots and pointed ferret-like faces.
The Download: a secretive antiaging drug and joining virtual power plants
A startup called Generation Lab claims to have discovered a drug that can make blood younger. The company offered this antiaging treatment to a technology journalist as part of what appears to be a secretive development initiative.
$672 Million XRP Treasury Firm Is One Final Vote Away From Nasdaq
The SEC declared Evernorth's S-4 registration effective on August 27, removing the final regulatory barrier for its Nasdaq listing under ticker XRPN. A shareholder vote scheduled for September 30 remains the last step before the XRP treasury company, with a $672 million portfolio and backed by Ripple and Kraken, can proceed with its public listing.
BNPL Fintech Affirm Beats Revenue Estimates and Lifts Outlook as AFRM Stock Surge in After Hours
Affirm reported revenue that exceeded analyst estimates and raised its financial guidance for the upcoming year. The buy-now-pay-later fintech company also posted a significant increase in reported profit in its latest quarter.
Researchers followed 400,000 kids for 20 years and found a lasting pre-K advantage
A 20-year study tracking 400,000 students found that children who attended public school pre-K earned better grades and test scores through high school compared to those in other childcare settings. Better-trained teachers and earlier exposure to structured classrooms were identified as potential factors contributing to this lasting educational advantage.
Renter Is Shocked When Landlord Gives Her a Home After 20 Years Being a Good Tenant There
A Melbourne landlord gifted his rental home to a long-term tenant after she had rented for approximately 23 years. The self-made millionaire, who identified as a philanthropist, made this gesture in his final years of life.
Bitcoin Price Prediction: Can BTC Get Back Over $80,000?
Bitcoin is trading near $79,650, below the $80,000 level. Key support and resistance levels are being analyzed to determine potential price movements this week.
College football is booming, chaotic and more confusing than ever
Television ratings for college football have surged significantly, while money flows to numerous programs and thousands of players. Many teams face economic challenges competing in a transfer arms race, leaving some programs stranded by realignment and draining fan finances.
How to sign up for a virtual power plant—and decide whether you should
Households can now enroll their thermostats, electric vehicles, and home batteries into virtual power plants that allow utility companies to manage these devices collectively. Virtual power plants coordinate multiple household energy systems to balance electricity demand, functioning as distributed power generation across potentially thousands of participating homes.
The Goat-Cow Is Spain’s Wildfire-Fighting Secret Weapon
Hybrid goat-cow animals are being used in Galicia, Spain to control vegetation growth and reduce wildfire risk in areas with rapid plant growth. The animals graze on dried vegetation during summer months when fire danger increases due to dry conditions.
Google AI Releases Gemini 3.5 Transcribe: A Speech-to-Text Model Reporting 2.6% Average WER Across 85+ Languages
A speech-to-text model called Gemini 3.5 Transcribe achieves 2.6% word error rate across 85 plus languages through a batch endpoint. The streaming endpoint delivers sub-second transcription at 4.0% error rate but removes speaker diarization and word timestamps.
Affirm and Shopify Take Shop Pay Installments to Australia
Shopify's Shop Pay button now offers Affirm-powered installment payments to Australian customers. This capability extends the existing global partnership between Affirm and Shopify that launched Shop Pay Installments exclusively powered by Affirm.
Anthropic Previews Standard for AI Control of Physical Devices
A shared specification called the Model Hardware Standard enables AI agents to operate physical devices like microscopes, liquid handlers, and robotic arms in lab and manufacturing settings. Anthropic opened a research preview of this standard on Thursday, August 27.
BitGo Acquires NYDIG Institutional Trading Business, Related Assets
BitGo completed an acquisition of NYDIG's institutional trading business and related assets, with deal terms undisclosed. The transaction did not significantly move BitGo's stock price upon announcement.
Held back twice due to dyslexia, he overcame it to become one of TV’s most prolific writers
Stephen J. Cannell was held back twice in school due to dyslexia but went on to become a prolific television writer. Despite his early struggles with reading, he created multiple hit TV shows throughout his career.
Bitcoin, Mortgages, Help to Push Coinbase Shares Higher
Coinbase announced a partnership with Better Mortgage to issue conforming mortgage products backed by digital assets. The partnership represents Coinbase's entry into the mortgage sector, contributing to a nearly 5% increase in the company's share price.
Vanguard to Acquire AI focused Wealthech Altruist
Vanguard is acquiring Altruist, an AI-focused wealth technology and custody firm serving independent financial advisors. The definitive agreement was announced on August 26, 2026, to expand advisor tools and access to wealth advice services.
Who is Responsible When an AI Agent Loses Your Money?
A six-figure cryptocurrency transfer was triggered through Morse code passed between Grok, an AI chatbot, and Bankrbot, a crypto agent connected to a wallet. The May 4 incident involved two linked AI systems where one could execute payments from the connected wallet.
Costa Rica to require wildlife crossings for roads when they impact fauna
Costa Rica unanimously approved a requirement for wildlife crossings on new and existing roads when they disrupt animal movement and endanger fauna. The measure, passed in August 2026, will help wildlife avoid vehicle strikes while maintaining habitat connectivity.
USA’s Russell and Brazil’s Dos Santos smash world records on ‘crazy’ night in Zurich
Masai Russell and Alison Dos Santos each set world records in the hurdles events at a sold-out stadium in Zurich with 25,000 spectators. The still, balmy weather conditions contributed to the record-breaking performances on Thursday night.
Bitcoin Clears $80,000 As Schwab Adds Solana
Bitcoin exceeded $80,000 while Charles Schwab announced it will add Solana, Avalanche, and Chainlink to its retail crypto platform. Solana rose 12.9% following the news, and Ethena gained 21.9% after proposing to route 95% of net revenue into ENA buybacks.
Anthropic tests a new standard for Claude to work with factory and lab hardware
Anthropic released the Model Hardware Standard in research preview, which specifies how AI can safely operate hardware by storing operational constraints like robot arm speed and angle limits. The standard was developed ahead of Europe's Machinery Regulation covering AI-based safety functions, effective January 20, 2027.
Cohere Releases Parse 5 (parse-v5.0): A 2.3B Vision Language Model That Turns Enterprise Documents Into Markdown
A 2.3B-parameter vision language model converts PDFs, slides, and images into Markdown with HTML tables, bounding boxes, and image descriptions at $1.50 per 1,000 pages via API. The model achieves a ParseBench score of 79.2, averaging three of the benchmark's five dimensions while excluding charts and visual grounding.