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The ‘WarGames’ problem: Computer science has long understood what it takes to keep AI under control

AI agents don’t go rogue. That’s something only humans do. Nevertheless, a New York Times article – representative of much news coverage of AI – described an OpenAI hacking as “A.I. bots going rogue and independently spearheading a cyberattack.” Name-brand artificial intelligence agents have been on a hacking spree in 2026. OpenAI’s software agents hacked...

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Behind India’s record performance at International Math Olympiad 2024

Mathematics always interested 18-year-old Ananda Bhaduri. Growing up in Guwahati, he spent his formative years learning topics not generally covered in school curricula. Last year, he dove into the expansive archives of mathematics problems on the internet, carefully curating the hardest ones and solving them — sometimes in solitude, at others over online meetings with...

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Ancient grasslands, once destroyed for development, can take 100 years to grow back

(This article forms a part of the Science for All newsletter that takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Subscribe now!) Ancient grasslands, one of the least valued ecosystems, support a phenomenal diversity of wildlife, create livelihoods of billions of pastoralists, and store one-third of Earth’s terrestrial carbon. But they are often...

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What are the new guidelines set by IN-SPACe for Indian and foreign hosted-payloads | Explained

The story so far: The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) on September 17, 2026, released a document titled Norms, Guidelines and Procedures for implementation of the Indian Space Policy 2023 in respect of authorisation for establishment and operation of hosted-payloads. Why has IN-SPACe released the document ? IN-SPACe, which is the single-window...

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After great apes, scientists find African elephants self-medicate too

Wild animals have for long been known for their intuitive pharmacological knowledge: orangutans balm their wounds with plants; chimpanzees consume bitter antibacterial leaves; Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins queue up to rub against selected corals; and birds smear their nests with insecticidal plants to fend off anaemia-causing mites.  Scientists term this behaviour zoopharmacognosy, where animals seek out...

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SpaceX Starship engine failure could hit NASA moon mission plans

The Starship engine failure that nearly foiled the orbital debut of SpaceX’s next-generation spacecraft on its 14th uncrewed test flight may complicate NASA‘s ‌ability to meet its time frame for astronaut missions to the moon. Starship, designed in part to carry ​large payloads to space, is one of two vehicles vying to become the first...

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Subatomic ambitions take five Indian school students to CERN

A group of Indian school students are among the five winning teams of the 13th edition of the ‘Beamline for Schools’ competition, a physics competition for high school students from all around the world organised by CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, in Geneva. The Indian team, named “attoPION”, comprises Nenavath Abhay Vivek, Sidhartha...

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