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29 Sep 2026 1:16pm GMT

Canonical has enabled upgrades from Ubuntu 24.04 LTS to Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS, with the rollout beginning gradually through Update Manager.

29 Sep 2026 1:02pm GMT

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29 Sep 2026 12:43pm GMT

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29 Sep 2026 12:38pm GMT

antiX 26.1 arrives as a bug-fix release based on Debian 13 Trixie, with five init systems, IceWM by default, and 32-bit support.

29 Sep 2026 12:19pm GMT

The current El Nino has already surpassed the highest Pacific temperature anomaly recorded in the modern era, reaching 3.05C above the 1991-2020 average months before its expected peak. The commonly used ONI measure is also on the verge of breaking the 2015 record. Forecasts cited by The Guardian suggest the event could reach about 4.0C later this year. From the report: The latest data shows the temperature rise at the heart of El Nino in the Pacific Ocean has now reached 3.05C. That is higher than the 3.02C set in late November 2015, the previous high set in the 150 years of modern records. This temperature is measured against the average of 1991-2020. The preferred measure of most meteorologists uses a 30-year rolling average as a reference and so takes account of human-caused global heating. This metric, called ONI (Nino3.4), is on the brink of breaking the record, just one-hundredth of a degree below the 2015 record. Both metrics are underpinned by data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The most recent forecasts predict a peak of 4.0C in November and December, according to the average of 14 different models assessed by climate scientist Zeke Hausfather. That is a level so far above previous events that Hausfather called it "mind-blowing," while others have described it as "Godzilla-level." Any temperature rise above 0.5C is deemed an El Nino; above 2C is officially called a "very strong" El Nino -- often referred to as a "super" El Nino. The current El Nino is likely to be the largest in at least 1,000 years and will pile extra heat into an atmosphere in which temperatures are already rising rapidly due to human-caused global heating. This double whammy means 2027 is expected to "blow apart" previous records and become the hottest year ever recorded.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

29 Sep 2026 11:00am GMT

KDE Plasma 6.8 picks up more UI polish and fixes ahead of its final release, while early Plasma 6.9 improvements are already starting to land.

29 Sep 2026 8:24am GMT

New research suggests Enceladus may be an especially promising place to search for extraterrestrial life: microbes similar to those found near Earth's hydrothermal vents survived in lab conditions designed to mimic the Saturnian moon's subsurface ocean. A separate study also found that material blasted from Enceladus' plumes may naturally separate and concentrate salts, organics and potential biosignatures into individual ice grains, potentially making them easier for future spacecraft to detect. "That is great news in the search for life," Frank Postberg, lead author of one and co-author of the other of these new studies and professor at Freie Universitat Berlin, said in a statement. "Future spacecraft will have to analyze many individual ice particles in the plume. But if they come across one with microbial material in it, they could identify biosignatures in the particle relatively easy with already available technology." Space.com reports: Enceladus isn't the only place in our solar system with water -- so, why is it so exciting in the search for life? Well, it has to do with the seafloor of its extensive, liquid ocean. Down deep at the bottom of this body of water, scientists think hydrothermal processes, or movement or reactions with hot water under the surface, are taking place. The plumes shooting upward from the ocean also contain trace amounts of salts and organic compounds. NASA's Cassini spacecraft found these traces when it flew through the plumes over a decade ago. Between the hydrothermal activity and the organics and minerals in the water, this moon's ocean has a number of aspects that could be involved in supporting life. What's more, using a combination of Cassini data, theoretical models and laboratory experimentation, in Postberg's new study the team found that the plume's water droplets blasting out into space at up to 621 miles per hour (1,000 kilometers per hour) don't freeze as quickly as expected. Before, scientists thought the freeze would happen instantaneously once the droplets reached space, but Postberg and fellow researchers say they found the freezing would actually happen much slower. They also found that during this freezing process, the salt, organic compounds (and maybe possible signs of life) in the water droplets separate from one another. Not only that, but the team says that as the particles are blasted out into space, they should often collide with the icy cracks of the planet's surface. This ultimately would leave behind tiny shards of frozen droplets with individually separated out components. Essentially, it's like the planet has organized its oceanic ingredients into tiny, frozen particle fragments. This work is described in two new studies published in the journal Science Advances here and here.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

29 Sep 2026 7:00am GMT

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: It is the bane of every fruit bowl: sliced banana that turns brown before it has reached the table. But such woes could soon be a thing of the past, with gene-edited bananas that keep their freshly peeled color now one step closer to reaching British shoppers. According to Tropic, the Norwich-based agricultural-biotechnology company that developed the fruit, the bananas have the same taste and texture but stay "fresh, yellow and appetizing long after peeling and slicing." Gilad Gershon, the chief executive of Tropic, said the flesh of the new banana resisted browning for an extra day or two -- and longer if chilled. He added that the innovation could make it easier to add bananas to prepackaged products such as fruit salads and breakfast pots, as well as reducing waste. [...] Tropic developed the bananas by using a gene-editing technology called Crispr-Cas9 to alter all three copies of a single gene within the fruit. As a result, they were able to reduce the production of polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme that causes browning. A similar approach has been effective in reducing browning in other produce, including mushrooms. Tropic said the non-browning bananas could reduce food waste and CO2-equivalent emissions along the supply chain by more than 25%. "This could support an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of over 9m tonnes in the banana export market alone," the company said. [...] Gershon said Tropic had gained regulatory approval for the non-browning bananas in 10 other countries including Japan, Brazil and the Philippines. The fruit is already being grown in Latin America.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

29 Sep 2026 3:30am GMT

"We couldn't provide detailed pricing to the CLD suppliers."

28 Sep 2026 10:24pm GMT

China is reportedly mulling letting ByteDance, Alibaba buy banned Nvidia chips.

28 Sep 2026 9:49pm GMT

Starship had already flown 99 percent of the way to low-Earth orbit. Monday's flight added the last bit.

28 Sep 2026 9:26pm GMT