Startup bets on lightning suppression to curb catastrophic wildfires

Vancouver-based startup Skyward Wildfire is testing lightning suppression technology using aluminum-coated glass fibers to prevent fire-starting strikes, but researchers warn that the science, risks, and environmental impacts remain uncertain. The company is pushing ahead with field trials in Canada as climate change drives up wildfire danger and lightning-linked fire risk.

Military artificial intelligence deals and experimental wildfire tech under scrutiny

A wildfire startup claims it can stop lightning-ignited blazes while OpenAI navigates a contentious classified work deal with the Pentagon, amid wider concerns over surveillance and labor impacts of artificial intelligence.

Microsoft shader execution reordering delivers major ray tracing gains on latest GPUs

Microsoft’s shader execution reordering demo shows up to a 90% ray tracing performance boost on Intel Arc B-Series and about an 80% uplift on Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 ‘Blackwell’ in independent testing, signaling significant headroom for future games.