Archives — September 2026

My last blog posts calling for a scientific turn in philosophy and the abandonment of aprioristic philosophy largely resulted in three responses. There were philosophers who agreed, of course, but the main response was either: This isn’t even a debate. Philosophy is already scientific.

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Disney has embraced AI tools under CEO Josh D'Amaro. Disney employees may have AI to thank for their next raise. The Mouse House encouraged employees to use AI ahead of their annual reviews, including by suggesting that they ask chatbots to generate their goals and ways they can improve in the year ahead. This is the latest instance of Disney's internal AI push and is an example of how big corporations, including tech giants like Meta and Amazon, are using the AI tools they've invested in to shake up performance reviews or rethink how to evaluate employees. AI-generated writing has popped up everywhere from the workplace to social media and the dating world, Business Insider's Aki Ito reported. Companies are "trying desperately to find value from the AI that they've paid a lot of money for," said Sarah Franklin, the CEO of HR software firm Lattice. Here are some examples of Disney's suggested AI prompts for annual reviews, according to an internal document viewed by Business Insider:"Given my role [insert your role/title], help me create three ambitious, specific, and measurable goals that are in alignment with my team's overall business objectives [insert team FY26 objectives].

Dana Longhurst's Studio 652 began as a pop-up inside Stony Lake Furniture Co at 1 Stanley Street in Lakefield (left) and is preparing to open its permanent new home at 55 Queen Street in early October. (Photos: Studio 652 / Instagram) This edition of businessNOW is about putting down roots — and the ways local businesses and organizations are investing in the people and places around them.

The Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA) held its annual CHFA NOW Toronto conference and trade show, September 25-27 at the Enercare Centre in Toronto. This year’s event featured more than 1,200 brands. Grocery Business had a busy two days with people stopping by the booth to say hello and attend our special presentation of the 2026 Innovator in Whole Health Award, to Brenda Kirk, senior vice president of health and wellness at Pattison Food Group. We’ve divided our photo gallery into two and will showcase part two later this week. Brenda Kirk, Pattison Food Group, the 2026 Innovator in Whole Health recipient with Jim Slomka, Grocery BusinessSherrilynn Chisholm, Loblaw; Mary Scianna, Grocery BusinessAaron Skelton, Lynsey Walker, Randi Ptolemy-Ward, CHFAMary Ann and Guido Alfonsi, FortinosLarry Bonikowsky, Grocery Business; Christina Barrett, CanPrev/Orange Naturals; Jim Slomka; Grocery Business; Nancy CarrollSilvana Tsanis, National Brands; Danny Bucci, Metro OntarioDaisy Samaniego and Brad Sharer, Maple Leaf FoodsFrank Ho, Nations Fresh Foods; Larry Bonikowsky, Grocery BusinessAdvantage Solutions Team with Brenda Kirk, Pattison Food Group (3rd from the left)Michi Furuya

volume 2, page 703 (2026) Cite this article Expansion of lithium mining and refining will be needed to meet the demand associated with rising lithium-ion battery production. However, these activities will also come with water, energy and chemical usage. Understanding the effects of this resource use is needed to inform mitigation measures and minimize the impact of technologies such as electric vehicles. The authors identify process heat decarbonization and use of low-carbon reagents as key actions to mitigate the emission impacts of lithium production. Balancing trade-offs between these processes and water scarcity will be difficult but important, though, especially as new projects using direct lithium extraction begin production.

Anthropic’s Claude made headlines last week by discovering an enzyme system that humans had never seen before. That doesn’t happen every day, and Anthropic is quite proud of the work its AI did in finding it. The question is, is Anthropic’s discovery all hype, or could this really be the next big thing in biological research? The system in question is a CRISPR-like enzyme that was discovered while Claude was scouring through about 200,000 reverse transcriptase samples. This same level of research would’ve taken humans months to conduct, and so Claude is being heralded for doing it a lot faster and actually finding a result worth studying.

Whether you’re facing an armored platoon or a horde of demons, you gotta go big...or go to Hell! Recruit warriors across the DOOM universe, earn themed customization rewards and even pilot your very own big, friendly vehicle with the new Battle Pass Special: DOOM, available October 1 to October 11 for World of Tanks! Battle Pass Special: DOOM features five new Commanders spanning the DOOM Universe to pilot your Tanks, including The Doom Slayer and iconically old-school Doomguy. Tankers can also enjoy music from the DOOM franchise, unlock the "IDDQD" inscription for their tank of choice* and more as they progress through the Battle Pass. World of Tanks’ Battle Pass Special: DOOM also introduces the FV225 Collector Tank alongside the DOOM-inspired “FV225 Mk. BFG” 3D Style variant skin. Atop the Mk. BFG’s Argent-infused armor is a gigantic double-barrel cannon, letting the opposition know the only Tank they ought fear is you. Also available during the Battle Pass Special: DOOM event are two new attachment set bundles - enjoy old-school goodies with the "Doomguy's Keepsakes" bundle and experience the modern trilogy's touches with the "Fight Like Hell" bundle!

Placing Platform Limited (PPL), a London-based company providing digital trading solutions for the insurance sector, has appointed Rebecca Drummond into the newly created role of Chief Product and Technology Officer. In her new role, Drummond’s remit will be to accelerate the development and delivery of trading tools and data to the London insurance market.

UBC researchers found genetic mutations weakened the virus’s ability to bind to human cells, highlighting the need to test how emerging viruses behave. Dr. Sriram Subramaniam holds a 3D-printed model of the mutated surface protein from Canada’s first case of H5N1 avian influenza.

RIYADH: The Gulf-EU partnership is entering a new economic phase that extends beyond traditional trade to focus on investment in technology, artificial intelligence, and clean energy, as well as digital infrastructure and supply chains. The second EU-GCC Summit will be held in Riyadh on Oct. 24, according to the European Commission’s official spokesperson, who spoke to Al-Eqtisadiah. The statement came in response to questions Al-Eqtisadiah posed to European Council President Antonio Costa on the occasion of the second EU-GCC Summit, which could serve as a platform to push the relationship toward a new economic model built on long-term, implementable projects and partnerships. The spokesperson said the EU sees the summit as an opportunity to give a fresh political and economic push to relations with the GCC states, at a time when goods trade between the two sides reached €165.7 billion ($188.2 billion) in 2025, up 1.1 percent from the previous year. He said the EU’s agenda extends beyond increasing trade volumes, with priorities for the coming phase including investment and cooperation in digital connectivity, energy, industry and innovation.

What happens when alcohol becomes a little less easy to buy and consume? Some relatively simple changes to alcohol legislation in Latvia have made a rapid impact, an early WHO study shows. Latvia put in place shorter hours for alcohol sales, no instant delivery of alcohol bought online, and restrictions on promotions and sales in gambling venues - reducing what public health experts call the “availability” of alcohol: how easily, when and where people can buy it. An early WHO/Europe evaluation, conducted at the request of Latvia’s Ministry of Health, found a significant decline in deaths caused by alcohol in the first 5 months after these new policy measures took effect. Alcohol availability policies save livesThe WHO evaluation, based on data submitted by Latvian authorities, found that mortality from causes 100% attributable to alcohol - including alcohol poisoning, alcohol-associated liver disease and alcohol-induced acute pancreatitis - fell significantly after the new restrictions came into effect.

As AI levels the playing field on technical work, corporate clients at TRI’s 2026 AI Forum say judgment, transparency, and speed are what now separate one law firm from another. CHICAGO — AI has transformed not only how lawyers work individually, but the nature of the law firm-client relationship. For law firms, AI has impacted everything from time it takes to complete work, potential billing options, and even the type of advice given to clients. And firm lawyers also may not realize that clients aren’t necessarily thinking about AI in the same way that they are. At the Thomson Reuters Institute’s recent 2026 Future of AI & Technology Forum, this changing dynamic was front and center in several panels and group discussions. “I very rarely do legal work anymore. I don't sit around and write briefs and research cases,” says Eric Berg, VP, Chief Compliance Officer and Associate General Counsel at IDEX Corporation. “And so this idea of AI being useful for me to write a brief, it's a non-starter with what I do. When I look at AI, I'm hiring the law firm to write the brief.

AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTRENDINGFantasy Basketball sign up49ers keep rollingRays heading to World SeriesReese, Dream get evenHurts reportedly out for seasonStory byKristaps Porzingis has missed a combined 90 regular season games over the past two seasons with a lingering health issueRyan YoungStaff writerMon, Sep 28, 2026·2 min readAbout Our AdsAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement

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Nearly 2,000 years ago, Pliny the Younger documented what he witnessed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, burying Pompeii and killing his uncle, Pliny the Elder. His account did more than preserve the story of one of history's most famous volcanic disasters. It also recorded enough information about when the eruption occurred to give modern scientists an unusually precise historical reference point for testing volcanic dating techniques. Researchers from the Berkeley Geochronology Center, UC Berkeley and the University of Padua in Italy now report in Science Advances that this historical benchmark has helped them significantly improve the precision of argon-argon dating. By calibrating the method against the inferred eruption date of Aug. 24, 79 CE, they have strengthened what is already one of the most widely useful tools for determining the ages of rocks and volcanic events.

Skip to Main ContentAccessibility HelpMenuCBC GemCBC ListenSearchQuick LinksNewsSportsRadioMusicListen LiveTVWatchnewsTop StoriesLocalClimateWorldCanadaPoliticsIndigenousBusinessThe NationalHealthEntertainmentScienceCBC News InvestigatesDisability LifeGo PublicAbout CBC NewsBeing Black in CanadaVideoTumbler Ridge ChatGPT developments shouldn't overshadow mental health needs: advocate | CBC.ca LoadedTumbler Ridge ChatGPT developments shouldn't overshadow mental health needs: advocateSeptember 28|Duration 4:37September 28NewsDuration 4:37closed captionA B. C. mental health advocate says the province should not use ChatGPT's alleged role in the Tumbler Ridge shooting to avoid accountability over the ongoing youth mental health crisis. Jonny Morris, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association's B. C. division, says it is an urgent problem with complex solutions required. Related StoriesB. C.

Douglas Seiler wanted to understand a library destroyed nearly 2,000 years ago. So, he built part of it again — and set it on fire. He painstakingly sourced Egyptian papyrus and reed pens, mixed carbon ink with carefully measured amounts of lead, and had teenagers fill the sheets with passages from Star Wars, the Bible and The Outer Limits.