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The Hindu

Science/Tech / The Hindu

Google teams up with Walmart and other retailers to enable shopping within Gemini AI chatbot

Google is expanding the shopping features in its AI chatbot by teaming up with Walmart, Shopify, Wayfair and other big retailers

12 Jan 2026 2:54 pm
Erich von Daeniken, Swiss author who popularised ancientalien theories, dies at 90

Von Daeniken spent the early part of his working life managing a hotel in eastern Switzerland, where a fraud conviction landed him in jail for 18 months

12 Jan 2026 1:43 pm
Meta urges Australia to change teen social media ban

Companies face fines of Aus$49.5 million (US$33 million) if they fail to take easonable steps to comply

12 Jan 2026 11:36 am
Malaysia and Indonesia suspend access to Elon Musk's Grok AI after nudity outrage

On Saturday, Indonesia became the first country to deny all access to the tool

12 Jan 2026 9:35 am
Elon Musk's X to open source new algorithm in seven days

Elon Musk replied with an obscenity under a European Commission post about an earlier fine

12 Jan 2026 9:20 am
CES 2026: AI pendants back in vogue at tech show after early setback

The return of the wearable tech comes about a year after the discontinuation of a Humane AI Pin panned by reviewers

12 Jan 2026 9:06 am
12 Jan 2026 6:00 am
Conservation in the Global South erases human rights, researchers say

In an article in Nature, a group of researchers including many from India has argued for greater rights, agency, and education among communities. As the late conservationist Madhav Gadgil put it, Talk of many things, not just air and water and the bird that sings, but of men and money and economic reforms

12 Jan 2026 5:30 am
X accepts its mistake, assures it will comply with Indian laws, say government sources on Grok AI issue

Around 3,500 pieces of content have been blocked, and over 600 accounts deleted, according to sources

11 Jan 2026 9:38 pm
Countdown for launch of PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 mission begins

ISRO is scheduled to launch the PSLV-C62/EOS-N1 Mission on January 12 from the first launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 10:17 a.m.

11 Jan 2026 4:04 pm
Turning a death sentence into a long-lasting health condition

On January 11, 1922, 14-year-old Leonard Thompson became the first person to receive an insulin injection as a treatment for diabetes. A disease that had haunted humankind for millennia finally became treatable, and the century since has seen a lot happen, both good and bad. A.S. Ganesh takes stock of a disease that is now unfolding as a global epidemic

11 Jan 2026 12:56 am
Aerosols aloft lift, thicken winter fog over North India: IIT-M study

The results also indicate that aerosol induced fog invigoration is stronger at night-time and weakens after sunrise, the paper stated

10 Jan 2026 5:30 am
DPDP Act does not dilute RTI Act, A-G says in opinion

Civil society groups have argued that the Acts amendment of Section 8(1)(j), turning a partial exemption for government bodies to turn over personal information into a total exemption, undermined transparency

9 Jan 2026 10:46 pm
Study finds distinct blood markers for early detection of gallbladder cancer

Tezpur University-led study finds chemical signatures that could help diagnose one of Indias deadliest cancers early; gallbladder cancer is a leading cause of death in these regions, affecting females twice as much as males

9 Jan 2026 7:13 pm
Musks Grok chatbot restricts image generation after global backlash over sexualized deepfakes

After the backlash, Grok was responding to image altering requests with the message: Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers. You can subscribe to unlock these features

9 Jan 2026 5:20 pm
Gmail brings AI Overviews, new email writing tools to your inbox

Google is bringing Gemini-powered AI features to all Gmail users inboxes, while subscribers will get additional features

9 Jan 2026 1:58 pm
Indians in Silicon Valley: caught betweenDonald Trump and AI

As American politics tightens and AI transforms work, the writer travels through Silicon Valley to examine how Indian immigrants are adapting, recalibrating and surviving

9 Jan 2026 12:59 pm
EU antitrust regulators to decide on Google's Wiz deal by February 10

Tech deals have in recent years faced intense regulatory scrutiny on concerns that dominant companies may further boost their market power

9 Jan 2026 11:44 am
Big Tech spared strict rules in EU digital regulations overhaul, sources say

Alphabets Google, Meta Platforms, Netflix, Microsoft and Amazon will not face heavy-handed regulations in Europes digital rule overhaul, per sources

9 Jan 2026 11:42 am
Some of Warner Bros' biggest investors are split on Paramount offer

Investors have until January 21 to accept Paramounts latest $108.4 billion proposal, paying them $30 a share, an offer the Warner Bros board says is inferior

9 Jan 2026 11:15 am
Do plants listen to music? How do they respond?

Plants cant only detect vibrations in their environment, they can also alter their behaviour based on the information they receive

9 Jan 2026 6:30 am
AI start-ups co-architects of Indias future, says PM Modi

Mr. Modi said that AI start-ups were the co-architects of Indias future and said that the country has immense capacity for both innovation and large-scale implementation

8 Jan 2026 4:43 pm
India defends antitrust penalty law in Apple fight

In November, Apple asked New Delhi judges to strike down the 2024 law, which could also have implications for global giants such as Pernod Ricard, Publicis, Amazon and other foreign companies

8 Jan 2026 2:48 pm
Oppo Reno 15 Pro, Reno 15 Pro Mini and Reno 15 launched: Features, price and sale

For the first time, the Chinese smartphone maker introduced a mini and a c phone in its evolution

8 Jan 2026 2:46 pm
China hacked email systems of US congressional committee staff: Report

China accessed email systems used by some staffers on the House China committee as well as aides on the foreign affairs committee, intelligence committee and armed services committee, the report said

8 Jan 2026 11:25 am
Tech firms must block unsolicited nude images under new UK rules

Platforms are now required by law to detect and prevent this material, UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said in a statement

8 Jan 2026 11:10 am
Trump is pulling the US out of the UN FCCC. What does it mean?

The US exiting the worlds core climate action bodies makes it harder to make credible deals to reach climate finance numbers because other countries will ask why they should pay more when a major historical emitter is out

8 Jan 2026 9:38 am
Spotify makes it easier for creators to earn, reveals $10 billion podcast spend

Spotify is expanding its monetisation programme for creators and introducing new tools for video podcasters

8 Jan 2026 9:14 am
Jabarkhet: can private reserves restore wildlife and keep tourism gentle?

Private reserves are popular in Africa. In India, however, responsible private reserves are more about potential than reality. In dissecting how wildlife returned to Jabarkhet Nature Reserve and how it has balanced tourism needs with conservation, it is possible to trace a model for private reserves in India

8 Jan 2026 5:30 am
X tells IT Ministry it is in compliance with Indian law

The social media platform has been scrutinised by the government after its Grok chatbot publicly generated non-consensual sexualised pictures of women

7 Jan 2026 9:29 pm
Shadow library search engine Annas Archive goes down

Annas Archive is a search engine that catalogues media on shadow libraries across the internet, thereby enabling digital piracy

7 Jan 2026 3:41 pm
Overseas scholars drawn to China's scientific clout, funding

State-backed initiatives like the Thousand Talents Plan have dangled fast-tracked hiring and bountiful grants to lure overseas experts in strategically important fields

7 Jan 2026 3:15 pm
Meta names Microsoft's Mahoney as chief legal officer

The appointment comes at a time when Meta faces criticism from advocacy groups and lawsuits alleging the company failed to protect young users from harmful content

7 Jan 2026 11:08 am
New way to study surfaces brings real world pressure to the lab

While the XPS technique to study materials surfaces works great in a vacuum, real-world chemical reactions usually happen under atmospheric pressure. Yet studying a catalyst in a vacuum is a bit like trying to study how a fish swims by looking at it on dry land

7 Jan 2026 6:00 am
Not just forests: why grasslands also belong in national climate plans

Protecting a biome like grasslands cant happen in isolation but must come about through goals shared by the various U.N. bodies. Unfortunately, there are still debates ongoing about whether biodiversity and climate goals align and how institutions can build synergies

7 Jan 2026 5:30 am
SC agrees to take up plea for SOP on freezing, de-freezing bank accounts in cybercrime cases

The plea also sought appropriate guidelines to all investigating agencies, including cyber cells, to ensure no bank account gets frozen without a written order and intimation to the account holder within 24 hours of such action

6 Jan 2026 7:06 pm
Amazon launches Alexa.com to bring Alexa+ AI to users browsers

Alexa+ Early Access customers will be able to use Alexa.com through their browser to get a web-based AI assistant

6 Jan 2026 1:37 pm
Why ISROs next big challenge is to succeed on an industrial scale

Succeeding in a consistent way raises the bar for future accomplishments, and it will be good for ISRO to be able to move into the resulting opportunity space

6 Jan 2026 12:24 pm
AI copyright battles enter pivotal year as US courts weigh fair use

After a string of fresh lawsuits and a landmark settlement in 2025, the new year promises to bring a wave of rulings that could define how U.S. copyright law applies to generative AI

6 Jan 2026 11:02 am
Does research strengthen teaching?

The research capabilities of individuals and institutions matter for the research-teaching link to be consequential

6 Jan 2026 9:30 am
'Remove her clothes': Global backlash over Grok sexualised images

Complaints of abuse flooded the internet after the recent rollout of an edit image button on Grok

6 Jan 2026 9:28 am
What remote-sensing reveals about plants, forests, and minerals from space

Remote-sensing technology allows engineers and scientists to map land, forests, water bodies, and minerals without physically touching the ground; by detecting spectral signatures from visible and invisible light, satellites and drones reveal the health and location of natural resources

6 Jan 2026 8:00 am
Hydrogen tests basic physics more precisely after theory update

Modern experimental techniques can measure the gaps between the different energy levels of the H2 molecule with a relative accuracy of about one part in 100 billion; the question is whether the theories used to calculate these energy levels match with what experiments have found, and these calculations are very difficult

6 Jan 2026 5:30 am
Chinese cyberattacks on Taiwan infrastructureaveraged 2.6 million a day in 2025: Report

The average number of daily attacks in 2025 jumped 113% from 2023 when the bureau first began publishing such data

5 Jan 2026 3:15 pm
What is Siberian High?

As December cold spreads its wings, frigid wind enthusiastically conducts Asias winter once again all thanks to one Mr. Siberian High.

5 Jan 2026 10:00 am
Big Techs fast-expanding plans for data centers are running into stiff community opposition

Tech companies looking to plunge billions of dollars into ever-bigger data centers to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing are increasingly being voted down

5 Jan 2026 9:29 am
Sprawling CES gadget fest a world stage for AI and its hype

AI being built into humanoid robots remains a work in progress, with human tele-operators overseeing their operation remotely

5 Jan 2026 9:05 am