The heart is, inarguably, one of the most important organs in the body.
It sits in your chest, carefully armored by sternum and ribs, constantly pulsing to maintain the flow of blood, transporting oxygen, nutrients, and other essential substances to every extremity of your body.
It might be reasonable to think that there’s an indelible link between the heart and the body it resides in – the processes that affect one inevitably affect the other.
The US Department of War has launched the Project Meridian, a 120-day initiative intended to assess how warfare could evolve and identify the technologies and capabilities the US military may need for future battlefields. Announced on 30 September by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the project will be co-led by Elon Musk, Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich, under the direction of Pentagon Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael. The initiative is expected to draw on technology, academic, policy and national-security experts from outside the Pentagon.
According to the Pentagon’s description, Meridian will examine future battlefields, identify capability gaps and propose actionable ways to develop, test and field advanced technologies. Its work is expected to result in a public report accompanied by a classified annex, with findings due after the 120-day study period. The project is therefore framed less as a conventional policy exercise and more as an effort to translate technological developments into concrete military capabilities.
The initiative is particularly significant because of the range of technologies and operating environments being considered. Reporting on the Pentagon’s plans indicates that the study will examine areas including artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous systems, as well as emerging operational domains ranging from subterranean environments to the cislunar region. This places AI and autonomous technologies within a broader reassessment of how military operations may be conducted as digital and physical systems become increasingly interconnected.
The UN Security Council has included “Maintenance of international peace and security: Emerging technologies and security” in its provisional programme of work for October 2026, under the Council’s presidency by Greece. The meeting is scheduled for 29 October and forms part of Greece’s broader focus on the security implications of technological change, particularly in the maritime domain. The programme was adopted by Council members on 1 October, although, as with other monthly programmes, it remains provisional and serves primarily as a framework for scheduling formal and informal discussions.
The planned discussion comes amid growing recognition that technological developments are changing both the nature of conflict and the tools available for preventing and managing crises. Recent Security Council Report analysis has highlighted the expanding implications of AI, information and communication technologies and other emerging technologies for issues already on the Council’s agenda, including counter-terrorism, protection of civilians, sanctions, peacekeeping and women, peace and security. The Council’s engagement with these issues has so far been described as limited and fragmented, while technological convergence is creating risks that are increasingly interconnected and difficult to anticipate.
Greece’s approach places particular emphasis on artificial intelligence and maritime security. In recent UN Security Council discussions, Greek representatives have argued that AI can strengthen maritime domain awareness by processing information from satellites, radar, automatic identification systems and other sources, helping identify anomalous behaviour, illicit activity and threats to maritime infrastructure. At the same time, AI and other emerging technologies can create new vulnerabilities, including through cyber operations, reconnaissance, autonomous systems and disruption of critical maritime infrastructure. Greece has therefore framed technological innovation alongside international law, human oversight and accountability.
To instill confidence and trust in users, Google has introduced Android developer verification rules, a new platform policy governing the distribution of Android applications, with immediate effect in jurisdictions such as Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. The system verifies app installations from the following app stores i.e google play, HONOR app market, OPPO app market, galaxy store, palm store, V-appstore and GetApps.
The policy will be expanded to all other markets 2027 onwards, with the aim to ensure transparecncy in the Android ecosystem by ensuring that developers are vetted before their apps become widely available. Further, the applications that have not been verified may still be sideloaded, but the new process imposes a 24‑hour waiting period before such unverified apps can be installed on devices.
With dominance in reach and scale, Android’s new platform policy aims to provide a safer, more trusted ecosystem benefitting the entire developer community and users. Further, it aims to deters bad actors, making developers accountable, enforce safety policies, and remove malicious networks.
Just weeks before its scheduled November IPO, Anthropic is facing growing attention over the potential dangers of its technology.
The resignation of former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon on September 8, who wrote on X that AI could “kill us all by the end of the decade,” preceded the company’s threat report on September 10.
According to the document, Anthropic’s Claude software was used in Houthi-controlled Yemen for missile guidance and in cyber operations linked to Iran, Russia, and China, as well as for research into potentially dangerous pathogens.
NASA has selected a Planetary Science Institute–led proposal to investigate whether a potentially large underground cave extends beyond the opening of a lunar pit. Such a cave may one day provide a safe haven for astronauts to escape the radiation and extreme temperature swings present at the lunar surface.
Led by PSI associate director and senior scientist Than Putzig, the selected project is the Geophysical Instruments for Marius Lunar pit Investigation, or GIMLI. PSI is partnering with Honeybee Robotics, which will build much of the equipment and instrumentation for the effort. The equipment and instrumentation will be carried on a lander and rover provided through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. The PSI work will be carried out in partnership with the Norwegian Space Agency.
“GIMLI represents the type of ambitious planetary science that PSI was built to pursue,” said PSI director and CEO Amanda Hendrix. “Than and his team are taking a scientific question we’ve been studying from orbit and have developed a way to investigate it directly on the moon. We’re excited to have PSI leading this effort and to be partnering with NASA and Honeybee Robotics to learn more about the moon and its volcanic past.”
I’ve written about the convergence of technology in a number of recent Forbes pieces, discussing how AI, quantum, and other emerging technologies are changing our infrastructure, security, and economy. However, the convergence of technology with our own neurochemistry is a more personal convergence that we are not talking about enough. Technology is changing the brain systems that govern our attention, not just vying for it.
We are more than just preoccupied; our minds are being hijacked. We are changing chemically. There is no moral failing or lack of discipline behind the attention-span crisis. It is intended to be a biological result.
Shrike & Beebs crash down on a strange and foreboding world inside the Q.Z.
Become a patron so we can continue making fully animated episodes. / monkeywrenchseries.
Ep 6 OST now on bandcamp! https://ockeroid.bandcamp.com/album/monkey-wrench-monkey-mind.
Voice Cast;
Shrike Sanchez — Jacob Barrens.
Bulldog ‘Beebs’ Browns — Jean-Francois Donaldson.
Dolion Kroe / Dead Eye / Henchmen / Tendy — Zane Schacht.
’Agent k’ — Lou Haroldson.
???? — Melissa Medina.
Nuts — Steven Rigsby.
Terran Girl — Themeguy / Carrie Johnston.
’Ball’ — Dylan Simpson.
El Bandito — Sr Pelo.
Primary Red — John Whinfield.
Tezzorree — Laila Berzins.
Appliances — Matthew Pantano.