New York City Public Schools is putting a one-year freeze on student use of generative AI from early childhood programs through eighth grade, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels announced Wednesday. https://twitter.com/GlobeEyeNews/status/2095117281252737303?s=20 The moratorium, effective for the 2026-2027 school year that begins next week, will affect roughly 600,000 students — about two-thirds of the system’s enrollment. It prohibits student-facing generative AI tools, including chatbots, AI tutors, and instructional software that relies on the technology....

An 18-year-old Virginia high school student just dropped a prototype that has the internet buzzing: a home-built water filter that pulls out nearly all the microplastics without the usual disposable membranes. The viral claim lands on “96%.” That number is a clean round-up of the 95.52% removal rate Mia Heller measured in her own tests. It’s not a certified guarantee for every drop of real-world tap water, but it is the figure from her prototype...