Domi

A question making the rounds asks which species dominates Earth by total mass. The answer most discussions point to is ants, whose combined biomass is often cited as rivalling or exceeding that of humans, with livestock such as cattle also weighing heavily in the comparison.

European payments companies are combining to build a stronger challenge to American rivals such as Visa, Mastercard and PayPal. The move, reported by RTÉ, signals growing concern in Europe about reliance on US-controlled payment networks and a push for greater digital sovereignty in financial infrastructure.

Interest in Swiss defenceman Dominik Egli is rising around HC Davos's Champions Hockey League match against Sweden's Rögle BK. Swedish coverage has focused on where fans can watch the game on TV and streaming, while TV4 hockey expert Niklas Rönnqvist has criticised Rögle's Grewe ahead of the tie, fuelling discussion among fans on both sides.

Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, which reports say is being held in Malaysia, dominating qualifying for his first pole of the 2026 Formula 1 season. The Red Bull driver outpaced the field to start Sunday's race from the front, drawing attention from motorsport fans worldwide as the new season continues.

A woman named Kathy is publicly asking for financial help, saying a landslide and structural problems in her condominium community nearly three years ago have left her in a financial crisis. She cites ongoing litigation and unresolved structural issues as the source of her difficulties and is requesting support through mutual aid channels.

Dominique de Villepin is drawing attention in France alongside a Libération piece asking why the European Union has taken no action on Palestine one year after the ceasefire. The article cites an appeal signed by around 500 former ministers, ambassadors and senior European officials urging the bloc to act. The former French prime minister's association with the debate has put him back in public conversation.

Nîmes Olympique faced nearby side Lattes in a Coupe de France match played under storms and heavy rain, with a place in the fifth round at stake. Local reports say Nîmes dominated the game, but Lattes defended stubbornly and kept the tie alive, making for a tense local derby between the two Occitanie clubs.

Reports say China is currently leading the field in open-source AI, with Chinese models widely adopted by developers worldwide. Coverage asks whether a US startup can challenge that dominance, framing the contest as a new front in the technology rivalry between the two countries.

A new science news release highlights Mendelian randomization, a statistical method that uses genetic variants as natural experiments to infer whether biological risk factors truly cause disease, as it gains new power in the era of large genomic and biobank datasets. Researchers are increasingly applying the approach to distinguish genuine causal links from mere correlations in human biology and medicine.

Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt removed starter Gavin Williams from a game while the right-hander was still dealing, and the call is already dividing fans and analysts. MLB.com examines the reasoning behind the move and why the decision will continue to be debated, with debate centering on pitch counts, the bullpen's ability to hold the lead, and managing a young arm down the stretch.

A new randomized controlled trial following 493 people over two years found that diet drinks performed just as well as water for weight loss. The findings challenge the common advice to cut out diet soda when trying to lose weight, and are being described as the strongest counter-evidence yet to the 'ditch diet soda' rule in nutrition guidance.

Broadcom is mounting a challenge to Nvidia's grip on the AI chip market, pairing its custom TPU chip business with a debt package reported at $60 billion. The move signals the company's ambition to fund large-scale expansion in bespoke AI accelerators for major cloud customers, a market Nvidia has largely dominated with its GPUs.

The European Commission has issued updated guidelines on how it assesses dominance in abuse cases, with a sharper focus on loyalty rebates, self-preferencing and the conduct of digital platforms. Law firms note the revised approach is expected to shape enforcement priorities and how large technology companies structure their commercial practices in the EU.

CNN reports that two startups are taking an entirely different approach to artificial intelligence, betting they can outperform the huge companies that have dominated the field so far. The piece highlights a growing belief among founders and investors that incumbents like OpenAI, Google and Microsoft are not the only ones capable of advancing frontier AI, and that smaller, unconventional players may still reshape the industry.

West Indies secured the series victory over Zimbabwe with a dominant eight-wicket win in the women's T20 match. Chasing 108, they reached 108/2 in just 9.1 overs, with 65 balls to spare. Kraigg Brathwaite starred with 57 off 23 balls, the West Indies' fastest fifty, while Grimmond added 23 not out. Zimbabwe's Mutasa (1-15) and Chigora (1-36) took the only wickets to fall.

Physicists have described a new 'poltergeist mechanism' in which a brief early matter-dominated era in the cosmos could substantially enhance scalar-induced gravitational waves, the ripples generated by density fluctuations rather than black hole mergers. The work, published in an American Physical Society journal, suggests such an era would amplify the signal, potentially bringing these primordial waves within reach of current and future gravitational-wave detectors.

Entertainment outlets are listing celebrity birthdays for the week of October 11-17, with rapper Cardi B and actor Dominic West among the well-known names celebrating. The roundups, syndicated across multiple US and Canadian news sites, highlight which stars mark milestones over the coming days. Such birthday lists are a staple of light entertainment coverage, giving readers a quick look at famous figures in music, film and television with October birthdays.

Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic are meeting in a Concacaf Nations League match, with live score updates drawing attention from fans. The fixture is part of the ongoing regional tournament, and supporters of both sides are following the result closely as the teams compete for standing in the competition.

Stoke Therapeutics said its investigational therapy STK-002, being developed for autosomal dominant optic atrophy, a rare genetic eye disease that causes progressive vision loss, will be featured in presentations at the American Academy of Ophthalmology 2026 Annual Meeting. The company made the announcement ahead of the meeting; details of the study results have not yet been reported.

Attention is turning to the upcoming Big 12 basketball season, with fans and analysts debating which team will come out on top in one of college basketball's toughest conferences. Discussion centers on preseason expectations, roster changes, and which programs have the depth to challenge for the conference title and a deep NCAA tournament run.

A debate between Barrett and Lawrence in Michigan saw Iran war, Trump tariffs and data center development dominate the questions. The two candidates faced pointed exchanges on foreign policy and trade, with the potential US involvement in the Iran conflict emerging as a central flashpoint. Data centers, a growing issue in Michigan communities, also featured heavily in voters' questions.