Wednesday, March 25, 2026 — Edition No. 39

← Past Editions · Edition No. 39 · Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Today’s outlook: Community spirit and cosmic discoveries — today's got that big bang energy

Community

£1.25m Festival Fund Puts Glasgow Communities at the Heart of 2026 Celebrations

From trapeze artists in the Old Fruitmarket to basketball festivals in Easterhouse, 163 community groups across every Glasgow ward are gearing up for a summer to remember

When trapeze artists from Aerial Edge took to the air at the Old Fruitmarket on Monday, they weren't just launching a funding programme — they were signalling the start of something much bigger.

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Science

Glasgow, We Have a New Particle: CERN's Collider Just Discovered the 80th Building Block of the Universe

Scottish scientists help uncover the Xi-cc-plus — a proton's heavier, charm-laden cousin — in a discovery that settles a 20-year mystery

Somewhere beneath the Franco-Swiss border, in a tunnel wide enough to drive a small car through and long enough to encircle a city, two protons recently collided at nearly the speed of light. In the spray of subatomic debris that followed, something extraordinary emerged: the Ξcc⁺, or Xi-cc-plus — a particle four times heavier than the proton and the 80th to be discovered by the Large Hadron Collider.

If that doesn't quicken your pulse, consider what it means. Every atom in your body, every star in the sky, every cup of tea you've ever drunk is built from protons, neutrons, and electrons. The Xi-cc-plus is the proton's exotic, heavyweight cousin — and finding it tells us something profound about the forces that hold the universe together.

Think of a proton as a tiny team of three: two light "up" quarks and one "down" quark, bound together by the strong nuclear force — the most powerful force in nature, and the glue that stops atomic nuclei from flying apart.

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News Clydebank

Clydebank Remembers: Polish Sailors, Shared Grief, and a New Plaque 85 Years On from the Blitz

As a new plaque honours the crew of ORP Piorun, Clydebank marks 85 years since Scotland's worst wartime bombing — and a remarkable Polish exhibition closes this Friday

A bronze plaque bearing the name of a Polish warship now stands in Clydebank — a permanent reminder that when the bombs fell on this small Scottish town 85 years ago, it was not only local courage that held the darkness at bay.

On 14 March, representatives from Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) joined Clydebank's civic leaders to unveil a new memorial honouring the crew of ORP Piorun, the Polish destroyer that helped defend the town during the devastating Blitz of March 1941. The ceremony was the centrepiece of a day of remembrance marking the 85th anniversary of one of the most destructive bombing raids of the Second World War.

Over two terrible nights in March 1941, Luftwaffe bombers turned Clydebank into an inferno. The raiders targeted John Brown's shipyard, the Singer factory, and Beardmore's engine works — but it was the town's homes and families that bore the worst of it. Of Clydebank's 12,000 houses, 4,300 were completely destroyed. Some 528 people were killed and 617 seriously injured, according to National Records of Scotland. More than 11,000 residents were left homeless overnight.

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Science

Gene-Edited Corals Hit the Great Barrier Reef — and the Results Are Giving Scientists Real Hope

Scientists have deployed CRISPR-edited corals to the world's most iconic reef system. It's audacious, it's unprecedented — and early signs suggest it might just work.

Somewhere beneath the warm, turquoise waters of the Great Barrier Reef, a handful of tiny coral fragments are doing something no coral has ever done before. They're surviving heat that should have killed them — because scientists rewrote their DNA.

In late 2025, researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and Stanford University deployed gene-edited coral fragments to sections of the Great Barrier Reef. It was the first time genetically modified corals had been placed into a living reef system — a moment that was equal parts audacity and desperation.

The corals were edited using CRISPR-Cas9. If that sounds like something from a science fiction film, the reality is surprisingly elegant. CRISPR works like a pair of molecular scissors: scientists target a specific section of an organism's DNA, snip it out, and either switch a gene off or replace it with something new. It's precise, it's fast, and in the past decade it has revolutionised biology.

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Dogs & Animals

Seven Dogs Chew Their Way to Freedom: The Viral Story of a Pack That Refused to Give Up

A Corgi-led band of brothers trekked 10.5 miles home after escaping meat trade thieves in China — and 230 million viewers watched them do it

The Corgi paused on the hard shoulder of a busy highway in north-east China, turned its stumpy legs around, and looked back. Six dogs were still following. Satisfied that no one had been left behind, the unlikely leader pressed on.

It was the middle of a 10.5-mile journey home — on foot, through traffic and across frozen fields — after seven dogs had chewed their way out of a cage on a meat trade truck in Changchun, Jilin province.

The escape, which took place on March 16, has since been viewed more than 230 million times on the Chinese social media platform Douyin. It is, by any measure, the feel-good story of the week.

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Audio Equipment

FabFilter Pro-C 3 Is Here: Fourteen Compression Algorithms, Dolby Atmos Support, and a New Character Panel

The industry's go-to compressor plugin gets its biggest upgrade in a decade — with vintage-inspired algorithms, analogue saturation modes, and native surround support up to 9.1.6

If you mix music or post-production audio for a living, there is a very good chance FabFilter's Pro-C compressor has been sitting on your plugin insert for years. It has been, by quiet consensus, the third-party compressor of choice across studios worldwide since its second iteration launched a decade ago.

So when FabFilter announced Pro-C 3 in January 2026, the professional audio world sat up. The verdict from early adopters on the Gearspace forum was swift: several engineers reported buying the upgrade before even downloading the trial. But does the substance match the excitement?

The headline number is the jump from eight compression styles to fourteen. The six newcomers each bring a distinct sonic personality.

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Community

'Legends Wanted': Glasgow's Volunteer Army Takes Shape as Commonwealth Games Fever Builds

With role offers landing this month and ceremony casting still open until 24 April, thousands are signing up to be the beating heart of the 2026 Games

In 2014, Sarah Quinn was a 21-year-old Event Management student who talked her way into a selfie with Usain Bolt — moments after carrying his gold medal into Hampden Park.

"Everyone around me said 'enjoy the moment, take it all in' and I honestly can't emphasise enough — it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life," she recalls.

That memory, and thousands like it, are why Glasgow's volunteer machine is firing up once more. This July, the city becomes only the third in history to host the Commonwealth Games twice, welcoming over 3,000 athletes from 74 nations for 11 days of competition across 10 sports and six Para sports, from 23 July to 2 August.

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News Glasgow

163 Community Groups Share £1.25m to Turn Glasgow into a Commonwealth Games Celebration This Summer

Festival fund quintuples from £250,000 after 400 applications flood in — now every ward in the city will host its own Games celebration

When trapeze artists from circus group Aerial Edge took to the air at Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket yesterday, they weren't just launching a funding announcement. They were sending a signal: this summer, the Commonwealth Games won't just be happening in Glasgow's arenas. They'll be happening in its streets, community halls and parks.

A total of 163 community groups across the city will share £1.25 million from the Glasgow 2026 Festival Fund — grants of up to £10,000 each to run their own performances, sports events and cultural activities in the build-up to and during the Commonwealth Games, which returns to Glasgow from 23 July to 2 August.

The fund tells its own remarkable story. Launched last year as a £250,000 grant programme, it was overwhelmed by demand. More than 400 applications poured in from grassroots organisations across every corner of the city. The response was so strong that backers — Glasgow 2026, Commonwealth Sport, the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council and sportscotland — stepped in to increase the pot fivefold.

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Science

AI Is Now Listening to Nature Across 10,000 Locations — and It's Transforming Conservation

A collaboration between Cornell, the Smithsonian, and Google DeepMind has deployed acoustic monitors across North America — and Scotland's most endangered species could be next

Somewhere in a forest in Oregon, a small weatherproof microphone is recording the dawn chorus. Thousands of miles east, another is picking up the trills of warblers in the Appalachian foothills. In the Florida Everglades, a third captures the booming calls of frogs after rainfall.

Across North America, an estimated 10,000 or more of these listening stations — deployed across dozens of research projects and monitoring programmes — are now silently at work. The artificial intelligence processing their recordings is transforming how we understand the natural world.

Much of this revolution stems from a collaboration between Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Smithsonian, and Google DeepMind. Together, they have built AI-driven acoustic monitoring tools capable of identifying birds, bats, insects, and amphibians from sound alone — with accuracy that can exceed 95 per cent in well-studied species, in near real-time.

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Community

Glasgow 2026 Is Four Months Away — and There's Still Time to Be Part of It

The Commonwealth Games arrive on 23 July, and the ceremonies team is calling for 700 volunteer performers at the OVO Hydro. Here's how to be part of it.

In exactly four months, Glasgow will welcome 3,000 athletes from 74 nations for the 2026 Commonwealth Games — and the city is still looking for people to help make it unforgettable.

While general volunteering applications closed late last year, a brand-new call has gone out for 700 volunteer cast members to take part in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at the OVO Hydro. It is the first time in Commonwealth Games history that the ceremony will be staged in an arena rather than a stadium, and organisers want Glaswegians at the heart of it.

Applications are open now at glasgow2026.com/casting, with a deadline of 24 April — just one month away. Auditions will take place in Glasgow on 9 and 10 May.

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Dogs & Animals

From a 700-Pound Hiking Pig to a Rottweiler Raising Ducklings — The Science Behind Cross-Species Bonds

Behind the viral videos lies real science: oxytocin, imprinting, and what animal friendships reveal about the nature of empathy

Somewhere in the Colorado high country, a 700-pound potbelly pig named Hammie is charging up a rocky trail, a black Labrador called Gus trotting at her side. They hike five miles together every day — an unlikely duo that has inspired a local hiking club for owners of "offbeat" pets.

It is one of several cross-species friendships currently lighting up social media, each one more improbable than the last. And while the videos are undeniably adorable, scientists say the bonds they capture reveal something genuinely profound about the emotional lives of animals.

In a story that defies every stereotype about her breed, a Rottweiler named Ziva has adopted a clutch of ducklings as her own. She brooded over the eggs until they hatched, herds the chicks across the yard, and even attempts to answer their cheeps. The ducklings have imprinted fully, trailing Ziva everywhere — including naptime.

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Audio Equipment

Pro Tools Goes All-In on Immersive Audio — And Post-Production Engineers Are Sold

Integrated Dolby Atmos rendering, multi-format support, and no extra cost — Avid's spatial audio tools have finally grown up

For years, mixing in Dolby Atmos on Pro Tools meant juggling two applications. The DAW handled the session; a separate Dolby Atmos Renderer handled the spatial output. It was clunky, expensive, and introduced latency that made real-time monitoring a headache. That era is over.

Since first introducing an integrated Dolby Atmos renderer in the Pro Tools 2023.12 update, Avid has steadily refined the experience. The latest versions of Pro Tools Studio and Ultimate now support native rendering for Dolby Atmos alongside Sony 360 Reality Audio and UWA Audio Vivid — with seamless mix conversion across formats within a single session. No external renderer. No complex audio routing between apps. No separate Dolby licence.

The shift to native Atmos rendering is not merely cosmetic. It simplifies the entire signal chain. Routing, monitoring, and bouncing all happen inside a single application, which means fewer potential failure points and significantly less latency. For re-recording mixers working on film and television — where every frame counts — that is a genuine quality-of-life improvement.

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