IJR News — today's news from every sideMantic Raises $25M After Beating Human Forecasters — Sep 18, 2026London AI startup Mantic raised $25 million in seed funding led by Radical Ventures, with Microsoft’s M12, after its judgmental forecasting system beat all human forecasters at the Metaculus Cup, signaling strong demand from hedge funds, corporates, and governments for medium-term risk and scenario planning. Founded in 2024 by Toby Shevlane and Ben Day, Mantic blends human-style reasoning with backtested historical data to predict geopolitical, economic, and strategic events, targeting scenarios where traditional models struggle.
Nicole Hardy Beating the top human forecasters on Metaculus shows this approach could help with tricky geopolitical calls that pure models miss.Spain Seas Set Summer Temperature Records — Sep 11, 2026Global sea surface temperatures have sustained daily records for 100 consecutive days, about 1 degree Celsius above the 1982-2010 average, driven by ocean heat uptake and an emerging El Niño, with warnings of coral bleaching, stronger rainfall and storms, and ongoing marine heatwaves likely into next year. In Europe, Spain-recorded seas reached all-time highs across the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, including a Dragonera buoy reading of 33.02°C, attributed to human-caused climate change and accompanied by a record 61 heatwave days on land, signaling widespread risks to marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and coastal communities.
Sam Okafor These sea temperatures hitting 33C will wipe out too much marine life along Spain's coasts before long.Nevada wildfire forces 42,000 to evacuate — Aug 23, 2026A human-caused Hawk Fire near Reno, Nevada, forced about 42,000 residents to evacuate with another 45,000 in a nearby warning zone as authorities battle extremely volatile conditions, deploy the National Guard, and declare a state of emergency. Fire behavior has been highly unpredictable, with shifting winds, injuries to civilians and responders, and disruptions to power and air travel as communities brace for several days of danger.
