the digest (Page 14)

Latest in the digest

The James Webb Space Telescope was used to spot a new kind of alien planet: a watery "steam world" with an atmosphere of hot water vapor.

James Webb Space Telescope

James Webb Spots First-Ever Alien “Steam World”

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

In the micronation of Liberland, a crypto bro who's been accused of fraud has just become one of the most powerful men in the tiny country.

Crypto Bro and Alleged Fraudster Appointed Leader of a Tiny “Micronation” in Eastern Europe

By Noor Al-Sibai

A new analysis released by the World Wildlife Fund paints an extremely alarming picture of the decimation of wildlife populations.

Wildlife Populations Have Shrunk a Shocking Amount in Just 50 Years, Report Finds

By Frank Landymore

A Colorado school district is using facial recognition technology to police vaping in bathrooms, according to the Denver Post.

Artificial Intelligence

Schools Are Using AI Surveillance to Catch Students Vaping Inside Bathrooms

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

The Pentagon is promising that its X-37b spaceplane is going to do some sweet stunts in the upper atmosphere soon.

The Space Force’s Top-Secret Spaceplane Is About to Do a Sick Stunt

By Noor Al-Sibai

In some cases, Apple's new AI summaries of iPhone messages might not be ideal. Exhibit A: the breakup text.

Artificial Intelligence

Apple’s New AI Summarized a Series of Breakup Texts in the Most Brutal Way Possible

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

While Tesla saw its shares take a nosedive following its robotaxi event, the lackluster showing did hand a nice stock boost to Uber and Lyft.

Tesla’s Disappointing Robotaxi Event Sent Shares of Uber and Lyft Soaring

By Frank Landymore

Tens of thousands of years ago, Earth's magnetic field flipped — and scientists have recreated the haunting sound it made.

Science & Energy

The Creepy Sounds the Earth Made When Its Magnetic Field Flipped Will Haunt Your Dreams

By Noor Al-Sibai

Before checking into federal prison today, disgraced former FTX co-CEO Ryan Salame took to LinkedIn to issue a career update.

Former Crypto CEO Posts Hilarious LinkedIn Update Right Before Going to Prison

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Tesla dazzled with its humanoid Optimus robots at its recent event. But it appears that their speech is really the work of a remote human.

Tesla Shows Off Talking Robot That Sounds an Awful Lot Like a Guy Speaking Into a Microphone

By Frank Landymore

Tesla’s Long-Awaited Cybercab Is Missing an Extremely Basic Feature

Tesla’s Long-Awaited Cybercab Is Missing an Extremely Basic Feature

By Victor Tangermann

Tesla shares fell by up to 8.5 percent after markets opened Friday morning, following a disappointing showing at its Robotaxi event.

Tesla Shares Plummet Following Elon Musk’s “Disappointing” Robotaxi Event

By Frank Landymore

NASA is excited about SpaceX's fifth flight test of Starship, which could see the rocket pull off a fascinating landing procedure.

NASA Is Mega Hyped About SpaceX’s Imminent Starship Test Flight

By Frank Landymore

Elon Musk may not be the biggest believer in aliens — but if he ever sees them, he's going to post them on X.

Elon Musk Promises to Post Aliens on X the “Split Second” He Sees Evidence of Their Existence

By Noor Al-Sibai

New NASA data shows a supermassive black hole on a merciless killing spree, destroying one star and using its body as a new weapon.

Murderous Black Hole Goes on Rampage, Leaves Path of Wrecked Stars in Its Wake

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

The web-slinging device can shoot out fibers that almost immediately solidify, which can stick to objects that it can then pick up.

Science & Energy

Researchers Create Real-Life “Spider-Man” Web-Slinging Tech

By Frank Landymore

Jupiter's Giant Red Spot is large enough to swallow Earth — and as new imagery suggests, it's a lot weirder than previously thought.

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Is Acting Very Strangely, Puzzling Scientists

By Noor Al-Sibai

AI slop threatens to degrade the useability of the digital stalwart Wikipedia — and Wikipedia's editors are fighting back.

Artificial Intelligence

Wikipedia Declares War on AI Slop

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Parts of the Sahara Desert in southeastern Morocco experienced a surprise deluge of heavy rains last month, leaving behind lake-filled oases.

Our Climate Is So Screwed Up, It Rained in the Sahara Desert

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

If there's a fifth force of physics to round out the Standard Model, asteroids may be our best bet of discovering its underlying particle.

Mysterious “Fifth Force” of Physics Could Be Influencing Asteroids Near Earth

By Frank Landymore

NASA Says It’s Totally Fine the Space Station is Absolutely Riddled With Cracks and Leaks

NASA Says It’s Totally Fine the Space Station is Absolutely Riddled With Cracks and Leaks

By Noor Al-Sibai

Many Wall Street analysts aren't feeling too optimistic about Tesla's prospects ahead of its "Robotaxi" event this week.

Wall Street Not Buying Elon Musk’s Big Promises Ahead of Tesla’s “Most Hyped” Event in Years

By Frank Landymore

With so many planes seeming to fall apart, one doomed Turkish Airlines flight saw another kind of horror when its pilot died mid-flight.

Advanced Transport

Commercial Airline Pilot Dies Mid-Flight, Forcing Emergency Landing in New York

By Noor Al-Sibai

The Irving Police Department spent well over a hundred grand on a Cybertruck that won't even be used as a patrol car.

Advanced Transport

A Police Department Spent a Ludicrous Amount of Money on a Cybertruck for the Worst Reason Possible

By Frank Landymore

Elon Musk said that Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet provider, would be free for victims of Hurricane Helene. Shockingly: it's not.

No, SpaceX’s Starlink Internet Isn’t Free for All Hurricane Survivors

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Footage shows an NOAA plane plowing through the center of Hurricane Milton, and experiencing extreme turbulences.

Science & Energy

Terrifying Video Shows Plane Plowing Through Hurricane Milton, Hitting Extreme Turbulence

By Victor Tangermann

Cognitive scientist and prominent AI researcher Gary Marcus believes that OpenAI will pivot into the surveillance business.

AI Researcher Slams OpenAI, Warns It Will Become the “Most Orwellian Company of All Time”

By Frank Landymore

As Hurricane Milton batters Florida, it's becoming increasingly clear that climate change is making monsters out of extreme storms.

Make No Mistake: Climate Change Turned Hurricane Milton Into a “Monster”

By Noor Al-Sibai

Elon Musk's Las Vegas Hyperloop tunnel reportedly has a trespassing problem — the latest annoyance for a generally plagued project.

Confused Drivers Are Somehow Getting Lost in Elon Musk’s Goofy Las Vegas Tunnel

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Some of the world's leading space experts are warning that the current space junk crisis surrounding our planet is soon to reach a head.

A Massive Space Junk Disaster in Orbit Is Inevitable Now, Scientists Warn

By Noor Al-Sibai

25 out of 35 of the planet's "vital signs" are at the worst levels ever recorded, according to an annual climate change report.

Scientists Just Took the Earth’s “Vital Signs.” They Hated What They Saw.

By Frank Landymore

Scientists have discovered, by accident, that warty comb jellyfish can fuse together when injured to form a single animal.

Science & Energy

These Mighty Morphin’ Jellyfish Have a Mind-Blowing Survival Trick Up Their Sleeves

By Noor Al-Sibai

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick shared a breathtaking timelapse he took of red and green auroras outside the window of SpaceX's spacecraft.

This Timelapse of the Northern Lights Taken From Space Is Utterly Breathtaking

By Victor Tangermann

Satellite imagery shows the might of powerful Hurricane Milton, which is due to make landfall in Florida's western coast this afternoon.

Hurricane Milton Is so Insanely Powerful, It’s Literally Just a Giant Red Smudge on Meteorological Maps

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Four people were meant to head home from the ISS this week on a SpaceX shuttle — and are now stuck thanks to Hurricane Milton.

Astronauts Stranded in Space Due to Hurricane Milton

By Noor Al-Sibai

Scientists have long proposed nuclear rockets to get to Mars fast — but one is warning that making it happen will be an uphill battle.

There’s a Big Problem With Using Nuclear Rockets to Get to Mars

By Noor Al-Sibai

The world's rivers are drying up at rates faster than ever before thanks to climate change — and last year was the world on record.

Climate Change Is Drying Up All the World’s Rivers at an Alarming Rate

By Noor Al-Sibai

The Hera mission is officially underway to investigate the aftereffects of DART, NASA's successful planetary defense test.

Europe Deploys Spacecraft to Investigate Extraterrestrial “Crash Scene”

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

An ancient rock — or rather, the living microbes inside of it — could offer an unprecedented glimpse into early life on Earth.

Scientists Cracked Open a 2-Billion-Year-Old Stone and Discovered Something Entirely Unexpected

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

In its effort to compete with SpaceX, China has launched the first internet satellites in own constellation — and astronomers are irked.

China Joins SpaceX in Ruining Astronomy for Everybody

By Noor Al-Sibai

Astronomers have made a "baffling" discovery: the most distant rotating disc galaxy ever observed that closely resembles our own.

This Ancient “Rebel” Galaxy Closely Mirroring the Milky Way Has Astronomers Freaked Out

By Victor Tangermann

Qantas Airlines had to issue an apology after airing an R-rated film starring Dakota Johnson during a flight from Sydney to Japan.

Advanced Transport

Chaos Erupts After Sexually Explicit, R-Rated Movie Airs to Hundreds of Airline Passengers

By Victor Tangermann

NASA researchers believe that a layer of molten goo, which shifts and moves like ocean tides, sits between the Moon's mantle and core.

Something Massive Is Shifting Deep Inside the Moon

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

In a Sunday tweet, Musk promised to give out $47 to "every person you refer to sign the petition if they’re in a swing state."

Elon Musk Now Promising Cash to Voters in Desperate Attempt to Win Trump the Election

By Victor Tangermann

The scientists edited to the bacteria to prove which enzyme it used to degrade PET plastics into bioavailable carbon.

Scientists Gene Hack Bacteria That Breaks Down Plastic Waste

By Frank Landymore

Tesla chief information officer Nagesh Saldi is now leaving the company less than a week before it's supposed to unveil its robotaxi.

Top Tesla Exec Abandons Ship Just Days Before Major “Robotaxi” Event

By Frank Landymore

A core component of NASA's Gateway lunar space station just passed a grueling round of pressure tests, a big win for the project.

NASA’s Lunar Space Station Just Took a Massive Step Towards Launching

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

NASA is planning on growing habitable structures out of fungus — also called mycotecture — for space colonies on the Moon and then Mars.

NASA Wants to Grow Trippy Houses Made Out of Mushrooms on the Moon

By Sharon Adarlo

In preparation for the first crewed Moon mission in 50 years, NASA is prototyping a new Moon rover that looks a lot like a tractor/golf cart.

NASA’s Lunar Rover Prototype Looks Like If a Tractor and a Golf Cart Had a Baby

By Noor Al-Sibai

The notoriously unreliable "AI Overviews" that Google forces to the top of search results will now come with sponsored ads.

Google Is Stuffing Annoying Ads Into Its Terrible AI Search Feature

By Frank Landymore

The battle over remote work continues — and it looks like CEOs are overwhelmingly willing to take extreme measures to get folks back to the office.

Vast Majority of CEOs Ready to Make Remote Workers’ Lives As Miserable As Possible

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Starting in January, Californians will be able to enjoy cannabis Euro-style thanks to a newly-passed bill legalizing weed cafes.

California Greenlights Amsterdam-Style Weed Cafes Where You Can Get Stoned Without Getting the Munchies

By Noor Al-Sibai

Elon Musk's plans to fly to Mars grow more ambitious every year — but it's unclear whether he'll live long enough to actually see it happen.

Elon Musk Might Die of Old Age Before He Can Make It to Mars, Expert Suggests

By Noor Al-Sibai

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a newfound sense of, er, style — and his fellow techsters are very into it.

Cringey Tech Execs Swoon Over Mark Zuckerberg’s “Cool” New Look

By Noor Al-Sibai

AI might be worsening carbon emissions, but at least we have this fake video of Mark Zuckerberg leg-pressing chicken nuggets, we guess.

Mark Zuckerberg Shows Off Bizarre Video of Himself Leg Pressing Chicken Nuggets

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

Meta has just announced Movie Gen, its new AI-powered video generation tool, and to show it off, it's flaunting an AI-generated baby hippo.

Meta’s AI Bootleg Moo Deng Is an Insult to Pygmy Hippos Everywhere

By Frank Landymore

No, Donald Trump didn't wade through Hurricane Helene-caused flooding in blue jeans. That "photo" you saw was AI.

Artificial Intelligence

No, Donald Trump Isn’t Wading Through Hurricane Floodwaters, You Absolute Morons

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

After digging up a weird rug buried in her backyard, an Ohio woman began experiencing some unexplained goings-on.

Haunted Woman Calls the Cops After Discovering a Rug Mysteriously Buried in Her Backyard

By Noor Al-Sibai

Though he's been very active in support of Donald Trump in 2024, it appears that Elon Musk has been donating big to GOP candidates for years.

Elon Musk Has Been Throwing Tens of Millions of Dollars at Republicans for Way Longer Than We Thought

By Noor Al-Sibai

Veterinary researchers have devised a solution to head off feline resistance to brain scans: hiding the electrodes underneath crocheted hats.

Science & Energy

Researchers Force Grumpy Cats to Wear Adorable Wittle Wool Hats — for Science

By Noor Al-Sibai

In the simulations, aliens keep dying from climate change because of the heat produced by energy demands, even if they rely on renewables.

Scientists Simulate Alien Civilizations, Find They Keep Dying From Climate Change

By Frank Landymore

Pro-Trump influencers including close Trump ally Laura Loomer were fooled by an AI-generated image of an alleged victim of Hurricane Helene.

Artificial Intelligence

Gullible Trump Cronies Losing Their Minds Over Fake AI Slop on Twitter

By Maggie Harrison Dupré

A Tesla bull warned that next week's "robotaxi" event will be "light on details," despite unveiling not just one but three vehicles.

Tesla Won’t Have Much to Show at “Light on Details” Robotaxi Event, Analyst Warns

By Victor Tangermann

A team of scientists suggests astronauts could make use of an unusual source of nutrition during journeys into deep space: asteroids.

Astronauts Should Eat Space Rocks on the Way to Mars, Scientists Propose

By Victor Tangermann