Artificial Intelligence
Chatbots are surprisingly effective at debunking conspiracy theories
Summary
It’s become a truism that facts alone don’t change people’s minds. Perhaps nowhere is this more clear than when it comes to conspiracy theories: Many people believe that you can’t talk conspiracists out of their beliefs. But that’s not necessarily true. It turns out that many conspiracy believers do respond to evidence and arguments—information that is now easy to deliver in the form of a tailored conversation with an AI chatbot. In research we published in the journal Science this year, we had over 2,000 conspiracy believers engage in a roughly eight-minute conversation with DebunkBot, a model we built on top of OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo (the most up-to-date GPT model at that time). Participants began by writing out, in their own words, a conspiracy theory that they believed and the…
Transforming commercial pharma with agentic AI
Summary
Amid the turbulence of the wider global economy in recent years, the pharmaceuticals industry is weathering its own storms. The rising cost of raw materials and supply chain disruptions are squeezing margins as pharma companies face intense pressure—including from countries like the US—to control drug costs. At the same time, a wave of expiring patents threatens around $300 billion in potential lost sales by 2030. As companies lose the exclusive right to sell the drugs they have developed, competitors can enter the market with generic and biosimilar lower-cost alternatives, leading to a sharp decline in branded drug sales—a “patent cliff.” Simultaneously, the cost of bringing new drugs to market is climbing. McKinsey estimates cost per launch is growing 8% each year, reaching $4 billion in 2022. DOWNLOAD THE REPORT In clinics…
The looming crackdown on AI companionship
Summary
As long as there has been AI, there have been people sounding alarms about what it might do to us: rogue superintelligence, mass unemployment, or environmental ruin from data center sprawl. But this week showed that another threat entirely—that of kids forming unhealthy bonds with AI—is the one pulling AI safety out of the academic fringe and into regulators’ crosshairs. This has been bubbling for a while. Two high-profile lawsuits filed in the last year, against Character.AI and OpenAI, allege that companion-like behavior in their models contributed to the suicides of two teenagers. A study by US nonprofit Common Sense Media, published in July, found that 72% of teenagers have used AI for companionship. Stories in reputable outlets about “AI psychosis” have highlighted how endless conversations with chatbots can lead…
Can an AI doppelgänger help me do my job?
Summary
Everywhere I look, I see AI clones. On X and LinkedIn, “thought leaders” and influencers offer their followers a chance to ask questions of their digital replicas. OnlyFans creators are having AI models of themselves chat, for a price, with followers. “Virtual human” salespeople in China are reportedly outselling real humans. Digital clones—AI models that replicate a specific person—package together a few technologies that have been around for a while now: hyperrealistic video models to match your appearance, lifelike voices based on just a couple of minutes of speech recordings, and conversational chatbots increasingly capable of holding our attention. But they’re also offering something the ChatGPTs of the world cannot: an AI that’s not smart in the general sense, but that ‘thinks’ like you do. Who are they for? Delphi,…
Business & Finance
Trump names Warsh, Hassett as top Fed contenders, WSJ says
Summary
President Donald Trump said that Kevin Hassett and Kevin Warsh are his top choices to lead the US Federal Reserve and that he expects the next chair of the central bank to consult with him on interest rates. Trump, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Friday, indicated that Warsh, a former Fed governor, has climbed up the short list of contenders to challenge Hassett, the White House National Economic Council head whom many had seen as the frontrunner for the job. “I think the two Kevins are great,” he said. “I think there are a couple of other people that are great.” Trump previously signaled that he already made up his mind, saying Monday he had a “a pretty good idea” of who to nominate. The president last month…
Trump says ‘starting’ land strikes over drugs in latest warning
Summary
President Donald Trump said the US would be “starting” land strikes on drug operations in Latin America, though again declined to provide details on when and where the escalation of his military campaign would actually begin, or if countries could still do anything to avert the threatened action. “We knocked out 96% of the drugs coming in by water, and now we’re starting by land, and by land is a lot easier, and that’s going to start happening,” Trump told reporters Friday in the Oval Office. The US president for days has been pledging to broaden the effort, which comes after the Pentagon has launched a series of attacks on what it has called drug-smuggling boats in international waters off the coast of South America. While Trump’s posturing has largely…
Michigan mystery revealed: Fired football coach had broken into a lover’s apartment and threatened to kill himself when their affair ended
Summary
Fired University of Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore broke into the apartment of a woman with whom he had been having an affair and threatened to kill himself after she reported the relationship to the school and he lost his job, prosecutors said Friday. Moore was charged with three crimes, including home invasion and stalking. As he watched by video from jail, authorities laid out extraordinary allegations against Moore and provided details that answered a key question: What led Michigan to suddenly oust the 39-year-old coach Wednesday after his second season at the helm of the storied football program? Moore and the woman had been having an affair “for a number of years” before she ended the relationship Monday, said Kati Rezmierski, Washtenaw County first assistant prosecutor. Moore repeatedly called the woman and texted…
32-year-old’s death on Universal roller coaster was accidental despite deep forehead gash, investigation finds
Summary
The death of a 32-year-old man after riding a high-speed roller coaster at the Universal Epic Universe theme park was accidental, and an investigation has been closed, according to a Florida sheriff’s office report released this week. Meanwhile, a medical examiner’s report released Friday showed that the left side of Kevin Rodriguez Zavala’s forehead had a deep gash, and the bony ridge above his eye was fractured. He had bleeding above his skull, bruises on his abdomen and arms, and his nose and right thigh bone were fractured, the medical examiner’s report said. The medical examiner in Orlando previously had ruled the death an accident, saying Zavala died of blunt-impact injuries. The investigative report by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Orlando said that workers at Epic Universe followed procedures and weren’t…
Education
Education Department Takes a Preliminary Step Toward Revamping Its Research and Statistics Arm
Summary
In his first two months in office, President Donald Trump ordered the closing of the Education Department and fired half of its staff. The department’s research and statistics division, called the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), was particularly hard hit. About 90 percent of its staff lost their jobs and more than 100 federal contracts to conduct its primary activities were canceled. But now there are signs that the Trump administration is partially reversing course and wants the federal government to retain a role in generating education statistics and evidence for what works in classrooms — at least to some extent. On Sept. 25, the department posted a notice in the Federal Register asking the public to submit feedback by Oct. 15 on reforming IES to make research more relevant…
PEN America Warns of Rise in Books ‘Systematically Removed From School Libraries’
Summary
PEN America released its list of the most-banned books of the 2024-2025 school year on Wednesday – and warned that the number of books challenged or banned in public school districts across the country has risen exponentially in the past two years. The group dedicated to free expression counted 6,870 bans during the past academic year. While that’s down from a total of 10,046 bans imposed during the 2023-24 school year, it’s still a sharp rise from the period of 2021-2023, which averaged just under 3,000 incidents of book banning each year, in what it calls a “disturbing normalization of censorship” in public schools. PEN America defines a school book ban as “any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community…
A New Nation’s Report Card Shows Drops in Science, Math and Reading Scores
Summary
New test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card, show eighth-graders’ science scores have fallen 4 points since 2019 and 12th-graders’ math and reading scores have fallen 3 points in the same time period. The tests were administered between January and March 2024. This is the first NAEP score release since the Trump administration began making cuts to the U.S. Education Department. Those cuts, included laying off more than half the workers at the Institute of Education Sciences, IES, the arm of the department charged with measuring student achievement and overseeing and processing the data that comes from the tests students take. After those cuts, the department also canceled about a dozen national and state assessments of student progress through 2032…
Millions of Borrowers in Biden’s SAVE Plan Would Start Paying Under New Settlement
Summary
The U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday that it had reached a proposed settlement agreement to end a popular, yet controversial Biden-era student loan repayment plan. The Saving on a Valuable Education plan, better known as SAVE, was the most flexible and generous of all income-driven repayment plans, promising expedited loan forgiveness and monthly payments as low as $0 for low-income borrowers. Republican state attorneys general, led by Missouri, sued the Biden administration, arguing in court that SAVE was too generous. The legal challenges put all SAVE borrowers in limbo for months, during which they were not required to make payments on their loans – even after many had already spent years in a pandemic payment pause. Interest resumed accruing on SAVE loans in August. “The law is clear: if…
Entertainment
Touré Clarifies Context of Biggie Clip Used in Diddy Documentary Surrounding B.I.G.’s Fear of Death
Summary
Touré hopped on TikTok to clarify the timeline regarding a clip from his New York Times interview with The Notorious B.I.G. that was used in Netflix’s Sean Combs: The Reckoning docuseries. In the scenes playing out Biggie’s final hours, an interview clip of the Brooklyn rapper speaking about the intense paranoia, fear for his life and pressures from the outside plays. Touré clarified in his TikTok that the interview he conducted was actually from 1994 surrounding Ready to Die, which would be more than two years before B.I.G. was murdered in March 1997 while in Los Angeles. “So I did that interview, he’s talking to me,” the journalist explained. “The doc places this right before the Peterson Auto Museum, March 9. But you know what? We did that interview on…
Spotify Wrapped Is Music Streaming’s Cultural Equivalent to Cyber Monday, Prime Day and Coachella
Summary
The 2025 edition of Spotify Wrapped arrived earlier this week, and it was impossible to miss. The annual listener recap attracted widespread news coverage that spanned the mainstream press (The New York Times, USA Today), the business press (Fast Company, Forbes), the tech press (Mashable, PC Mag) and local press (Peoria Journal Star, Cincinnati Enquirer). For its part, Spotify announced the launch of Wrapped with a slew of blog posts and a pre-release press conference. Even before that, articles about Wrapped’s launch began appearing in late November by publications eager to tap into listeners’ anticipation. Regardless of how Spotify users learned of Wrapped — the media attention, social media chatter or seeing it when they opened their Spotify app on Wednesday (Dec. 3) — they took part in a…
Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $72 Billion Deal
Summary
Netflix has agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business in a landmark $72 billion deal, uniting two of Hollywood’s most influential entertainment companies. The agreement, announced early Friday, will give Netflix control of Warner Bros.’ film and television assets, including HBO Max and DC Studios, alongside its own dominant streaming platform and original hits such as Stranger Things, Kpop Demon Hunters and Squid Game. The transaction, structured as a cash-and-stock deal valued at $27.75 per Warner share, places Warner’s enterprise value at approximately $82.7 billion. The deal is expected to close in late 2026, following Warner’s planned spin-off of its Discovery Global cable operations into a separate publicly traded company. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said the merger will combine Warner’s legendary catalog — from classics like Casablanca…
Stray Kids, Aespa & More K-Pop Stars Donate to Support Victims of Hong Kong Tower Fire
Summary
K-pop band aespa and other South Korean pop stars have announced a flurry of donations to support victims of an apartment fire in Hong Kong that killed at least 128 people in one of the city’s deadliest blazes. Girl group aespa said they will donate 500,000 Hong Kong dollars ($64,000) to the Hong Kong Red Cross, according to a post on their official Weibo account. “We express our deepest sorrow regarding this heartbreaking news,” the band said. Stray Kids pledged 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($129,000) through World Vision Hong Kong for temporary housing and other support for affected children and residents. “We were all very heavy-hearted upon hearing the unfortunate news from Hong Kong,” the group said. SM and JYP Entertainment, two of South Korea’s biggest entertainment companies, donated…
Environment & Sustainability
A Rare Gourd
Summary
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured an uncommon sight – the death of a low-mass star – in this image of the Calabash Nebula released on Feb. 3, 2017. Here, we can see the star going through a rapid transformation from a red giant to a planetary nebula, during which it blows its outer layers of gas and dust out into the surrounding space. The recently ejected material is spat out in opposite directions with immense speed — the gas shown in yellow is moving close to a million kilometers an hour. Astronomers rarely capture a star in this phase of its evolution because it occurs within the blink of an eye – in astronomical terms. Over the next thousand years the nebula…
Gregory T. Horvath
Summary
Gregory T. Horvath NESC Chief Engineer at KSC Mr. Gregory Horvath began his NASA career in 1987, serving as a Cryogenics Systems Engineer for the Space Shuttle Program. After a decade, he transitioned to International Space Station (ISS) support in Huntsville, Alabama, overseeing ISS Airlock for four years and supported the processing of ISS Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules for two years. In 2003, he became an Engineering Lead for the Orbital Space Plane Program, where he led requirements development for two years. He then spent seven years as the Systems Engineering & Integration (SE&I) Division Chief in the Ground Operations Project Office, notably serving on the transition team for the newly formed Constellation Program. In 2011, he was named the Ground Systems Development & Operations Program SE&I Division Chief, overseeing all…
Building the International Space Station
Summary
From Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, explore the world of human spaceflight with NASA each week on the official podcast of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Listen to in-depth conversations with the astronauts, scientists and engineers who make it possible. On episode 405, former ISS program manager and Axiom Space co-founder Michael Suffredini reflects on the ambitious path to building the International Space Station and the lessons learned from a decade of leadership. This episode was recorded September 25, 2025. Transcript Gary Jordan Houston We Have a Podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, Episode 405: Building the International Space Station. I’m Gary Jordan, and I’ll be your host for this episode. On this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists,…
NASA Selects Two Heliophysics Missions for Continued Development
Summary
NASA NASA has selected one small explorer mission concept to advance toward flight design and another for an extended period of concept development. NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Science Management Council selected CINEMA (Cross-scale Investigation of Earth’s Magnetotail and Aurora) to enter Phase B of development, which includes planning and design for flight and mission operations. The principal investigator for the CINEMA mission concept is Robyn Millan from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The proposed CINEMA mission aims to advance our understanding of how plasma energy flows into the Earth’s magnetosphere. This highly dynamic convective flow is unpredictable — sometimes steady and sometimes explosive — driving phenomena like fast plasma jets, global electrical current systems, and spectacular auroral displays. “The CINEMA mission will help us to research magnetic convection in…
Food & Travel
Is Your Favorite National Park at Risk During the Shutdown? It Depends on the State.
Summary
The federal government’s shutdown had an immediate impact, that will be increasingly felt for however long the shutdown continues, on the National Park Service. According to the AP, parks remain “generally” open, but services are pared back, facilities may be closed, and most staff are furloughed. This follows what has already been a tumultuous year that has seen deep staffing cuts and high visitation. The agency is leaning on limited fee revenue and skeleton crews to keep access open while protecting life and property — a trade-off that will vary widely by site. Certain states working to keep parks open Utah officials said the state will support keeping its “Mighty 5” (Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion) accessible during the lapse, though visitors should expect minimal services. Colorado…
Hotel Prices Keep Climbing in New York City 2 Years After Airbnb Crackdown
Summary
Two years after New York City’s sweeping crackdown on Airbnb, visitors looking for affordable accommodations in the Big Apple face an even more expensive new reality in a city already known for being pricey. New data shows that short-term rentals are all but erased from the five boroughs, and hotel prices are continuing to go up. In July 2025, the average nightly rate for a hotel room in NYC hit $283, a 7 percent increase over two years prior, according to data from CoStar first published in the Wall Street Journal. Fall and into the holiday season sees much higher nightly rates — last year September had a record-setting month where average rates reached $417 per night. These spikes are not temporary: occupancy has outpaced 2023 levels in every month…
FAA Slashes Flights at 40 Major US Airports in Light of Government Shutdown
Summary
Everyone knows flying in the US can be a little bumpy, both literally and figuratively. But it’s about to get significantly more delayed in light of the current US federal government shutdown, as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) made a significant announcement on Wednesday, November 5. Citing the immense strain on staff from the record-long government shutdown, it announced it would cut flight traffic by 10 percent at 40 of the country’s busiest airports. The announcement was made at a press conference by US Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy, who oversees the FAA, following vague comments earlier in the week to completely close some portions of US air space if the shutdown continued. Unconfirmed sources tell media outlets the scale-back will happen gradually, beginning with a four percent…
How to Find the Next Big Restaurant Before the Hype, From ‘Knife Edge’ Host Jesse Burgess
Summary
For more than a century, the Michelin Guide, a tire company’s marketing plan that turned into the world’s most famous restaurant guide, has cultivated an aura of exclusivity — white-tablecloth temples, anonymous inspectors sworn to secrecy, and career-changing recognition that can boost business. Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars, the new Apple TV+ series produced by Gordon Ramsay and hosted by Jesse Burgess, takes viewers behind the scenes of what it’s like for chefs chasing stars. And with that, rare direct access to Michelin inspectors. “I think it’s incredulous that they have kept everything so secret for 125 years,” Burgess told me. “And the fact that they granted this access … was monumental and groundbreaking.” Words like that could read as hyperbole. He wasn’t exaggerating. Still, the inspector interviews that appear…
Gaming
Lego Batman: Legacy Of The Dark Knight Answers The Bat-Signal In May 2026
Summary
Warner Bros. Games has set a date for its next Lego Batman outing. Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight will dive deep into the Bat-family's history on May 29, 2026. Confirmed at The Game Awards 2025, a new trailer showed off some of the adventures that Lego Batman, Lego Robin, and other Lego versions of famous Bat-Heroes and Bat-Villians will be undertaking next year. The new game looks to span the length of Batman's history, throughout every era of the Bat. This news arrives right as Warner Bros. finds itself at the center of a bidding war for its future. With a release date locked in, Lego Batman and pals' future prospects should hopefully be secured. But today's trailer does make it look like the team at TT…
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Budget Was Under $10 Million – Report
Summary
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been one of 2025's breakout success stories in gaming, and it was developed on a relatively small budget, apparently. The New York Times reports that the budget was "less than $10 million," crediting the information to developer Sandfall. The report added that the team "conserved resources" by purposefully avoiding an open-world setup in favor of making Expedition 33 a turn-based game. Sandfall's Guillaume Broche said Sandfall now has the right technology to "make those games with a relatively small team," and he hopes to see more like it from other studios. Continue Reading at GameSpot Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been one of 2025's breakout success stories in gaming, and it was developed on a relatively small budget, apparently. The New York Times reports that…
McDonald’s achieves AI apotheosis with a generative AI Christmas ad so utterly miserable, the production company responsible took down a statement defending it: This was ‘an important learning,’ McDonald’s exec says, but what did we learn?
Summary
'The holidays suck ass and we'll be lucky to get out of them with our health and sanity intact, but at least we can shove some crappy fast food into our slack pieholes before the existential darkness claims us': That's the premise of a new McDonald's holiday ad that, as reported by the BBC, was quickly pulled after it went out because not only was it utterly miserable, it was also made entirely with generative AI. "McDonald's unveiled what has to be the most god-awful ad I've seen this year—worse than Coca-Cola's," Theodore McKenzie of 80 Level wrote on X. "Fully AI-generated, that's one. Looks repulsive, that's two. More cynical about Christmas than the Grinch, that's three." And then, in the true spirit of the holidays, he added, "I don't…
Nvidia has built location tracking tech that uses the ‘confidential computing capabilities’ of its AI chips to prevent smuggling, according to a Reuters report
Summary
According to a Reuters report, Nvidia has built location verification technology that could indicate which country its chips are operating in, in an effort to prevent its AI GPUs from being smuggled into countries where their export has been banned. According to its sources, the feature is said to be a software option that taps into the "confidential computing capabilities" of Nvidia's AI GPUs as part of a new service, which would utilise the delay in communicating with Nvidia servers to give a rough idea of which geographic location they were operating from. In a statement to Reuters, Nvidia said: "We're in the process of implementing a new software service that empowers data center operators to monitor the health and inventory of their entire AI GPU fleet. "This customer-installed software…
Health & Wellness
Study suggests that water treatment methods may impact the risk of Legionnaires’ disease
Summary
Preliminary results of a nationwide study suggest that the disinfectant used to treat water before it is distributed through pipes may impact the incidence of Legionnaires' disease in certain parts of the country. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis in Washington, D.C. Preliminary results of a nationwide study suggest that the disinfectant used to treat water before it is distributed through pipes may impact the incidence of Legionnaires' disease in certain parts of the country. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis in Washington, D.C. Preliminary results of a nationwide study suggest that the disinfectant used to treat water before it is distributed through pipes may impact the incidence of Legionnaires' disease in certain parts…
Most of the world isn’t getting enough omega-3
Summary
Most people worldwide aren’t getting enough omega-3, leaving a major gap between scientific recommendations and daily diets. Researchers emphasize the critical role of EPA and DHA across all life stages and point out that food alone often can’t meet needs. The review calls for clearer global guidelines and easier access to sustainable omega-3 sources. It also highlights the challenges different populations face in reaching healthy intake levels. Most people worldwide aren’t getting enough omega-3, leaving a major gap between scientific recommendations and daily diets. Researchers emphasize the critical role of EPA and DHA across all life stages and point out that food alone often can’t meet needs. The review calls for clearer global guidelines and easier access to sustainable omega-3 sources. It also highlights the challenges different populations face in…
Single enzyme mutation reveals a hidden trigger in dementia
Summary
Researchers discovered that a tiny structural feature of the enzyme GPX4 helps keep neurons safe. A rare mutation removes this protection, allowing harmful molecules to damage cell membranes and trigger early dementia. Mouse and cell studies showed changes resembling Alzheimer’s. Early tests to slow this damage give scientists new directions to explore. Researchers discovered that a tiny structural feature of the enzyme GPX4 helps keep neurons safe. A rare mutation removes this protection, allowing harmful molecules to damage cell membranes and trigger early dementia. Mouse and cell studies showed changes resembling Alzheimer’s. Early tests to slow this damage give scientists new directions to explore. Researchers discovered that a tiny structural feature of the enzyme GPX4 helps keep neurons safe. A rare mutation removes this protection, allowing harmful molecules to damage…
What’s holding back plant-based meat in Australia?
Summary
Despite growing interest in sustainable eating, the plant-based meat sector faces cultural, social and psychological hurdles that run deeper than taste and price. But attitudes are shifting, as Professor Andrew McGregor explains. Despite growing interest in sustainable eating, the plant-based meat sector faces cultural, social and psychological hurdles that run deeper than taste and price. But attitudes are shifting, as Professor Andrew McGregor explains. Despite growing interest in sustainable eating, the plant-based meat sector faces cultural, social and psychological hurdles that run deeper than taste and price. But attitudes are shifting, as Professor Andrew McGregor explains. Despite growing interest in sustainable eating, the plant-based meat sector faces cultural, social and psychological hurdles that run deeper than taste and price. But attitudes are shifting, as Professor Andrew McGregor explains.
Lifestyle
Instagram Is Finally Letting You Control the Reels You See
Summary
After years of suffering from a crippling TikTok addiction, I decided enough was enough: I quit the app cold turkey and deleted it from my phone. Then, I discovered Instagram Reels, and my attention span hasn't been the same since. TikTok's algorithm is infamous, but we don't give Instagram's enough credit. This platform is addicting. I hardly use the app to keep up with friends and family anymore: Reels grabs my attention and doesn't let go, and before I know it, it's midnight, and I've done nothing with my evening. How many videos did I watch? What did I even watch? Whatever Meta has going on in that algorithm is dangerous stuff. You can influence the algorithm, of course: The decisions you make in the app—likes, comments, watch time, sharing—tell…
Google Is Testing AI-Generated Headlines, and It’s Not Going Well
Summary
Take a look at the top of this article. See that headline? If it looks different than what you clicked on to get to this page, congratulations: Google might have chosen you to participate in its latest AI experiment: rewriting news headlines for some users in Google Discover. Evidence of the new effort was first spotted by The Verge, as it seems writer Sean Hollister was affected by the update. Here's what's going on: When you swipe right on your Pixel or Galaxy home screen (or scroll down in the Google app on iPhone, or open up a new Chrome browser window with Google as your homepage), there's now a chance the article previews you'll see from Google Discover were actually generated by AI, rather than mirroring the headlines and/or…
The First Four Things to Do When Your Flight is Canceled
Summary
Flight cancellations under the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) government shutdown order have begun, with hundreds of flights and thousands of travelers across 40 U.S. airports affected. This could continue for as long as the shutdown lasts (and potentially impact many more travelers as the busy holiday season approaches). While flight cancellations are never fun, the cascading effect of due to the government shutdown could make dealing with one even more frustrating. Here are four actions you should take right away if your itinerary is cut. Enable alerts from your airline Flight cancellations often happen with little to no notice, sometimes when you're already en route to your destination, and airlines are certainly scrambling to comply with the FAA's shutdown order. As they continue to pare down their schedules, there's a…
NYT Games Subscribers Can Now Make Custom Wordles for Their Friends
Summary
The New York Times has announced a new feature that allows you to make your own Wordle puzzle to share with friends. You need to be a Games or All-Access subscriber to create puzzles, but no subscription is needed to solve them. You aren't roped to regular Wordle's five-letter structure, either: Allowable puzzles can be anywhere from four to seven letters long. They must be on an allowable word list; as with regular Wordle, this means no proper nouns, for the most part. Profanity is not allowed, nor are gibberish entries like “ASDFGJ” (I tried). Here’s a link to a Wordle-style puzzle with four letters that I created for you—because I consider all of you my friends. (This is not the puzzle I've used to create the screenshots in this…
Marketing & SEO
The AI gold rush is over: Why AI’s next era belongs to orchestrators
Summary
For the past two years, we’ve been living in AI’s gold rush era. To borrow from Taylor Swift, think of it as the “Lover” phase where everything is shiny, new, and full of possibility. The behavior: Buy everything. The metric: Can it generate something cool? The vibe: Pure FOMO. But we’re entering a new era now. Call it the “Reputation” phase, which is darker, edgier, and entirely focused on receipts. A sign of this shift was in the headlines recently, blaring on about Microsoft lowering its AI sales targets. The hot takes rushed in to frame it as a disappointment, a slowdown, and even a sign that enterprise demand is cooling. They all misread the moment. This is really a sign of the market graduating. We’re maturing. The AI gold…
Google pulls EU antitrust complaint against Microsoft
Summary
Google withdrew its antitrust complaint against Microsoft after EU regulators opened a new probe into Azure under the bloc’s tough tech rules. Driving the news. Google pulled its 2024 complaint—centered on Microsoft’s allegedly anti-competitive cloud licensing practices—just as the European Commission launched fresh investigations into whether Azure and Amazon Web Services fall under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Google says the withdrawal doesn’t mean it’s backing down. What they’re saying. “We filed our antitrust complaint…to give voice to our customers and partners,” said Giorgia Abeltino, Google Cloud Europe’s head of public policy. She added that Google still stands behind the concerns raised. Why we care. The EU’s new probe into Microsoft’s cloud practices could reshape the infrastructure that underpins many ad-tech tools, measurement systems, and AI workflows. If regulators force…
Google and AI slop are ruining Thanksgiving for food bloggers
Summary
Food bloggers say this Thanksgiving is a breaking point. Google Search and AI Overviews, powered by Gemini 3, are rewriting recipes, stealing clicks, and in some cases serving dangerously wrong cooking instructions, Bloomberg reported. Why we care. For more than a decade, food bloggers could predict and rely on holiday traffic. Not this year. AI answers are replacing vetted recipes, cutting off creators’ main revenue streams, and confusing home cooks with stitched-together instructions that don’t always make sense. What’s happening. Google’s AI Overviews now surface blended cooking steps from multiple bloggers, often above the links/sources they draw from. Many food creators reported between 30% and 80% drops in Google traffic, with some calling this their worst holiday season yet. Meanwhile, AI-generated recipe slop is flooding Pinterest, Facebook, and Etsy, blurring…
DOJ and Google wrap up ad tech monopoly hearing
Summary
The Justice Department and Google wrapped a two-week hearing over how to address Google’s illegal monopoly in online advertising technology, setting up a pivotal antitrust showdown that could reshape the digital ad industry. Driving the news. The hearing, held in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, concluded after testimony from more than two dozen witnesses – including Google executives, rival ad tech leaders, publishers, and expert economists. The Justice Department wants Google to sell off its ad exchange and possibly parts of its publisher tools to restore competition. Google argues that a breakup would disrupt publishers and advertisers, especially small businesses that depend on its systems. Both sides will deliver closing arguments in November, with Judge Leonie Brinkema expected to rule in the coming months. Why…
Politics & Society
CDC Director Susan Monarez ousted just weeks after confirmation
Summary
Susan Monarez, the longtime government scientist recently confirmed as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has been let go from her position after less than a month in the role. A source familiar with the situation confirmed to The Hill that Monarez is ousted as CDC director. The Senate confirmed her on July 29. The Washington Post was first to report Monarez's firing. The Hill has reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services for comment. Prior to being nominated to lead the CDC, Monarez had served as acting CDC Director shortly after the start of the second Trump administration. She previously served as deputy director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). President Trump chose Monarez as his second choice after…
Suspected Minnesota shooter’s rifle magazine had ‘Kill Donald Trump’ inscription
Summary
The suspected shooter who killed two children at a Minnesota church on Wednesday wrote incendiary messages on gun magazines, including one that read “Kill Donald Trump.” The images appeared in a manifesto posted online around the same time as the shooting on Wednesday morning. The manifesto included a lengthy written note from the suspected shooter as well. The video had been taken down from YouTube as of late Wednesday afternoon. The video also showed messages written on rifle magazines that said "For the Children" and "Where is your God." "This level of violence is unthinkable," said Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, in a post on X where she discussed the messages. "Our deepest prayers are with the children, parents, families, educators, and Christians everywhere. We mourn with them,…
Trump ramps up DC power grab
Summary
President Trump is ramping up his power grab over Washington, D.C., on everything from the city’s law enforcement to a takeover of its transportation hub and key cultural center. He’s called for the death penalty in D.C. murder cases, cleared out homeless encampments, and is promising to fix everything from fences to light fixtures in what he calls a “beautification” of the city. On Wednesday, his Transportation secretary also announced a takeover of managing Union Station, where National Guard troops have been stationed for weeks. It marked the latest escalation by Trump to encroach on the city’s key institutions and landmarks, and that timing, according to a source close to Trump World, is no coincidence ahead of Congress coming back. “Trump is on very firm political footing on this issue.…
Nvidia revenue jumped 56 percent last year, beats Wall Street expectations
Summary
Nvidia reported a solid jump in second-quarter revenue Wednesday, beating Wall Street expectations for its highly anticipated earnings report. The chipmaker reported $46.7 billion in second-quarter revenue, up 6 percent from the previous quarter and 56 percent over the past year. Wall Street analysts had forecasted revenue of roughly $46 billion, according to consensus estimates. Nvidia has become one of the most powerful and richest U.S. technology companies amid the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, including generative AI chatbots and image generators, which use immense computing power. Nvidia has risen to prominence as the top U.S. manufacturer of the semiconductor chips widely used to run AI programs. The company has also found itself caught in the crossfire of the U.S-China battle over AI. Nvidia and AMD, another major U.S.…
Science
25 Years of Space Station Technology Driving Exploration
Summary
NASA and its partners have supported humans continuously living and working in space since November 2000. After 25 years of habitation, the International Space Station continues to be a proving ground for technology that powers NASA’s Artemis campaign, future lunar missions, and human exploration of Mars. Take a look at key technology advancements made possible by research aboard the orbiting laboratory. Robots at work in orbit NASA astronaut Suni Williams checks out the Astrobee robotic free-flyer inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module during a demonstration of satellite capture techniques. This technology could help extend the life of satellites and reduce space debris. NASA Robots have been critical to the space station’s success. From the Canadian-built Canadarm2, which assembled large portions of the orbiting laboratory and continues to…
NASA Demonstrates Safer Skies for Future Urban Air Travel
Summary
2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA engineer Hanbong Lee demonstrates capabilities to manage busy urban airspace traffic during a recent simulation at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. NASA/Brandon Torres-Navarrete NASA is helping shape the future of urban air travel with a new simulation that will manage how electric air taxis and drones can successfully operate within busy areas. The demonstration, held at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley earlier this year, focused on a system called the Strategic Deconfliction Simulation, which helps coordinate flight plans before takeoff, reducing the risk of conflicts in busy urban environments At the event, researchers demonstrated NASA’s Situational Viewer and Demand-Capacity Balancing Monitor, which visualizes air traffic and adjusts flight plans in real time.…
What a Blast! NASA Langley Begins Plume-Surface Interaction Tests
Summary
5 Min Read What a Blast! NASA Langley Begins Plume-Surface Interaction Tests Views of the 60-foot vacuum sphere in the which the plume-surface interaction testing is happening. Credits: NASA/Joe Atkinson In March as Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission-1 landed on the Moon, researchers from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, employed a novel camera system to capture first-of-its-kind data imagery of the interaction between the lander’s engine plumes and the lunar surface. That kind of data is critical, because as the United States returns to the Moon, both through NASA’s Artemis campaign and the commercialization of space, researchers need to understand the hazards that may occur when a lander’s engine plumes blast away at the lunar dust, soil, and rocks. These data will be valuable to NASA’s commercial partners…
How Louisiana Native Turned Childhood Wonder into NASA Stennis Career
Summary
Michelle Hoehn is a cost accountant at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, where her work contributes to NASA’s Artemis program that will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars. NASA/Danny Nowlin Michelle Hoehn vividly remembers the day a seed was planted for her future at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. As a seventh grader, the Bogalusa, Louisiana, native joined her dad for Father/Daughter Day at NASA Stennis. Hoehn knew she wanted to be part of something bigger, something that sparked wonder and purpose, in the moment she visited her dad’s office. She recalled feeling a sense of awe and possibility that day. It was not until her second year at Southeastern Louisiana University – after the birth of her first child…
Sports
Report: Argentina-PR moved, Chicago unrest cited
Summary
A friendly between Argentina and Puerto Rico, originally scheduled for next week in Chicago, has been relocated to Florida amid the immigration crackdown in the city, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday. A friendly between Argentina and Puerto Rico, originally scheduled for next week in Chicago, has been relocated to Florida amid the immigration crackdown in the city, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday. A friendly between Argentina and Puerto Rico, originally scheduled for next week in Chicago, has been relocated to Florida amid the immigration crackdown in the city, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday. A friendly between Argentina and Puerto Rico, originally scheduled for next week in Chicago, has been…
Phillies’ Schwarber 1st in NL to reach 50 homers
Summary
Philadelphia slugger Kyle Schwarber hit his 50th home run of the season, a three-run shot off reliever Justin Hagenman in the seventh inning that gave the Phillies a 7-1 lead en route to a comfortable 9-3 victory over the New York Mets on Tuesday night. Philadelphia slugger Kyle Schwarber hit his 50th home run of the season, a three-run shot off reliever Justin Hagenman in the seventh inning that gave the Phillies a 7-1 lead en route to a comfortable 9-3 victory over the New York Mets on Tuesday night. Philadelphia slugger Kyle Schwarber hit his 50th home run of the season, a three-run shot off reliever Justin Hagenman in the seventh inning that gave the Phillies a 7-1 lead en route to a comfortable 9-3 victory over the New…
Kane among those thrilled to see return of Toews
Summary
Like so many around the NHL, Red Wings forward Patrick Kane, who won three Stanley Cup championships with the Blackhawks playing alongside Jonathan Toews, is eager to see the return of his former running mate, who signed with the Jets this offseason. Like so many around the NHL, Red Wings forward Patrick Kane, who won three Stanley Cup championships with the Blackhawks playing alongside Jonathan Toews, is eager to see the return of his former running mate, who signed with the Jets this offseason. Like so many around the NHL, Red Wings forward Patrick Kane, who won three Stanley Cup championships with the Blackhawks playing alongside Jonathan Toews, is eager to see the return of his former running mate, who signed with the Jets this offseason.
Source: Steelers sign Peppers with Elliott injured
Summary
The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed veteran safety Jabrill Peppers, a source confirmed to ESPN, after starting safety DeShon Elliott left Sunday's season opener against the Jets with a knee injury. The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed veteran safety Jabrill Peppers, a source confirmed to ESPN, after starting safety DeShon Elliott left Sunday's season opener against the Jets with a knee injury. The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed veteran safety Jabrill Peppers, a source confirmed to ESPN, after starting safety DeShon Elliott left Sunday's season opener against the Jets with a knee injury. The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed veteran safety Jabrill Peppers, a source confirmed to ESPN, after starting safety DeShon Elliott left Sunday's season opener against the Jets with a knee injury.
Technology
OpenAI built an AI coding agent and uses it to improve the agent itself
Summary
In interviews with Ars Technica this week, OpenAI employees revealed the extent to which the company now relies on its own AI coding agent, Codex, to build and improve the development tool. “I think the vast majority of Codex is built by Codex, so it’s almost entirely just being used to improve itself,” said Alexander Embiricos, product lead for Codex at OpenAI, in a conversation on Tuesday. Codex, which OpenAI launched in its modern incarnation as a research preview in May 2025, operates as a cloud-based software engineering agent that can handle tasks like writing features, fixing bugs, and proposing pull requests. The tool runs in sandboxed environments linked to a user’s code repository and can execute multiple tasks in parallel. OpenAI offers Codex through ChatGPT’s web interface, a command-line…
Reminder: Donate to win swag in our annual Charity Drive sweepstakes
Summary
If you’ve been too busy floating in your new WoW house to take part in this year’s Ars Technica Charity Drive sweepstakes, don’t worry. You still have time to donate to a good cause and get a chance to win your share of over $4,000 worth of swag (no purchase necessary to win). In the first two days or so of the drive, over 200 readers have contributed over $11,000 to either the Electronic Frontier Foundation or Child’s Play as part of the charity drive (Child’s Play has a roughly 60/40 donation lead at the moment). That’s still a long way off from 2020’s record haul of over $58,000, but there’s still plenty of time until the Charity Drive wraps up on Friday, January 2, 2026. That doesn’t mean you…
The long shot
Summary
The long take, the unbroken tracking shot, "the oner" - whatever you want to call it, filmmakers agree that it's one of the most difficult technical achievements in cinema. It's a feat of creativity, but also great coordination and choreography when a single, tiny mistake can ruin a shot. Some famous examples: the casino scene of Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas; more recently, the action sequences in Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men and the entirety of Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman. Even a recent episode of The Studio titled "The Oner" - which captures the difficulty of filming a long, unbroken shot - was itself presented as a oner. Se … Read the full story at The Verge. The long take, the unbroken tracking shot, "the oner" - whatever you want to call…
We found 70 stocking stuffers under $100 that are actually useful
Summary
Google’s Pixel Buds 2A come in several colors, but purple is the way to go. Let's face it, it's easy to fixate on the big gifts that crowd around the Christmas tree. However, we'd argue that the true treasures are the small, useful, and thoughtful gifts tucked within stockings. That's why, for this guide, we've pooled together a bunch of tried-and-tested gadgets and goods to help bolster someone's everyday carry or, at the very least, provide them with something that comes in clutch every once in a while. It certainly isn't about gag gifts and cheap trinkets. The good news is that many of the items we've highlighted in our guides to the best gifts under $25, best gifts under $50, and best gifts under $100 also meet … Read…