Featuring the latest in daily science news, Verge Science is all you need to keep track of what’s going on in health, the environment, and your whole world. Through our articles, we keep a close eye on the overlap between science and technology news — so you’re more informed.
The field of brain-computer interfaces is moving away from mind-controlled computer cursors to restoring speech.
Finnish startup Donut Lab claims it’s made a solid-state battery breakthrough. Whether you believe it or not, the technology does appear to be more than just hype.
The billionaire space race sure heated up yesterday with Amazon’s purchase of Globalstar. In response, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched 54 new Starlink satellites in less than 24 hours via two deployments, while Jeff Bezos has only managed to launch a total of 241 Leo satellites in the last 12 months.
The new Leo (formerly Project Kuiper) antenna will enable air travelers bandwidth of up to 1 gigabit per second for downloads and 400 megabits per second for uploads on Delta, JetBlue, and any other commercial airlines Amazon signs up.
Still, Amazon isn’t close to meeting its deadline from the FCC to launch 1,600 satellites by July 2026, having recently requested a two year extension.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is choking off the world’s supply of fertilizer feedstock, triggering concerns about rising food prices and shortages.
I don’t make a habit of featuring Verge writers in the comment of the day, but since Nilay’s testosterone levels were the impetus for Victoria Song’s latest Optimizer column, on Whoop’s hunt for new health metrics, it only felt fair to air his response.
Nilay Patel:
Cmon everyone wants to see what I’m like jacked on literally 10x the testosterone
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Elon Musk has apparently made the jump from X to infect both TikTok and Instagram with new verified accounts. According to the New York Times:
Mr. Musk needs to build widespread public interest in SpaceX so it can raise billions of dollars from investors. The public offering could turn the 54-year-old tech mogul, who is already the world’s richest man, into the first trillionaire.
[nytimes.com]
We love a good space mission patch and this one worn by the Navy rescue team is top-tier. You can check out more photos from the Artemis II splashdown from NASA right here.
The Artemis II crew has successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. They’ve now finished their 10-day journey around the far side of the Moon. It’s been so inspiring to follow.
When the four astronauts aboard Orion return to Earth tonight, they’ll rely on a heat shield that NASA has admitted is flawed. Former astronaut Dr. Charlie Camarda told the New York Times that NASA never should’ve launched Artemis II, guessing there’s a 95 percent chance it will return safely.
CNN explains Artemis II’s “lofted” entry has been adjusted to try to limit the unexpected charring on the Artemis I heat shield, and National Geographic also went in-depth. YouTube, Netflix, and others will broadcast the landing starting at 6:30PM ET.
How the Artemis II spacecraft was designed with (relative) comfort in mind.
You might not be able to fly on an Artemis mission, but you could help them navigate transitions across the gravity on Earth, in transit, and on the Moon. Navy researchers are seeking volunteers to help find out “how the brain and inner ear respond to motion and to space motion sickness mitigation techniques” using an Air Force centrifuge:
Participants will complete up to eight hours of testing across two days, including exposure to three times the force of Earth’s gravity acceleration profile inside the centrifuge, and a series of balance and vision assessments.
On its way to and from visiting the Moon, the 33 engines of the ESA’s European Service Module are keeping Orion on track, as explained in this video. The crew has also tested manual piloting and plans another demonstration tonight at about 10:55PM.
The module’s last correction burn will happen before it separates from the crew capsule ahead of a scheduled splashdown Friday night at 8:07PM ET off the coast of San Diego.
The dismantling of the US Forest Service is going to be devastating in a way we can’t yet calculate. USFS manages an enormous amount of land across 44 states and conducts useful public research. No more! The Trump admin has decided we don’t need any of that science and is “reorganizing” the agency to be closer to interests that want to privatize our public lands, while shutting down a ton of research centers. One step closer to a Trump hotel appearing on our sacred public lands.
While thousands of smartphones and cameras were trained on the sky on April 1st capturing the historic launch of Artemis II, Redditor Cambot72 recorded it on a Nintendo 3DS XL. The 0.3-megapixel footage has some retro Apollo vibes, and you can download the original version to watch in 3D if you’ve still got a 3DS.
As Artemis II sends back some wallpaper-worthy photos of the Moon and a solar eclipse, it may have given Samsung some inspiration for its next generation of smartphone cameras.
Thegovier:
Hopefully Samsung will add this to their photography AI so we can all take perfect photos next time we’re on the other side of the moon.
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MAHA is obsessed with these wearables — for all the wrong reasons.
I’ve been looking for a new desktop wallpaper for a while, and thanks to the Artemis II astronauts I’ve finally found one. NASA’s stunning images of the Earth and the Moon are great for OLED monitors in particular, providing out of this world black levels. Literally.
With their historic lunar flyby complete, the crew of Artemis II are officially on their way back to Earth. The Orion spacecraft is expected to splash down off the coast of San Diego around 8PM Eastern on Friday. NASA’s next Artemis mission is currently slated for 2027.
The crew of the Artemis II are now on a return trajectory to Earth, with an expected splash down off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07pm local time on Friday, April 10.
After setting a new distance record and going behind the Moon, the Artemis II crew has now gone as far away from Earth as they will during the mission.
The team reached the milestone during a planned communications blackout, but they’ve made contact again.
Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen have surpassed Apollo 13’s record for the greatest distance a human mission has traveled away from Earth at over 240,000 miles and counting, and they’ll continue stretching that out until about 7:07PM ET. Right now, they’re beginning to observe the Moon’s surface.
NASA Flight Director Brandon Lloyd, Capsule Communicator Amy Dill, and Command and Handling Data Officer Brandon Borter also marked a lighthearted milestone today by emailing the crew what is now assumed to be the longest person-to-person message ever sent in human history.
In a recent Optimizer, I wrote about how influencers use viral trends to undermine trust in medical science and profit. Well, here’s an example of the consequences in this STAT op-ed penned by a doctor: people are starting to trust untested peptides peddled online over drugs with decades of evidence.
The streaming giant missed out on the April 1st launch of Artemis II, but will broadcast today’s historic flight around the Moon.
At 1PM ET, the capsule will fly past the Moon’s far side, which always faces away from the Earth, and it will also stream on NASA’s official YouTube channel. NASA also made a deal with Netflix last year to feature some of its content.
[What's on Netflix]
NASA shared this photo taken by the Artemis II crew today, showing the Orientale basin in its entirety for the first time. The far side is also becoming visible as the mission approaches its destination.
Artemis II’s astronauts are carrying iPhones, but it’s not to post on Instagram or check email. They can’t even connect to the internet. They’re mostly there for taking photos and videos. According to the New York Times:
The mission is one of the first times that NASA has allowed astronauts to fly with smartphones. NASA gave each astronaut an iPhone during the crew’s quarantine, which started in March, the agency said. But there was no sneaking in a video call on FaceTime or a round of Candy Crush before entering orbit. The phones can’t connect to the internet or use Bluetooth, NASA said. They are primarily for taking photos and videos.
The crew is on track to fly by the Moon on Monday, April 6th, and posting updates along the way, including this stunning pair of photos of the astronauts looking back at Earth. If you want to follow along with every tiny detail, there is a livestream on YouTube.
After liftoff, there was an issue with Outlook running on the mission’s Surface Pro. That left some wondering why NASA was still using such old tech. Well, devices need to be tested and certified. To save money, they went with tech that was already approved. Then the launch date got pushed back… repeatedly. Check out this thread from NASA’s Jason Hutt for the full breakdown.
The New York Times reports that Elon Musk is demanding that “banks, law firms, auditors and other advisers” working on the SpaceX IPO buy subscriptions to Grok, which is technically now under the SpaceX umbrella.
[The New York Times]
Forget business class. I want the seat a lucky Threads user got on a Southwest flight on Wednesday, with a front-row view of NASA’s Artemis II rocket taking off from the Kennedy Space Center on its journey toward the Moon.
Correction: This post misstated the day of the launch.
Check out these incredible photos of our planet taken by Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman. Amazing.
