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 Japanese space agency flight tested its RV-X prototype for the first time, with the reusable rocket rising 36 feet and moving 52 feet horizontally before touching back down, as reported by the Associated Press. China also successfully launched and recovered its reusable rocket last week in a bid to compete with SpaceX.
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Verge Score
This is a smart ring for new users. Everyone else should wait until their current ring dies.
Clowning on the longevity king is fun, but it ignores why people biohack in the first place.
SpaceX dominates satellite launches because nobody else can match the cost-effective, reusable booster of its Falcon 9. Blue Origin landed its New Glenn booster last year, but then blew up its only launch pad in May. Now it’s China’s turn, although with a bit less finesse, according to the BBC:
Long March 10B does not autonomously land on a ground pad or drone ship. Instead “landing hooks” on the rocket catch a net attached to a floating platform.
Quantum computing hype is everywhere. Trump says we’ll have one by 2028, Microsoft by 2029. IBM is investing billions. Is it really happening? Science journalist Sophia Chen joins us to discuss her article, “What is a quantum computer good for? Absolutely nothing — yet,” and break down what’s real and what’s hype in the quantum computing race.
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Lego included a replica of the telescope with its Space Shuttle Discovery set that launched in 2021, but this new 15-inch long Hubble replica is much larger and far more detailed. Inside you’ll find mirrors and gyroscopes, while outside are adjustable solar arrays and antennas. It launches on August 1st for $139.99.
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No, not the 2,500 baby jellyfish NASA launched in 1991 to tell us how the human body reacts to spaceflight, but the rocket-launch phenomenon caused by sunlight reflecting off high-altitude rocket gases at twilight, while the observer watches in darkness.
Every heat wave Europe is embroiled in an argument over whether more air conditioning would save lives or simply worsen the climate crisis. Energy-efficient cooling will help, but scientists are also hard at work on new types of coolant to end our reliance on refrigerants, often potent greenhouse gases in their own right.
AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:
The new Fi Ultra adds satellite connectivity to track your dog anywhere in the US, even in cellular dead zones.
By looking through data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), researchers uncovered a planet through microlensing for the first time — a concept theorized by Einstein that picks up on planets as their gravity warps space-time.
Though the ESA’s now-retired Gaia telescope first discovered hints of the planet in 2023, TESS’s data revealed a planet that’s 1.6 times Jupiter’s mass and almost 40,000 light-years away from Earth.
The company formerly known as xAI has referred to itself as SpaceXAI before following the acquisition by SpaceX. There’s a new logo, too.
The “heat dome” covering the US from the Midwest to the East Coast interrupted the Trump Administration’s Freedom 250 event at the National Mall, which shut down for about four hours, citing the temperatures, and said it would reopen at 5PM ET.
The National Weather Service said more than 110 million people nationwide were under extreme heat risk.
Electrolyte mixes have a time and place — but less than influencers would have you believe.
A group of students in Pisa, Italy, recently set a new Guinness World Record for the “largest paper aircraft.” The previous record stood for over a decade. Icarus is made from glue and paper but was designed and built using actual aeronautical engineering techniques which helped it glide nearly 194 feet.
AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:
If you loved Microsoft sticking Copilot in everything, just wait until its marketing department gets ahold of “quantum.“
itsmrfungible666:
Get ready for Microsoft Windows 12 Elite with Copilot Quantum
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In an update on Tuesday, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp says the company is working to “identify and correct” the issue that led its New Glenn rocket to explode on the launchpad last month. Limp adds that the company plans to return to flight by the end of this year with a new launch pad configuration.
Anthropic launched Claude Science in beta today, calling it an “AI workbench for scientists.” The tool pulls fragmented tools and datasets into one environment, and generates figures and visuals like 3D protein structures.
Anthropic stresses “Claude Science is not a new AI model” — a noteworthy caveat amid ongoing drama surrounding its last rollout.
The Trump administration wants a useful quantum computer in two years. Microsoft wants one in three. Independent researchers cry hype.
Forget for a moment that it’s morally disgusting to let people bet on wildfires; people have already spent $1.2 million doing it. The real question is when someone will commit financially-motivated arson in order to win their bet — because unlike other major environmental events, massive fires are easy to create.
[High Country News]
‘Everyone will be affected, not just scientists. Every community in the country.’
SpaceX bonds are creating losses for the fast-money types who piled in at the offering. “Bond types either aren’t sure that SpaceX will hang on to its investment-grade credit ratings, or will only get involved if they get paid a fat risk premium for doing so,” the Financial Times explains. SpaceX stock is, as of this writing, trading below its IPO price. Gee, if only someone had pointed out that this company is a stinker.
[Financial Times]
I measured my body composition on five devices. I still don’t know what my exact body fat percentage is.
President and COO Gwynne Shotwell has apparently told investors that SpaceX plans to launch a new terrestrial Starlink service that would sell mobile contracts directly to individuals in the US — a threat that could extract better revenue-sharing deals from its current telecom partners. Analysts think a T-Mobile acquisition makes sense to accelerate the move and solve SpaceX’s spectrum deficit issue.
