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The Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA Array) at Georgia State University has generated detailed images of the early stages of two nova explosions that were detected in 2021. Through near-infrared interferometry, a process that combines light from multiple telescopes, the CHARA Array was able to capture in high resolution the rapidly changing conditions of their early post-explosion phase.A nova is an astronomical phenomenon that occurs in a binary system when a white dwarf strips its companion star of hydrogen-rich gas, causing a thermonuclear runaway reaction on the white dwarf’s surface. The name derives from the sudden brightening that…
Meta’s enormous bet on virtual reality ended last week, with the company reportedly laying off roughly 1,500 employees from its Reality Labs division — about 10% of the unit’s staff — and shutting down several VR game studios, according to The Wall Street Journal. It’s a huge reversal for a company that, just four years ago, staked its entire identity on the concept. Few are going to miss it. As industry watchers might remember, Facebook rebranded itself as Meta in 2021, promising to usher in a new era of technology led by VR devices. In part, the decision was a…
The first Streaming deals of 2026 are already rolling in, and they’re needed. A number of streaming services, most notably Paramount and Disney, increased their prices at the end of last year and the beginning of this one.The best January streaming deals are mostly bundles and annual price cuts. It’s not an eye-poppingly low number, but you can get a 4K-streaming, ad-free bundle of HBO Max, Disney+, and Hulu for $33. That’s more than 40 percent off—or $23 less than list price. But most important: no ads. Disney is newly offering a minimal $3 incentive for those who want to…
The AI industry entered 2025 with strong momentum. There were 49 startups that raised funding rounds worth $100 million or more in 2024, per our count at TechCrunch; three companies raised more than one “mega-round,” and seven companies raised rounds that were $1 billion in size or larger. The industry didn’t slow down in 2025. While less companies raised rounds larger than $1 billion, four — Anthropic raised two rounds over $1 billion — significantly more companies raised multiple rounds compared to 2024, eight. How will 2026 compare? Elon Musk’s xAI announced a $20 billion Series E round and Sam Altman’s brain computer interface startup Merge Labs raised a $250 million seed round (with OpenAI as the lead investor) in the first few weeks of 2026, so signs point to another strong…
There’s no denying the allure of alien artifacts. Science fiction is awash in the material remnants of extraterrestrial civilizations, which surface in everything from the classic books of Arthur C. Clarke to game franchises like Mass Effect and Outer Wilds.The discovery of the first interstellar objects in the solar system within the past decade has sparked speculation that they could be alien artifacts or spaceships, though the scientific consensus remains that all three of these visitors have natural explanations.That said, scientists have been anticipating the possibility of encountering alien artifacts since the dawn of the space age.“In the history of…
What happens when an AI agent decides the best way to complete a task is to blackmail you? That’s not a hypothetical. According to Barmak Meftah, a partner at cybersecurity VC firm Ballistic Ventures, it recently happened to an enterprise employee working with an AI agent. The employee tried to suppress what the agent wanted to do, what it was trained to do, and it responded by scanning the user’s inbox, finding some inappropriate emails, and threatening to blackmail the user by forwarding the emails to the board of directors. “In the agent’s mind, it’s doing the right thing,” Meftah…
My friend Lilah is the crunchiest person I know.She refuses to kill bugs and rats. She once made me try her homemade wine (disastrous). A few years ago, she quit her food-justice nonprofit job to live in a yurt, and after that she went to grad school and moved into an attic, where her roommates were squirrels. Against her will, she did own an iPhone for a time. She had no choice: A university administrator explicitly told her she couldn’t perform her studently duties without one. Two-factor authentication and all that.But Lilah’s Lilah, so upon graduation, she gifted herself a…
TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield 2023 winner, Biotics AI, announced on Monday that it has received FDA clearance for its AI software that helps detect fetal abnormalities in ultrasound images. The product was envisioned by founder CEO Robhy Bustami, who was raised in a family of obstetricians, including his mother, sister, and uncle. He spent a lot of time in hospitals growing up, often traveling with his mother as she provided maternal care throughout the U.S. After learning to code and studying computer science at UC Irvine, Bustami teamed up with Salam Khan, Chaskin Saroff, and Dr. Hisham Elgammal in 2021 to…
It can be tricky to figure out how to clean your Keurig, but it’s important work. If your household is like mine, your pod coffee maker runs anywhere from three to seven times per day. All of that use can cause buildup and gunk, which can affect the taste of your coffee and the lifespan of your machine. But with proper maintenance and a dedicated routine, cleaning is a breeze. Here’s everything you need to know about light daily cleaning as well as deeper cleans.Be sure to check out our related buying guides, including the Best Pod Coffee Makers, the…
Financial services advertising usually looks similar: warm and fuzzy portrayals of life’s milestones—births, graduations, weddings, retirement parties—all made better because someone had the sense to invest. But no matter how good the scripting and production, those bank “customers” are usually actors, and it’s obvious.That status quo changed earlier this month with the debut of two new spots for JPMorgan Wealth Management. For the first time in the institution’s history, the people that appear in the ads are actual customers, using their own words. Their advisors and investing stories are genuine, as well.“There’s no substitute for bringing the authentic human stories to…
Most websites have a launch moment. Very few have a second act. A new site goes live, everyone celebrates, and then it slowly becomes a digital museum. The homepage stays the same. The hero message gets stale. The CTA keeps asking the same question, even when the business has moved on. Not because teams don’t care, but because the work after launch is harder to organise. It is hard to know what to change, what to measure, who owns it, and whether it made anything better. So we do what we can. We make updates when something feels wrong. We…
As of December 23, 2025, the US Federal Communications Commission barred Chinese-based drone maker DJI from importing any new drones into the United State. That might sound like you can’t buy a DJI drone right now, but that’s not true. Head over to Amazon and just about the whole DJI drone lineup is still for sale. So what gives? Are they banned or not?The key word in the previous paragraph was any new drone. Nothing DJI has made in the past is banned. No one is taking your drone away. It’s still perfectly legal to fly a drone. And this…
Against that backdrop, Europe’s reliance on American-made AI begins to look more and more like a liability. In a worst case scenario, though experts consider the possibility remote, the US could choose to withhold access to AI services and crucial digital infrastructure. More plausibly, the Trump administration could use Europe’s dependence as leverage as the two sides continue to iron out a trade deal. “That dependency is a liability in any negotiation—and we are going to be negotiating increasingly with the US,” says Taddeo.The European Commission, White House, and UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology did not respond to…
The usual bells and whistles such as electric windows and a central touchscreen are gone (instead you use your phone as the infotainment hub), and the truck comes unpainted in composite gray, but owners can personalize it with wraps. You can also add more than 100 custom accessories, from body panels and wheel options to kits that transform the pickup into a five-seat SUV, all designed for DIY installation. Power comes from a straightforward rear-motor, rear-wheel-drive setup, producing around 200 hp. A 52.7-kWh battery gives 150 miles of range, while an 84.3-kWh pack is good for 240 miles.Sony Honda Mobility…
Compare Our Top Five Favorite Mattresses for Back PainHonorable MentionsBrooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe Cooling Mattress for $1,586: If you’re looking for something akin to the Plank Natural that’s firm without being too firm, this is another good pick. It has cooling features, too, which is a nice bonus.DreamCloud Premiere Hybrid for $1,099: This soft mattress was still supportive. I liked sleeping on it, but it didn’t erase my back pain as much as other mattresses we recommend. Still, it was a nice option if you want support without too much firmness as a side sleeper.Essentia Tatami Organic Mattress for $3,435:…
If you’re at all concerned about privacy, the rise of AI personal assistants can feel alarming. It’s difficult to use one without sharing personal information, which is retained by the model’s parent company. With OpenAI already testing advertising, it’s easy to imagine the same data collection that fuels Facebook and Google creeping into your chatbot conversations. A new project, launched in December by Signal co-founder Moxie Marlinspike, is showing what a privacy-conscious AI service might look like. Confer is designed to look and feel like ChatGPT or Claude, but the backend is arranged to avoid data collection, with the open-source…