Science

Search-and-rescue operations lacked access to pinpoint data on where tornadoes touched down, because Kristi Noem’s DHS spending policies are holding up approval of a $200k contract, reports CNN:

The EV maker has been granted a license to supply electricity to British households and businesses, mirroring its similar business in Texas. The approval doesn’t include dual gas/electric fuel contracts, however, and local supplier Octopus Energy already allows Powerwall battery owners to sell energy back to the grid.

They joined a new initiative called Utilize that aims to use strategies like battery storage and virtual power plants to make more use of the electrons already available to the grid. It’s a plan that’s supposed to make electricity more affordable as opposition grows to data centers blamed for higher utility bills.

We knew that DART changed the orbit of Dimorphos, but that was orbiting another larger asteroid called Didymos. Now, scientists have determined that the mission actually changed the heliocentric orbit of the entire binary system. Granted, it’s just 10 micrometers per-second, but it’s proof humanity could potentially change the trajectory of a world killer.

It’s a $100 million project meant to limit methane and other pollutants that are even more powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. But any company serious about climate change still needs to address their carbon emissions, the most abundant planet-heating pollutant. Both companies’ carbon footprints have grown as they expand data centers for AI.

It’s the Clear Drop Soft Plastic Compactor, and it’s not exactly adorable. But it’s fun to feed unrecyclable plastic into the machine and have it spit out bricks! Justine and I teamed up for a hybrid report and review of the somewhat flawed creation. You can even see and hear what happens to the bricks.

Reserves can offset short-term disruptions to the global market. Beyond that, higher prices could encourage American companies to ramp up production in coming months.

In 2022, Cortical Labs demonstrated a culture of lab-grown human brain cells playing Pong. Now the company claims it has trained its CL-1 chip, composed of 200,000 neurons, to play Doom. Data from the screen is translated into electrical stimulation, and the neurons respond with their own signals controlling Doomguy.

Then you’ll be pleased to know that Beyond Meat’s protein soda now comes in four new flavors. You can now buy a 12-pack with piña colada, cherry berry, cucumber grapefruit, and strawberry lemonade, still with your choice of 10g or 20g of protein.

Fincke expressed gratitude to his crewmates and clarified that, while it was determined the best course of action was to return early for medical imaging, it was not an emergency. He said he’s “doing very well” now and going through standard post-flight recovery at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

During his State of the Union speech, Trump claimed to have negotiated a “ratepayer protection pledge” to keep data centers from raising utility bills for other customers. He didn’t say which companies are involved or what commitments they’ve made.

The Supreme Court is poised to make a decision that could determine whether states and local governments attempting to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate disasters will need to fight their battles in federal rather than state courts.

The LHC will enter a four-year “intensive work period” to “transform the LHC into the [High-Luminosity] LHC,” according to The European Organization for Nuclear Research (aka CERN).

Artemis 2, slated to launch four astronauts around the Moon in just a few weeks, has been delayed due to a helium supply issue in the SLS rocket’s upper stage. The mission, originally scheduled for 2023, has now been delayed to April, at the earliest.

The team is constructing the Human Flatus Atlas, bringing modern wearable monitors to bear on digestive health, measuring the frequency and intensity of farts. The team even had to create an artificial butt that could pass gas on command while developing the prototype. According to the Wall Street Journal:

Following a successful wet dress rehearsal on Thursday plagued only by ground communications glitches, NASA says March 6th will be the earliest launch date for the long-delayed Artemis II mission that will send four astronauts on an approximately 600,000-mile trip to circle the moon and return to Earth.

That’s the message from NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on Thursday as the agency released a 311-page redacted report (pdf) on what went wrong during the Boeing Starliner’s first crewed flight test in 2024.

California regulators killed a proposal that would have imposed fees on gas-burning furnaces and water heaters that release smog-forming pollutants. More than 20,000 comments they received opposing the proposal were generated by a single AI platform, some addressed from people with no idea their names had been used.

A coalition including the American Public Health Association, American Lung Association, and Sierra Club have filed suit against the Trump administration for repealing the landmark ‘endangerment finding.’ The repeal — if successful — could strip away the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to to regulate planet-heating pollution.

The NAACP sent a notice of intent to sue, accusing Musk’s company of illegally installing gas turbines in Mississippi to power its Colossus 2 data center. Thermal images taken by drone show more than a dozen turbines running at the site without a permit, according to a Floodlight investigation.

The first Southwest Airlines plane with Starlink will enter this service this summer, and Starlink is set to be available on “more than 300 aircraft” by the end of the year, Southwest says.