Medieval plague victims likely found in mass grave in Germany
The Black Death (Yersinia pestis) killed as much as half of Europe’s total population between 1346 and 1353, so there are a lot of bodies buried across the continent. For…
2026
Microsoft vows to cover full power costs for energy-hungry AI data centers
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a new initiative called “Community-First AI Infrastructure” that commits the company to paying full electricity costs for its data centers and refusing to seek local property…
Fired Rockstar employees’ plea for interim pay denied
A UK employment tribunal rejected a request from fired Rockstar Games employees to receive interim pay while waiting for a full hearing about their dismissal, according to Bloomberg and IGN.…
Meta plans to lay off hundreds of metaverse employees this week
Meta’s Reality Labs team is expected to lose around 10 percent of its staff, with layoffs concentrated on the division’s metaverse employees, as reported by The New York Times. The…
Google removes some AI health summaries after investigation finds “dangerous” flaws
On Sunday, Google removed some of its AI Overviews health summaries after a Guardian investigation found people were being put at risk by false and misleading information. The removals came…
Switching water sources improved hygiene of Pompeii’s public baths
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE released thermal energy roughly equivalent to 100,000 times the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War…
NASA launches new mission to get the most out of the James Webb Space Telescope
Among other things, the James Webb Space Telescope is designed to get us closer to finding habitable worlds around faraway stars. From its perch a million miles from Earth, Webb’s…
Dead star emits perplexing shock wave for 1,000 years
A star spends its entire life influencing the cosmos across billions of miles in all directions. In certain circumstances, the surrounding gas and dust plumes will even interact to generate…
NASA Bolsters Golden Age of Exploration with Technology Priorities
3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA As NASA prepares for long-duration missions to the Moon that will pave the way for human exploration on…
How pilots avoid thunderstorms—and what happens when they can’t
In the 2023 movie Plane starring Gerard Butler, a commercial aircraft is caught in a terrible storm. Dark purple thunderclouds suffocate the sky. The plane shakes and the lights go…