Science

NASA has finally found a fix after the 46-year-old space probe stopped sending readable data to Earth in November. Voyager 1 can only send information about its health and status for now, but NASA says it’s working to get it back to transmitting scientific data, too.

There are plenty of great stories to read today from our sister site, Vox — on everything from more efficient (and yet controversial) appliances to how phones affect kids’ experiences in nature and how climate change is transforming our sense of home.

And stay tuned this week for more reporting on reforestation in Costa Rica from The Verge. We published the first story — about restoring Indigenous territories — in our Earth Week package today.

that caused catastrophic flooding in Dubai, experts tell AP. People falsely blaming cloud seeding are also spreading disinformation about climate change. So, you know, don’t believe everything you see on social media.

That means breaking waves could be a major source of PFAS pollution in the air, according to a new study. For decades, manufacturers used forever chemicals (AKA PFAS) in everything from food packaging to carpet cleaners to make things water, stain, and heat resistant. We’re just starting to understand how prevalent these chemicals have become in the environment and the health risks that could pose.

Federal antitrust enforcers are working with the Department of Health and Human Services to collect examples of harm to healthcare competition through a new website. If you think your healthcare provider is keeping you in the dark about the cost of services or is using your health data unfairly, you might be able to submit a complaint.

Tesla paid X $280,000 for advertising and other services, according to the company’s proxy statement. X paid Tesla $1.02 million for unspecified work. SpaceX paid Tesla $2.9 million for “certain commercial, licensing and support agreements.” Tesla paid SpaceX $800,000 for use of its corporate jet. And Tesla paid the Boring Company $1.2 million.

No one paid Neuralink anything.

That’s what the company’s Earth Day recycling ads are really about, at least according to this scathing blog from iFixit. It’s a fun, informative read — and good reminder to keep an eye out for greenwashing this time of year.

It’s using three times as much “clean electricity” now as it did in 2020, Apple said today. It’s part of the company’s commitment to become carbon neutral across its operations and supply chain by 2030. By the same date, Apple also plans to replenish fresh water it uses in drought-stressed areas — spending $8 million on that task since 2023.

The spacecraft is being readied to carry astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station, with liftoff from Cape Canaveral scheduled for no earlier than 10:34PM ET.

The crew is expected to spend about a week at the orbiting laboratory before their capsule makes an airbag and parachute-assisted landing in the southwestern United States.

After making its final flight in January, NASA’s Mars helicopter has transmitted its last message to Earth and will now serve as a stationary testbed for collecting up to 20 years’ worth of data. Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity’s project manager, gave it this moving farewell:

“Whenever humanity revisits Valinor Hills — either with a rover, a new aircraft, or future astronauts — Ingenuity will be waiting with her last gift of data, a final testament to the reason we dare mighty things. Thank you, Ingenuity, for inspiring a small group of people to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds at the frontiers of space.”

The European Space Agency plans to find out with a project called Solaris. Scientists and engineers have been trying to figure out how to make space-based solar power work since the 1960s. And the rise of the commercial space industry is finally bringing launch costs down enough to really put the technology to the test.

Newsweek notes that renewable energy hit a milestone in California, meeting 100 percent of the state’s electricity demand for up to 6 hours nearly every day of the past month.

There’s obviously still a lot of progress needed to hit the state’s goal of running entirely on carbon-free electricity by 2045, but Stanford engineering professor Mark Jacobson says this is a sign that California is well on its way there.

In that just like the girls in Yellowjackets, Neanderthals occasionally nibbled on their own kind. It's unclear if it was for survival or pleasure, but naturally, some scientists are hoping AI can help figure it out.

The accounting is “more of an art than a science,” anonymous sources tell Bloomberg. But on an operational and ongoing basis? No, not profitable, according to those sources.

Previously, The Wall Street Journal reported Starlink fell short of expectations in 2022. Hm!

In 1964, Higgs came up with a theory about a particle that gives other particles their mass. The particle, which we now know as the Higgs boson, changed the way we view the universe. Scientists discovered the existence of the Higgs boson particle in 2012, and Higgs was awarded a Nobel Prize the following year.

Higgs was 94.

The Valve boss has quietly been building brain-computer interface startup Starfish Neuroscience for years — state records show it was incorporated August 2019, long before Gaben talked up those BCI use cases for gaming.

Now, the company’s website has been updated to show who Starfish is and what it’s building: “Minimally invasive wireless sensors & actuators.” Gaben’s lost some weight, and Valve VR hardware engineer Alan Yates is there! Conspicuously missing: Neuralink co-founder Philip Sabes, who apparently dipped in 2022.