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.
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The app that promised to ‘use AI to weed out daters with STIs’ has been shut down
‘The FTC is so committed to protecting consumers that it is even willing to wade through pages of dick pics to protect Americans from AI scammers.’
Puerto Rico files $1 billion suit against fossil fuel companies
Puerto Rico’s complaint adds to a slew of climate suits against oil and gas companies.
The company that specializes in mobile 12V conversions of SpaceX’s internet-from-space kits has just released its first mount for Starlink’s smallest dish yet. Despite its size, Mini even integrates the Wi-Fi router (usually a separate box) into the laptop-sized package.
$249 gets you a versatile mount with shock absorption for your RV, boat, or overlanding rig.
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After people in NYC reported a large boom at around 11:17AM that some attributed to military weapons tests, NASA Meteor Watch reports it was actually a meteor. With more reports collected from eyewitnesses, its latest update says the space rock's path took it west over New Jersey at 38,000 miles per hour.
Musk, who has been a resident of Texas since 2019, says he decided to move the companies because Gavin Newsom didn’t do what Musk told him to. Previously, Musk moved Tesla’s headquarters to Austin after local health officials closed the Fremont plant during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic; Musk has a history of political donations in Texas.
Trump’s new running mate went from saying “we have a climate problem” in 2020 to being “skeptical of the idea that climate change is caused purely by man,” The New York Times reports. (Research shows greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are to blame.) Vance suddenly threw his support behind Trump, pushed to repeal EV tax credits and rollback pollution regulations.
[The New York Times]
Space
A Star Mount for your Starlink Mini.
Tuesday morning boom over New York may have been a "daylight fireball" meteor
Elon Musk is moving X and SpaceX to Texas
SpaceX’s and X’s headquarters are moving to Texas, Elon Musk says.
Energy
Puerto Rico files $1 billion suit against fossil fuel companies
J.D. Vance has flip-flopped on climate change like he’s flip-flopped on Trump.
This climate tech startup wants to capture carbon and help data centers cool down
Amazon’s carbon emissions fell last year
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Plastic bins: better than boxes
Renting bins is convenient, slightly more sustainable, and not once did I miss cardboard boxes.
The Ariane 6 vehicle was supposed to begin service in 2020, but then... some things happened.
At about 3PM ET, it finally took off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana and successfully reignited its Vinci engine in orbit, beginning the journey’s second of three planned stages that you can continue to follow live.
Emissions from nearly 6 million of its vehicles were about 10 percent higher on average than GM said they were on its greenhouse gas emission compliance reports, an EPA investigation found. GM will retire 50 million metric tons of carbon credits to make up for the excess tailpipe pollution. It’ll also pay $145.8 million in penalties.
[The Washington Post]
Their simulated mission to Mars tested “how future astronauts may react to isolation and confinement during deep-space journeys,” according to NASA. The crew of four went through 18 health studies during their stint at a 650-square-foot habitat at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Outside of each other’s company, the crew kept four pet triops shrimp: Buzz, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.
The Environmental Protection Agency updated its climate change indicators, a comprehensive report on extreme weather, shifting seasons, ocean impacts, and greenhouse gas emissions in the US.
Heatwave season is 46 days longer for Americans now than it was in the 1960s, for instance.
“The climate crisis is affecting every American right now and with increasing intensity,” EPA administrator Michael Regan said in a press release.
What SCOTUS just did to broadband, the right to repair, the environment, and more
From net neutrality to H-1B tech workers to cellphone unlocking, much of tech policy revolves around the administrative state.
Supreme Court ruling kneecaps federal regulators
SCOTUS overrules Chevron deference, completely changing how environmental and consumer protections will be decided.
He says he had the best. He tried to roll back more than 100 environmental protections while in office. Is that what he’s bragging about in the debate?
The contract granted by NASA — worth up to $843 million — will see SpaceX develop a vehicle to safely deorbit the space station “in a controlled manner after the end of its operational life in 2030.”
NASA says the station will remain in use until then, and expects both the station and deorbit vehicle to break apart upon re-entry to avoid risk to populated areas.
The GOES-U satellite launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday.
It’s one of four National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites equipped with powerful new tools to monitor weather in space and on Earth. They’ll provide advanced imagery to inform forecasts, map lightning activity in real time, and detect solar flares.
Closing a loop that began with this 2016 launch, NASA is about to send the fourth and final satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) – R Series into space as part of a system for much better real-time weather forecasting.
How to make an EV tire that won’t pollute the environment
Tire pollution is becoming the front line of our next war on car emissions, and Enso is ahead of the curve.