Headlines

A thermal camera trick could let LIGO see twice as far

There's a nice kind of irony buried in this story: One of the most sensitive instruments ever built, capable of measuring distortions smaller than the width of a proton, has been quietly held back by something as mundane as heat. And the fix, it turns out, is not some exotic

'Patriot' passports with Trump's image expanding across US

The State Department on Thursday announced it is expanding access to the new U.S. passport featuring President Trump’s likeness. In a release, the department said it is making an additional 250,000 copies of the commemorative “Patriot Passport” available “in response to

Tim Cook hints at iCloud Plus tier for AI power users

Apple may allow users to pay to increase their AI usage limits. During an earnings call on Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that he believes people will want to use Apple Intelligence and the upcoming Siri AI "a lot," adding that "we will have some kind of upgrade

Tech

Xbox CEO lays out priorities in memo after major ‘reset’

After a massive Xbox "reset" that laid off thousands of employees and spun off four studios, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma wants to get Xbox back to growth. In a memo obtained by The Verge, Sharma told staff by the end of fiscal year 2027 (which runs through next June), "we will return

Tech

Senate 'YOLO Caucus' bucks Trump on Blanche: What to know

President Trump’s pick for the next U.S. attorney general is on shaky ground as two GOP lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee demand a written guarantee that a proposed Justice Department "anti-weaponization" fund is dead. A "no" vote in committee from either Sen. John

How an embryo draws the line between body and germline

Every embryo of an organism that reproduces sexually faces an early and consequential decision: which of its cell lineages will make up the mortal body, and which will become the germline, the lineage that eventually makes eggs or sperm and carries genetic information to the

Bacteria may identify a virus without recognizing its DNA

When a virus enters a cell, its top priority is to replicate its genome rapidly, creating new viruses to infect elsewhere. The host has the opposite priority: to destroy the virus, ideally before it can do any harm. Biology has evolved diverse tactics for viral recognition and

Commerce takes new equity stakes in 7 firms

{beacon} Technology Technology The Big Story Commerce takes new equity stakes in 7 firms The Department of Commerce quietly announced this week it will designate more than $870 million in federal incentives for semiconductor manufacturing in exchange for a minority equity

Turek declines to say he'd back Schumer

Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek (D) declined to answer whether he would support Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to lead Democrats in the next Congress as midterms come closer. In a Wednesday interview with former White House press secretary Jen Psaki on MS NOW, Turek

Uncovering the structure of the poxvirus 'portal complex'

Poxviruses have a long history in human disease as well as medicine: The first-ever vaccine was developed to protect against smallpox, which has since been eradicated. Despite this, scientists still don't fully understand how poxviruses infect and replicate inside our cells.