Science

Review: Disclosure Day is big on action, light on ideas

There's nothing new or surprising, but it's still an entertaining film from one of our greatest directors.

Why your cardiologist might tell you to skip AirPods

The magnetic fields emitted by your headphones will need to be used a safe distance away from your CIDs.

Parker Solar Probe makes another flyby of the sun, solar energy bags a win, and more science stories

This week's science news.

Alien planet spins revealed a hidden clue to how worlds form

Using the Keck Observatory, astronomers measured the spins of dozens of giant planets and brown dwarfs orbiting distant stars. They found that giant planets can spin faster than much more massive brown dwarfs, challenging simple assumptions about mass and rotation. The results suggest that magnetic fields and formation processes play a major role in determining how fast worlds end up spinning.

How can we make buildings more resilient before—and after—earthquakes? We put one solution to the test

This week's magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the Philippines came with scenes familiar to New Zealanders: collapsed buildings, shattered facades and streets strewn with rubble.

Battery-free artificial photosynthesis keeps solar fuel production stable under shifting sunlight

Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University have developed an artificial photosynthesis system capable of producing solar fuels more stably by integrating a self-regulating chemical component directly into the electrolyzer itself. The new device doesn't rely on a battery-powered control method, removing an expensive component of such systems. The study is published in EES Solar.

Threads of underground fungal networks are long enough to reach beyond the Solar System

Researchers have quantified the length and mass of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks globally.

How Can Soccer Players Bend Their Shots in Midair?

As World Cup action kicks off, we look at the physics of the beautiful game.

Dark energy survives major challenge as universe keeps accelerating

A bold claim that the universe’s accelerating expansion was an illusion has been put to the test—and failed. Researchers found that the study behind the controversy made key mistakes when analyzing supernova data. After revisiting the evidence, astronomers concluded that cosmic acceleration remains as strong as ever.

SpaceX IPO: Live updates on everything you need to know

TechCrunch has followed SpaceX's start, struggles, and successes from the early days. And we're here for what happens next too. This package of SpaceX IPO coverage includes who stands to win (and maybe some who won't), pre-IPO deals, and what's tucked inside its S-1 registration document.

SpaceX is now a public company valued for its AI potential, so what comes next?

As of today, SpaceX is owned by investors who will want to see it make money.

SpaceX IPO Live: Elon Musk Is a Trillionaire, and the Rest of Us Aren't

The first big tech IPO of the summer included Starlink, xAI and X. It sets the stage for expected public offerings by Anthropic and OpenAI.

Also covering:BBC Technology·TechRadar·Gizmodo+4

Google researchers introduce 'faithful uncertainty,' allowing LLMs to offer best guesses instead of hallucinations

Large language models continue to struggle with hallucinations, presenting a major roadblock for real-world enterprise applications. Reducing these errors is a messy business, forcing model developers to navigate a strict tradeoff where eliminating factual errors often suppresses valid answers. In a new paper , Google researchers introduce the concept of "faithful uncertainty," a metacognitive…

80 Texas residents are suing SpaceX, saying rocket launches are literally destroying their homes

Eighty residents of towns near SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas have filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company’s constant rocket launches are physically destroying their homes. The lawsuit accuses SpaceX of negligence, gross negligence, and trespass based on the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984. One plaintiff showed Reuters her home in Port […] This story continues at The…

New strategy enhances oxygen reduction in zinc-air batteries

Batteries are undergoing rapid advances. For example, modern zinc-air batteries have the remarkable ability to use oxygen as energy—but that oxygen isn't stored in the battery itself. Zinc-air batteries take in surrounding oxygen to undergo a reaction to discharge energy called the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). While this convenient strategy is promising, the slow speed of the ORR limits the…

SpaceX IPO closes up 19% and delivers the world’s first trillionaire

The company made its heavily anticipated debut on Friday, trading higher than its initial $135 IPO price.

SpaceX’s Stratospheric IPO Launch Has a Couple of Heavy-Duty Stowaways

Big tech says its circular dealmaking is a virtuous dealmaking. To others it looks more like a noose.

The SpaceX IPO broke Robinhood for some people

Some Robinhood users looking to cash in on the SpaceX IPO were met with technical issues.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell just gave another hint at a Tesla merger

A SpaceX-Tesla merger seems inevitable.

Controversial FISA spying law expires tonight. The spying will continue.

Section 702 of FISA to expire tonight, but certification lasts until March 2027.