Science

Apple has four products showing signs of being discontinued imminently, with supply reportedly drying up at the Apple Store ahead of successors launching soon. iPhone 16e Last February, Apple launched the iPhone 16e as a new budget-friendly model. But all signs point to the iPhone being discontinued shortly as the iPhone 17e nears. Per Mark Gurman in a post on X, Apple retail employees tell him that inventory of the iPhone 16e has “basically dried out.” With the iPhone 17e launch expected in the next couple of weeks, it seems Apple has no plans for the iPhone 16e to stick around at a lower price point. Instead, it will be completely discontinued. M3 iPad Air Apple’s M3 iPad Air launched last March, and rumors increasingly indicate that its successor is almost ...

The thermal infrared capabilities of an imager on NASA’s Terra satellite have been shut off and will no longer collect data, more than 25 years after the instrument captured its first image of Earth from space. This is the latest effort to prioritize power on Terra for its remaining instruments. Terra, which had a design life of six years when launched, has long outperformed its mission life. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER, is one of five instruments aboard Terra, which launched in December 1999. The ASTER instrument was created as part of a cooperative effort between NASA and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The ASTER Thermal Infrared (TIR) subsystem was turned off Jan. 16, due to power limitations on the spacecraft. The A...

NASA completed the first flight test of a scale-model wing designed to improve laminar flow, reducing drag and lowering fuel costs for future commercial aircraft.  The flight took place Jan. 29 at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, using one of the agency’s F-15B research jets. The NASA-designed, 40-inch Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) wing model was attached to the aircraft’s underside vertically, like a fin.  The flight lasted about 75 minutes, during which the team ensured the aircraft could maneuver safely in flight with the additional wing model.  “It was incredible to see CATNLF fly after all of the hard work the team has put into preparing,” said Michelle Banchy, research principal investigator for CATNLF. “Finally seeing that F-15 tak...

Welcome to 10 Cool Papers, a new monthly roundup of recent research from across Carnegie Science. Each month, we'll feature a curated selection of recent papers from across Carnegie Science, chosen by our three division directors and the president. From early-career scientists to established investigators and recent alumni, our community is tackling the biggest questions about life, our planet, and our place in the cosmos.This first edition spans coral genomic resilience in a warming ocean, new CRISPR tools for studying symbiosis, hidden hydrothermal systems beneath Oregon’s Three Sisters volcanoes, pristine organic material from asteroid Bennu, and galaxies shining just 400 million years after the Big Bang.Let's dive in! 🦠 Biosphere Sciences & Engineering1. Editing Symbiosis: CRISPR i...

Your article (UK ‘could lose generation of scientists’ with cuts to projects and research facilities, 6 February) is right to highlight the serious consequences of proposed 30% funding cuts on the next generation of physics and astronomy researchers. The proposals also risk a generational destruction of the country’s ability to produce skilled graduates, retain specialist knowledge, and support physical science in industrial and educational settings.This comes against a backdrop of wider threats to university finances, from rising costs to declining international student numbers. An estimated one in four UK physics departments are already at risk of closure, and recent cuts and delays to Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) grants have further depleted finances and will result ...

Other additions, and other OSes Another iOS 26.3 update is also aimed at interoperability, though it may only apply to iPhones covered by European Union regulations. A feature called “notification forwarding” will send your iPhone’s notifications to third-party accessories, including Google’s Android-based Wear OS smartwatches. Once the setting is enabled, users will be able to decide which apps can forward notifications to the third-party device, similar to how Apple Watch notifications work. In current betas, Apple allows notifications to be forwarded to only one device at a time, and forwarding notifications to a third-party device means you can’t send them to an Apple Watch. Finally, both iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3 are introducing a feature for some newer devices with Apple’s in-house C1...

Browse my archive of Good Taste columns and subscribe to our newsletters, including Good Taste, for more weekend-exclusive food & drink news delivered to your inbox.  Ohlone people are the real OGs of the Bay Area. They never left the turf, they have a bright future—and you can actually taste it now. Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino are personal culinary heroes whose work I’ve followed since they started their Cafe Ohlone pop-up in a now-defunct bookstore across the street from the UC Berkeley campus in 2018. They’ve since started an official relationship of repair with the university, set up a seasonal restaurant on campus, and on Friday will debut the permanent ‘ammatka cafe inside Lawrence Hall of Science. “We recognize that the East Bay Ohlone people are not people of the ...

A smooth, white stone dating from the Roman era and unearthed in the Netherlands has long baffled researchers. Now, with the help of artificial intelligence, scientists believe they have cracked the mystery: the stone is an ancient board game and they have even guessed the rules.The circular piece of limestone has diagonal and straight lines cut into it.Using 3D imaging created by the restoration studio Restaura, scientists discovered some lines were deeper than others, suggesting pieces were moved along them, some more than others."We can see wear along the lines on the stone, exactly where you would slide a piece," said Walter Crist, an archaeologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands who specializes in ancient games, in a statement.  "The appearance of the stone combined with this ...

Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. (Credit: CC photo via Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mammoth_Hot_springs_04.jpg)On Earth, life thrives in some of the most seemingly inhospitable environments.Single-celled organisms like bacteria teem in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, where temperatures reach nearly 200 degrees Fahrenheit (93 degrees Celsius). Others dwell deep underground or several miles above Earth’s surface in the stratosphere.For years, scientists in a field called astrobiology have sought out these organisms. They want to know not just how life evolved on Earth, but how it might evolve on other worlds. They investigate moons in our solar system like Europa and Enceladus where vast and salty oceans lie beneath thick layers of...

Big news for “Diablo II” fans: the Blizzard Entertainment game is getting its first major update in 25 years. Titled “Reign of the Warlock,” the DLC will feature actor Rahul Kohli (“The Haunting of Bly Manor,” “Midnight Mass,” “iZombie”) starring as the voice of the titular Warlock. Per Blizzard, “the Warlock is disciplined, ominous, and incredibly knowledgeable, lingering in the shadows for years and studying secrets mortals shouldn’t know.” In addition to debuting in the new update for “Diablo II: Resurrected” (which is the remastered version of the original “Diablo II”), the Warlock class will arrive in the upcoming “Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred” update in April and the mobile title “Diablo Immortal” this summer. These announcements were made by Blizzard Entertainm...