undefined 20, 2026
Source: interestingengineering
Artemis II rocket reaches launch pad, the moon is next
NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft have reached Launch Pad 39B, marking a major step toward the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years. After a 12-hour rollout, teams will conduct a wet dress rehearsal on Feb. 2. If successful, the mission could launch as early as Feb. 6, sending four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon to test deep-space systems and pave the way for future lunar and Mars missions.
Inside the fight to keep Iran online
During Iran’s recent nationwide internet blackout, activists bypassed government controls using thousands of smuggled Starlink satellite terminals to share images of protests and violence. Years of preparation and a U.S. sanctions exemption enabled the effort. Iran responded with GPS jamming, drones, and crackdowns, but the dispersed network proved hard to stop, highlighting how satellite internet is weakening governments’ ability to enforce digital shutdowns.
OpenAI to begin testing ads on ChatGPT
OpenAI will begin testing ads in ChatGPT for U.S. adult free users in the coming weeks. Paid Plus, Pro, and Enterprise plans remain ad-free, while the new low-cost Go plan will include ads. Clearly labeled ads will appear at the bottom of responses, won’t influence answers, won’t target users under 18, and will avoid sensitive topics. CEO Sam Altman said ads could support growing infrastructure costs while maintaining user trust.
All bets are on: the rise of prediction markets
Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi have surged into the mainstream, with millions wagered on events ranging from Iran’s unrest to U.S. politics and pop culture. Once niche, they are now embedded in media coverage and politics, boosted by regulatory shifts under Donald Trump. Critics warn of gambling risks, insider trading, and manipulation, while supporters argue the markets aggregate collective insight and forecast events more accurately.
Who was behind the biggest crime Finland has ever known?
A massive data breach at Vastaamo exposed the therapy records of 33,000 Finns, leading to extortion, public leaks, and suicides. Hackers exploited severe security failures and published patients’ most intimate notes online. Finnish authorities later convicted Aleksanteri Kivimäki, but victims say the damage is irreversible, highlighting the fragility of privacy in digital healthcare and the human cost of data insecurity.
Source: interestingengineering
Robot family: Chinese carmaker shows humanoid, police, care bots in AI industry debut
AIMOGA Robotics, a subsidiary of Chery Group, unveiled its embodied-intelligence robot lineup at Chery’s 2026 AI Night in Wuhu. The humanoid AiMOGA robots feature 41 degrees of freedom, multilingual speech, rapid task learning, and bionic motion, powered by DeepSeek LLMs. Designed for real-world roles from policing and healthcare to car sales, AIMOGA deployed hundreds of robots globally in 2025, signaling fast commercialization.
Cryptocurrencies are dying in record numbers
A wave of cryptocurrency “deaths” has swept the market, with over half of all tokens launched since 2021 now inactive, according to CoinGecko. Famous collapses like TerraUSD illustrate economic death when demand vanishes. The die-off peaked in 2025 amid viral, low-effort meme coins fueled by platforms like Pump.fun, leaving millions of abandoned tokens and investors holding worthless assets.
What we get wrong about dopamine
Dopamine is often miscast as a “pleasure chemical,” but it actually drives motivation, learning, and the urge to seek what’s new or unexpected. Rather than creating happiness, it signals surprise and pushes the brain to act, explore, and “figure things out.” This restless system evolved to favor curiosity and adaptation, ensuring progress and survival, even at the cost of lasting satisfaction or peace of mind.
Viruses that evolved on the space station and were sent back to Earth were more effective at killing bacteria
Experiments aboard the International Space Station show that bacteria and their viruses evolve differently in microgravity. Phages grown in space adapted to slower interactions and later proved more effective at killing drug-resistant Escherichia coli on Earth. The findings suggest space-driven evolution could help improve phage therapies against antibiotic-resistant infections and protect astronaut health on long missions.
The search for alien artifacts is coming into focus
Scientists are refining the search for alien artifacts, physical technosignatures that could range from tiny debris to probes or spacecraft, within and beyond our solar system. New methods include analyzing pre-satellite sky images, studying interstellar objects like ʻOumuamua, and developing screening criteria through SETA research. While most candidates likely have natural explanations, researchers argue that systematic, stigma-free investigation is essential as next-generation telescopes expand the search.
Capturing the moment a white dwarf exploded
Astronomers using the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA Array) captured the earliest high-resolution images of two novae, revealing that these white-dwarf explosions unfold in multiple stages rather than a single blast. Observations of V1674 Herculis and V1405 Cassiopeiae show interacting ejecta, shock waves, and gamma-ray emission, suggesting novae are complex laboratories for studying stellar shocks and particle acceleration.
