AP Top Science News at 11:02 a.m. EDT
A wild orangutan used a medicinal plant to treat a wound, scientists say
Recommended Stories
Engadget'Extreme' geomagnetic storm may bless us with more aurora displays tonight and tomorrow
Tonight may offer another chance to catch the aurora if you have clear skies, according to the NOAA, and Sunday could bring yet more displays reaching as far as Alabama. The agency says the 'extreme' geomagnetic storm will continue through tomorrow.
- Engadget
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft may finally take its first crewed flight next week
Boeing's Starliner crew capsule is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex-41 in Florida on Monday, May 6. The launch window opens at 10:34PM ET. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will be on board.
- TechCrunch
Blue Origin to resume crewed New Shepard launches on May 19
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket will take a crew to suborbital space for the first time in nearly two years later this month, the company announced on Tuesday. The NS-25 mission will launch from Blue’s launch site in West Texas on May 19. The launch window opens at 8:30 a.m. The six-person crew includes Ed Dwight, the first Black astronaut candidate (but for whom this would be the first visit to space), along with investor Mason Angel, who founded the space- and defense-focused Industrious Ventures.
- TechCrunch
Gravitics to develop 'tactically responsive' orbital platforms for the Space Force
Space station module developer Gravitics scored a $1.7 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to develop orbital platforms to enable responsive space missions. The initiative is called tactically responsive space, or TacRS, and it's already resulted in record-breaking missions: Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket left the pad just 27 hours after it received its launch notice from the Space Force under its TacRS contract last year. While Gravitics was unable to provide more details as to the exact concept of operations, startup co-founder and CMO Mike DeRosa did clarify in an email that the company is not putting a module on a rocket for a tactically responsive launch.
- Engadget
How to watch NASA's first Boeing Starliner crewed flight launch today (scrubbed)
The Boeing Starliner should finally conduct a crewed flight to the ISS today after years of delays.
- Yahoo Finance
Big Tech sees neurotechnology as its next AI frontier
As Big Tech races to build off of neurotech advancements in the medical world, experts have cautioned that it could put our most valuable data — the privacy of our thoughts — at risk.
- TechCrunch
Boeing Starliner's first crewed mission scrubbed
Boeing's Starliner launch tonight has been postponed "out of an abundance of caution" scarcely two hours before the historic liftoff. After years of delays and over $1 billion in cost overruns, the mission is set to be Boeing's first attempt to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. Once the issue is resolved with the upper stage, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V will carry the CST-100 Starliner capsule to orbit along with the two onboard astronauts — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — from Florida’s Cape Canaveral at 10:34 p.m. local time Monday evening.
- TechCrunch
This Week in AI: OpenAI moves away from safety
This week in AI, OpenAI once again dominated the news cycle (despite Google's best efforts) with a product launch, but also, with some palace intrigue. The company unveiled GPT-4o, its most capable generative model yet, and just days later effectively disbanded a team working on the problem of developing controls to prevent "superintelligent" AI systems from going rogue. Reporting -- including ours -- suggests that OpenAI deprioritized the team's safety research in favor of launching new products like the aforementioned GPT-4o, ultimately leading to the resignation of the team's two co-leads, Jan Leike and OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever.
- TechCrunch
Boeing's Starliner set to fly astronauts for the first time on May 6
Boeing’s Starliner is a go for launch. Leaders from NASA and Boeing told reporters that the first crewed Starliner mission, which will see the capsule carry two astronauts to the International Space Station, is moving ahead toward its historic May 6 launch date. NASA and Boeing concluded that the capsule is ready for launch after completing a critical flight test review on Thursday.
- TechCrunch
NASA is expanding its Wallops Island facility to support three times as many launches
NASA is kicking off a formal environmental assessment of its facilities on Wallops Island, Virginia, to increase the number of authorized rocket launches at the site by almost 200%, according to slides and recordings of an April 29 internal meeting viewed by TechCrunch. Wallops expansion has likely been on the minds of NASA officials for some time.
- TechCrunch
Astronauts fall over. Robotic limbs can help them back up.
Astronauts are no exception. You need to be in peak physical condition for space travel, but bulky space suits and lower gravity levels can be a recipe for disaster, causing them to trip over themselves. Engineers at MIT have developed an exoskeleton designed to help give astronauts more support and help right themselves after stumbling in the moon’s low gravity.
- Yahoo Life
Are milk and ground beef safe from bird flu? What the latest testing tells us.
U.S. scientists have tested everything from milk to sour cream and ground beef for bird flu amid an outbreak among dairy cattle.
- TechCrunch
Hubble Network makes Bluetooth connection with a satellite for the first time
Hubble Network has become the first company in history to establish a Bluetooth connection directly to a satellite — a critical technology validation for the company, potentially opening the door to connecting millions more devices anywhere in the world. The Seattle-based startup launched its first two satellites to orbit on SpaceX’s Transporter-10 rideshare mission in March; since that time, the company confirmed that it has received signals from the onboard 3.5mm Bluetooth chips from over 600 kilometers away. Haro said the low-hanging fruit is those industries that are desperate for network coverage even once per day, like remote asset monitoring for the oil and gas industry.
- Yahoo Sports
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross reportedly declined $10 billion for team, stadium and F1 race
The value of the Dolphins and Formula One racing is enormous.
- Yahoo Sports
PGA Championship: Will Zalatoris says group of players considered asking for postponement after death, Scottie Scheffler arrest
It was a surreal day at the PGA Championship.
- Yahoo Sports
Preakness Stakes 2024 winner, payouts, results: Seize the Grey wins at Pimlico, Mystik Dan finishes 2nd, ending Triple Crown bid
Live updates from the 149th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore
- Yahoo Sports
Report: Fanatics files lawsuit against Cardinals rookie WR Marvin Harrison Jr. for breach of contract
Marvin Harrison Jr., Fanatics said, “rejected or ignored every request” from the company while refusing to fulfill obligations of their contract that was signed last May.
- Yahoo Sports
Welcome to the WNBA: Caitlin Clark's regular-season debut is anything but easy
Clark set the Indiana Fever’s franchise record for turnovers (10), shot 5-of-15 from the floor and struggled with the Connecticut Sun’s physical defense.
- Yahoo Sports
UFC Vegas 92: Piera Rodríguez DQ'd for multiple illegal headbutts vs. Ariane Carnelossi
Rodríguez was warned by the ref to watch her head. She responded by headbutting her opponent even harder.
- Engadget
Apple will reportedly offer higher trade-in credit for old iPhones for the next two weeks
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple will be offering a little more than usual for some trade-ins starting next week in the US and Canada. That's as long as you're getting one of the iPhone 15 models.