This Spanish city is Europe’s top trending destination for summer 2026  Euronews.com

Aluminium foil on door handles is trending in 2026: US homes gush over 'surprisingly big effect' but is i  The Times of India

Is Penn State Trending for Top-20 PA Prospect Ryan Robbins?  Nittany Sports Now

Transfer Portal Intel: Mississippi State, Syracuse & Cincinnati trending; TCU, Virignia Tech, NC State battling  On3

Trending Stocks Today: VGT Shoots up 49.79%  Moomoo

1. Here's How the iPhone Ultra Compares to Other Apple Devices  MacRumors
2. How the iPhone Fold and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 differ, according to leaks  Mashable
3. New Apple iPhone Fold Design Pushes Smartphone Rivals To Go Wider And Taller  Forbes
4. Apple Preparing 'Most Significant Overhaul' in iPhone's History  MacRumors
5. iPhone Fold leak may have revealed final design and confirmed MagSafe — here's what we know  Tom's Guide

1. Microsoft launches “vibe working” in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint  The Verge
2. Copilot’s agentic capabilities in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are generally available  Microsoft
3. Microsoft adds uninvited AI co-author to Word docs  theregister.com
4. Microsoft's Copilot just became the productivity collaborator it was promised to be  XDA
5. Microsoft revisits 90s Excel ad to promote Copilot’s Agent Mode  Storyboard18

1. Apple's M4 Mac mini, including the $599 one, is gradually becoming impossible to buy  Ars Technica
2. Base Mac Mini Sold Out From Apple Online Store  MacRumors
3. The base model $599 Mac mini is now completely out of stock  9to5Mac
4. WWDC 2026 Leak: Apple Is Preparing a Massive ‘Pro’ Upgrade for the Mac Mini  Geeky Gadgets
5. Mac Mini disappears from store shelves in the US, and the reason is the same that drove up prices of second-hand MacBooks in China  The Times of India

1. Glasses-free display switches between 2D and 3D  Nature
2. Switchable 2D–3D display through a metasurface lenticular lens  Nature
3. Samsung and POSTECH Publish 2D/3D Switchable Display Research in Nature  samsung.com
4. Usually, people read news on a two-dimensional (2D) smartphone screen, but when they watch a movie  매일경제
5. Switchable Metalens Display Offers Wide-Angle 3D Viewing Without Glasses  동아사이언스

1. 'The Idea Is Not Dead' - Xbox Boss Explains Why She's Still Keen On A Mobile Store  Pure Xbox
2. Microsoft says Xbox mobile store remains alive despite platform delays  NewsBytes
3. The ill-fated "Xbox Mobile Store" now seems to be dead, with all test URLs hitting a 404 error — did CEO Asha Sharma kill it?  Windows Central
4. Xbox Mobile Store Likely Dead As Microsoft Takes Down Teaser Website  PCMag Middle East
5. Xbox CEO Says Idea of a Mobile Store is "Not Dead"  Insider Gaming

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan signed the Artemis Accords Thursday during a ceremony hosted by NASA at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, becoming the latest nation to commit to responsible space exploration to benefit humanity. 

“It is my privilege to welcome Jordan as the newest signatory to the Artemis Accords,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “By signing the accords today, Jordan brings valuable perspective and capabilities that will help expand the Golden Age of exploration for all mankind. They join at a pivotal moment, as we take the accords principles and put them into practice with humanity’s return to the Moon. Through Artemis, we’re going back to the lunar surface, with contributions from our international partners, to build a Moon Base and to stay.”

Ambassador Dina Kawar of Jordan signed the accords on behalf of the country. U.S. Department of State Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Ruth Perry also participated in the ceremony. 

“Jordan has more engineers per capita than almost any country in the world,” said Kawar. “Through the National Council for Future Technologies, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein is ensuring that talent has a direction, transforming Jordan into a regional and global technology hub across AI, digital infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and now space. Today’s signing is proof that this ambition has no ceiling. We invite our American partners to build what comes next with us.”

In 2018, Jordan launched the JY1 satellite, a CubeSat developed by university students. The CubeSat transmitted images and audio from orbit after its launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Jordan’s growing interest in space includes a privately operated analog research facility in Wadi Rum, where the Jordan Space Research Initiative conducted its PETRA1 and PETRA2 missions in 2024 and 2025 to advance human spaceflight and planetary research for real-world benefits on Earth.

In 2020, during the first Trump Administration, the United States, led by NASA and the State Department, joined with seven other founding nations to establish the Artemis Accords, responding to the growing interest in lunar activities by both governments and private companies. The accords introduced the first set of practical principles aimed at enhancing the safety and coordination between like-minded nations as they explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond.  

Signing the Artemis Accords means committing to explore peaceably and transparently, to render aid to those in need, to enable access to scientific data that all of humanity can learn from, to ensure activities do not interfere with those of others, and to preserve historically significant sites and artifacts by developing best practices for space exploration for the benefit of all. 

More countries are expected to sign the Artemis Accords in the months and years ahead, as NASA continues its work to establish a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future in space. 

Learn more about the Artemis Accords at: 

https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords

On every crewed mission, NASA packs pouches of a potentially life-saving liquid in its cargo, known as IV (or intravenous) fluid. A simple mix of sodium chloride and purified water, it can treat up to 30% of medical conditions in flight, resolving things like dehydration, burns, and more.

Crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit into deep space could last up to three years and may require IV fluid for crew health. However, current IV fluid shelf life is limited to 16 months. To avoid the complications of stocking a perishable supply of prepacked IV fluid, experts at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland have created a technology that can transform water into IV fluid on demand. They now are preparing to test the latest, lightweight version of the system aboard the International Space Station.

The system, known as IntraVenous Fluid GENeration Miniaturized (IVGEN Mini), flew to the station on April 11 aboard NASA’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 24 mission along with other supplies, experiments, and hardware. IVGEN Mini will produce IV fluid during demonstrations this spring and fall to verify that the design works as intended in space.

The system operates by adding space station drinking water to a large supply bag. The bag is connected to IVGEN Mini, which filters the water to remove any particulates and mineral ions. The processed water flows into an output bag that contains premeasured sodium chloride, and the measured combination of both creates sterile, medical-grade IV fluid.

“Following launch, we have tentative operations planned for May,” said Courtney Schkurko, engineering project manager at NASA Glenn. “The crew aboard the International Space Station will operate IVGEN Mini over the course of two days, and 10 liters of fluid will be generated. Those liters will then be prepared to return to Earth and analyzed to make sure the fluid that was generated in flight meets requirements and is safe to use.”

The IVGEN Mini system is the second iteration of this technology, originally called IVGEN, which was demonstrated aboard the space station in 2010. The original was much larger because it included additional sensing equipment to prove that the system worked as intended. Following the successful demonstration, the team created a miniaturized version.

“With IVGEN Mini, we’ve reduced the system’s size and weight,” Schkurko said. “The previous system used gaseous nitrogen to pump fluid through the system. Now, we have pumps that are miniaturized, which allow us to optimize our designs and refine the filtering process.”

In addition to solving the limited shelf life concerns of prepackaged IV fluid, IVGEN Mini also lightens cargo loads. During a deep space mission where crews may spend years in space, cargo must be as lightweight as possible. With IVGEN Mini, NASA won’t need to pack an abundance of IV fluid — it can be produced as needed if supplies run low.

“On a mission to Mars, if you needed to fly 100 liters of IV fluid, those 100 one-liter bags will take up a large amount of space, while IVGEN Mini takes up much less,” Schkurko said. “It’s that trade between packing IV fluid bags that are likely to expire during the mission or taking a small device and making it as you go. The latter means it will always be within expiration period, it will be available to the crew, and it’s one less risk we have to worry about.”

Requirements for IVGEN Mini were based on what medical events could occur during a deep space mission, how much fluid it would take to treat those events, and how quickly the fluid can flow through the system. The current system can produce 1.2 liters of IV fluid per hour, which meets these needs. The team also is adhering to United States Pharmacopeia standards, which ensure the system and the fluid it produces meet required pH values and salinity tolerances, and do not contain bacteria, organic carbon, or particulates. Although IVGEN Mini testing will take place aboard the space station, none of the fluid produced will be administered to the crew.

The IVGEN Mini team is currently planning for shelf-life testing of IV fluid produced by the system as a next phase of this technology. The system is managed by NASA’s Mars Campaign Office as one of the many technologies developed to enable human exploration on the Moon and Mars.

For more information on future innovations for crewed missions to Mars, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration-systems-development-mission-directorate

For years, NASA engineers have turned to a tool called the Launch, Ascent, and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) framework to solve airflow challenges that could mean the difference between mission success or failure. When engineers need to know how a spacecraft will navigate re-entry or whether a new aircraft wing design will create enough lift, they turn to LAVA.

NASA recently released this tool to the aerospace community. 

LAVA is a computational fluid dynamics software package NASA developed to advance critical aerospace missions, harnessing the agency’s collective expertise. It helps predict how air moves around rockets, aircraft, and spacecraft with stunning accuracy.

The same computational tools simulating Mars landers, predicting launch environments, and optimizing aircraft for efficiency is now available to U.S. researchers, companies, and innovators.

“This isn’t only about releasing software; it’s about accelerating innovation,” said Jared Duensing, LAVA team lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “When university researchers can run more complex simulations and when small companies can optimize designs with NASA-grade precision, we’re not only sharing tools, we’re unleashing potential.”

Big questions, fast answers

NASA has been using computational tools for years to predict how air will move around new aircraft or simulate the thunderous acoustic environment of a rocket launch.

Imagine watching your favorite show on a slow flip-phone versus loading it on a lightning-fast network in crystal-clear 4K high definition. That’s the kind of transformation LAVA brings to aerospace simulations. Complex problems that once took days or weeks now run in hours.

The LAVA software also is compatible with computer hardware employing specialized microprocessors known as graphics processing units (GPUs), which can run many tasks at the same time and reduce power consumption when compared to systems using traditional, more general-purpose central processing units. For traditionally costly simulation methods needed for NASA’s most complex aerospace applications, LAVA has yielded stand-out efficiency on NASA’s flagship GPU-based supercomputer, Cabeus.

But the real breakthrough is how LAVA makes the seemingly impossible routine. Aerospace engineers rely on “scale-resolving simulations” to capture high-fidelity renderings of phenomena that can have profound effects on missions, including pressure waves, turbulent swirls, and acoustic signatures. Those were once resource- and time-consuming. Now, LAVA runs them on modest computing resources, making them readily available and easy to produce, even for novice users.

At NASA, engineers have put those capabilities into action to help launch and land spacecraft on the Moon and Mars while driving innovation for the next-generation aircraft. When NASA needed to understand supersonic parachute deployment for Mars missions – something you can’t easily test in Earth’s atmosphere  – LAVA provided critical insights.

When engineers had to predict how ice formations would affect aircraft performance, LAVA delivered answers on conditions that are critical for flight safety.

To help astronauts launch safely on Artemis missions, LAVA simulated the launch of Artemis I, enabling engineers to understand the Space Launch System flight environment in detail. Releasing the software means that industry will be able to harness those same capabilities, potentially applying them toward everything from large supersonic airliners to smaller delivery drones and air taxis.

Three approaches, one framework

Most computational fluid dynamics software forces engineers to pick one approach, like being handed a hammer when you need an entire toolbox. The LAVA framework offers three options for generating meshes, or grids of connected dots used to predict the behavior of fluids (including air) in a simulation.

This allows users to switch between the meshes depending on a specific problem or use multiple mesh types to compare predictions. They also can use LAVA alongside other tools for analysis and optimization to improve designs.

Among many other NASA programs and projects, the work on LAVA was supported through NASA’s Transformational Tools and Technologies project, which works to develop new computational tools to help predict aircraft performance. The project is part of NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program under its Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

Ready to dive deeper into LAVA? Visit the NASA software catalog for access information and learn more about the tool’s computational capabilities through this seminar about LAVA.

These images, released on April 14, 2026, show two open star clusters, Trumpler 3 (left) and NGC 2353 (right). They represent a recent study from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory that shows how young Sun-like stars are dimmer in X-rays than previously thought.

This latest study looked at eight clusters of stars between the ages of 45 million and 750 million years old. The researchers found that Sun-like stars in these clusters unleashed only about a quarter to a third of the X-rays they expected. This quieting of young stars is a benefit for the prospects for life on orbiting planets around these stars — not a threat.

Learn more about what this finding means.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ/K. Getman; Optical/IR: PanSTARRS; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk

Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second-largest city, lies within a network of narrow valleys in the country’s northern highlands. Though the historic city is known for panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, clear skies have become less common. In recent decades, smoke has increasingly darkened the skies during the dry season, particularly in March and April.

A NASA satellite captured this smoky view of the city and the surrounding region on April 22, 2026, when haze partially obscured valleys and ridges typically visible under clearer conditions. Most of the smoke likely comes from small agricultural and forest fires lit to burn off crop debris or maintain forest ecosystems. In 2026, satellite sensors detected small numbers of fires throughout January, but fire detections became more numerous and widespread in February, March, and April. Fire activity typically peaks in March and fades by May as seasonal rains increase. 

Research indicates that smoke from biomass burning is one of the largest contributors to poor air quality in northern Thailand during the dry season. By one estimate, about 70 percent of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) in Chiang Mai in April comes from biomass burning. Smaller contributors to the region’s hazy skies include vehicles, power plants and industry, and charcoal burning for cooking and heating. Geography also plays a key role; the surrounding mountains block air flow and encourage temperature inversions that trap both local pollution and haze from the broader region in the valleys.

On the same day the satellite image was captured, air quality sensors on the ground recorded “unhealthy” and “very unhealthy” levels of PM_2.5 air pollution throughout Chiang Mai and the region, according to data from the World Air Quality Index project. Prolonged exposure to high levels of air pollution can contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and other health problems.

News reports suggest that the haze is affecting the tourism industry and has contributed to a decrease in the number of international travelers coming to Chiang Mai. After more than a month of persistent haze, the number of tourists arriving in the town of Pai, a popular destination for backpackers northwest of Chiang Mai, was down 90 percent, according to one local newspaper.

Unusually warm and dry conditions have gripped the region in recent weeks, according to meteorologists with the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC). On March 27, the group advised that there was a “high risk” of severe transboundary haze in the region and elevated its alert level to three, the highest on the scale. 

In late March, the group noted that dry conditions were forecast to persist over most parts of the Mekong sub-region, with prevailing winds expected to blow mostly from the south or southwest. “Under these conditions,” ASMC noted, “the hotspot and smoke haze situation could escalate further.”

NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Adam Voiland.

References & Resources

• ASMC (2026) Regional Haze Situation. Accessed April 22, 2026.
• Bangkok Post (2026, April 17) Pai tourism suffers as haze grips North. Accessed April 22, 2026.
• NASA Earthdata (2026, April 10) Stagnant Skies in Southeast Asia. Accessed April 22, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2024, April 8) Hazy Skies in a Growing City. Accessed April 22, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2024, April 1) Grappling with Thailand’s Seasonal Haze. Accessed April 22, 2026.
• The Nation (2026, April 18) Northern wildfire surge pushes Thailand hotspots to 2026 high. Accessed April 22, 2026.   
• Pani, S., et al. (2020) Black carbon over an urban atmosphere in northern peninsular Southeast Asia: Characteristics, source apportionment, and associated health risks. Environmental Pollution, 259, 113871.
• Pirard, C. & Charoenpanwutikul, A. (2023) Comprehensive review of the annual haze episode in Northern Thailand. Earth ArXiv preprint.
• Orion (2025, February 12) Where There is Smoke. Accessed April 22, 2026.

According to an internal memo, Meta plans to begin its sweeping layoffs on May 20.

The max size is now 2MB and max resolution is 4000x4000.

If a worker's years of service at Microsoft plus their age equals 70 or more, they will be eligible for a voluntary retirement buyout.

Era thinks that we will see many form factors of AI hardware, including glasses, rings, and pendants

Meta's Accounts Center will transition to the Meta Account, which is supposed to make it easier to manage your experience on various Meta apps and devices.