4 teams trending up -- and down -- in '26 standings projections  MLB.com

Trending tickers: Alphabet, Qualcomm, Arm, e.l.f Beauty and BT  Yahoo Finance UK

Vikings' Rough Offseason Gets Even Worse While Lions Trending Up  Detroit Jock City

Intel: SEC teams trending for former TCU QB commit Jerry Meyer  On3

Apple Stock Forecast: Trending Buy Calls From Analysts  TipRanks

1. Galaxy S26 Ultra pretty much confirmed to lag behind Pixel 10 and iPhone 17 in key area  PhoneArena
2. Exclusive: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Renders & Specs  Android Headlines
3. Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Might Have an Even More Ridiculous Camera Zoom  Gizmodo
4. Galaxy S26 vs S25 battery specs and charging: What the leaks reveal  SamMobile
5. Galaxy S26 series will ‘100%’ not have Qi2 magnets built-in, leak reveals  9to5Google

1. Steam Machine and Steam Frame delays are the latest product of the RAM crisis  Ars Technica
2. Valve’s Steam Machine has been delayed, and the RAM crisis will impact pricing  The Verge
3. Valve Steam Machine and Frame Hit by Memory Crisis  TechPowerUp
4. Valve updates hardware launch timing due to component pricing  GamesIndustry.biz
5. AMD Says Valve Is 'On Track' to Ship Steam Machine Early This Year, but We Still Don't Know the Price  IGN

1. Google Shows Off Pixel 10a Because It’s Done With Leaks  Droid Life
2. Google Shows Off Pixel 10a With No Camera Bump  Gizmodo
3. Google’s full lineup of Pixel 10a colors leak, including vibrant ‘Berry’  9to5Google
4. Exclusive: Official Google Pixel 10a Renders Showing the 'Obsidian' Model  Android Headlines
5. Whatever you do, don't buy a cheap Google Pixel phone right now  Android Authority

1. The Wayback Machine debuts a new plug-in designed to fix the internet's broken links problem  TechCrunch
2. The Wayback Machine is looking to make deadlinks a thing of the past  BetaNews
3. Internet Archive And Automattic Launch New Tool To Combat Link Rot  Dataconomy
4. Internet Archive launches Link Fixer to combat link rot  The Tech Buzz
5. Wayback Machine Launches Link Fixer Plugin  findarticles.com

1. Google execs suggest Gemini-powered Siri will, in fact, run on Google’s own servers  9to5Mac
2. Alphabet won’t talk about the Google-Apple AI deal, even to investors  TechCrunch
3. Why Alphabet Won’t Talk About Its Apple AI Partnership  Yahoo Finance
4. In Google earnings, analysts want answers on Apple's Siri-Gemini deal  CNBC
5. Google & Apple CEOs offer seemingly contradictory statements regarding AI partnership  AppleInsider

This new Hubble image, released on Jan. 30, 2026, is the sharpest taken of NGC 7722, a lenticular galaxy located about 187 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. A lenticular, meaning “lens-shaped,” galaxy is a type whose classification sits between more familiar spiral galaxies and elliptical galaxies. It is also less common than spirals and ellipticals — partly because these galaxies have a somewhat ambiguous appearance, making it hard to determine if it is a spiral, an elliptical, or something in between.

Learn more about this observation.

Image credit:  ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz), Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA; Acknowledgment: Mehmet Yüksek

No Olympic competitions covers more ground than the 50-kilometer cross-country ski races. The grueling event takes more than 2 hours to complete, requiring competitors to ski a distance longer than a marathon. That’s still, however, less than an eighth of the distance between the two official host cities of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics—Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

With events spread across more than 22,000 square kilometers (8,500 square miles) and eight cities or towns in northern Italy, these are the most geographically dispersed Games in Olympic history. The decentralized design was intentional, allowing planners to control costs and make the event more sustainable by using existing venues rather than constructing several expensive new facilities. More than 90 percent of the venues are existing or temporary facilities, including some refurbished facilities that were used in the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Games.                              

About 2,900 athletes will compete across 116 events over 19 days in 13 venues in what will be the third time Italy has hosted the Games. Several of the key event venues are visible in these satellite images of the two largest host cities—Milan and Verona. The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 and 9 captured the images on December 8 and 9, 2025, respectively.

Olympic festivities will kick off officially on February 6 at San Siro Stadium with performances by pop star Mariah Carey, classical singer Andrea Bocelli, classical instrumentalist Lang Lang, and Italian singer-songwriter Laura Pausini. Built in 1925, San Siro is Italy’s largest stadium and the longtime home of renowned football clubs AC Milan and Inter Milan.

Milan will mostly host indoor ice events in several other venues around the city. Ice hockey will be spread across two venues, the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena and the temporary Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena. The former, located east of the city in the green and residential Santa Giulia district, is the only new permanent venue constructed for the Games. The latter, in Milano Ice Park, is a temporary transformation of the Fiera Milano Rho exhibition center, a complex of pavilions and a convention center northwest of the city center.

Speed skating and figure skating will be in the Milano Ice Skating Arena, an 11,500-person stadium in Assago, a small town just outside of Milan. Outside of the Olympics, the multisport facility is used by a skating school and basketball team and as a venue for tennis, squash, swimming, and several other sports.

The February 22 closing ceremonies will take place in Verona, a city of about 250,000 people 150 kilometers east of Milan, in Verona Arena, an ancient Roman amphitheater that was built between the 1st and 3rd centuries. What was once used for animal hunts and gladiator battles will serve as the backdrop for musicians, dancers, and artists in a ceremony that organizers say will honor the spirit of athletics and Italy’s rich cultural heritage. The arena, with a seating capacity of about 22,000, is the third-largest surviving amphitheater in Europe and unusually well-preserved.

New events this year will include men’s and women’s ski mountaineering, skeleton mixed team relay, women’s doubles luge, freestyle skiing dual moguls, and women’s large hill ski jumping. The 2026 Olympic mascots are Tina and Milo, a brother-and-sister pair of cheerful, scarf-wearing animated stoats with names inspired by Milan and Cortina. Stoats, also called ermine, are fierce predators in the weasel family known for reportedly mesmerizing prey with energetic dances and for having fur that changes from dark brown in the summer to white in the winter. In Italy, stoats typically live in the mountains above 3,500 meters (11,500 feet).

NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.

References & Resources

• ArchDaily (2026, February 6) Six Sites Host the Olympic Villages of Milano Cortina 2026 With a Focus on Existing Infrastructure. Accessed February 4, 2026.
• ESPN (2026, January 16) New events at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Accessed February 4, 2026.
• International Olympic Committee (2026, January 29) Key facts and figures about the upcoming Olympic Winter Games. Accessed February 4, 2026.
• International Olympic Committee (2026, January 9) Milano Cortina 2026: Reaching new heights in the heart of the Dolomites. Accessed February 4, 2026.
• International Olympic Committee (2025, October 23) Over 125 years of Olympic venues: post-Games use. Accessed February 4, 2026.
• National Park Stilfser Joch The Stoat or ermine. Accessed February 4, 2026.
• Nicoliello, M. (2024) A New Era for the Olympic Games Following a Sustainability Path: The Case of Milan-Cortina 2026. Business for Sustainability, 22, 163-181.
• Raco, M. & Di Vita, S. (2024) Replacing place with space: the influences and the challenges of the new norm on the Milan-Cortina Winter Games 2026. Planning Perspectives, 39,(3), 710-719.
• SportsTravel (2026, February 3) Olympic Winter Games Preview: Venue Guide. Accessed February 4, 2026.
• The New York Times (2023, July 3) GOATs Are Everywhere in Sports. So What Really Defines Greatness? Accessed February 4, 2026.

Written by Alex Innanen, Atmospheric Scientist at York University, Toronto

Earth planning date: Friday, Jan. 30, 2026

Mars has emerged from its holiday behind the Sun, and we here on Earth have been able to reconnect with Curiosity and get back to work on Mars. Our first planning day last Friday gave Curiosity a full weekend of activities, which wrapped up with getting us ready for our next drill. We checked out a broken white rock in the workspace with APXS, MAHLI, and ChemCam’s laser spectrometer and finished up imaging a sandy area we’ve kept an eye on during conjunction to see if we could catch any wind motion, before taking a small drive to our drill location about 2 meters away (about 6 feet).

This location may look familiar — our next drill will be only a few centimeters away from “Nevado Sajama,” which we drilled back in November. The reason we’ve returned here is to do a rare SAM experiment the instrument’s last container of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (or TMAH, for less of a mouthful). TMAH is a chemical that we can mix with our sample from Nevado Sajama to help identify any organic molecules. SAM had only two containers of TMAH (the first of which we used almost six years ago, so we want to be very certain that everything will go well with this experiment. As a result, we did a rehearsal of the handoff of the sample to SAM in Wednesday’s plan, before we drill this weekend.

The TMAH experiment takes up a lot of Curiosity’s energy, so there isn’t a ton to spare for other science activities. Luckily, we’ve spent a lot of time in this area and have collected plenty of images of our surroundings. Because of that, we’ve used our little bit of extra time in the second half of the week for environmental observations. We’re well into the dusty season now, so we’re keeping an eye on dust both near (looking out for dust devils) and far (keeping track of how much dust is in the crater and wider atmosphere).

NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and the University of Texas System (UT System) announced the signing of a collaborative Space Act Agreement on Jan. 9, 2026. The agreement expands research and workforce development partnership opportunities across NASA centers and UT System facilities.

The agreement builds upon decades of collaboration between NASA and the UT System by enabling additional research, teaching resources, and educational engagements that support human spaceflight and grow the pipeline of next-generation talent. It will leverage Johnson’s unique capabilities as the hub of human spaceflight and the UT System’s assets across its 13 institutions.

“NASA’s Johnson Space Center has a long history of working with colleges and universities to help us achieve our human spaceflight missions,” said Johnson Center Director Vanessa Wyche. “We are eager to partner with the UT System to collaborate in vital research and technology development initiatives that will enable us to meet our nation’s exploration goals and advance the future of space exploration.”

The agreement also reflects Johnson’s continued evolution through Dare Unite Explore – a set of commitments designed to ensure the center will remain the world leader in human space exploration. Those commitments include expanding partner access to the center’s world-class facilities and expertise, as well as establishing robust workforce development and recruitment programs.

Wyche and UT System Chancellor John M. Zerwas hosted a ceremonial signing event at Johnson. During the event, Wyche and Zerwas, along with the center’s leadership team and the UT System executives and faculty, strategized on potential partnership opportunities and next steps for stakeholders.

As a member of the Crew Operations Office, Erin Edwards and her team manage astronaut candidate training schedules, including field medical exercises, land survival, and underwater operations at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston. She also develops and tests new training programs to keep crews mission-ready.  

Along with her role as a crew operations officer, Edwards works in the International Space Station Mission Control Center as a capsule communicator, or capcom, and instructor. As a capcom, she must be fluent in the language of the spacecraft and its operations to clearly relay important information to the crew, especially during dynamic operations. 

Read on to learn about Edwards’ career with NASA and more! 

Where are you from? 

Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada. 

How long have you been working for NASA? 

I’ve been at NASA for two years. My term here with the military is three years. 

What was your path to NASA? 

Super random! I’m a Canadian military pilot, previously working in the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command as an aircraft commander on the CH-146 Griffon. While we use a lot of space-based assets in aviation, the leap to human spaceflight was unexpected.  

An opportunity for an officer to work in the astronaut office as a capcom arose a few years ago. As a lifelong space nerd, I figured it would be an amazing opportunity. I applied and was interviewed, and before long, was posted to NASA’s Johnson Space Center as the first Canadian non-astronaut to be posted as a capcom and later as an operations officer. 

How would you describe your job to family or friends that may not be familiar with NASA? 

My team and I organize the unassigned crew and astronaut candidates’ work lives! As a capcom, I help translate what the engineers are saying in the flight control room for the astronauts aboard the station, and I help with the station activities as call sign Houston. More recently I’ve been assigned as the TH57 Helicopter Project Pilot at AOD to help get that fleet integrated for more lunar-focused Space Flight Readiness Training. 

What advice would you give to young individuals aspiring to work in the space industry or at NASA? 

Just go for it! You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, as Wayne Gretzky said. My background as a military helicopter pilot, Navy diver, and mining engineer may appear to have no relevance to NASA, but that diverse experience has turned out to be useful here as an operations officer for astronaut training. I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t thrown my hat in the ring. No matter your technical background, there’s probably a place for it in spaceflight. Your experience has unique ways of benefiting such complex, multifaceted programs like spaceflight—so give it a shot! 

Is there a space figure you’ve looked up to or someone that inspires you?  

Honestly, there isn’t a single person, but I think what NASA and my own country’s space program, like others, have committed themselves to as a giant team is what has inspired me over the years. I think I was inspired by that, the mission, and the culture of a united effort of so many to do hard things. 

What is your favorite NASA memory or the most meaningful project you’ve worked on during your time with NASA? 

There are two! After only a few months at NASA, I was told by my soon-to-be boss, James ‘Vegas’ Kelly, that I was selected to take over NASA astronaut Jonny Kim’s operations job. This was a huge vote of confidence for me as a new team member from Canada. The second was sending my first transmission to the station as a qualified capcom, which was incredibly cool. I am just a big nerd from a small town in Canada, and never in a million years did I think I would be at NASA at that console, so it was a little mind blowing. 

What do you love sharing about station? 

People always seem surprised at how big the teams are that support the station and how collaborative of an effort it is. It stretches across disciplines, centers, and even countries. That information is critical for solving problems here on Earth. 

November 2, 2025, marked 25 years of continuous human presence. What does this milestone mean to you? 

A quarter century of science and partnership aboard the orbital laboratory is a testament to what we can do as a global society when we really want to. To me personally, being able to be here with people who have worked in space or help train the people going next is such a full circle situation. I dreamed of working on a team like this, and it happened 20 years later. That opportunity to fulfill a dream and represent Canada as part of the ISS program means a lot to me! 

If you could have dinner with any astronaut, past or present, who would it be? 

I was never able to meet Sally Ride. I think I would have loved to ask her some questions and hear her story in person. 

Do you have a favorite space-related memory or moment that stands out to you? 

Dr. Robert Thirsk, a Canadian astronaut, spoke to my elementary school in 1996, which he had attended years earlier. I was in sixth grade, and it was a formative interaction. Hearing him talk so passionately about his shuttle mission and life with his team aboard the orbiter was absolutely lifechanging. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I decided then that I wanted to work in space. That set my course for life. I’ll likely never get to space, but I got pretty close, and it is really something to pursue a goal like that for so long and have it work out, almost 

What are some of the key projects you have worked on during your time at NASA? What have been your favorite? 

Being able to put my operational helicopter background to use in helping to build the helicopter flight program here has been a really cool and unexpected opportunity! I happened to be the right person at the right time with the right skill set to make a difference in that aspect of training. I’m proud of that. 

What are your hobbies/things you enjoy doing outside of work? 

I’m in my forties, but still really like playing contact rugby, which is such a fun sport. Between the tactics, teamwork, bashing into people on the pitch, and a cheeky beer after a game, it’s a great way to spend a weekend. I run a lot and, when I can, climb – any kind of climbing, sport, bouldering, trad, ice climbing. All of it! 

Day launch or night launch? 

Night launch! 

Favorite space movie? 

Apollo 13. Obviously. 

NASA Worm or Meatball logo? 

Meatball! 

NASA and its partners have supported humans continuously living and working in space since November 2000. After 25 years of continuous human presence, the space station remains a training and proving ground for the future of commercial space stations, deep space missions, enabling NASA’s Artemis campaign, lunar exploration, and future Mars missions. 

Every day, we are conducting exciting research aboard our orbiting laboratory that will help us explore farther into space and bring benefits back to people on Earth. You can keep up with the latest news, videos, and pictures about space station science on the Station Research & Technology news page. It is a curated hub of space station research digital media from Johnson and other centers and space agencies.  

Sign up for our weekly email newsletter to get the updates delivered directly to you.  

Follow updates on social media at @Space_Station on X, and on the space station accounts on Facebook and Instagram.  

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