These Are the Top Trending U.S. Destinations for Spring Break 2026, According to Google  Travel + Leisure

Trending tickers: Warner Bros, Alibaba, NatWest and Zurich Insurance  Yahoo Finance UK

5 SEC Powerhouses Trending Heavily for 100-Tackle Defender  Sports Illustrated

The 18-Year-Old Actor Dominating Netflix With Multiple Trending Movies In America  Screen Rant

Inside Scoop: Texas trending with OL, 2027 targets hitting Austin  On3

1. Samsung teases Galaxy S26 camera as ‘brightest’ and ‘easiest’ ever, thanks to AI  9to5Google
2. Samsung teases new AI image editor for upcoming Galaxy S26 phones  Mashable
3. [Invitation] Galaxy Unpacked February 2026: The Next AI Phone Makes Your Life Easier  Samsung Global Newsroom
4. Coming Soon: A Seamless Galaxy Camera Experience for Easy Content Creation  Samsung Mobile Press
5. Samsung Promotes New Features Ahead Of Galaxy S26 Ultra Launch  Forbes

1. Sony is Reportedly Considering Delaying the PlayStation 6 until 2028 or 2029  VGChartz
2. The Switch 2 will likely be hit with a price hike this year  XDA
3. Switch 2 price, PS6 release could be impacted by memory shortage  Mashable
4. Game Consoles Will Likely Get Even More Expensive… Again  Gizmodo
5. Switch 2 pricing and next PlayStation release could be impacted by memory shortage  The Verge

1. Google announces dates for I/O 2026  The Verge
2. Google's I/O developer conference to be held May 19 and 20, says Alphabet  CNBC
3. Google announces dates for 2026 developer showcase  Mashable
4. Google teases I/O 2026 with ‘Make Build Unlock’ puzzle  9to5Google
5. Google I/O 2026 is set for May 19 and 20  Engadget

1. Here's the next batch of Xbox Game Pass games for February  Eurogamer
2. Coming to Xbox Game Pass: Kingdom Come Deliverance II, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, EA Sports College Football 26, and More!  Xbox Wire
3. Microsoft Announces Xbox Game Pass February 2026 Wave 2 Lineup, Including Witcher 3 and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2  IGN
4. Game Pass Adds More In February 2026, Including Avatar And College Football 26  GameSpot
5. Three Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (February 17)  Pure Xbox

1. GameHub will give Mac owners another imperfect way to play Windows games  Ars Technica
2. GameSir is making a GameHub app for Mac.  The Verge
3. Mac gamers are about to get a great new way to play PC games  Cult of Mac
4. This New App Can Turn Your MacBook Into a Gaming Laptop  ProPakistani
5. Gamehub Aims To Unlock Mac Gaming  Mena FN

For the second time in two weeks, a powerful tropical cyclone struck Madagascar. On January 31, Fytia battered the remote northwestern coast of the island with destructive winds and torrential rains that displaced thousands of people. Less than two weeks later, Gezani made a direct hit on one of the island’s largest cities before sweeping past areas that Fytia had just flooded.

The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of Gezani as it neared Madagascar on February 10, 2026. At the time, the storm was undergoing rapid intensification. Its sustained winds peaked at 200 kilometers (125 miles) per hour before making landfall at Category 3 hurricane strength.

According to meteorologists with the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, the storm developed amid conditions “highly favorable” to strengthening, including sea surface temperatures above 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit), wind shear below 20 kilometers (12 miles) per hour, and an unusually moist atmosphere. As the storm passed near Toamasina, Madagascar’s second-largest city, satellites that contribute to NASA’s IMERG (Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM) product measured rain rates up to 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) per hour.

The deluge caused widespread flooding in Toamasina and several other parts of the island. Preliminary damage assessments from Madagascar’s National Office for Risk and Disaster Management linked the storm to dozens of deaths, hundreds of injuries, and damage to more than 27,000 homes. Reports from news outlets and humanitarian groups described chaotic conditions in Toamasina, with widespread power outages, numerous collapsed roofs, and a lack of clean water.

The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 captured this false-color image of severe flooding near Brickaville, just south of Toamasina, on February 14, 2026 (right). For comparison, the left image shows the same area before the storm. Villages and farmland along the Rongaronga River appear particularly hard hit. Crops commonly grown in this area include rice, vanilla, lychees, black pepper, cloves, and cinnamon, according to researchers from the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development.

Madagascar is one of the most cyclone-prone countries in Africa, with about six storms typically affecting the island each year and two making direct landfall. The cyclone season generally runs from November through April, with peak activity between January and March.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview and Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.

References & Resources

• ACAPS (2024) Cyclone exposure and vulnerabilities. Accessed February 17, 2026.
• Associated Press (2026, February 12) Cyclone Gezani destroys 18,000 homes and causes at least 36 deaths in Madagascar. Accessed February 17, 2026.
• BNGRC (2026, February 16) Cyclone Gezani: Preliminary Assessment of Recorded Damage. Accessed February 17, 2026.
• BNGRC, via Facebook (2026) Posts. Accessed February 17, 2026.
• CIMSS Satellite Blog (2026, February 10) Cyclone Gezani makes landfall on Madagascar as a Category 3 storm. Accessed February 17, 2026.
• France24 (2026, February 11) Cyclone Gezani ravages Madagascar, leaving dozens dead and much of second city in ruins. Accessed February 17, 2026.
• Global Disaster Awareness and Coordination System (2026, February 17) Overall Red alert Tropical Cyclone for GEZANI-26. Accessed February 17, 2026.
• NASA Earthdata Tropical Cyclones. Accessed February 17, 2026.
• The Washington Post (2026, February 11) Death toll rises to 31 after Tropical Cyclone Gezani hits Madagascar and crushes houses. Accessed February 17, 2026.
• World Meteorological Organization (2026, February 13) Tropical cyclone Gezani hits Madagascar and threatens Mozambique. Accessed February 17, 2026.
• Yahoo News (2026, February 13) Madagascar cyclone death toll rises to 40, water, power still out. Accessed February 17, 2026.

Written by Abigail Fraeman, Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist

Earth planning date: Friday, Feb. 13, 2026

Curiosity spent this week at Gale crater completing the last few activities associated with the “Nevado Sajama 2” drill before kicking off our final phase of the boxwork exploration campaign. As we’ve explored the boxwork region, the science team has divided up our activities into four phases: 

• Phase 1: First approach (sols 4534-4570 / May through June 2025) — This phase focused on making initial observations of the boxwork unit, which culminated in the team’s decision to drill at the Altadena location.
• Phase 2: Establish regional context (sols 4571-4599 / June through July 2025) — During this time, we collected additional observations of the boxwork unit between the Altadena drill location and arrival at the “main” boxwork area. This included stopping at the distinctive “Volcán Peña Blanca” feature.
• Phase 3: Exploration of the best expressed boxwork structures (sols 4600-4805 / July 2025 to February 2026) — This period was the heart of the boxwork campaign. During phase 3, we collected lots of observations of the most well-defined ridges and hollows within the boxwork unit, and we used what we learned to select locations where we wanted to drill a hollow and ridge. We selected targets named “Valle de la Luna” and “Nevado Sajama,” respectively.
• Phase 4: Our final look (sols 4805- ??? / February 2026 and beyond) — We’re kicking off this phase now, which will focus on some last measurements of ridges and hollows as well as an exploration of the contacts between the boxwork unit and adjacent geologic units to the east and south. Once this is completed, we’ll wrap up and continue our climb up Mount Sharp through the recently named “Valle Grande.”

Our first drive away from the Nevado Sajama drill took Curiosity northeast along one of the wide ridges. From near this spot, we have a good view of ridges and hollows to the east. We’re particularly interested in getting a better look of a hollow that, in orbital data, seems to have interesting-looking bedrock on its floor as well as a particularly narrow ridge that has many small ridges branching off it, which the team has dubbed “Los Flamencos.” These images will help us see if we want to drive to one or both features, and they will help us plan the exact places to drive next week. While we’re here, Curiosity will also collect lots of data on the bedrock in front of the rover, with APXS and MAHLI observations planned for targets named “Mollecita” and “Monte Cielo.” 

We got so much wonderful data from the drilling activities over the last few weeks, and it feels really good to be back on the Martian boxwork road again to begin this final phase of our boxwork unit campaign.

On February 5, 2026, the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image of snow-covered landscapes across Hokkaido. With more than 31 active volcanoes, the island features several large caldera lakes, including at least five that are visible in the image. (Calderas are large depressions formed by volcanic eruptions.) In the east, forested windbreaks around Nakashibetsu form a checkerboard pattern, while to the north, swirls of drifting sea ice adorn the Sea of Okhotsk.

Northern Japan, especially the island of Hokkaido, is home to some of the snowiest cities in the world. However, despite the region’s familiarity with heavy snowfall, winter 2026 got off to a disruptive start. A series of intense storms in January and February repeatedly paralyzed transportation systems, closing airports, snarling roadways, and suspending trains.

Read more about sea ice and snowstorms in Japan.

Text credit: Adam Voiland

Image credit: Michala Garrison, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview

High-altitude flight is getting increasing attention from sectors ranging from telecommunications to emergency response. To make that airspace more accessible, NASA is developing an air traffic management system covering those altitudes and supplementing its work with real-time data from a research balloon in Earth’s stratosphere. 

Aircraft at high altitudes – 50,000 feet or higher, or roughly 10,000 to 20,000 feet above most commercial traffic – offer new possibilities for delivering internet connectivity in regions in need of reliable service. And they can deliver unprecedented situational awareness for the ground below, providing early warnings for floods and other disasters.  

For these types of operations, “station-keeping,” or remaining in the same region for extended periods of time, can be ideal for aircraft including balloons and airships.  

These flights will require a different sort of air traffic management system from the ones that cover most commercial flights – and it needs to be dependable. That’s why NASA is working to produce a system that ensures aircraft can operate safely in high-altitude airspace, with a particular focus on station-keeping.  

 “Current high-altitude air traffic management is manual and piecemeal,” said Jeff Homola, researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “We saw the need for a scalable solution – something multiple operators in a shared airspace can safely rely on. Our system provides shared awareness of the airspace, identifies potential conflicts, enables cooperative conflict resolution, and allows operators to complete missions safely.” 

NASA’s expertise and technology, and the agency’s knowledge of the needs of the aviation industry, put it in an ideal position to perform the work. And NASA researchers are collaborating with the companies Aerostar and Sceye, developers and operators of high-altitude aircraft, to evaluate the system.  

“We’re leveraging decades of NASA’s air traffic management expertise to make this possible,” Homola said. 

This NASA system enables operators to share live flight data, information about their flight plans, and potential conflict alerts. Based on this information, operators can coordinate flight plans in real time. During a 2025 simulation at NASA Ames, researchers tested how efficiently that data sharing would be among operators of lighter-than-air vehicles – both balloons and airships. 

For this test, NASA, Aerostar, Sceye acted as operators of high-altitude vehicles, sharing information from facilities in California, South Dakota, and New Mexico. They were able to share flight information, as well as telemetry data from an Aerostar stratospheric balloon floating 66,500 feet above Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at the time of the testing. 

The simulation built on earlier tests, adding improved flight-intent visualization, conflict detection, and, for the first time, live flight data from the balloon.  

NASA researchers also studied how operators make decision when planned aircraft trajectories overlap, which will help refine essential rules and guidelines for safer high-altitude airspace operations.    

For decades, NASA has biggest air traffic management challenges facing the National Airspace System. NASA innovations have helped cut fuel consumption, prevent accidents, enable precision navigation, and lay the groundwork for today’s modern air traffic management systems. This specific work builds on the initiatives focused on drone operations. 

NASA will share results and lessons learned from the simulation with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to inform its approach to ensuring that higher airspace operations are accessible, safe, and scalable.

The agency will continue advancing the high-altitude traffic management system through continued collaboration with industry partners and the FAA. NASA’s goal is to create a framework that opens the door to new commercial, scientific, and humanitarian missions.

This work has been supported through NASA’s Air Traffic Management Exploration project. The project is part of the agency’s Airspace Operations and Safety Program within its Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev onboard, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission is the twelfth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Meir, Hathaway, Adenot, and Fedyaev launched at 5:15 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to begin a mission aboard the orbital outpost.

After NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev arrive at the space station, they will conduct various experiments and technology demonstrations to benefit life on Earth and in orbit, furthering our journey back to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond.

The creative company's monthly active users increased 20%, growth that was partially propelled by adoption of its AI tools.

The partnership will see the two companies exploring how World Labs’ models can work alongside Autodesk’s tools, and vice versa, starting with a focus on entertainment use cases. 

The company is using edge models that take up only megabytes of space, can run on most phones with existing processors, and can work offline.

Tesla alumni Drew Baglino raises a large round to build a giga-scale factory, this time at his own startup.

The new lineup includes 30-billion and 105-billion parameter models; a text-to-speech model; a speech-to-text model; and a vision model to parse documents.