Why Andes virus is trending  CNN

Technical Discussion: Swap the sunglasses for the rain gear, trending cooler too  WFSB

Adobe Inc. (ADBE) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It  Yahoo Finance

Five Notre Dame Offensive Players Trending Up After Spring Practice  Irish Sports Daily

Brown is the new black: The color is trending red-hot in interior design  AJC.com

1. Remarkable’s next E Ink digital notepad skips the color screen  The Verge
2. I tested the $399 ReMarkable Paper Pure, the perfect starter tablet for writers  CNN
3. Remarkable's New Tablet Wins Me Over for Writing and Sketching. And My Kid Loves It, Too  CNET
4. reMarkable’s Paper Pure Might Be the Best Notetaking Paper Tablet for Students  Gizmodo
5. The Remarkable Paper Pure is the best digital notepad I’ve ever used  The Verge

1. Leaker: This Is Why Apple Is Delaying the iPhone 18  MacRumors
2. iPhone 18 release date just got new evidence of delay, per leak  9to5Mac
3. The best signal yet that iPhone 18 won't ship until 2026 has arrived  AppleInsider
4. Apple Reportedly Delaying Base iPhone 18 To Squeeze More Margin From iPhone 17 As DRAM Shortage Threatens Component Costs  Wccftech
5. Apple plans to make iPhone 18 cheaper by simplifying features - insider  Mezha

1. Ars Asks: Share your shell and show us your tricked-out terminals!  Ars Technica
2. Stop using bloated apps: These 5 terminal tools are all I need for work  How-To Geek
3. 6 Windows Terminal commands I wish I'd known years ago would have saved me hours  MakeUseOf
4. 5 Linux commands that replaced my desktop apps  Yahoo Tech

1. Google making links in AI Mode and AI Overviews a bit more direct  9to5Google
2. 5 new ways to explore the web with generative AI in Search  blog.google
3. Google Will Show You Things You Didn't Ask for in AI Overview Searches  CNET
4. Google updates AI search to include quotes from Reddit and other sources  TechCrunch
5. Google Adds More Links & Link Context To AI Search  Search Engine Journal

1. Apple plans to make iOS 27 a Choose Your Own Adventure of AI models  TechCrunch
2. Apple to Let Users Choose Rival AI Models Across Its iOS 27 Features  Bloomberg.com
3. If You Plan to Get an iPhone in the Fall, Don’t Get Too Attached to ChatGPT  Gizmodo
4. Gemini, Claude or ChatGPT? This fall's iPhone update may let you choose your preferred AI  Yahoo Tech
5. iPhone users will get to select a preferred AI model in iOS 27  AppleInsider

NASA advances aeronautics and space technologies through experimental aircraft and flight research at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Behind those efforts is the Dryden Aeronautical Test Range (DATR), which provides the communications, tracking, and data services that enable safe and effective missions.

For most NASA Armstrong research flights, the DATR supplies communications, radar, and telemetry. The range’s video capabilities can also capture ground footage as well as long-range coverage for flights. Modernization efforts started in the early 2020s expanded those capabilities and prepared the range to support efforts such as test flights of NASA’s X‑59 quiet supersonic research aircraft, as well as spaceflight communications.

“The DATR provides real‑time data, tracking, and situational awareness that help keep flight research safe and efficient,” said Tara McCoy, acting deputy director for DATR Mission Operations at NASA Armstrong. “The range also supports science missions, works with industry partners, and provides capabilities used for International Space Station operations.”

Ongoing upgrades include new very high frequency (VHF) ground antennas, updated electronic components, and software improvements for tracking the International Space Station and visiting spacecraft. NASA installed additional antennas to ensure backup coverage.

The range’s ability to processes and display real‑time radar, telemetry, and video data is critical for monitoring research flights, such as NASA’s Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF) wing model. CATNLF, a scale-model wing attached under a NASA F-15B research jet, is designed to improve the smooth flow of air known as laminar flow, reducing drag and lowering fuel costs for future commercial aircraft.

The DATR also supports aircraft platforms that enable science missions, such as the ER-2 high-altitude aircraft and the C-20A aircraft.

Preparing for future flights

The range is developing multiple approaches to streamline and shorten the time it takes to process and validate raw flight data for researchers, saving time and resources.

“The faster we can get data to the project engineers to review, the faster they can determine whether certain test points need to be repeated, or future test points can be skipped,” said David Tow, DATR chief engineer. “We are working these efforts simultaneously because each one has the potential to drastically improve how long it takes to deliver post-processing data.”

One NASA approach is to automate and consolidate the data processing steps from five down to one. Another approach leverages an existing partnership with the U.S. Air Force to enable multiple computers to post-process data from separate missions simultaneously. The collaboration between the Air Force and DATR aims to reduce processing time for post-flight data from two hours to less than 30 minutes.

Supporting space station operations

The DATR is part of NASA’s safety and communications infrastructure that supports International Space Station missions. Its capabilities are used for backup communications and telemetry during launches, dockings, and reentries.

NASA Armstrong is one of only two ground stations in the United States capable of sending and receiving messages on all space station frequencies. The other is NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Armstrong has provided communications and radar tracking for the station since its first component launched in 1998 and continues to support commercial cargo and crew missions.

Advancing NASA’s mission

The range operates within NASA’s Flight Demonstrations and Capabilities project in its Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and remains positioned to support aeronautics, science, and International Space Station missions with communications, tracking, and data services.

To facilitate discussion and information sharing on activities at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, a public information session is being held 4–6 p.m., Wednesday, May 13, at the NASA Wallops Visitor Center. 

During the event, NASA will have information booths on the status on the causeway bridge construction, updates on beach replenishment, and a representative from the GLOBE program. Federal and state health experts will be on hand to speak with the public on the PFAS health consultation report released by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.  

The NASA Wallops Visitor Center is located on Virginia Route 175 about five miles from U.S. Route 13 and five miles from Chincoteague.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting 7:16 p.m. EDT Tuesday, May 12, for the next launch to deliver science, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. This will be the 34th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the orbital outpost for NASA.

Carrying about 6,500 pounds of cargo, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will lift off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Dragon is scheduled to dock autonomously at about 9:50 a.m. Thursday, May 14, to the forward port of the station’s Harmony module.

Watch NASA’s launch and arrival coverage on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.

In addition to cargo for the crew aboard the space station, Dragon will deliver several new experiments, including a project to determine how well Earth-based simulators mimic microgravity conditions, a bone scaffold made from wood that could produce new treatments for fragile bone conditions like osteoporosis, and equipment to evaluate how red blood cells and the spleen change in space to protect future astronauts. The Dragon spacecraft also will carry a new instrument to study charged particles around the Earth that can impact power grids and satellites, an investigation that could provide a fundamental understanding of how planets form, and an instrument designed to take highly accurate measurements of sunlight reflected by Earth and the Moon.

The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the space station until mid-June when it will depart the orbiting laboratory and return to Earth with time-sensitive research and cargo, ahead of splashing down off the coast of California.

NASA’s mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):

Monday, May 11

11 a.m.: Prelaunch media teleconference with the following participants:

• Bill Spetch, operations and integration manager, NASA’s International Space Station Program
• Dr. Liz Warren, deputy chief scientist, NASA’s International Space Station Program
• Lee Echerd, senior mission manger, Government and Commercial Mission Management, SpaceX
• Brian Cizek, launch weather officer, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron

Media who wish to participate by phone must request dial-in information by 10 a.m. on May 11, by emailing the NASA Kennedy newsroom at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.

Audio of the media teleconference will stream live on the agency’s YouTube channel.

Tuesday, May 12

7 p.m.: Launch coverage begins on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.

Launch coverage also will be available on the NASA website, and will include live streaming and blog updates beginning no earlier than 7 p.m., and proceed as countdown milestones occur.

On-demand streaming video on NASA+ and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. For questions about countdown coverage, contact the NASA Kennedy newsroom at 321-867-2468. Follow countdown coverage on NASA’s International Space Station blog for updates.

7:16 p.m.: Launch

Thursday, May 14

8:20 a.m.: Arrival coverage begins on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.

9:50 a.m.: Docking

Attend launch virtually

Members of the public can register to attend this launch virtually. NASA’s virtual guest program for this mission also includes curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities or changes, and a stamp for the NASA virtual guest passport following launch.

Watch, Engage on social media

Let people know you’re watching the mission on X, Facebook, and Instagram by following and tagging these accounts:

X: @NASA, @NASASpaceOps, @NASAKennedy, @Space_Station, @ISS_CASIS

Facebook: NASA, NASAKennedy, ISS, ISS National Lab

Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @ISS, @ISSNationalLab

Learn more about International Space Station operations and research at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
james.j.russell@nasa.gov

Danielle Sempsrott / Leejay Lockhart
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
danielle.c.sempsrott@nasa.gov / leejay.lockhart@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones / Joseph Zakrzewski
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov / joseph.a.zakrzewskI@nasa.gov

A new “X-ray dot” found by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory – which could look like this artist’s illustration released on April 28, 2026 – could explain what the hundreds or potentially thousands of these objects are.

Shortly after NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope started its science observations, reports of a new class of mysterious objects emerged. Astronomers found small, red objects about 12 billion light-years from Earth or farther, which became known as “little red dots” (LRDs). The dot that Chandra found exhibits most of the features of an LRD, including being small, red, and located at a vast distance, but it glows in X-ray light, unlike other LRDs – hence the name “X-ray dot.”

This object (officially known as 3DHST-AEGIS-12014), which is located about 11.8 billion light-years from Earth, may provide a crucial bridge between black hole stars and typical growing supermassive black holes.

Read more about this mysterious dot.

Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/M. Weiss; adapted by K. Arcand & J. Major

Astronomers have long known that neutron stars, the crushed cores left behind after massive stars explode, should be scattered throughout the Milky Way galaxy. However, most of them are effectively invisible. A new study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics suggests NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could spot them anyway.

Using detailed simulations of the Milky Way and Roman’s future observations, researchers showed the flagship observatory may be able to identify and characterize dozens of isolated neutron stars through a subtle effect called gravitational microlensing.

“Most neutron stars are relatively dim and on their own,” said Zofia Kaczmarek of Heidelberg University in Germany, who led the study. “They are incredibly hard to spot without some sort of help.”

Finding what’s invisible

Neutron stars pack more mass than the Sun into a sphere about the size of a city. Studying them helps us understand how stars live, die, and spread heavy elements throughout the universe. They also provide a chance to study what happens under the most extreme conditions (pressures and densities) imaginable.

Yet, unless they are pulsars that beam in radio wavelengths or glow in X-rays, they can remain hidden from even the most powerful telescopes.

Roman can search for them in a different way. When a massive object like a neutron star moves in front of a distant background star, its intense gravity warps spacetime and deflects the background star’s light. This microlensing effect briefly makes the background star brighter and appear offset from its true position in the sky.

While many telescopes can detect the temporary brightening, Roman can measure both the brightening (photometry) and the tiny positional shift (astrometry) of the lensed star with exceptional precision.

Because neutron stars are relatively massive, they produce a larger astrometric signal than lighter objects, allowing missions like Roman to not only detect them, but also weigh them in some cases, something that is nearly impossible with photometry alone.

“What’s really cool about using microlensing is that you can get direct mass measurements,” said paper co-author Peter McGill of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. “Photometry tells us that something passed in front of the star, but it’s the amount the star’s position shifts that tells us how massive that object is. By measuring that tiny deflection on the sky, we can directly weigh something that is otherwise unseen.”

Roman’s measurements could help astronomers determine whether there is a true gap between the masses of neutron stars and black holes and how fast neutron stars are moving.

Scientists are particularly interested in understanding the powerful “kicks” neutron stars receive when they are born in supernova explosions. These kicks can send them racing through the galaxy at hundreds of miles per second.

Huge surveys, high chance of payoff

The research team will utilize Roman’s future Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey, which will monitor millions of stars at a time in vast images of the sky, taken at a high frequency.

“We’re going to get to work as soon as the data start coming in,” said McGill. “Even in the first months after commissioning, we expect to start identifying promising events.”

Even a relatively small number of confirmed detections could significantly improve models of stellar explosions and extreme matter.

“We don’t know the mass distribution of neutron stars, black holes, or where one ends and the other begins with any certainty,” McGill said. “Roman will really be a breakthrough in that.”

Although only a few thousand neutron stars have been detected so far, mostly as pulsars, scientists estimate there could be tens of millions to hundreds of millions in the Milky Way. Additionally, to date, researchers have only been able to measure the masses of neutron stars in binary pairings.

“We’re seeing a small sample that’s not representative of the big picture,” Kaczmarek said. “Even a single mass measurement would be very powerful. If we found just one isolated neutron star, it would already be incredibly stimulating to our research.”

Looking ahead

The study also highlights a creative use of the mission’s capabilities. While Roman’s survey is designed primarily to find exoplanets using photometric microlensing, its powerful astrometric capabilities open the door to entirely new discoveries with astrometric microlensing.

“This wasn’t part of the original plan,” said McGill. “But it turns out Roman’s astrometric capability is really good at detecting neutron stars and black holes, so we can add a whole new kind of science to Roman’s surveys.”

If the predictions hold true, the mission could provide the first large sample of isolated neutron stars discovered through their gravity alone, revealing a hidden population that has remained out of reach until now. Roman is expected to transform the study of microlensing and the hidden populations of objects in our galaxy, from rogue exoplanets to stellar remnants like neutron stars.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California; the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems Inc. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.

To learn more about Roman visit:

https://nasa.gov/roman

By Hannah Braun
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
hbraun@stsci.edu

Media contacts:

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-1940

Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
cpulliam@stsci.edu

Corgi announced on Wednesday a $160 million Series B, led by TCV, valuing the startup at $1.3 billion.

The push for new data centers at Microsoft is putting its key clean power goals at risk.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says more than 150,000 retail investors joined the fintech’s new venture fund, which offers exposure to private tech companies like OpenAI, Stripe, Databricks, and Oura before they go public.

Cutthroat negotiations between startup founders are rarely shared so publicly, especially when a company becomes as world-changing as OpenAI.

U.S. prosecutors said a ransomware gang fueled Russian government corruption, and allowed the gang's leaders to avoid paying taxes and dodge the country's military draft.