Why Mark Kelly is trending  CNN

Trending Stocks Today | EZGO Technologies Shoots up 81.25% Pre-Market  Moomoo

Intel: South Carolina is stacking commits, and the Gamecocks are trending for more  On3

Watch JJ Wetherholt Hit Little League Grand Slam in Trending Video for Cardinals vs. Padres  Bleacher Report

KC2026: FIFA data shows every Kansas City match trending to be sold out  KSHB 41 Kansas City

1. Google stopped a zero-day hack that it says was developed with AI  The Verge
2. Google Says Criminal Hackers Used A.I. to Find a Major Software Flaw  The New York Times
3. Google says it likely thwarted effort by hacker group to use AI for 'mass exploitation event'  CNBC
4. Hackers Used AI to Build Zero-Day Attack, Google Researchers Say  Bloomberg.com
5. AI-powered hacking has exploded into industrial-scale threat, Google says  The Guardian

1. Finally, texts between Android and iPhone users can be end-to-end encrypted  TechCrunch
2. End-to-end encrypted RCS messaging begins rolling out today for Android and iPhone users  blog.google
3. Your iPhone's Green Bubble Messages Get Safer With iOS 26.5: Look for the Lock  CNET
4. Apple releases iOS 26.5 with 3 key features including new wallpapers for your iPhone  9to5Mac
5. Update Your iPhone Now for Better Encrypted Messaging With Android  WIRED

1. Here’s what Mira Murati’s AI company is up to  The Verge
2. AI's Collaboration Bottleneck Solved  StartupHub.ai
3. Thinking Machines shows off preview of near-realtime AI voice and video conversation with new 'interaction models'  VentureBeat
4. Real time interaction model demos miss enterprise value  blockchain.news
5. Thinking Machines drops a new, highly responsive model designed for humanlike interactions in real-time  SiliconANGLE

1. Linux bitten by second severe vulnerability in as many weeks  Ars Technica
2. Active attack: Dirty Frag Linux vulnerability expands post-compromise risk  Microsoft
3. Linux Kernel Dirty Frag LPE Exploit Enables Root Access Across Major Distributions  The Hacker News
4. Dirty Frag: Linux Kernel Local Privilege Escalation via ESP and RxRPC  wiz.io
5. How Cloudflare responded to the “Copy Fail” Linux vulnerability  The Cloudflare Blog

1. WhatsApp Plus Lands on iPhone With Custom Themes, Icons, and More  MacRumors
2. WhatsApp Plus subscriptions rolling out to iPhone, but you probably don’t need one  9to5Mac
3. Meta Starts Rolling Out WhatsApp Plus Subscription on iOS  SQ Magazine
4. WhatsApp may abandon green on iPhone after an update reveals a Plus subscription with 18 colors, 14 icons, and premium features hidden in the App Store.  CPG Click Petróleo e Gás
5. WhatsApp Plus with 6 new features rolls out for select iOS users | WhatsApp Plus offers 10 premium ringtones | Inshorts  Inshorts

Written by Michelle Minitti, MAHLI Deputy Principal Investigator

Earth planning date: Friday, May 8, 2026

While we know the monikers Ingenuity and Perseverance are attached to our sister helicopter and rover on the Mars 2020 mission, those characteristics were in full force with Curiosity over the past week. The science we achieved this week was enabled by the ingenuity of the Curiosity engineers and scientists manifested in this extraordinary time lapse. It demonstrates the careful dance of arm motions employed — each one diligently planned by the team — to free Curiosity’s drill from the “Atacama” target. Watch the arm twist, bend, and turn with a rock slab attached, and be amazed. 

The highest-priority activities after liberating the drill included imaging the drill with Mastcam and ChemCam RMI, and imaging into the now-empty drill hole with MAHLI (the image above). The science team made the most of the freshly-broken surfaces created when Atacama fell back to Mars, and the freshly-exposed sand once hidden underneath Atacama. ChemCam targeted one of the clean fracture faces with two LIBS rasters at “Tamarugal” and “Tamarugo,” and followed with another raster on a light-toned patch of bedrock formerly under Atacama at “Colchane.”  MAHLI and APXS analyzed sand near Colchane at the target “Yerba Loca.” Beyond Atacama, Mastcam and ChemCam imaged the large buttes towering above our current and future drive paths. Mastcam also imaged two exposures of the polygonal fractures present in this area (targets “Cerro Elefantes” and “Azul Pampa”) and looked for wind-induced changes in the sand (“Playa los Metales”). ChemCam planned a passive spectroscopy observation of light-toned features on the “Paniri” butte and checked out a potential meteorite with a LIBS raster at “Isla Mocha.”  

As engineering assessments continued, Curiosity drove uphill to study a contact between two different rock types, which can indicate a change in formation conditions, a break in time, or both. MAHLI, APXS, and ChemCam teamed up to study both rock types at the lighter-toned, layered “Toro” target and the darker, flaky “Inca de Oro” target. Mastcam planned multiple mosaics capturing different structures and transitions exposed along the contact. Across the plans during the week, REMS, RAD, and DAN regularly measured the environment above and below the rover, and Navcam and Mastcam teamed up to look for clouds, dust devils, and dust in the atmosphere.

With the health of the drill and arm confirmed by the engineers, Curiosity exhibited perseverance by heading toward a new workspace with a promising (larger) block for a new drill attempt. Our Martian exploration continues undaunted.

Description

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this view of a rock nicknamed “Atacama” on May 6, 2026, the 4,877th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The rock had gotten stuck to the drill on the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm on April 25. Engineers spent several days repositioning the arm and vibrating the drill to try and get the rock loose, finally detaching the rock on May 1.

Atacama is estimated to be 1.5 feet in diameter at its base and 6 inches thick. It would weigh roughly 28.6 pounds (13 kilograms) on Earth (and about a third of that on Mars). The circular hole produced by Curiosity’s drill is visible in the rock.

This mosaic is made up of eight images that were stitched together after being sent back to Earth. The color has been approximately white-balanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth.

Curiosity was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio. Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego built and operates Mastcam.

To learn more about Curiosity, visit:

science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity

Every month, NASA Earth Observatory features a puzzling satellite image. The May 2026 puzzler appears above. 

Your Challenge
Identify the location shown in this satellite image. Share what clues you see, where you think it is, and what makes this place interesting or unique to you.

How to Answer
Submit your response using this form and select “Puzzler Answer” as the topic. Please include your preferred name or alias.

You can keep it simple and just guess the location. Want to impress us? Tell us which satellite and instrument captured the image, which spectral bands were used, or point out a subtle detail about the geology or history of the area. If something catches your eye, or if this is your home or means something to you, we’d love to hear about it.

The Prize
We can’t offer prize money or a trip to space to see Earth like satellites and astronauts do. But we can offer something almost as rewarding: puzzler bragging rights.

About a week after the challenge, we’ll post the answer at the top of this page, along with a link to an Earth Observatory Image of the Day story that explains the image in more detail. We’ll recognize the first person who correctly guesses the location, and we may also highlight readers who share especially thoughtful or interesting answers. By submitting a response, you acknowledge that your comments may be edited, excerpted, and published on this page.

Until then, zoom in, look closely, and enjoy the challenge. See you at the reveal!

Nicholas Houghton always dreamed of working at NASA and one day becoming an astronaut. Today, he helps design systems that keep crews safe during missions aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, including the successful Artemis II mission around the Moon.

After joining NASA as a Pathways intern, Houghton later became a full-time engineer on the Orion Crew Survival Systems (OCSS) team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The OCSS team designs and certifies the orange pressure suits that were worn by astronauts inside Orion during Artemis II, along with the survival hardware integrated into each suit system.  

Houghton manages key pieces of flight hardware that keep crew members safe during contingency scenarios before launch, in flight, and after landing, including the Orion Crew Survival Kits, Suit-Worn Survival Suite, and Life Preserver Units. He guides each system from design through testing and final certification to ensure it performs as required in flight. 

Like many complex engineering efforts at NASA, the work relies on close collaboration across disciplines. Houghton works alongside experts in electromagnetic interference, radiation, stress and loads, and materials to evaluate and refine each system. He also helps lead development of water survival and post-landing hardware, writing manufacturing and assembly procedures and troubleshooting issues during integration and testing. 

Beyond hardware development, Houghton prepares astronauts and recovery teams for real-world operations. He supports suit-up activities, helps train Department of Defense recovery forces, and participates in Underway Recovery Training alongside the U.S. Navy to rehearse post-splashdown operations.  

Ground testing plays a critical role in that preparation. During these tests, systems are pushed to their limits to uncover potential issues before flight. 

Outside of his NASA career, Houghton gives back by volunteering as a firefighter and emergency medical technician. “Serving my community is something that I have always been passionate about,” he said. “I am thankful to have the opportunity to support those around me.” 

NASA will hold its 2026 Lunabotics Challenge Tuesday, May 19, to Thursday, May 21, at the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.  

Links to view the Lunabotics competition live can be found on the agency’s Lunabotics page. The competition is slated to run between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day.   

Media are invited to attend the competition event on Wednesday, May 20, and should RSVP by 4 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 18, to the Kennedy newsroom at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.  

For this challenge, 50 college teams from across the country will convene to design, build, and operate their own lunar robot prototypes.  

The teams’ self-driving rovers must be capable of building a berm, a protective barrier, from soil and other material simulating lunar regolith to safeguard Artemis infrastructure on the Moon. In space, such berms could protect equipment from debris during lunar landings and launches, shade cryogenic propellant tank farms, help shield a nuclear power plant from space radiation, and serve other purposes. 

“The task of robotically building berm structures will be important for preparation and support of crewed lunar missions,” said Kurt Leucht, NASA software developer, In-Situ Resource Utilization researcher, and Lunabotics commentator located at Kennedy. “These competing teams are not only building critical engineering skills that will assist their future careers, but they are literally helping NASA prepare for our future Artemis missions to the Moon.” 

NASA’s Lunabotics Challenge was established in 2010. As one of the agency’s Artemis Student Challenges, the competition is designed to engage and retain students in STEM fields by expanding opportunities for student research and design in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

For more competition information, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/lunabotics-challenge

–end– 

Amanda Griffin 
Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 
321-867-2468 
amanda.griffin@nasa.gov 

Robinhood files confidentially for its second venture fund, this time targeting growth and early-stage startups.

Some of the positions focus on AI-native development, data engineering and analytics, cloud-based engineering, and agent and model development as well as prompt engineering and new AI workflows.

Google had urged Apple for years to support RCS texting to make communication between each company's devices more seamless.

Five-year old European military drone startup Helsing is close to raising another monster round.

As microdrama apps like ReelShort and DramaBox quietly rake in billions, Peacock announced on Monday that it is launching two unscripted Bravo microdramas, which will stream in the Peacock app.