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1. How to turn off Instagram’s new Instants feature and retract photos you accidentally shared  TechCrunch
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4. Instagram Instants: Social media company announces new feature to send expiring photos  ABC7 Los Angeles
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1. Dell's New 14S And 16S Are The Replacement For Its Old Plus Models  Engadget
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4. The Alienware 15 is a fine gaming laptop priced into irrelevance  PCWorld
5. Dell and RAMageddon are watering down the Alienware brand  The Verge

1. iPhone 17 Pro has the fastest charging speed of 33 phones tested  9to5Mac
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3. iPhone 17 Pro beats 32 smartphones in charging speed test  Cult of Mac
4. iPhone 17 Pro Tops Global Charging Speed Rankings, Beating 33 Flagship Smartphones in New Lab Test  The Eastern Herald

NASA is collaborating with Eta Space of Rockledge, Florida, on an in‑orbit technology demonstration to advance a key capability for future deep space missions. The Liquid Oxygen Flight Demonstration, or LOXSAT, will test cryogenic fluid management technologies necessary for creating in-space propellant depots, essentially gas stations in space, that could support long-term exploration.

During a nine-month mission, LOXSAT will demonstrate 11 cryogenic fluid management technologies. Eta Space built LOXSAT as part of a NASA Tipping Point opportunity, and Rocket Lab is providing spacecraft and launch services to deliver it to low Earth orbit. The LOXSAT payload has been integrated with a Rocket Lab Photon satellite bus and will launch aboard the company’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula no earlier than July 17.

The technologies that LOXSAT will demonstrate were selected to address the core challenges of using cryogenic, or super-cold, propellants in microgravity, including reducing boiloff, transferring propellant, maintaining tank pressure, and gauging propellant levels. Data collected from these tests will support development of future in-space propellant depots that could refuel spacecraft as they journey to the Moon, Mars, or other deep space destinations.

NASA’s LOXSAT team is composed of members of the Cryogenic Fluid Management Portfolio Project from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The cryogenic portfolio’s work is part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and includes more than 20 individual technology development activities.

To learn more, visit:

https://go.nasa.gov/49nbAO5

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NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway (bottom left), Jessica Meir (middle left), and Chris Williams (bottom right), and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot (top right) have some fun with food and microgravity in this April 19, 2026, photo.

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft delivered a shipment of fresh food, including oranges, apples, onions, and peppers, to the International Space Station. Cygnus XL also brought over 2,300 pounds of new research hardware and science experiments that the space station crew will use to explore blood stem cells to treat cancers and blood disorders and study ways to protect astronaut gut health. Other gear delivered aboard Cygnus XL include an advanced exercise system from ESA, new eye-imaging hardware, oxygen and nitrogen tanks to recharge spacesuits, and more.

Image credit: NASA/Chris Williams

April 21, 2026

May 7, 2026

April 21, 2026May 7, 2026

April 21, 2026

May 7, 2026

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The landscape along the Kuskokwim River near Aniak, Alaska, is frozen on April 21, 2026 (left), while spring melt and river ice breakup are evident on May 7, 2026 (right). Both images were acquired with the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 9. NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison.

Thawing may be a welcome sight for Alaskans following a remarkably cold winter and early spring in much of the state. But with melting comes the threat of rapid flooding in low-lying areas as river ice breaks up and periodically jams.

The landscape along the Kuskokwim River appeared frozen in a Landsat 9 image acquired on April 21, 2026 (left). According to observations published by the Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center, river ice near the town of Aniak was thick and still covered in deep snow as of April 16. The Kuskokwim ice road connecting numerous villages traces a dark line down the river. The thick river ice supported a route that extended about 350 miles (560 kilometers) in winter 2025-2026 and shut down for the season on April 10, according to news reports.

Conditions were changing quickly around May 7, when the right image was acquired. The previous day, the front of the ice breakup had nearly reached Aniak, and a sheet of grounded ice caused a jam that stretched 21 miles (34 kilometers) upstream. News reports showed ice chunks several feet thick piled up on riverbanks around the town. Ice became unstuck by May 7, and the backup, visible above (right), had started to flow downstream.

Aniak remained at risk, however, as ice clogged the river later that night, this time several miles downstream from the community. Waters began to rise, and a flood watch was issued for the town on May 8. Water inundated low-lying areas and encroached on homes and businesses near the east side of the runway, according to reports, before receding two days later.

Flooding caused by spring breakup can be most hazardous when heavy snowpack and thick ice remain in place from the winter and there’s a sudden transition from freezing to warmer temperatures. In what is known as a dynamic breakup, snowmelt encounters intact ice and causes water to back up quickly. On the other hand, if ice weakens before significant snowmelt or ice from upstream arrives, jams are less likely to form.

Forecasters noted that spring 2026 showed warning signs of a dynamic breakup. Snowpack was above average in some major river drainages, and historically low temperatures marked the winter and spring months in many places. For example, the March average temperature in Bethel, downstream of Aniak, was 14 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) below normal. However, floods had been relatively minor along the large rivers through early May, experts noted, while cautioning that more severe flooding still has the potential to develop quickly.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

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References & Resources

• Alaska and Arctic Climate Newsletter (2026, May 8) Spring 2026 River Break-up to May 8th. Accessed May 13, 2026.
• Alaska’s News Source (2026, May 9) Mother’s Day weekend: May weather action. Accessed May 13, 2026.
• Alaska’s News Source (2026, April 24) A projected late river breakup could lead to dangerous flooding potential in Alaska. Accessed May 13, 2026.
• Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center (2026) River Notes. Accessed May 13, 2026.
• KYUK (2026, May 9) Thermal breakup on the Kuskokwim may bode well for many communities, while Aniak remains under flood warning. Accessed May 13, 2026.
• Lindsey, S. (2019) Spring breakup on the Yukon: What happens when the ice stops. Alaska Park Science, 18(1): 70-75.

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An innovative 3D printing process that advanced NASA’s approach to outfitting a lunar habitat is making buildings on Earth beautiful, efficient, and strong. 

Instead of building structures layer by layer, Branch Technology Inc. of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has developed a process the company calls Freeform 3D Printing, which creates shapes with lightweight lattice structures that can be filled or covered. The company uses the technique to manufacture visually interesting, modular building elements, such as wall panels and cladding. 

“Our process eliminates a ton of material from something that otherwise might be printed solid all the way through,” said David Goodloe, who leads Branch Technology’s Advanced Concepts team, which manages the company’s NASA collaborations. 

In 2017, the company won Phase II of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, a public competition to build a habitat for deep space exploration. 

Tracie Prater, a technical manager in the Habitat Systems Development Branch at NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, served as a subject matter expert for the challenge and worked with Branch Technology on a cooperative agreement. 

“With the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, teams were focused on how to build a large habitat structure on a planetary surface,” said Prater. “But once that structure is pressurized and ready for crew occupancy, how do you populate it with systems and supplies? That’s what Branch was looking at through the cooperative agreement — what their on-demand fabrication process enables in terms of novel designs for interior items.” 

NASA’s parameters for the habitat challenge led Branch to develop its nozzles to extrude unique lattice structures as well as more traditional layers. The company uses this dual capability frequently in its wall panels where traditionally printed sections offer solid substrates for attaching fasteners. 

The polymers Branch extrudes were informed by its materials science research for the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge, which asked that print material be made of something like the dust and rocks found on the Martian surface and mission recyclables. Branch came up with a basalt fiber-reinforced plastic and from that work went on to develop an optimal loading recipe for its terrestrial “inks.” 

These innovations exemplify the purpose of NASA’s Technology Transfer program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate, which uses space-based solutions to improve life on Earth. For 50 years, NASA has documented the everyday benefits of space technology through the agency’s Spinoff publication.  

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“Rise,” the Artemis II zero gravity indicator, is seen sitting on the dais as NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen speak with congressional staff, Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Washington.

NASA’s Artemis II mission took Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a nearly 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth in April 2026.

See more photos from the crew’s visit to the U.S. Capitol.

Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky