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Michael Kors Has Trending Crossbody Bags for Fall Under $100  eonline.com

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1. Apple Releases iOS 26.6.1, macOS 26.6.2, and More  MacRumors
2. iOS 26.6.1 and macOS Tahoe 26.6.2 Fix Nearly 30 Security Vulnerabilities  MacRumors
3. Apple releases iOS 26.6.1 for iPhone, here’s what’s new  9to5Mac
4. Apple has shipped iOS 26.6.1, and you should install it soon  AppleInsider
5. Apple squashes iPhone security bugs with latest iOS update  cultofmac.com

1. YouTube is changing how it counts views to give the numbers a boost  The Verge
2. YouTube will now count a view as soon as a video starts playing  TechCrunch
3. YouTube now counts video views immediately, ‘from the very first frame’  9to5Google
4. YouTube to Change Public View Counting Across All Video Formats From August 24  ascendants.in
5. YouTube counts views from the first frame across all formats on August 24  PPC Land

1. Sonos just launched Live Activities on iPhone  9to5Mac
2. Sonos finally added Live Activities controls for your iPhone lockscreen  The Verge
3. Sonos brought back the phone controls your speaker has been missing for years  How-To Geek
4. Sonos Finally Brings Live Activities To Its iPhone Application  The Mac Observer
5. Sonos has added playback controls to the iPhone lock screen  UA.NEWS

1. Apple retains clear smartwatch market lead, but a new contender is rising in a key wearable segment  PhoneArena
2. Omdia: Wearable shipments fall 2% as consumers shift to screenless trackers and advanced sports watches  Omdia
3. A new competitor emerges to challenge Samsung in the smartwatch segment  SamMobile
4. Huawei share rises 18% in Q2 2026 amid global wearable band market decline  Huawei Central
5. Samsung Has a New Smartwatch Rival to Worry About, and It's Not Apple  Android Headlines

1. I've spent more than three weeks using the Galaxy Z Flip 8 — and it's a tipping point for Samsung  Tom's Guide
2. What Makes Europe's Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 Different From The American One?  bgr.com
3. Samsung's New Flip Doesn't Change Much, But It's Still the Faster Folding Phone  Popular Mechanics
4. I unpacked Samsung's small-sized Z Flip8 - these features on-screen are impressive  Daily Star
5. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 Review: I love this pocket-friendly foldable  Android Headlines

A NASA-funded air pollution monitoring network has provided one of the most detailed long-term views yet of the role of black carbon, or soot produced by fires, diesel vehicles, and other combustion sources, in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. The detailed measurements show how pollution changes by time of day and season, including increases associated with rush-hour traffic and holiday celebrations. The findings are relevant to cities around the world, including in the United States.

In a new paper published in ES&T: Air, scientists analyzed data collected throughout Addis Ababa between 2022 and 2025 from 10 air-quality monitoring sites deployed by NASA’s Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) project.

The research comes as Ethiopia is taking steps aimed at improving air quality. In 2024, the country became the first in the world to ban the import of internal combustion engine vehicles, while cities have been adding bike lanes and electric vehicle infrastructure. The MAIA project’s measurements provide researchers with a baseline for understanding how air quality changes over time as Addis Ababa continues to grow and evolve.

The study focuses on particulate matter that is 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter, also known as PM2.5. The 2025 State of Global Air Report, cited in the paper, estimates that exposure to PM2.5 is associated with approximately 4.9 million deaths globally each year. Among the many kinds of PM2.5, black carbon has been has been studied for its potential effects on human health.

The paper found that Addis Ababa’s three-year average PM2.5 concentration was 30 micrograms per cubic meter, which is more than three times the level of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s health-based annual PM2.5 standard. The new paper cites data from MAIA’s ground sensors indicating that average black carbon levels in Addis Ababa were approximately four to nine times higher than those measured in the three U.S. metropolitan areas the mission is monitoring.

“To our knowledge, this is the first long-term, multisite study of continuous PM2.5 and black carbon measurements in Ethiopia,” said Sina Hasheminassab, a coauthor of the paper and MAIA’s deputy principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Many rapidly growing cities have limited long-term monitoring, so these measurements provide an important baseline for understanding how pollution changes across space and time.”

The composition and sources of PM2.5 can differ substantially between cities, depending on their local geography, traffic, industries, and more. Desert cities, for example, may have more dust, while those near coal-fired power plants may have higher concentrations of sulfate. Long-term surface measurements remain limited in many parts of the world.

NASA is supporting MAIA’s air pollution research in a dozen metropolitan areas around the globe, including three in the U.S.: Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Boston. The mission consists of a ground-based network of sensors already in operation as well as a space observatory, which uses a JPL-built camera that will be launched by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) on an ASI satellite no earlier than late 2027.

The camera is designed to identify different types of PM2.5 aerosols based on how they reflect light, making it possible to map particle concentrations over each city that the mission studies. Mounted on a gimbal, the camera captures data from multiple angles using JPL-pioneered technologies that make particles stand out more prominently against the surface background to provide valuable information about their shape and size.

The MAIA mission is the first NASA project to include public health researchers among a space mission’s team. These researchers will use MAIA’s PM2.5 concentration maps alongside health data to study potential relationships between different particle types and health outcomes. By developing a better understanding of particulate matter pollution, researchers can potentially advance how air quality is studied and managed.

“This paper shows how valuable the air sensor data is on its own, but combining the sensor network and satellite observations will be a game-changer,” said, Kyan Shlipak, the paper’s lead author, who worked on the research while interning at JPL.

Tracking black carbon

The greater Addis Ababa urban area is home to nearly 6 million people, and according to United Nations projections, that figure is expected to surpass 10 million by 2050.

“It’s a cosmopolitan city with many international communities,” said Araya Asfaw of Addis Ababa University, a coauthor of the paper and the MAIA project’s lead Ethiopian collaborator. “Think of it as Africa’s version of Brussels, where the European Union is based.”

“Even at night, when traffic dies down, you see high emissions from the burning of charcoal and other fuels,” Asfaw said.

The MAIA sensor network detected increases in black carbon during two major holidays in Addis Ababa that involve bonfires and was able to distinguish between particles originating from the fires and those from fossil fuel combustion. The findings demonstrate how detailed measurements can help researchers identify different sources of particulate matter and better understand how air quality varies across a city and over time.

To learn more about MAIA, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/maia/

2026-056

The NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Community of Practice for Education (SCoPE) – part of the NASA Science Activation (SciAct) Program portfolio – enables Earth and Space Science and Engineering Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) – especially NASA-funded SMEs – to efficiently and effectively share their science with support from SciAct education experts. 

In Summer 2026, NASA SCoPE partnered with Arizona State University’s Facility for Open Research in a Compressed Environment (FORCE) Summer School to help seven undergraduate student interns build the science communication skills needed to share their research with a variety of audiences. FORCE is a world-class laboratory that uses high-pressure experimental equipment to recreate the extreme conditions found deep within Earth and other planetary bodies, enabling researchers to better understand how planets form, evolve, and behave under immense pressures.

As part of the Summer School, SCoPE facilitated two hands-on workshops on June 25 and 26, followed by office hours the following week, to help interns translate their technical research into compelling stories for non-expert audiences. The training focused on identifying the central themes of their work, developing clear and engaging messages, planning effective visitor interactions, and thinking through the logistics of public engagement. Interns also received guidance on preparing both their research posters and individual outreach stations.

The training culminated in two complementary outreach experiences. The first was the FORCE Open House, which welcomed approximately 50 members of the general public for an inside look at the laboratory. Visitors toured the facility, met the research team, explored the specialized equipment used to simulate the interiors of Earth and other planets, and interacted with interns at themed outreach stations designed to explain the science behind the experiments in accessible, engaging ways.

At the second event, a poster session for ASU faculty, staff, and students, the interns presented their research, providing an opportunity to discuss their scientific findings with members of the university community and receive feedback on their presentations.

By integrating science communication training into the Summer School experience, NASA SCoPE helped equip emerging planetary scientists with practical skills for engaging both scientific peers and public audiences. The poster session and Open House demonstrated how thoughtful communication training can strengthen researchers’ confidence while building stronger connections between cutting-edge planetary science and the communities it serves.
NASA SCoPE is supported by NASA cooperative agreement award number 80NSSC21M0006 and helps enrich and enhance the impact of the NASA Science Activation Program portfolio, which connects learners with authentic NASA science experiences through partnerships with educators and community organizations.

Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope combine to reveal a vibrant view of 30 Doradus, or the Tarantula Nebula, in this Aug. 11, 2026, image. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small neighbor galaxy to the Milky Way about 160,000 light-years from Earth, the Tarantula has thousands of young stars embedded in a vibrant honeycomb-like structure of gas and dust.

By studying the data from Chandra, Hubble, and Webb, combined with data from the agency’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers determined that the Tarantula may be losing energy from several sources, including hot gas escaping from the nebula.

Learn more about this image.

Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Ohio State Univ./J. Rodriguez et al; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/P. Edmonds

As NASA prepares to establish the Moon Base, advancing surface mobility will be key to helping crews and robotic systems travel farther across the lunar surface. 

To help advance that capability, the Rock and Roll with NASA Challenge invited public innovators to design and build next-generation lunar rover wheels. 

Five teams from 128 submissions and 49 countries advanced to the final phase of the competition, where they tested their prototypes on July 31 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. 

The challenge sought lightweight, durable, and scalable wheels that could support longer-duration lunar surface operations. The designs also needed to be compliant enough to absorb impacts, maintain traction at higher speeds, and withstand the harsh lunar environment. 

“Every additional kilometer a rover can reliably travel will expand how far we can explore, what science we can achieve, and what infrastructure we can build,” said Ed Herrera, robotics engineer at Johnson and co-leader of the challenge project. 

NASA Johnson uses ground prototypes to test mobility technologies, while lunar terrain vehicles will be delivered to the lunar surface through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. For the challenge, the wheels were fitted to MicroChariot, a 45-kilogram test rover, and put through a series of courses at Johnson’s Rock Yard to evaluate their performance across different types of terrain. 

“Crowdsourcing gives us an opportunity to look beyond traditional approaches for lunar wheel design,” Herrera said. “The more wheel technologies we can develop and understand, the more options we have to meet the needs of different vehicles, terrains, and missions on the Moon and Mars.” 

Those ideas were reflected in five distinctly different designs. 

The HTR Variable Flex Lunar Wheel created by Hellenic Technology of Robotics SA uses an internal system designed to vary the wheel’s stiffness depending on terrain and vehicle needs. The team adapted technology it had been developing for terrestrial wheels for about a decade. 

The Hiper Wheel created by Hyperbola uses tensioned cables and a corigated structure that provides spring-like behavior, allowing the wheel to flex without relying on traditional radial spokes. 

The Huff Helo Flexible Titanium Wheel created by Huff Helo Inc. uses formed titanium sheet metal as both structure and spring. During testing, the team found that the strength of the design also made the wheel more rigid, causing it to bounce over some obstacles rather than conform to the terrain. 

The Payne Aviation Wheel created by Deborah and Craige Payne took inspiration from aviation and history. Its designer, an aircraft mechanic, combined a pneumatic approach with ideas from early automobile tire designs. 

The winning Scotch Pad Tyres concept came from an Australian mechanical engineer Daniel Bloomfield and his son Isaac Bloomfield. Their prototype uses a Nomex-based tire structure supported around an aluminum hub. The soft material allows the tire to deform around terrain, while internal support helps it maintain its shape. A treated outer surface of epoxy and corundum grit was integrated to improve traction. 

The Rock Yard testing also demonstrated why different terrains may require different approaches. Loose material can affect traction, while rocks and slopes place different demands on wheels such as vehicle stability. 

As lunar exploration expands, different vehicles will require different combinations of speed, load capacity, durability, and terrain performance. 

Seeking that variety was part of the challenge design. The design options gave engineers different technologies to consider and potentially advance. 

“This challenge brought in new ideas from outside traditional industries and helped us identify wheel technologies that may be suitable for longer-duration surface operations,” said Lucien Junkin, robotics engineer at Johnson and co-leader of the challenge project. 

The next phase could evaluate how the wheels respond to lunar-like dust, vacuum, and extreme temperatures in Johnson’s thermal vacuum chambers. Engineers could also assess the designs over longer distances and at different sizes and loads. 

“Mobility is key to everything we want to do on the Moon,” Junkin said. “The farther we want to explore, the more we need to advance the wheel technologies that can get us there.” 

The Common Robotics Project of the Robotic Systems Technology Branch within Johnson’s Engineering Directorate conducted the Rock and Roll with NASA Challenge. NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation, part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program within the Research and Technology Mission Directorate, managed the challenge contract. Students in NASA’s Robotics Academy helped prepare hardware and support the competition, while engineers from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland supported reviews of concepts and proposals. HeroX administered the challenge on behalf of NASA.  

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, grew to its current size in part by consuming smaller galaxies. Now, new data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows definitive evidence of a dwarf galaxy merging with the young Milky Way galaxy in the earliest phases of its evolution. This finding extends our knowledge of our galaxy’s history 1.8 billion years farther back in time than before.

The results published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.

The Milky Way today is a massive spiral galaxy home to hundreds of billions of stars. However, our galaxy wasn’t always so large; it has grown by forming new stars from its gas clouds as well as collecting stars, gas, and dark matter from other galaxies through mergers.

The most recent massive merger in our galaxy’s history took place with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, beginning over 6 billion years ago and still ongoing today. Looking back into the even more distant past, researchers learned that the Milky Way galaxy consumed another dwarf galaxy called Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus 10 billion years ago. This ancient merger greatly affected the structure of our galaxy’s disk of stars. Other, smaller mergers occurred between these two.

But our galaxy’s history doesn’t stop there. Both observations and simulations have suggested that another large merger preceded these two, though the specifics of the event have been heavily debated. Now, Hubble has uncovered definitive evidence of an earlier merger that occurred about 11.8 billion years ago, or just 2 billion years after the big bang.

“Our home is the Milky Way galaxy, but we do not know how our house was built,” said Davide Massari, lead author, Astrophysics and Space Science Observatory of Bologna in Italy. “In this paper we discover where the first significant batch of bricks came from: a dwarf galaxy that we call LKH.”

Cosmic archaeological sites

Immense astronomical surveys and precision data from spacecraft like ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) Gaia mission have been instrumental in piecing together the history of our galaxy. The farther back into our galaxy’s history that scientists attempt to look, the more difficult it becomes to tell what happened. When our galaxy was young, it was smaller and much closer in size to the galaxies it clashed with. It was also more chaotic, and it’s possible that the signs of mergers have been erased over billions of years.

It’s into this murky past that Hubble peered. Researchers used Hubble to study some of the Milky Way galaxy’s globular clusters: immense, roughly spherical collections of tens of thousands to a few million stars. Globular clusters contain some of the oldest stars in our galaxy, and they can act as cosmic archaeological sites that preserve stars from other galaxies the Milky Way galaxy has collected.

“Thanks to the high resolution and depth of Hubble imaging, we could measure the age and the metal content of these clusters with unprecedented precision,” said Chiara Zerbinati, study co-author, University of Bologna in Italy. “Coupled with measurements from Gaia, this made it possible to distinguish a population of globular clusters that are different from the others. These are the clusters that were born in LKH, and they tell us when that galaxy was devoured by ours, and how massive it was.”

The team analyzed Hubble observations of 39 globular clusters in the inner 20,000 light-years of our galaxy, where evidence of the most ancient mergers should be preserved. They expected this sample to contain globular clusters that formed within the young Milky Way galaxy as well as those collected from the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus dwarf galaxy about 10 billion years ago.

Using Hubble’s sensitive observations to determine each cluster’s precise age and associated metallicity — the abundance of elements heavier than helium — they determined there was a third population of globular clusters in the inner regions of our galaxy. The team found that these clusters are older than the group collected in the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus merger, but younger than those born in the Milky Way, regardless of their metal content. These  clusters, therefore, came from a separate and even earlier merger — in which the Milky Way galaxy absorbed a dwarf galaxy containing roughly 500 million times the mass of the Sun in stars, a significant fraction of our galaxy’s mass at the time. They named this dwarf galaxy Low-energy-Kraken-Heracles, or LKH, in honor of three earlier research papers that championed the idea of a merger early in our galaxy’s history.

Such a large merger so early in the Milky Way galaxy’s formation has profound implications for the evolution of our galaxy.

“Some past studies have argued that the earliest phases of our galaxy’s evolution were defined by stars born only in our galaxy,” says Massari. “Here, we have shown that stars born in external galaxies also need to be considered.”

The team plans to continue their work to unravel the history of the Milky Way galaxy by studying its globular clusters, aiming to characterize all the massive mergers that our galaxy has experienced across cosmic history.

“Hubble is observing globular clusters that have never been studied before, and this will help us characterize the merger events that are far back in time in the Milky Way galaxy’s history,” said Fernando Aguado-Agelet, co-author, University of Vigo and the University of La Laguna in Spain.

The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for more than three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.

If you’ve been circling around Disrupt, then now’s the best time to lock in your pass and start getting ready to join the rest of the startup community gathering in San Francisco from October 13-15 at Moscone West!  

Spotify launches a new feature that gives users a chance to explain the stories and reasoning behind their favorite music. Editors will be using the feature, too, on top playlists like RapCaviar and others.

Higgsfield, founded by former Snap exec Alex Mashrabov, lets users create AI images and videos.

Reddit is beginning to test video and audio versions of popular posts, allowing users to watch or listen to Reddit stories instead of just reading them.

Sonic Fire Tech raised its new funding to help get its sound-powered fire protection system into everything from commercial kitchens to apartment buildings.