Why James Comey is trending  CNN

Trending Industry Today: NEBIUS Leads Losses In NVIDIA Portfolio Stocks  Moomoo

8 House Exterior Paint Colors Designers Say Will Be Everywhere in 2026  The Spruce

6 Players Trending Up & Down (2026 Fantasy Football)  FantasyPros

NEW PREDICTIONS: Michigan trending for top in-state recruits  On3

1. Motorola reveals 2026 Razr lineup with modest upgrades and higher prices  Ars Technica
2. Motorola Razr Fold First Impressions: A Standout Foldable  CNET
3. Motorola’s New Razr Folding Phones Command a Higher Price With Few Upgrades  WIRED
4. The new Razr Ultra is still the best-looking phone out there  The Verge
5. Motorola is one step away from making Samsung and Google sweat  Android Police

1. Apple Plans a Siri Camera Mode and Upgraded Visual AI in iOS 27  Bloomberg.com
2. iOS 27 will reportedly come with new AI-powered photo editing tools  Engadget
3. iOS 27 will add three new features to Apple’s Photos app, per report  9to5Mac
4. Apple readies photo-editing overhaul with new AI tools in iOS 27  The Seattle Times
5. iOS 27 Camera App to Get 'Siri' Mode With Nutrition Label Scanning  MacRumors

1. Apple Has Given Up on the Vision Pro After M5 Refresh Flop  MacRumors
2. John Ternus Apple Vision Pro Comments: What the Record Shows  virtual.reality.news
3. Apple Vision Pro suffered from indecisive leadership – here’s how it could change  9to5Mac
4. Future boss Apple revealed what he thinks about Vision Pro  Letem světem Applem
5. John Ternus explains what he thinks of Apple Vision Pro  9to5Mac

1. "We've Heard About Stick Drift and We've Experienced It Ourselves": The Big Steam Controller Interview  Digital Foundry
2. Valve’s new Steam Controller isn’t perfect, but I’m buying one anyway  The Verge
3. 'This doesn't have RAM in it': Why Valve is selling the Steam Controller before the Steam Machine  Polygon.com
4. Steam Controller Review: Valve's Updated Gamepad Is My Favorite  CNET
5. Steam Controller Price Leaked Thanks To An Early Review  Insider Gaming

1. Google Translate now lets you practice pronunciation  TechCrunch
2. Google Translate's new pronunciation trainer gives you no excuse for sounding like a tourist  Android Authority
3. ‘Merci, Dhanyavaad…’: CEO Sundar Pichai sends message to 1 billion users as Google Translate celebrates 20th anniversary  The Times of India
4. Google Translate Now Listens to Your Pronunciation, Tells You Where to Improve  PCMag
5. Google Translate uses AI to help you practice pronunciation  Engadget

A luminous swirl set against the deep black of space, the barred spiral galaxy IC 486 glows with a soft, ethereal light in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image from April 13, 2026.

IC 486 lies right on the edge of the constellation Gemini (the Twins), around 380 million light-years from Earth. Classified as a barred spiral galaxy, it features a bright central bar-shaped structure from which its spiral arms unfurl, wrapping around the core in a smooth, almost ring-like pattern.

Read more about IC 486 and how scientists are studying galaxies using observations like this.

Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. J. Koss, A. J. Barth

NASA and Boeing have completed wind tunnel testing to study an innovative advanced aircraft design intended to improve aerodynamic efficiency.

A truss-braced wing configuration, involving a long, thin wing with aerodynamically shaped structural supports, has the potential to reduce fuel and operational costs for future airliners, which is why NASA has collaborated with Boeing to advance the design.

But this kind of wing would be much more than a simple tweak to existing designs – for an aircraft the size of a passenger jet, it would be a revolutionary redesign, requiring extensive study from NASA and Boeing.

The most recent round of testing used a complex wind tunnel model to collect data on how air flows around a truss-braced wing model and the forces that would be exerted on such a wing in flight.

The test used a semispan model – essentially half an aircraft mounted on a wind tunnel floor. The model has features built in to simulate the mechanisms that increase the amount of lift a wing produces. By adjusting the model’s slats, flaps, and other moving control surfaces, the team can configure it to the low speed, high-lift settings of takeoff and landing conditions.

The model is part of a collaboration to test what’s known as Boeing’s Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) concept.

In December, teams completed testing of the model wind tunnel operated by the company QinetiQ in Farnborough, England. This large wind tunnel uses pressurized conditions to predict airplane behavior in takeoff and landing conditions.

The large size of the tunnel gives the model fidelity to better predict the behavior of a plane in flight. This capability allowed the team to confidently assess aerodynamic performance.

NASA and Boeing research teams analyzed data in real time to ensure the model performed as expected. Researchers are still reviewing the full results, but the test has already added valuable information to a growing body of research aimed at reducing fuel use in future aircraft designs.

The testing was just the latest stop for this research. NASA and Boeing have tested the concept at multiple NASA facilities to collect data as they work to build a comprehensive understanding of this advanced airframe concept.

This collaboration serves as an example of how NASA serves as an incubator for breakthrough technology with profound commercial applications. The transonic truss-braced wing concept originated from NASA aeronautics-supported research and NASA and Boeing engineers have worked together, test-by-test, to move this wing design from an idea to a practical reality.

The work began in NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program and continues as part of the Subsonic Flight Demonstrator project under the Integrated Aviation Systems Program in the agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

Anyone who has seen a launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida knows the agency’s pursuit of the stars involves some smoke and fire. Sometimes, however, the smoke doesn’t come from the rockets that propel astronauts beyond Earth’s bounds.

That was the case during the second weekend of January 2026, when NASA teamed up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and commercial space partners to intentionally ignite around 2,600 acres of scrub habitat at NASA Kennedy during an active launch countdown, a first for the busiest spaceport in the world.

Staff from NASA Kennedy’s Spaceport Integration Directorate oversaw two prescribed burns conducted by the Service. The larger burn affected around 1,400 acres on the northeast corner of the center, known as Happy Creek — a key habitat for the federally protected Florida scrub-jay and other wildlife that rely on periodic wildfires to thrive.

The other prescribed burn affected a 1,200-acre section east of Kennedy Parkway and south of the center’s industrial zone, near the spaceport’s seven-story headquarters building, as well as iconic facilities critical to NASA’s past and future space efforts like the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building and the Space Systems Processing Facility.

Historically, the center paused launch operations when using fire as a land management tool within NASA Kennedy’s secure area or the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which surrounds it. However, with Kennedy’s spaceport surpassing 100 successful liftoffs for the first time in 2025, and with the launch cadence expected to continue climbing in the years to come, officials at both agencies recognized the need to adapt.

“As more launches occur at Kennedy, the need for proper land management at the refuge has never been greater,” said Greg Gaddis, the center’s senior operations manager for the spaceport. “We must find new ways to lessen the amount of fire fuel on the ground while also keeping pace with the launch needs of our government and commercial partners. Otherwise, an unexpected lightning bolt or some other fire-starter could be catastrophic for America’s space ambitions, as well as the private space industry.”

The increasing launch cadence is one of many factors the prescribed burn manager — also known as the burn boss — must consider when deciding when and where to conduct a prescribed burn at the spaceport. Another critical factor is weather conditions, especially during Florida’s dry season, where constant breeze from the nearby Atlantic Ocean can quickly turn a small fire into a large one. This could potentially pose a significant risk to plant and animal species at the refuge, as well as to the center’s launch infrastructure.

Safety remains the paramount concern. The center’s Space Operations Office worked directly with the Service and the launch mission partners during the burn.

Prior to the Service setting prescribed burns with air and land resources, Kennedy officials reviewed forecasted wind patterns and developed plans to protect workers in buildings affected by the smoke. The center issued smoke warnings, temporarily relocated some personnel, and allowed others to work remotely during the burns. The smoke also caused intermittent closures of some of the center’s main roads and entrances throughout the weekend for safety reasons.

“To do is to learn, and we all learn each day,” said Shawn Sullivan, assistant fire management officer for the Service’s Region 4 and the designated burn boss. “I stood in awe of the people working around me. To listen to the coordination between specialized groups and witness great individual effort was quite an experience.”

Conducting prescribed burns every two or three years is optimal for maintaining the health and resilience of the refuge, especially for wildlife like the Florida scrub-jay, which has adapted to periodic fires. Determining when and where to conduct these burns is one of the most challenging parts for the burn boss and the officials responsible for operating the spaceport. The amount of vegetation in those areas is often a deciding factor when choosing what to burn.

“We want to make sure those areas don’t get clogged up, making it more difficult for firefighters to gain access if they have to protect launch pads or any other infrastructure from a wildfire,” Gaddis added. “It also leaves less fuel a wildfire can use to grow, and that’s always a big help for first responders working to put a fire out.”

NASA’s Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) assists in the use of crowdsourcing across the federal government. CoECI’s NASA Tournament Lab offers the contract capability to run external crowdsourced challenges on behalf of NASA and other agencies.

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), within the Executive Office of the President established by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1970, consults and coordinates with federal agencies, providing guidance on the implementation of NEPA to ensure timely environmental review and permitting processes across the Federal government

Technology solutions could accelerate and modernize environmental review and permitting by connecting data, systems, and processes — enhancing collaboration between agencies and the American public. As part of CEQ’s mandate to ensure timely environmental review across the federal government, CEQ and partner agencies have identified technology gaps outlined in the Permitting Technology Action Plan. However, meeting the bold goals and timeline set by the presidential memorandum will require deeper collaboration among industry and government.

CEQ’s Permitting Innovation Center invites participants to the Permitting Innovators program to share tech solutions that will accelerate and modernize federal environmental review and permitting. CEQ will evaluate eligible submissions and invite a select group of applicants to participate in the inaugural Permitting Innovators Expo in July, where they will demo solutions to federal agency staff and the broader environmental review and permitting community. Top solutions will also be featured in the Permitting Innovators Solutions Catalog.

Open date: April 28, 2026

Submission deadline: June 2, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. ET

For more information, visit: https://www.permittinginnovators.com/

An extreme drought that has gripped the Southeast for months helped fuel two large, destructive, human-caused wildland fires in southern Georgia in April 2026. The Pineland Road and Highway 82 fires together burned more than 50,000 acres (20,000 hectares) as of April 28, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission.

Satellite images of the fires captured by Landsat 8 show charred forests and residential areas in and around Atkinson (above) and Fruitland (below). The images are false color (bands 7-5-4), in which burned areas appear gray and vegetated areas green. The infrared signatures of actively burning fire fronts are orange. By April 25, the fires had destroyed more than 120 homes—the most lost to wildfire in the state’s history, according to news reports.

The Highway 82 blaze started on April 18 with a spark from a welding operation, and the Pineland Road fire ignited three days later after a mylar balloon collided with power lines. Both blazes spread rapidly amid blustery winds in areas that were parched by months of limited rainfall. Fallen trees and limbs left by Hurricane Helene in September 2024 also helped fuel the fires, according to forestry officials.

Heavy rains helped firefighters battle the blazes in recent days, but the Pineland Road fire remained 23 percent contained and the Highway 82 fire 32 percent contained on April 28, the forestry commission reported. Hundreds of firefighting personnel are confronting the fires with equipment in the air and on the ground.

NASA’s satellite and aircraft data are part of a global system of observations used to track fire behavior, analyze emerging trends, and develop technology that operational agencies can use to manage wildfires across the United States. Among the real-time wildfire monitoring tools that NASA makes available are FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System), the Worldview browser, and the Fire Event Explorer.

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

References & Resources

• AP, via U.S. News & World Report (2026, April 23) Debris From Hurricane Helene Is Helping Fuel Georgia’s Wildfires. Accessed April 28, 2026.
• CBS 47 & Fox 30, via Yahoo! News (2026, April 25) Georgia loses most homes in state’s history to wildfires in Brantley, Clinch counties. Accessed April 28, 2026.
• Georgia Forestry Commission (2026, April 28) Current Wildfire Information. Accessed April 28, 2026.
• Highway 82 Fire Information, via Facebook (2026) Posts. Accessed April 28, 2026.
• NASA Earthdata (2026) Wildfires. Accessed April 28, 2026.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2026, April 7) Drought Parches Florida. Accessed April 28, 2026.
• NASA Intro to FireSense. Accessed April 28, 2026.
• Savannah Morning News (2025, April 27) Update on wildfires in Georgia today. Here is the latest in GA. Accessed April 28, 2026.   
• U.S. Drought Monitor Current Map. Accessed April 28, 2026.
• Wildfire Explorer (2026, April 28) Wildfire Explorer. Accessed April 28, 2026.

The AI agent-tool startup founded by former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has raised $100 million, led by Sequoia, months after raising a previous $100 million.

Google says the new feature will leverage AI technology to automatically create a copy of your wardrobe that's based on the pieces of clothing appearing in your Google Photos library.

Google TV just got more Gemini features, including the ability to transform photos and videos with tools Nano Banana and Veo.

On Wednesday, Pursuit announced a $22 million Series A round led by Mike Rosengarten, the co-founder of OpenGov, with big-name VCs participating.

Roku’s $2.99 streaming service Howdy has topped 1M subscribers, showing demand for cheaper, low-commitment alternatives to pricier streamers.