NASA Awards SpaceX $946 Million for 3 More Crew Dragon Missions

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NASA has awarded SpaceX a $946 million contract modification for three additional crewed missions to the International Space Station (ISS), extending the company’s role in transporting astronauts to and from the orbiting laboratory through 2030. The new agreement adds Crew-15, Crew-16, and Crew-17 to SpaceX’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract. The award brings the total number of SpaceX missions under the contract to 17 and raises the total value of SpaceX’s CCtCap agreement with NASA to approximately $5.92 billion....Click for full post

Apple Unveils AirPods 5: New ANC, Better Sound, Siri AI and Live Translation

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Apple has officially unveiled AirPods 5, bringing a significant collection of audio and AI-focused upgrades to its open-ear wireless earbuds. The new AirPods introduce Active Noise Cancellation, improved audio architecture, hands-free Siri AI features and Live Translation. Apple announced AirPods 5 on September 9, 2026, and the earbuds officially became available in stores on September 18. The standard model starts at $129, while AirPods 5 with a Wireless Charging Case cost $149. (Apple) The new generation represents an important shift...Click for full post

Researchers Say They’ve Found the Truth About Thomas Jefferson: New DNA Evidence Explained

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For more than two centuries, historians have debated one of the most controversial questions surrounding Thomas Jefferson: Did the third president of the United States father children with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman at Monticello? Now, researchers involved in a long-running Smithsonian investigation say they have found what they describe as the most definitive scientific answer yet. A new genomic investigation, detailed by Smithsonian scholar Richard Kurin in his forthcoming book History by a Hair, reportedly used DNA recovered from...Click for full post

Scientists Grow Human Brain Tissue Inside Mice: A Breakthrough in Neuroscience

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Scientists have successfully grown lab-created human brain tissue inside living mice, creating a remarkable new model that could help researchers understand neurological diseases, brain development, and potential treatments. The experiment, led by researchers at Stanford University and published September 16, 2026, represents a major advance in the use of human brain organoids for neuroscience research. The researchers transplanted laboratory-grown human brain tissue into specially engineered mice whose cerebral cortex had largely failed to develop. The human tissue then expanded, developed...Click for full post

CDC Changes Measles Death Reporting as Pennsylvania Cases Rise

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has changed how it reports measles-related deaths at a time when Pennsylvania is experiencing one of the largest measles outbreaks in the United States in decades. The reporting change comes as Pennsylvania continues to confirm new measles infections. As of September 11, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 676 confirmed measles cases across 37 counties, along with 124 hospitalizations and two measles-associated deaths in its official statewide data. (Pennsylvania.gov) A third death...Click for full post

First Adult T. rex Trackway Found in North Dakota: Scientists Discover 66.5-Million-Year-Old Footprints

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A remarkable fossil discovery in North Dakota has given scientists something they have never had before: a sequence of footprints believed to have been left by an adult Tyrannosaurus rex. For decades, paleontologists have studied T. rex bones and isolated footprints to understand the world's most famous dinosaur. Now, researchers have discovered what appears to be the first known trackway made by an adult T. rex, providing a rare glimpse into how the giant predator actually moved across the landscape....Click for full post