Pipes Feed Preview: Science – Ars Technica & Tech

The evolution of expendability: Why some ants traded armor for numbers

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 22:05:52 -0000

Ants with lots of workers tend to put less energy into making them armored.

The trade-off between quality and quantity is a fundamental economic dilemma. Now, a team of British, American, and Japanese researchers describes how it applies to biology, as well. They have discovered that this dilemma most likely shaped the evolutionary trajectory of ants, one of Earth’s most successful groups of organisms. Their study reveals that, as ant societies grew in complexity and numbers, they didn’t just make their workers smaller—they also made them cheaper. <h2>The cost of armor</h2> In the insect world, the exoskeleton known as the cuticle serves as a protective barrier against predators, pathogens, and desiccation, while providing the structural framework for muscle attachment. But this protection comes at a price. Building a robust cuticle requires significant amounts of nitrogen and rare minerals like zinc and manganese. While skimping on armor for an individual insect may be a death sentence, the evolution of ants apparently found a way around it.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/the-evolution-of-expendability-why-some-ants-traded-armor-for-numbers/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/the-evolution-of-expendability-why-some-ants-traded-armor-for-numbers/#comments">Comments</a>

Trump’s energy secretary orders a Washington state coal plant to remain open

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 18:29:04 -0000

Chris Wright declared an energy “emergency” in the Pacific Northwest.

SEATTLE—The last coal-fired power plant in Washington state was set to go cold at the end of the year. It would then switch to natural gas, cutting carbon emissions in half. The shutdown had been in the works for 15 years and was mandated by state law. It required the Canadian energy company that owns the power plant, TransAlta, to retrain workers and ease the local community’s economic transition. But the farewell to coal was canceled this week by the Trump administration. In furtherance of the president’s crusade to keep America’s coal plants burning, the Department of Energy announced Tuesday that an “emergency exists” in the Pacific Northwest “due to a shortage of electricity.” To keep the lights on, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that the Centralia electric generating facility in southwest Washington must continue to burn coal for at least 90 more days.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/trumps-energy-secretary-orders-a-washington-state-coal-plant-to-remain-open/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/trumps-energy-secretary-orders-a-washington-state-coal-plant-to-remain-open/#comments">Comments</a>

Rocket Report: Russia pledges quick fix for Soyuz launch pad; Ariane 6 aims high

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 15:30:51 -0000

South Korean rocket startup Innospace is poised to debut a new nano-launcher.

Welcome to Edition 8.23 of the Rocket Report! Several new rockets made their first flights this year. Blue Origin’s New Glenn was the most notable debut, with a successful inaugural launch in January followed by an impressive second flight in November, culminating in the booster’s first landing on an offshore platform. Second on the list is China’s Zhuque-3, a partially reusable methane-fueled rocket developed by the quasi-commercial launch company LandSpace. The medium-lift Zhuque-3 successfully reached orbit on its first flight earlier this month, and its booster narrowly missed landing downrange. We could add China’s Long March 12A to the list if it flies before the end of the year. This will be the final Rocket Report of 2025, but we’ll be back in January with all the news that’s fit to lift. As always, we <a href="https://arstechnica.wufoo.com/forms/launch-stories/">welcome reader submissions</a>. If you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar. <figure class="ars-img-shortcode id-1314289 align-center"> <div> <img decoding="async" width="560" height="81" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/smalll.png" class="center full" alt="" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/smalll.png 560w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/smalll-300x43.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px"> </div> </figure> Rocket Lab delivers for Space Force and NASA. Four small satellites rode a Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle into orbit from Virginia early Thursday, beginning a government-funded technology demonstration mission to test the performance of a new spacecraft design, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/heres-why-nasa-and-the-space-force-are-interested-in-pizza-shaped-satellites/">Ars reports</a>. The satellites were nestled inside a cylindrical dispenser on top of the 59-foot-tall (18-meter) Electron rocket when it lifted off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. A little more than an hour later, the rocket’s upper stage released the satellites one at a time at an altitude of about 340 miles (550 kilometers). The launch was the starting gun for a proof-of-concept mission to test the viability of a new kind of satellite called DiskSats, designed by the Aerospace Corporation.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/rocket-report-russia-pledges-quick-fix-for-soyuz-launch-pad-ariane-6-aims-high/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/rocket-report-russia-pledges-quick-fix-for-soyuz-launch-pad-ariane-6-aims-high/#comments">Comments</a>

These are the flying discs the government wants you to know about

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 03:18:51 -0000

DiskSat's design offers "a power-to-weight ratio unmatched by traditional aluminum satellites."

Four small satellites rode a Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle into orbit from Virginia early Thursday, beginning a government-funded technology demonstration mission to test the performance of a new spacecraft design. The satellites were nestled inside a cylindrical dispenser on top of the 59-foot-tall (18-meter) Electron rocket when it lifted off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility at 12:03 am EST (05:03 UTC). A little more than an hour later, the rocket’s upper stage released the satellites one at a time at an altitude of about 340 miles (550 kilometers). The launch was the starting gun for a proof-of-concept mission to test the viability of a new kind of satellite called <a href="https://files01.core.ac.uk/download/533934642.pdf">DiskSats</a>. These satellites were designed by the Aerospace Corporation, a nonprofit federally funded research and development center. The project is jointly financed by NASA and the US Space Force, which paid for DiskSat’s development and launch, respectively.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/heres-why-nasa-and-the-space-force-are-interested-in-pizza-shaped-satellites/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/heres-why-nasa-and-the-space-force-are-interested-in-pizza-shaped-satellites/#comments">Comments</a>

Parasites plagued Roman soldiers at Hadrian’s Wall

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:00:36 -0000

They were infected by roundworm, whipworm, and microscopic protozoans called Giardia duodenalis.

It probably sucked to be a Roman soldier guarding Hadrian’s Wall circa the third century CE. W.H. Auden imagined the likely harsh conditions in his poem “<a href="https://hellopoetry.com/poem/788/roman-wall-blues/">Roman Wall Blues</a>,” in which a soldier laments enduring wet wind and rain with “lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose.” We can now add chronic nausea and bouts of diarrhea to his list of likely woes, thanks to parasitic infections, according to a new paper published in the journal Parasitology. As <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/02/this-ancient-roman-ceramic-pot-was-probably-a-portable-toilet-study-finds/">previously reported</a>, archaeologists can learn a great deal by studying the remains of intestinal parasites in ancient feces. For instance, in 2022, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/01/intestinal-parasites-plagued-jerusalems-wealthy-elite-toilet-excavation-reveals/">we reported</a> on an analysis of soil samples collected from a stone toilet found within the ruins of a swanky 7th-century BCE villa just outside Jerusalem. That analysis revealed the presence of parasitic eggs from four different species: whipworm, beef/pork tapeworm, roundworm, and pinworm. (It’s the earliest record of roundworm and pinworm in ancient Israel.) Later that same year, researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of British Columbia <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/02/this-ancient-roman-ceramic-pot-was-probably-a-portable-toilet-study-finds/">analyzed</a> the residue on an ancient Roman ceramic pot excavated at the site of a 5th-century CE Roman villa at Gerace, a rural district in Sicily. They identified the eggs of intestinal parasitic worms commonly found in feces—strong evidence that the 1,500-year-old pot in question was most likely used as a chamber pot.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/study-roman-soldiers-battled-parasites-at-hadrians-wall/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/study-roman-soldiers-battled-parasites-at-hadrians-wall/#comments">Comments</a>

LLMs’ impact on science: Booming publications, stagnating quality

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 20:54:36 -0000

Once researchers turn to LLMs, paper counts go up, quality does not.

There have been a number of high-profile cases where scientific papers have had to be retracted because they were <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/scientists-aghast-at-bizarre-ai-rat-with-huge-genitals-in-peer-reviewed-article/">filled with AI-generated slop</a>—the most recent coming <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-31337-y">just two weeks ago</a>. These instances raise serious questions about the quality of peer review in some journals—how could anyone let <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-24662-9/figures/1">a figure</a> with terms like “runctitional,” “fexcectorn,” and “frymblal” through, especially given the ‘m’ in frymblal has an extra hump? But it has not been clear whether these high-profile examples are representative. How significantly has AI use been influencing the scientific literature? A collaboration of researchers at Berkeley and Cornell have decided to take a look. They’ve scanned three of the largest archives of pre-publication papers and identified ones that are likely to have been produced using Large Language Models. And they found that, while researchers produce far more papers after starting to use AI and the quality of the language used went up, the publication rate of these papers has dropped. <h2>Searching the archives</h2> The researchers began by obtaining the abstracts of everything placed in three major pre-publication archives between 2018 and mid-2024. At the arXiv, this netted them 1.2 million documents; another 675,000 were found in the Social Science Research Network; and bioRxiv provided another 220,000. So, this was both a lot of material to work with and covered a lot of different fields of research. It also included documents that were submitted before Large Language Models were likely to be able to produce output that would be deemed acceptable.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/llms-impact-on-science-booming-publications-stagnating-quality/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/llms-impact-on-science-booming-publications-stagnating-quality/#comments">Comments</a>

NASA will soon find out if the Perseverance rover can really persevere on Mars

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:12:18 -0000

Engineers at JPL are certifying the Perseverance rover to drive up to 100 kilometers.

When the Perseverance rover arrived on Mars nearly five years ago, NASA officials thought the next American lander to take aim on the red planet would be taking shape by now. At the time, the leaders of the space agency expected this next lander could be ready for launch as soon as 2026—or more likely in 2028. Its mission would have been to retrieve Martian rock specimens collected by the Perseverance rover, then billed as the first leg of a multilaunch, multibillion-dollar Mars Sample Return campaign. Here we are on the verge of 2026, and there’s no sample retrieval mission nearing the launch pad. In fact, no one is building such a lander at all. NASA’s strategy for a Mars Sample Return, or MSR, mission remains undecided after the projected cost of the original plan <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/01/fund-or-cancel-robots-or-humans-nasa-punts-on-mars-sample-return-decision/">ballooned to $11 billion</a>. If MSR happens at all, it’s now unlikely to launch until the 2030s.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/nasa-will-soon-find-out-if-the-perseverance-rover-can-really-persevere-on-mars/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/nasa-will-soon-find-out-if-the-perseverance-rover-can-really-persevere-on-mars/#comments">Comments</a>

Does swearing make you stronger? Science says yes.

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 14:46:33 -0000

"A calorie-neutral, drug-free, low-cost, readily available tool for when we need a boost in performance.”

If you’re human, you’ve probably hollered a curse word or two (or three) when barking your shin on a table edge or hitting your thumb with a hammer. Perhaps you’ve noticed that this seems to lessen your pain. There’s a growing body of scientific evidence that this is indeed the case. The technical term is the “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoalgesic_effect_of_swearing">hypoalgesic effect of swearing.</a>” Cursing can also improve physical strength and endurance, according to a <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-amp0001650.pdf">new paper</a> published in the journal American Psychologist. As <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/06/the-f-words-hidden-superpower-repeating-it-can-increase-your-pain-threshold/">previously reported</a>, co-author Richard Stephens, a psychologist at Keele, became interested in studying the potential benefits of profanity after noting <a href="https://sites.tufts.edu/prep/2010/01/14/pain-reduction-through-swearing/">his wife’s “unsavory language”</a> while giving birth and wondered if profanity really could help alleviate pain. “Swearing is such a common response to pain. There has to be an underlying reason why we do it,” <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-we-swear/">Stephens told Scientific American</a> after publishing a 2009 study that was awarded the 2010 Ig Nobel Peace Prize. For that study, Stephens and his colleagues asked 67 study participants (college students) to immerse their hands in a bucket of ice water. They were then instructed to either swear repeatedly using the profanity of their choice or chant a neutral word. Lo and behold, the participants said they experienced less pain when they swore and were also able to leave their hands in the bucket about 40 seconds longer than when they weren’t swearing. It has been suggested that this is a primitive reflex that serves as a form of catharsis.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/does-swearing-make-you-stronger-science-says-yes/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/does-swearing-make-you-stronger-science-says-yes/#comments">Comments</a>

Physicists 3D-printed a Christmas tree of ice

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 22:46:21 -0000

New method uses no freezing technology or refrigeration equipment—just water and a vacuum.

<div class="ars-video"><div class="relative" allow="fullscreen" loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1Luwz1dzw-I?start=0&wmode=transparent"></div></div> Physicists at the University of Amsterdam came up with a really cool bit of Christmas decor: a miniature 3D-printed Christmas tree, a mere 8 centimeters tall, made of ice, without any refrigeration equipment or other freezing technology, and at minimal cost. The secret is evaporative cooling, according to <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.14580">a preprint</a> posted to the physics arXiv. Evaporative cooling is a well-known phenomenon; mammals use it to regulate body temperature. You can see it in your morning cup of hot coffee: the hotter atoms rise to the top of the magnetic trap and “jump out” as steam. It also plays a role (along with shock wave dynamics and various other factors) in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep16162">the formation</a> of “<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/03/why-is-your-wine-crying-scientists-say-shock-waves-likely-play-a-role/">wine tears.</a>” It’s a key step in creating Bose-Einstein condensates. And evaporative cooling is also the main culprit behind <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/let-science-be-your-guide-for-the-perfect-labor-day-bbq/">the infamous “stall”</a> that so frequently plagues aspiring BBQ pit masters eager to make a successful pork butt. The meat sweats as it cooks, releasing the moisture within, and that moisture evaporates and cools the meat, effectively canceling out the heat from the BBQ. That’s why a growing number of competitive pit masters wrap their meat in tinfoil after the first few hours (usually when the internal temperature hits 170° F).<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/physicists-3d-printed-a-christmas-tree-of-ice/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/physicists-3d-printed-a-christmas-tree-of-ice/#comments">Comments</a>

Trump admin threatens to break up major climate research center

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 16:10:43 -0000

Major research institution dismissed as a source of "climate alarmism."

On Tuesday, the head of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, announced that a major climate research center will be “broken up.” The National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR, is a significant contributor to research on the weather, climate, and other atmospheric phenomena. The move will be a crippling blow to climate research in the US and is being widely decried by scientists. Vought initially <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/16/trump-dismantle-national-center-atmospheric-research-climate/87798771007/?link_source=ta_bluesky_link&taid=6942047625625600014c41b7&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bluesky">gave a statement</a> regarding NCAR to USA Today and later <a href="https://x.com/russvought/status/2001099488774033692">confirmed the outlet’s reporting</a> on social media. Calling it “one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country,” Vought also decried what he termed “woke” activities at NCAR. These appear to be fairly typical efforts made to attract underrepresented groups to the sciences—efforts that were uncontroversial prior to the current administration. NCAR is primarily based in a complex on the outskirts of Boulder, Colorado, and maintains a supercomputing center in Wyoming. Much of its funding comes from the National Science Foundation, but the day-to-day management is handled by the <a href="https://www.ucar.edu">University Corporation for Atmospheric Research</a> (UCAR), a nonprofit that represents 130 individual educational institutions. In addition to climate science, researchers based there study Earth and space weather, atmospheric chemistry, and their impacts on the environment and humans. NCAR hosts a <a href="https://researchworks.ucar.edu">series of webpages</a> that explain its research and all the ways it helps society.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/trump-admin-threatens-to-break-up-major-climate-research-center/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/trump-admin-threatens-to-break-up-major-climate-research-center/#comments">Comments</a>

US oil industry doesn’t see profit in Trump’s “pro-petroleum” moves

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 12:30:15 -0000

The financial picture around drilling is moving against the Trump administration’s hopes

As the Trump administration makes <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/06/trump-fossil-fuel-crusade-climate-faithful-00638202">announcement</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/20/trump-energy-environment-agenda">after</a> <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-american-energy/">announcement</a> about its efforts to promote the US fossil fuel industry, the industry isn’t exactly jumping at new opportunities. Some high-profile oil and gas industry <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/12/business/energy-environment/exxon-mobil-baku-climate-cop29.html">leaders</a> and <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/comment/EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0194-0869">organizations</a> have objected to changes to long-standing government policy positions that give companies firm ground on which to make their plans. And the financial picture around oil and gas drilling is moving against the Trump administration’s hopes. Though politicians may tout new opportunities to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/climate/trump-offshore-drilling-leases.html">drill offshore</a> or in <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-administration-finalizes-plan-to-open-pristine-alaska-wildlife-refuge-to-drilling">Arctic Alaska</a>, the commercial payoff is not clear and even unlikely.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/us-oil-industry-doesnt-see-profit-in-trumps-pro-petroleum-moves/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/us-oil-industry-doesnt-see-profit-in-trumps-pro-petroleum-moves/#comments">Comments</a>

The $4.3 billion space telescope Trump tried to cancel is now complete

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 21:25:05 -0000

"We're going to be making 3D movies of what is going on in the Milky Way galaxy."

A few weeks ago, technicians inside a cavernous clean room in Maryland made the final connection to complete assembly of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Parts of this new observatory, named for NASA’s first chief astronomer, recently completed a spate of tests to ensure it can survive the shaking and intense sound of a rocket launch. Engineers placed the core of the telescope inside a thermal vacuum chamber, where it withstood the airless conditions and extreme temperature swings it will see in space. Then, on November 25, teams at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, joined the inner and outer portions of the Roman Space Telescope. With this milestone, NASA declared the observatory complete and on track for launch as soon as fall 2026.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/the-4-3-billion-space-telescope-trump-tried-to-cancel-is-now-complete/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/the-4-3-billion-space-telescope-trump-tried-to-cancel-is-now-complete/#comments">Comments</a>

Utah leaders hinder efforts to develop solar energy supply

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 17:00:57 -0000

Solar power accounts for two-thirds of the new projects waiting to connect to the state’s power grid.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox believes his state needs more power—a lot more. By some estimates, Utah will require as much electricity in the next five years as it generated all last century to meet the demands of a growing population as well as chase data centers and AI developers to fuel its economy. To that end, Cox announced <a href="https://governor.utah.gov/press/news-release-gov-cox-unveils-operation-gigawatt/">Operation Gigawatt</a> last year, declaring the state would double energy production in the next decade. Although the announcement was short on details, Cox, a Republican, promised his administration would take an “any of the above” approach, which aims to expand all sources of energy production. Despite that goal, the Utah Legislature’s Republican supermajority, with Cox’s acquiescence, has taken a hard turn against solar power—which has been coming online faster than any other source in Utah and accounts for two-thirds of the new projects waiting to connect to the state’s power grid.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/utah-leaders-hinder-efforts-to-develop-solar-energy-supply/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/utah-leaders-hinder-efforts-to-develop-solar-energy-supply/#comments">Comments</a>

Ars Live Today: 3 former CDC leaders detail impacts of RFK Jr.’s anti-science agenda

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 15:09:45 -0000

Join us today, December 16, at 2 pm ET to hear from leaders who resigned in protest.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is in critical condition. This year, the premier public health agency had its funding brutally cut and staff gutted, its mission sabotaged, and its headquarters riddled with literal bullets. The over 500 rounds fired were meant for its scientists and public health experts, who endured only to be sidelined, ignored, and overruled by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist hellbent on warping the agency to fit his anti-science agenda. Then, on August 27, Kennedy fired CDC Director Susan Monarez just weeks after she was confirmed by the Senate. She had refused to blindly approve vaccine recommendations from a panel of vaccine skeptics and contrarians that he had hand-selected. The agency descended into chaos, and Monarez wasn’t the only one to leave the agency that day. Three top leaders had reached their breaking point and coordinated their resignations upon the dramatic ouster: Drs. Demetre Daskalakis, Debra Houry, and Daniel Jernigan walked out of the agency as their colleagues rallied around them.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/12/ars-live-3-former-cdc-leaders-detail-impacts-of-rfk-jr-s-anti-science-agenda/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/12/ars-live-3-former-cdc-leaders-detail-impacts-of-rfk-jr-s-anti-science-agenda/#comments">Comments</a>

Sharks and rays gain landmark protections as nations move to curb international trade

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 12:00:06 -0000

Gov'ts agree to ban or restrict international trade in shark meat, fins, and other products.

For the first time, global governments have agreed to widespread international trade bans and restrictions for sharks and rays being driven to extinction. Last week, more than 70 shark and ray species, including oceanic whitetip sharks, whale sharks, and manta rays, received new safeguards under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The convention, known as CITES, is a United Nations treaty that requires countries to regulate or prohibit international trade in species whose survival is threatened. Sharks and rays are closely related species that play similar roles as apex predators in the ocean, helping to maintain healthy marine ecosystems. They have been caught and traded for decades, contributing to a global market worth nearly $1 billion annually, according to Luke Warwick, director of shark and ray conservation at Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), an international nonprofit dedicated to preserving animals and their habitats.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/sharks-and-rays-gain-landmark-protections-as-nations-move-to-curb-international-trade/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/sharks-and-rays-gain-landmark-protections-as-nations-move-to-curb-international-trade/#comments">Comments</a>

Scientists built an AI co-pilot for prosthetic bionic hands

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:14:31 -0000

Managing each finger separately can, with the right sensors, ease control issues.

Modern bionic hand prostheses nearly match their natural counterparts when it comes to dexterity, degrees of freedom, and capability. And many amputees who tried advanced bionic hands apparently didn’t like them. “Up to 50 percent of people with upper limb amputation abandon these prostheses, never to use them again,” says Jake George, an electrical and computer engineer at the University of Utah. The main issue with bionic hands that drives users away from them, George explains, is that they’re difficult to control. “Our goal was making such bionic arms more intuitive, so that users could go about their tasks without having to think about it,” George says. To make this happen, his team came up with an AI bionic hand co-pilot. <h2>Micro-management issues</h2> Bionic hands’ control problems stem largely from their lack of autonomy. Grasping a paper cup without crushing it or catching a ball mid-flight appear so effortless because our natural movements rely on an elaborate system of reflexes and feedback loops. When an object you hold begins to slip, tiny mechanoreceptors in your fingertips send signals to the nervous system that make the hand tighten its grip. This all happens within 60 to 80 milliseconds—before you even consciously notice. This reflex is just one of many ways your brain automatically assists you in dexterity-based tasks.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/12/scientists-built-an-ai-co-pilot-for-prosthetic-bionic-hands/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/12/scientists-built-an-ai-co-pilot-for-prosthetic-bionic-hands/#comments">Comments</a>

Investors commit quarter-billion dollars to startup designing “Giga” satellites

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 15:23:57 -0000

"If we build these platforms well, we get to ask new questions about what's possible in orbit."

A startup established three years ago to churn out a new class of high-power satellites has raised $250 million to ramp up production at its Southern California factory. The company, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/01/company-aims-to-build-larger-satellites-for-new-era-of-launch-abundance/">named K2</a>, announced the cash infusion on Thursday. K2’s Series C fundraising round was led by Redpoint Ventures, with additional funding from investment firms in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. K2 has now raised more than $400 million since its founding in 2022 and is on track to launch its first major demonstration mission next year, officials said. K2 aims to take advantage of a coming abundance of heavy- and super-heavy-lift launch capacity, with SpaceX’s Starship expected to begin deploying satellites as soon as next year. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket launched twice this year and will fly more in 2026 while engineers develop an <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/11/blue-origin-says-its-just-getting-started-with-the-new-glenn-rocket/">even larger New Glenn</a> with additional engines and more lift capability.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/investors-commit-quarter-billion-dollars-to-startup-designing-giga-satellites/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/investors-commit-quarter-billion-dollars-to-startup-designing-giga-satellites/#comments">Comments</a>

No sterile neutrinos after all, say MicroBooNE physicists

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 17:02:48 -0000

There's a less than 5 percent chance that earlier anomalies can be explained by fourth neutrino "flavor."

Since the 1990s, physicists have pondered the tantalizing possibility of an exotic fourth type of neutrino, dubbed the “sterile” neutrino, that doesn’t interact with regular matter at all, apart from its fellow neutrinos, perhaps. But definitive experimental evidence for sterile neutrinos has remained elusive. Now it looks like the latest results from Fermilab’s MiniBooNE experiment have ruled out the sterile neutrino entirely, according to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09757-7">a paper</a> published in the journal Nature. How did the possibility of sterile neutrinos even become a thing? It all <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/09/weighing-in-physicists-cut-upper-limit-on-neutrinos-mass-in-half/">dates back to</a> the so-called “solar neutrino problem.” Physicists detected the first solar neutrinos from the Sun in 1966. The only problem was that there were far fewer solar neutrinos being detected than predicted by theory, a conundrum that became known as the solar neutrino problem. In 1962, physicists discovered <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1988/summary/">a second type</a> (“flavor”) of neutrino, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muon_neutrino">muon neutrino</a>. This was followed by the discovery of a third flavor, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_neutrino">tau neutrino</a>, in 2000. Physicists already suspected that neutrinos might be able to switch from one flavor to another. <a href="https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.011301">In 2002</a>, scientists at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudbury_Neutrino_Observatory">Sudbury Neutrino Observatory</a> (or SNO) announced that they had solved the solar neutrino problem. The missing solar (electron) neutrinos were just in disguise, having changed into a different flavor on the long journey between the Sun and the Earth. If neutrinos oscillate, then they must have a teensy bit of mass after all. That posed another knotty neutrino-related problem. There are three neutrino flavors, but none of them has a well-defined mass. Rather, different kinds of “mass states” mix together in various ways to produce electron, muon, and tau neutrinos. That’s quantum weirdness for you.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/microboone-results-rule-out-sterile-neutrinos/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/microboone-results-rule-out-sterile-neutrinos/#comments">Comments</a>

NASA just lost contact with a Mars orbiter, and will soon lose another one

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:29:54 -0000

If NASA is serious about exploring Mars, it's past time to send new missions.

NASA has lost contact with one of its three spacecraft orbiting Mars, the agency announced Tuesday. Meanwhile, a second Mars orbiter is perilously close to running out of fuel, and the third mission is running well past its warranty. Ground teams last heard from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft on Saturday, December 6. “Telemetry from MAVEN had showed all subsystems working normally before it orbited behind the red planet,” <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/maven/2025/12/09/nasa-teams-work-maven-spacecraft-signal-loss/">NASA said in a short statement</a>. “After the spacecraft emerged from behind Mars, NASA’s Deep Space Network did not observe a signal.” NASA said mission controllers are “investigating the anomaly to address the situation. More information will be shared once it becomes available.”<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/nasa-just-lost-contact-with-a-mars-orbiter-and-will-soon-lose-another-one/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/nasa-just-lost-contact-with-a-mars-orbiter-and-will-soon-lose-another-one/#comments">Comments</a>

This is the oldest evidence of people starting fires

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:14:08 -0000

We didn't start the fire. (Neanderthals did, at least 400,000 years ago.)

Heat-reddened clay, fire-cracked stone, and fragments of pyrite mark where Neanderthals gathered around a campfire 400,000 years ago in what’s now Suffolk, England. Based on chemical analysis of the sediment at the site, along with the telltale presence of pyrite, a mineral not naturally found nearby but very handy for striking sparks with flint, British Museum archaeologist Rob Davis and his colleagues say the Neanderthals probably started the fire themselves. That makes the abandoned English clay pit at Barnham the oldest evidence in the world that people (Neanderthal people, in this case) had learned to not only use fire, but also create it and control it. <h2>A cozy Neanderthal campfire</h2> Today, the Barnham site is part of an abandoned clay pit where workers first discovered stone tools in the early 1900s. But 400,000 years ago, it would have been a picturesque little spot at the edge of a stream-fed pond, surrounded by a mix of forest and grassland. There are no hominin fossils here, but archaeologists unearthed a Neanderthal skull about 100 kilometers to the south, so the hominins at Barnham were probably also Neanderthals. The place would have offered a group of Neanderthals a relatively quiet, sheltered place to set up camp, according to Davis and his colleagues.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/this-is-the-oldest-evidence-of-people-starting-fires/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/12/this-is-the-oldest-evidence-of-people-starting-fires/#comments">Comments</a>

LG TVs’ unremovable Copilot shortcut is the least of smart TVs’ AI problems

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 21:18:07 -0000

LG says it'll let people delete the Copilot icon. But TV chatbots aren't going away.

Online fury erupted this week after an LG TV owner claimed that a firmware update installed unremovable generative AI software on their smart TV. The controversy began on Saturday, when a Reddit user <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1plldqo/my_lg_tvs_new_software_update_installed_microsoft/?" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> about the sudden appearance of a Microsoft Copilot icon on their device (something Windows users are all too familiar with). The Reddit user <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1plldqo/my_lg_tvs_new_software_update_installed_microsoft/?">claimed</a> that a “new software update installed Copilot” onto their LG TV and that it couldn’t be deleted. “Pre-installed crap is universally dogshit. If I wanted it, I’d have installed it myself eventually. The whole reason it’s bundled is because no one would choose it… Burn your television,” another Reddit user <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1plldqo/comment/ntt7z2y/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button">responded</a> in the thread, which has 36,000 upvotes as of this writing.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/lg-tvs-unremovable-copilot-shortcut-is-the-least-of-smart-tvs-ai-problems/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/lg-tvs-unremovable-copilot-shortcut-is-the-least-of-smart-tvs-ai-problems/#comments">Comments</a>

Riot Games is making an anti-cheat change that could be rough on older PCs

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 20:27:36 -0000

BIOS checks will only affect a limited subset of Valorant players for now.

At this point, most competitive online multiplayer games on the PC come with some kind of <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/04/ring-0-of-fire-does-riot-games-new-anti-cheat-measure-go-too-far/">kernel-level anti-cheat software</a>. <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/09/eas-new-anti-cheat-tools-dip-into-the-dreaded-kernel-mode/">As we’ve written before</a>, this is software that runs with more elevated privileges than most other apps and games you run on your PC, allowing it to load in earlier and detect advanced methods of cheating. More recently, anti-cheat software has started to require more Windows security features like <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/08/battlefield-6-dev-apologizes-for-requiring-secure-boot-to-power-anti-cheat-tools/">Secure Boot</a>, a TPM 2.0 module, and <a href="https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/hardware-security/enable-virtualization-based-protection-of-code-integrity?tabs=security">virtualization-based memory integrity protection</a>. Riot Games, best known for titles like Valorant and League of Legends and the Vanguard anti-cheat software, has often been one of the earliest to implement new anti-cheat requirements. There’s already <a href="https://support-valorant.riotgames.com/hc/en-us/articles/22291331362067-Vanguard-Restrictions">a long list of checks</a> that systems need to clear before they’ll be allowed to play Riot’s games online, and now the studio is announcing <a href="https://www.riotgames.com/en/news/vanguard-security-update-motherboard">a new one</a>: a BIOS update requirement that will be imposed on “certain players” following <a href="https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/382314">Riot’s discovery of a UEFI bug</a> that could allow especially dedicated and motivated cheaters to circumvent certain memory protections. In short, the bug affects the input-output memory management unit (IOMMU) “on some UEFI-based motherboards from multiple vendors.” One feature of the IOMMU is to protect system memory from direct access during boot by external hardware devices, which otherwise might manipulate the contents of your PC’s memory in ways that could enable cheating.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/some-valorant-players-need-to-update-their-pc-bios-to-keep-anti-cheat-software-happy/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/some-valorant-players-need-to-update-their-pc-bios-to-keep-anti-cheat-software-happy/#comments">Comments</a>

YouTube bans two popular channels that created fake AI movie trailers

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:39:54 -0000

Google loves AI content, except when it doesn't.

Google is generally happy to see people using generative AI tools to create content, and it’s doubly happy when they publish it on its platforms. But there are limits to everything. Two YouTube channels that attracted millions of subscribers with AI-generated movie trailers have been shuttered. Screen Culture and KH Studio flooded the site with fake but often believable trailers. The channels, which had a combined audience of more than 2 million subscribers, became a thorn in Google’s side in early 2025 when other YouTubers began griping about their sudden popularity in the age of AI. The channels produced videos with titles like “GTA: San Andreas (2025) Teaser Trailer” and “Malcom In The Middle Reboot (2025) First Trailer.” Of course, neither of those projects exist, but that didn’t stop them from appearing in user feeds. Google demonetized the channels in early 2025, forcing them to adopt language that made it clear they were not official trailers. The channels were able to monetize again, but the disclaimers were not consistently used. Indeed, many of the most popular videos from those channels in recent months included no “parody” or “concept trailer” disclosures. Now, visiting either channel’s page on YouTube produces an error reading, “This page isn’t available. Sorry about that. Try searching for something else.”<a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/12/youtube-bans-two-popular-channels-that-created-fake-ai-movie-trailers/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/12/youtube-bans-two-popular-channels-that-created-fake-ai-movie-trailers/#comments">Comments</a>

Peacock showing ads upon launch opens the door for more disruptive streaming ads

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:18:21 -0000

Subscribers will start seeing ads when selecting a user next year.

Peacock subscribers will see ads immediately upon opening the streaming app or website next year. It’s a bold new strategy for attracting advertisers—something that’s been increasingly important to subscription-based streaming services—but it also risks alienating viewers As reported by <a href="https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/nbcuniversal-arrival-ads-peacock-1236610766/">Variety</a>, the new type of ads will display on the profile selection page that shows when a subscriber launches Peacock. Starting next year, instead of the profile page just showing your different Peacock profiles, most of the page will be dominated by an advertorial image. The circles of NBCUniversal-owned characters selected for user profiles will be relegated to a vertical column on the screen’s left side, as <a href="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Arrival-Ads-e1765986166728.png?w=1000&h=563&crop=1">you can see here</a>. To avoid seeing what NBCUniversal is calling “Arrival Ads” every time you open Peacock, you need to subscribe to Peacock’s most expensive plan, which is ad-free and starts at $17 per month (Peacock’s ad-based plans start at $8/month.)<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/peacock-showing-ads-upon-launch-opens-the-door-for-more-disruptive-streaming-ads/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/peacock-showing-ads-upon-launch-opens-the-door-for-more-disruptive-streaming-ads/#comments">Comments</a>

RAM and SSD prices are still climbing—here’s our best advice for PC builders

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 21:31:03 -0000

I would avoid building a PC right now, but if you can't, here's our best advice.

The first few months of 2025 were full of graphics card reviews where we generally came away impressed with performance and completely at a loss on availability and pricing. The testing in these reviews is useful regardless, but when it came to extra buying advice, the best we could do was to compare Nvidia’s imaginary pricing to AMD’s imaginary pricing and wait for availability to improve. Now, as the year winds down, we’re facing price spikes for memory and storage that are unlike anything I’ve seen in two decades of pricing out PC parts. Pricing for most RAM kits has increased dramatically since this summer, driven by overwhelming demand for these parts in AI data centers. Depending on what you’re building, it’s now very possible that the memory could be the single most expensive component you buy; things are even worse now than they were <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/spiking-memory-prices-mean-that-it-is-once-again-a-horrible-time-to-build-a-pc/">the last time we compared prices a few weeks ago</a>. <div class="table-wrapper"><table border="" width="100%"> <tbody> <tr> <th>Component</th> <th>Aug. 2025 price</th> <th>Nov. 2025 price</th> <th>Dec. 2025 price</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Patriot Viper Venom 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR-6000</td> <td>$49</td> <td>$110</td> <td>$189</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Western Digital WD Blue SN5000 500GB</td> <td>$45</td> <td>$69</td> <td><a href="https://www.newegg.com/sandisk-500gb-wd-blue-nvme/p/N82E16820173683">$102</a>*</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Silicon Power 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200</td> <td>$34</td> <td>$89</td> <td>$104</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Western Digital WD Blue SN5000 1TB</td> <td>$64</td> <td>$111</td> <td><a href="https://www.newegg.com/sandisk-1tb-wd-blue-nvme/p/N82E16820173682">$135</a>*</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Team T-Force Vulcan 32GB DDR5-6000</td> <td>$82</td> <td>$310</td> <td>$341</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Western Digital WD Blue SN5000 2TB</td> <td>$115</td> <td>$154</td> <td><a href="https://www.newegg.com/sandisk-2tb-wd-blue-nvme/p/N82E16820173681">$190</a>*</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Western Digital WD Black SN7100 2TB</td> <td>$130</td> <td>$175</td> <td>$210</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Team Delta RGB 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR5-6400</td> <td>$190</td> <td>$700</td> <td>$800</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div> Some SSDs are getting to the point where they’re twice as expensive as they were this summer (for this comparison, I’ve swapped the newer WD Blue SN5100 pricing in for the SN5000, since the drive is both newer and slightly cheaper as of this writing). Some RAM kits, meanwhile, are around four times as expensive as they were in August. Yeesh.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/for-just-a-couple-of-months-in-the-middle-of-2025-it-was-an-ok-time-to-build-a-pc/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/for-just-a-couple-of-months-in-the-middle-of-2025-it-was-an-ok-time-to-build-a-pc/#comments">Comments</a>

Software leaks point to the first Apple Silicon “iMac Pro,” among other devices

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 18:52:43 -0000

Resurrected high-end all-in-one could be a worthy successor to 2017's iMac Pro.

Apple doesn’t like to talk about its upcoming products before it’s ready, but sometimes the company’s software does the talking for it. So far this week we’ve had a couple of software-related leaks that have outed products Apple is currently testing—one <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/12/15/apple-leak-unreleased-devices-codenames/">a pre-release build of iOS 26</a>, and the other some leaked files from <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/12/16/apple-developing-imac-with-m5-max/">a kernel debug kit</a> (both via MacRumors). Most of the new devices referenced in these leaks are straightforward updates to products that already exist: a new Apple TV, a HomePod mini 2, new AirTags and AirPods, an M4 iPad Air, a 12th-generation iPad to replace the current A16 version, next-generation iPhones (including the 17e, 18, and the rumored foldable model), a new Studio Display model, some new smart home products <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/report-apples-smart-home-ambitions-include-tabletop-robot-cameras-and-more/">we’ve already heard about elsewhere</a>, and M5 updates for the MacBook Air, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and the other MacBook Pros. There’s also yet another reference to <a href="https://arstechnica.com/apple/2025/07/what-would-a-cheap-apple-a18-powered-macbook-actually-be-good-at/">the lower-cost MacBook</a> that Apple is apparently planning to replace the M1 MacBook Air it still sells via Walmart for $599. For power users, though, the most interesting revelation might be that Apple is working on a higher-end Apple Silicon iMac powered by an M5 Max chip. The kernel debug kit references an iMac with the internal identifier J833c, based on a platform identified as H17C—and H17C is apparently based on the M5 Max, rather than a lower-end M5 chip. (For those who don’t have Apple’s branding memorized, “Max” is associated with Apple’s second-fastest chips; the M5 Max would be faster than the M5 or M5 Pro, but slower than the rumored M5 Ultra.)<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/leaked-debug-kit-suggests-apple-is-testing-a-new-imac-pro-among-many-other-macs/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/leaked-debug-kit-suggests-apple-is-testing-a-new-imac-pro-among-many-other-macs/#comments">Comments</a>

Google will end dark web reports that alerted users to leaked data

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 18:13:24 -0000

Google says the reports lacked "helpful next steps."

Google began offering “dark web reports” a while back, but the company has just announced the feature will be going away very soon. In an email to users of the service, Google says it will stop telling you about dark web data leaks in February. This probably won’t negatively impact your security or privacy because, as Google points out in its latest email, there’s really nothing you can do about the dark web. The dark web reports launched in March 2023 as a perk for Google One subscribers. The reports were expanded to general access in 2024. Now, barely a year later, Google has decided it doesn’t see the value in this type of alert for users. Dark web reports provide a list of partially redacted user data retrieved from shadowy forums and sites where such information is bought and sold. However, that’s all it is—a list. The dark web consists of so-called hidden services hosted inside the Tor network. You need a special browser or connection tools in order to access Tor hidden services, and its largely anonymous nature has made it a favorite hangout for online criminals. If a company with your personal data has been hacked, that data probably lives <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/10/data-for-a-whopping-26-million-stolen-payment-cards-leaked-in-hack-of-fraud-bazaar/">somewhere on the dark web</a>.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/google-is-shutting-down-dark-web-reports-in-january-because-they-werent-helpful/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/google-is-shutting-down-dark-web-reports-in-january-because-they-werent-helpful/#comments">Comments</a>

How to break free from smart TV ads and tracking

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 12:30:22 -0000

Sick of smart TVs? Here are your best options.

Smart TVs can feel like a dumb choice if you’re looking for privacy, reliability, and simplicity. Today’s TVs and streaming sticks are usually loaded up <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/08/tv-industrys-ads-tracking-obsession-is-turning-your-living-room-into-a-store/">with advertisements and user tracking</a>, making offline TVs seem very attractive. But ever since <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/tv-brands-face-inherent-conflict-over-user-privacy-advertiser-data-demands/">smart TV operating systems</a> began making money, “dumb” TVs have been hard to find. In response, we created this non-smart TV guide that includes much more than dumb TVs. Since non-smart TVs are so rare, this guide also breaks down additional ways to watch TV and movies online and locally without dealing with smart TVs’ evolution toward <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/ces-2025-teases-alarming-smart-tv-future-loaded-with-unwanted-software-gimmicks/">software-centric features</a> and snooping. We’ll discuss a range of options suitable for various budgets, different experience levels, and different rooms in your home.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/the-ars-technica-guide-to-dumb-tvs/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/the-ars-technica-guide-to-dumb-tvs/#comments">Comments</a>

Chatbot-powered toys rebuked for discussing sexual, dangerous topics with kids

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 12:15:02 -0000

"... AI toys shouldn’t be capable of having sexually explicit conversations, period."

Protecting children from the dangers of the online world was always difficult, but that <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/10/senators-move-to-keep-big-techs-creepy-companion-bots-away-from-kids/">challenge has intensified</a> with the advent of AI chatbots. A new report offers a glimpse into the problems associated with the new market, including the misuse of AI companies’ large language models (LLMs). In a <a href="https://pirg.org/edfund/resources/ai-toys/">blog post</a> today, the <a href="https://pirg.org/edfund/about/">US Public Interest Group Education Fund</a> (PIRG) reported its findings after testing AI toys (<a href="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/AI-Comes-to-Playtime-Artifical-companions-real-risks.pdf">PDF</a>). It described AI toys as online devices with integrated microphones that let users talk to the toy, which uses a chatbot to respond. AI toys are currently a niche market, but they could be set to grow. More consumer companies have been eager to <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/ai-marketing-hype-is-coming-for-your-favorite-gadgets/">shoehorn AI technology</a> into their products so they can do more, cost more, and potentially give companies user tracking and advertising data. A partnership between <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/06/mattel-sparks-fear-that-planned-chatgpt-fueled-toys-will-warp-kids/">OpenAI and Mattel</a> announced this year could also create a wave of AI-based toys from the maker of Barbie and Hot Wheels, as well as its competitors.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/chatbot-powered-toys-rebuked-for-discussing-sexual-dangerous-topics-with-kids/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/chatbot-powered-toys-rebuked-for-discussing-sexual-dangerous-topics-with-kids/#comments">Comments</a>

Cable channel subscribers grew for the first time in 8 years last quarter

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 20:07:47 -0000

Sports and YouTube TV played big roles, MoffettNathanson report says.

In a surprising, and likely temporary, turn of events, the number of people paying to watch cable channels has grown. On Monday, research analyst MoffettNathanson released its “Cord-Cutting Monitor Q3 2025: Signs of Life?” <a href="https://www.moffettnathanson.com/media-research">report</a>. It found that the pay TV operators, including cable companies, satellite companies, and virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) like YouTube TV and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/fubo-lowers-its-prices-by-up-to-15-after-losing-nbcuniversal-channels/">Fubo</a>, added 303,000 net subscribers in Q3 2025. According to the report, “There are more linear video subscribers now than there were three months ago. That’s the first time we’ve been able to say that since 2017.”<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/cable-channel-subscribers-grew-for-the-first-time-in-years-last-quarter/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/cable-channel-subscribers-grew-for-the-first-time-in-years-last-quarter/#comments">Comments</a>

Kindle Scribe Colorsoft brings color e-ink to Amazon’s 11-inch e-reader

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 18:40:58 -0000

Amazon has added color e-ink to its devices more slowly than its competitors.

Amazon has been updating the large-screened Kindle Scribe tablet more frequently and regularly than it updates its standard e-readers, and today the company is <a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/devices/new-amazon-kindle-scribe-color">announcing</a> the tablet’s third hardware update in four years. The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DVQQGMCZ">regular Scribe</a> is also being joined by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F3BLPFS9/">a lower-end Scribe</a> with less storage and no front light and an upgraded <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DWRBVDN6">Kindle Scribe Colorsoft</a> model with a color e-ink screen. This makes it only the second Kindle to include a color screen, after last year’s <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/for-regular-books-amazons-280-kindle-colorsoft-falls-short-of-the-paperwhite/">Kindle Colorsoft</a>. Both the regular Kindle Scribe and the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft are available to order starting today for $500 and $630, respectively. Both of those devices include a Premium Pen accessory and 32GB of internal storage; 64GB of storage is available for an extra $50 for both devices. The cheaper front light-less Scribe is coming sometime next year and will run $430 for a model with a more modest 16GB of storage. (These are all much more expensive than the original Scribe’s $340 launch price, but inflation, tariffs, and shortages are wreaking havoc with all kinds of tech prices for the past few years.) The Scribe and Scribe Colorsoft both come with an updated front light “with miniaturized LEDs that fit tightly against the display,” narrowing the bezel and improving the uniformity of the lighting. Amazon has also tweaked the friction level of the paper-like texture on the glass display, shrunk the gap between the glass and the actual display panel to make writing on the tablet feel more like writing on paper, and added a quad-core processor and more RAM to speed the tablet up.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/kindle-scribe-colorsoft-brings-color-e-ink-to-amazons-11-inch-e-reader/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/kindle-scribe-colorsoft-brings-color-e-ink-to-amazons-11-inch-e-reader/#comments">Comments</a>

AMD’s next-gen “FSR Redstone” brings big gains, as long as you’re using a new GPU

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 14:00:43 -0000

"Redstone" is a promising mix of old and new ideas, but Nvidia is years ahead.

Nvidia, AMD, and Intel have all made high-quality image upscaling a cornerstone feature of their new GPUs this decade. Upscaling technologies like Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), and Intel’s Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) are all ways to transform a lower-resolution source image into a higher-resolution image, delivering better-looking games without requiring as much graphics hardware as you’d need to render the higher-resolution image natively. Later additions have focused on improving ray-tracing performance and “frame generation” technologies that boost frame rates by creating new AI-generated frames to insert between natively rendered frames. Generally speaking, Nvidia’s DLSS technologies have provided better image quality than AMD’s FSR, but they have only been available on newer Nvidia hardware—the GeForce RTX 20-series or newer for most features, with frame-generation features locked to the RTX 40- and 50-series. FSR’s results don’t look as good, but they have benefited from running on just about anything, including older GPUs, Nvidia GPUs, and even integrated Intel and AMD GPUs. Today, AMD is trying to shift that dynamic with something called “FSR Redstone,” a collection of ray-tracing and frame-generation features all intended to boost AMD’s image quality while being relatively easy to implement for game developers who are already using FSR 3.1 or FSR 4.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/amds-fsr-redstone-upscaling-claims-to-close-the-gap-with-nvidias-dlss/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/amds-fsr-redstone-upscaling-claims-to-close-the-gap-with-nvidias-dlss/#comments">Comments</a>

Google is reviving wearable gesture controls, but only for the Pixel Watch 4

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 17:00:28 -0000

Google will let you select and dismiss with a gesture, but only on the newest watch.

Long ago, Google’s Android-powered wearables had hands-free navigation gestures. Those fell by the wayside as Google shredded its wearable strategy over and over, but gestures are back, baby. The Pixel Watch 4 is getting an update that adds several gestures, one of which is straight out of the <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/new-apple-watch-series-9-improves-siri-processing-iphone-finding-and-more/">Apple playbook</a>. When the update hits devices, the <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/google-unveils-pixel-10-series-with-improved-tensor-g5-chip-and-a-boatload-of-ai/">Pixel Watch 4</a> will gain a double pinch gesture like the Apple Watch has. By tapping your thumb and forefinger together, you can answer or end calls, pause timers, and more. The watch will also prompt you at times when you can use the tap gesture to control things. In previous incarnations of Google-powered watches, a quick wrist turn gesture would scroll through lists. In the new gesture system, that motion dismisses what’s on the screen. For example, you can clear a notification from the screen or dismiss an incoming call. Pixel Watch 4 owners will also enjoy this one when the update arrives.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/google-is-reviving-wearable-gesture-controls-but-only-for-the-pixel-watch-4/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/google-is-reviving-wearable-gesture-controls-but-only-for-the-pixel-watch-4/#comments">Comments</a>

Pebble maker announces Index 01, a smart-ish ring for under $100

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 15:00:56 -0000

The Pebble Index 01 isn't quite a smart ring, but it can do some smart things.

Nearly a decade after Pebble’s nascent smartwatch empire crumbled, the brand is <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/new-pebbleos-watches-with-more-battery-and-familiar-looks-are-up-for-preorder/">staging a comeback</a> with new wearables. The Pebble Core Duo 2 and Core Time 2 are a natural evolution of the company’s low-power smartwatch designs, but its next wearable is something different. The <a href="https://repebble.com/blog/meet-pebble-index-01-external-memory-for-your-brain">Index 01</a> is a ring, but you probably shouldn’t call it a smart ring. The Index does just one thing—capture voice notes—but the firm says it does that one thing extremely well. Most of today’s smart rings offer users the ability to track health stats, along with various minor smartphone integrations. With all the sensors and data collection, these devices can cost as much as a smartwatch and require frequent charging. The Index 01 doesn’t do any of that. It contains a Bluetooth radio, a microphone, a hearing aid battery, and a physical button. You press the button, record your note, and that’s it. The company says the Index 01 will run for years on a charge and will cost just $75 during the preorder period. After that, it will go up to $99. Core Devices, the new home of Pebble, says the Index is designed to be worn on your index finger (get it?), where you can easily mash the device’s button with your thumb. Unlike recording notes with a phone or smartwatch, you don’t need both hands to create voice notes with the Index.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/resurrected-pebble-maker-announces-a-kind-of-smart-ring-for-capturing-audio-notes/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/resurrected-pebble-maker-announces-a-kind-of-smart-ring-for-capturing-audio-notes/#comments">Comments</a>

Paramount tries to swipe Warner Bros. from Netflix with a hostile takeover

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 18:36:16 -0000

Paramount has already proven it can get a controversial merger done.

<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/netflixs-72b-wb-acquisition-confounds-the-future-of-movie-theaters-streaming/">Netflix won the bidding war</a> for Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD’s) streaming and movie studio businesses last week. But Paramount Skydance isn’t relenting on its dreams of owning WBD and is pushing forward with a hostile takeover bid. On Friday, Netflix announced that it had agreed to pay an equity value of $72 billion, or an approximate total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, for WBD’s streaming and film businesses, as well as its film and TV libraries. The deal includes HBO and the HBO Max streaming service but not WBD’s cable channels, which are to be split off ahead of the acquisition into a separate company called Discovery Global. Netflix said WBD’s split should conclude in Q3 2026. Paramount has different plans, though.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/paramount-says-it-could-get-antitrust-approval-for-wbd-before-netflix/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/paramount-says-it-could-get-antitrust-approval-for-wbd-before-netflix/#comments">Comments</a>

Streaming service makes rare decision to lower its monthly fees

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 22:56:51 -0000

This could be just what Fubo and its subscribers need.

Somewhere, a pig is catching some sweet air. In a rare move for a streaming service, Fubo announced today that it’s lowering the prices for some of its subscription plans. Fubo is a sports-focused vMVPD (virtual multichannel video programming distributor, or a company that enables people to watch traditional TV channels live over the Internet). Disney closed its <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/disney-makes-antitrust-problem-go-away-by-buying-majority-stake-in-competitor/">acquisition of Fubo</a> in <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/10/disney-closes-acquisition-of-fubo-youtube-tv-rival-1236601271/">October</a>.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/fubo-lowers-its-prices-by-up-to-15-after-losing-nbcuniversal-channels/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/fubo-lowers-its-prices-by-up-to-15-after-losing-nbcuniversal-channels/#comments">Comments</a>

Netflix’s $72B WB acquisition confounds the future of movie theaters, streaming

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 18:49:43 -0000

Netflix's plans to own HBO Max, DC Comics, Harry Potter to face regulatory scrutiny.

The bidding war is over, and Netflix has been declared the winner. After flirting with <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/higher-prices-simpler-streaming-expected-if-hbo-max-folds-into-paramount/">Paramount Skydance</a> and Comcast, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has decided to sell its streaming and movie studios business to Netflix. If approved, the deal is set to overturn the media landscape and create ripples that will affect Hollywood for years. <h2>$72 billion acquisition</h2> Netflix will pay an equity value of $72 billion, or an approximate total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, for Warner Bros. All of WBD has a $60 billion market value, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/media/netflix-to-buy-warner-bros-rcna247510">NBC News </a>notes.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/netflixs-72b-wb-acquisition-confounds-the-future-of-movie-theaters-streaming/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/netflixs-72b-wb-acquisition-confounds-the-future-of-movie-theaters-streaming/#comments">Comments</a>

SteamOS tested on dedicated GPUs: No, it’s not always faster than Windows

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 17:29:37 -0000

Ars testing shows SteamOS fares better on iGPUs than powerful graphics cards.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/ive-already-been-using-a-steam-machine-for-months-and-i-think-its-great/">my personal homebrew Steam Machine</a>, a self-built desktop under my TV featuring an <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/01/ryzen-8000g-review-an-integrated-gpu-that-can-beat-a-graphics-card-for-a-price/">AMD Ryzen 7 8700G</a> processor and a Radeon 780M integrated GPU. I wouldn’t recommend making your own version of this build, especially with RAM prices as they currently are, but there are all kinds of inexpensive mini PCs on Amazon with the same GPU, and they’ll all be pretty good at playing the kinds of games that already run well on the less-powerful Steam Deck. But this kind of hardware is an imperfect proxy for the Steam Machine that Valve plans to launch sometime next year—that box will include a dedicated GPU with 8GB of dedicated video memory, presenting both benefits and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/steamos-has-problems-with-8gb-gpus-but-valve-is-working-on-it/">possible pitfalls</a> compared to a system with an integrated GPU. As a last pre-Steam Machine follow-up to our coverage so far, we’ve run tests on several games we test regularly in our GPU reviews to get a sense of how current versions of SteamOS stack up to Windows running on the same hardware. What we’ve found so far is basically the inverse of <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/06/games-run-faster-on-steamos-than-windows-11-ars-testing-finds/">what we found when comparing handhelds</a>: Windows usually has an edge on SteamOS’s performance, and sometimes that gap is quite large. And SteamOS also exacerbates <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/steamos-has-problems-with-8gb-gpus-but-valve-is-working-on-it/">problems with 8GB GPUs</a>, hitting apparent RAM limits in more games and at lower resolutions compared to Windows.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/steamos-vs-windows-on-dedicated-gpus-its-complicated-but-windows-has-an-edge/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/steamos-vs-windows-on-dedicated-gpus-its-complicated-but-windows-has-an-edge/#comments">Comments</a>

Engineer proves that Kohler’s smart toilet cameras aren’t very private

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:23:40 -0000

Kohler is getting the scoop on people's poop.

Kohler is facing backlash after an engineer <a href="https://varlogsimon.leaflet.pub/3m6zrw6k2bs2p">pointed out</a> that the company’s new smart toilet cameras may not be as private as it wants people to believe. The discussion raises questions about Kohler’s use of the term “end-to-end encryption” (E2EE) and the inherent privacy limitations of a device that films the goings-on of a toilet bowl. In October, Kohler announced its first “health” product, the Dekoda. Kohler’s announcement described the $599 device (it also requires a subscription that starts at $7 per month) as a toilet bowl attachment that uses “optical sensors and validated machine-learning algorithms” to deliver “valuable insights into your health and wellness.” The announcement added: <blockquote>Data flows to the personalized Kohler Health app, giving users continuous, private awareness of key health and wellness indicators—right on their phone. Features like fingerprint authentication and end-to-end encryption are designed for user privacy and security.</blockquote> The average person is most likely to be familiar with E2EE through messaging apps, like Signal. Messages sent via apps with E2EE are encrypted throughout transmission. Only the message’s sender and recipient can view the decrypted messages, which is intended to prevent third parties, including the app developer, from reading them.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/despite-accessing-user-data-kohler-still-says-its-smart-toilet-cameras-use-e2ee/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/despite-accessing-user-data-kohler-still-says-its-smart-toilet-cameras-use-e2ee/#comments">Comments</a>

OnePlus 15 finally gets FCC clearance after government shutdown delay—preorders live

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 18:11:41 -0000

The device starts at $900 and comes with a free gift for a limited time.

OnePlus is ready to sell its new flagship smartphone in the US weeks after it made the device official. Having now finally gotten Federal Communications Commission clearance, the OnePlus 15 is available for preorder. It’s currently only live on the OnePlus storefront, but the device will eventually come to Amazon and Best Buy as well. The OnePlus 15 launched in China earlier this year, and it was supposed to go on sale in the US a month ago. However, the <a href="https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/10/trump-admin-defiles-even-the-out-of-office-email-auto-reply/">longest US government shutdown on record</a> got in the way. Most of the FCC’s functions were suspended during the weekslong funding lapse, which prevented the agency from certifying new wireless products. Without that approval, OnePlus could not begin selling the phone. Thus, it had no firm release date when the phone was officially unveiled for the US in early November. Interested parties can head to the OnePlus website to place an order. The base model starts at $900 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. This version is only available in black. If you want the Ultraviolet or Sand Storm (with the distinctive micro-arc oxidation finish), you’ll have to upgrade to the $1,000 version, which has 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/oneplus-15-finally-gets-fcc-clearance-after-government-shutdown-delay-preorders-live/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/oneplus-15-finally-gets-fcc-clearance-after-government-shutdown-delay-preorders-live/#comments">Comments</a>

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