Pipes Feed Preview: Science – Ars Technica & Tech

Delightfully irreverent Underdogs isn’t your parents’ nature docuseries

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 19:11:24 -0000

Ryan Reynolds narrates NatGeo's new series highlighting nature's much less cool and majestic creatures

<div class="ars-video"><div class="relative" allow="fullscreen" loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VSMAZIKokJI?start=0&wmode=transparent"></div><div class="caption font-impact dusk:text-gray-300 mb-4 mt-2 inline-flex flex-row items-stretch gap-1 text-base leading-tight text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-300"> <div class="caption-icon bg-[left_top_5px] w-[10px] shrink-0"></div> <div class="caption-content"> Narrator Ryan Reynolds celebrates nature's outcasts in the new NatGeo docuseries Underdogs. </div> </div> </div> Most of us have seen a nature documentary or two (or three) at some point in our lives, so it's a familiar format: sweeping majestic footage of impressively regal animals accompanied by reverently high-toned narration (preferably with a tony British accent). Underdogs, a new docuseries from National Geographic, takes a decidedly different and unconventional approach. Narrated by with hilarious irreverence by Ryan Reynolds, the five-part series highlights nature's less cool and majestic creatures: the outcasts and benchwarmers, more noteworthy for their "unconventional hygiene choices" and "unsavory courtship rituals." It's like <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/08/review-james-gunns-the-suicide-squad-is-like-the-boys-on-steroids/">The Suicide Squad</a> or <a href="https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/05/review-thunderbolts-is-a-refreshing-return-to-peak-marvel-form/">Thunderbolts*</a>, except these creatures actually exist. Per the official premise, "Underdogs features a range of never-before-filmed scenes, including the first time a film crew has ever entered a special cave in New Zealand—a huge cavern that glows brighter than a bachelor pad under a black light thanks to the glowing butts of millions of mucus-coated grubs. All over the world, overlooked superstars like this are out there 24/7, giving it maximum effort and keeping the natural world in working order for all those showboating polar bears, sharks and gorillas." It's rated PG-13 thanks to the odd bit of scatalogical humor and shots of Nature Sexy Time Each of the five episodes is built around a specific genre. "Superheroes" highlights the surprising superpowers of the honey badger, pistol shrimp, and the invisible glass frog, among others, augmented with comic book graphics; "Sexy Beasts" focuses on bizarre mating habits and follows the format of a romantic advice column; "Terrible Parents" highlights nature's worst practices, following the outline of a parenting guide; "Total Grossout" is exactly what it sounds like; and "The Unusual Suspects" is a heist tale, documenting the supposed efforts of a macaque to put together the ultimate team of masters of deception and disguise (an inside man, a decoy, a fall guy, etc.). Green Day even wrote and recorded <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6GHGvLFBKg">a special theme song</a> for the opening credits.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/delightfully-irreverent-underdogs-isnt-your-parents-nature-docuseries/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/delightfully-irreverent-underdogs-isnt-your-parents-nature-docuseries/#comments">Comments</a>

Biofuels policy has been a failure for the climate, new report claims

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 11:10:15 -0000

Report: An expansion of biofuels policy under Trump would lead to more greenhouse gas emissions.

This article originally appeared on <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13062025/agriculture-ethanol-biofuel-policy-climate-failure/">Inside Climate News</a>, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy, and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/">here</a>. The American Midwest is home to some of the richest, most productive farmland in the world, enabling its transformation into a vast corn- and soy-producing machine—a conversion spurred largely by decades-long policies that support the production of biofuels. But a <a href="https://www.wri.org/research/rethinking-biofuels-us-midwest">new report</a> takes a big swing at the ethanol orthodoxy of American agriculture, criticizing the industry for causing economic and social imbalances across rural communities and saying that the expansion of biofuels will increase greenhouse gas emissions, despite their purported climate benefits.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/biofuels-policy-has-been-a-failure-for-the-climate-new-report-claims/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/biofuels-policy-has-been-a-failure-for-the-climate-new-report-claims/#comments">Comments</a>

These VA Tech scientists are building a better fog harp

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 19:37:20 -0000

Combining vertical "strings" with periodic horizontal wires stops clogging and clumping, boosts efficiency.

<figure class="video ars-wp-video"> <div class="wrapper ars-wp-video-wrapper relative" style="aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777778;"> <video class="wp-video-shortcode absolute w-full h-full object-cover left-0 top-0" id="video-2100150-1" width="1920" height="1080" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/FogHarpLab-noAudio-opt.mp4?_=1"></source>A fog harp prototype collects water vapor. Credit: Virginia Tech</video> </div> <figcaption> <div class="caption font-impact dusk:text-gray-300 mb-4 mt-2 inline-flex flex-row items-stretch gap-1 text-base leading-tight text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-300"> <div class="caption-icon bg-[left_top_5px] w-[10px] shrink-0"></div> <div class="caption-content"> A fog harp prototype collects water vapor. Credit: Virginia Tech </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> Arid coastal regions that are also prone to fog are prime locations for fog-harvesting devices as a water source, especially during prolonged droughts. But the standard technology is prone to clogging. Scientists at Virginia Tech have created an improved version of their earlier "fog harp" alternative design to address that issue, according to a <a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/ta/d5ta02686e">new paper</a> published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A. Fog harvesting (or dew catching) is an ancient practice dating as far back as the Incas, who placed buckets under trees to collect condensation. It's also practiced by certain insects, notably Namib desert beetles, which survive on the water that condenses onto their wings. The wings have alternating hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions to enhance the condensation. Today's fog harvesters are usually mesh nets mounted onto frames with a trough or basin underneath. Like the beetle's wings, the mesh filaments are chemically coated to be either hydrophobic or hydrophilic. The efficiency of these water harvesters depends on decreasing the size of the filaments and the mesh holes. "If the holes were too big, the microscopic droplets would pass through it, and it wouldn't harvest much water," co-author James Kaindu, a student in researcher Jonathan Boreyko's lab at Virginia Tech, told Ars. The trade-off is that smaller filaments and holes are more prone to clogging. "If it was too small, the droplets would coalesce and create a water film on it," said Kaindu. "It would impede the flow and act as a barrier that would dramatically affect its capture efficiency."<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/these-va-tech-scientists-are-building-a-better-fog-harp/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/these-va-tech-scientists-are-building-a-better-fog-harp/#comments">Comments</a>

Rocket Report: New delay for Europe’s reusable rocket; SpaceX moves in at SLC-37

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 11:00:38 -0000

Canada is the only G7 nation without a launch program. Quebec wants to do something about that.

Welcome to Edition 7.48 of the Rocket Report! The shock of last week's public spat between President Donald Trump and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has worn off, and Musk expressed regret for some of his comments going after Trump on social media. Musk also backtracked from his threat to begin decommissioning the Dragon spacecraft, currently the only way for the US government to send people to the International Space Station. Nevertheless, there are many people who think Musk's attachment to Trump could end up putting the US space program at risk, and I'm not convinced that danger has passed. 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> Quebec invests in small launch company. The government of Quebec will invest CA$10 million ($7.3 million) into a Montreal-area company that is developing a system to launch small satellites into space, <a href="https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/national/quebec-to-invest-10m-in-company-developing-canadian-made-satellite-launch-technology/article_d986b3a5-d502-5da3-b985-775f101b12f4.html">The Canadian Press reports</a>. Quebec Premier François Legault announced the investment into Reaction Dynamics at the company's facility in Longueuil, a Montreal suburb. The province's economy minister, Christine Fréchette, said the investment will allow the company to begin launching microsatellites into orbit from Canada as early as 2027.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/06/rocket-report-new-delay-for-europes-reusable-rocket-spacex-moves-in-at-slc-37/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/06/rocket-report-new-delay-for-europes-reusable-rocket-spacex-moves-in-at-slc-37/#comments">Comments</a>

Experimental retina implants give mice infrared vision

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 11:08:21 -0000

A light-sensitive wire mesh implanted in the retina helps restore nerve impulses.

Human vision relies on photoreceptor cells in the retina that react to visible light and trigger neurons in the optic nerve to send signals to the brain. Degradation of these photoreceptors is the leading cause of vision impairments, including blindness. However, a team of scientists at China’s Fudan University has recently built prototype retinal implants that can replace the failing photoreceptors and potentially provide infrared vision as a bonus. Sadly, they’ve only been tested in animals, so we’re still rather far away from making them work like Cyberpunk 2077-style eye augments. <h2>Vision on chip</h2> Earlier work on retinal implants that restored at least some degree of vision to the blind involved using electrode arrays that electrically stimulated neurons in the back of the retina, taking the place of the damaged photoreceptor cells. A patient had to wear a camera mounted on a pair of glasses that sent signals to the implant to activate this signaling. These implants required a power source to work, were unreliable, difficult to use, and had limited resolution, and the surgical procedure necessary to put them in the eye was extremely complicated.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/experimental-retina-implants-give-mice-infrared-vision/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/experimental-retina-implants-give-mice-infrared-vision/#comments">Comments</a>

Scientists built a badminton-playing robot with AI-powered skills

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 11:15:20 -0000

A lower-latency visual system might be needed to make the robot more competitive.

5 things in Trump’s budget that won’t make NASA great again

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 11:05:55 -0000

These are things NASA should be doing if it's going to be reborn as an exploration agency.

If signed into law as written, the White House's proposal to slash nearly 25 percent from NASA's budget would have some dire consequences. It would cut the agency's budget from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion. Adjusted for inflation, this would be the smallest NASA budget since 1961, when the first American launched into space. The proposed funding plan would halve NASA's funding for robotic science missions and technology development next year, scale back research on the International Space Station, turn off spacecraft already exploring the Solar System, and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/05/if-congress-actually-cancels-the-sls-rocket-what-happens-next/">cancel NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft</a> after two more missions in favor of procuring lower-cost commercial transportation to the Moon and Mars.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/5-things-in-trumps-budget-that-wont-make-nasa-great-again/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/5-things-in-trumps-budget-that-wont-make-nasa-great-again/#comments">Comments</a>

Ocean acidification crosses “planetary boundaries”

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 13:54:32 -0000

Crisis facing the world's marine ecosystems is getting worse.

A critical measure of the ocean’s health suggests that the world’s marine systems are in greater peril than scientists had previously realized and that parts of the ocean have already reached dangerous tipping points. A study, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.70238">published Monday</a> in the journal Global Change Biology, found that ocean acidification—the process in which the world’s oceans absorb excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, becoming more acidic—crossed a “planetary boundary” five years ago. “A lot of people think it’s not so bad,” said Nina Bednaršek, one of the study’s authors and a senior researcher at Oregon State University. “But what we’re showing is that all of the changes that were projected, and even more so, are already happening—in all corners of the world, from the most pristine to the little corner you care about. We have not changed just one bay, we have changed the whole ocean on a global level.”<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/ocean-acidification-crosses-planetary-boundaries/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/ocean-acidification-crosses-planetary-boundaries/#comments">Comments</a>

IBM now describing its first error-resistant quantum compute system

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 12:51:03 -0000

Company is moving past focus on qubits, shifting to functional compute units.

On Tuesday, IBM released its plans for building a system that should push quantum computing into entirely new territory: a system that can both perform useful calculations while catching and fixing errors and be utterly impossible to model using classical computing methods. The hardware, which will be called Starling, is expected to be able to perform 100 million operations without error on a collection of 200 logical qubits. And the company expects to have it available for use in 2029. Perhaps just as significant, IBM is also committing to a detailed description of the intermediate steps to Starling. These include a number of processors that will be configured to host a collection of error-corrected qubits, essentially forming a functional compute unit. This marks a major transition for the company, as it involves moving away from talking about collections of individual hardware qubits and focusing instead on units of functional computational hardware. If all goes well, it should be possible to build Starling by chaining a sufficient number of these compute units together. "We're updating [our roadmap] now with a series of deliverables that are very precise," IBM VP Jay Gambetta told Ars, "because we feel that we've now answered basically all the science questions associated with error correction and it's becoming more of a path towards an engineering problem."<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/ibm-is-now-detailing-what-its-first-quantum-compute-system-will-look-like/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/ibm-is-now-detailing-what-its-first-quantum-compute-system-will-look-like/#comments">Comments</a>

The nine-armed octopus and the oddities of the cephalopod nervous system

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 12:00:55 -0000

A mix of autonomous and top-down control manage the octopus's limbs.

With their quick-change camouflage and high level of intelligence, it’s not surprising that the public and scientific experts alike <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/10/us-government-considers-protecting-octopuses-used-in-research/">are fascinated</a> by octopuses. Their abilities to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20563906/">recognize faces</a>, <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4803207/">solve puzzles,</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16801504/">learn behaviors</a> from other octopuses make these animals a captivating study. To perform these processes and others, like crawling or exploring, octopuses rely on their complex nervous system, one that has become a focus for neuroscientists. With about <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16801504/">500 million neurons</a>—around the same number <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8988249/#:~:text=The%20three%20main%20parts%20of,fifths%20of%20the%20octopus's%20neurons.">as dogs</a>—octopuses’ nervous systems are the <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8988249/#:~:text=The%20three%20main%20parts%20of,fifths%20of%20the%20octopus's%20neurons.">most complex</a> of any invertebrate. But, unlike vertebrate organisms, the octopus’s nervous system is also decentralized, with around <a href="http://octopus.huji.ac.il/site/articles/Hochner-2004.pdf">350 million neurons</a>, or 66 percent of it, located in its eight arms. “This means each arm is capable of independently processing sensory input, initiating movement, and even executing complex behaviors—without direct instructions from the brain,” explains <a href="https://engineering.msu.edu/faculty/Galit-Pelled">Galit Pelled</a>, a professor of Mechanical Engineering, Radiology, and Neuroscience at Michigan State University who studies octopus neuroscience. “In essence, the arms have their own ‘mini-brains.’”<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/the-nine-armed-octopus-and-the-oddities-of-the-cephalopod-nervous-system/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/the-nine-armed-octopus-and-the-oddities-of-the-cephalopod-nervous-system/#comments">Comments</a>

Simulations find ghostly whirls of dark matter trailing galaxy arms

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 17:42:16 -0000

Simulations suggest where we might look for the mystery material.

Galaxies are far more than the sum of their stars. Long before stars even formed, dark matter clumped up and drew regular matter together with its gravity, providing the invisible scaffolding upon which stars and galaxies eventually grew. Today, nearly all galaxies are still embedded in giant “halos” of dark matter that extend far beyond their visible borders and hold them together, anchoring stars that move so quickly they would otherwise break out of their galaxy’s gravitational grip and spend their lives adrift in intergalactic space. The way dark matter and stars interact influences how galaxies change over time. But until recently, scientists had mainly only examined one side of that relationship, exploring the way dark matter pulls on normal matter.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/simulations-find-ghostly-whirls-of-dark-matter-trailing-galaxy-arms/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/simulations-find-ghostly-whirls-of-dark-matter-trailing-galaxy-arms/#comments">Comments</a>

A Japanese lander crashed on the Moon after losing track of its location

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 17:30:15 -0000

"It’s not impossible, so how do we overcome our hurdles?"

A robotic lander developed by a Japanese company named ispace plummeted to the Moon's surface Thursday, destroying a small rover and several experiments intended to demonstrate how future missions could mine and harvest lunar resources. Ground teams at ispace's mission control center in Tokyo lost contact with the Resilience lunar lander moments before it was supposed to touch down in a region called Mare Frigoris, or the Sea of Cold, a basaltic plain in the Moon's northern hemisphere. A few hours later, ispace officials confirmed what many observers suspected. The mission was lost. It's the second time ispace has failed to land on the Moon in as many tries.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/06/a-japanese-lander-crashed-on-the-moon-after-losing-track-of-its-location/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/06/a-japanese-lander-crashed-on-the-moon-after-losing-track-of-its-location/#comments">Comments</a>

Cambridge mapping project solves a medieval murder

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 16:21:43 -0000

“A tale of shakedowns, sex, and vengeance that expose[s] tensions between the church and England’s elite."

<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/01/addictive-interactive-murder-map-lets-you-explore-medieval-london-crime/">In 2019</a>, we told you about <a href="https://www.vrc.crim.cam.ac.uk/vrcresearch/london-medieval-murder-map">a new interactive digital "murder map"</a> of London compiled by University of Cambridge criminologist Manuel Eisner. Drawing on data catalogued in the city coroners' rolls, the map showed the approximate location of 142 homicide cases in late medieval London. The Medieval Murder Maps project has since expanded to include maps of York and Oxford homicides, as well as podcast episodes focusing on individual cases. It's easy to lose oneself down the rabbit hole of medieval murder for hours, filtering the killings by year, choice of weapon, and location. Think of it as a kind of 14th-century version of Clue: It was the noblewoman's hired assassins armed with daggers in the streets of Cheapside near St. Paul's Cathedral. And that's just the juiciest of the various cases described in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10609-025-09512-7">a new paper</a> published in the journal Criminal Law Forum. The noblewoman was Ela Fitzpayne, wife of a knight named Sir Robert Fitzpayne, lord of Stogursey. The victim was a priest and her erstwhile lover, John Forde, who was stabbed to death in the streets of Cheapside on May 3, 1337. “We are looking at a murder commissioned by a leading figure of the English aristocracy," <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1085953?">said University of Cambridge criminologist Manuel Eisner</a>, who heads the Medieval Murder Maps project. "It is planned and cold-blooded, with a family member and close associates carrying it out, all of which suggests a revenge motive."<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/cold-case-files-the-medieval-murder-of-a-troublesome-priest/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/cold-case-files-the-medieval-murder-of-a-troublesome-priest/#comments">Comments</a>

Startup puts a logical qubit in a single piece of hardware

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 16:02:55 -0000

Nord Quantique's plan for error correction involves far less hardware.

Everyone in quantum computing agrees that error correction will be the key to doing a broad range of useful calculations. But early every company in the field seems to have a different vision of how best to get there. Almost all of their plans share a key feature: some variation on logical qubits built by linking together multiple hardware qubits. A key exception is <a href="https://nordquantique.ca/en">Nord Quantique</a>, which aims to dramatically cut the amount of hardware needed to support an error-corrected quantum computer. It does this by putting enough quantum states into a single piece of hardware, allowing each of those pieces to hold an error-corrected qubit. Last week, the company shared results showing that it could make hardware that used photons at two different frequencies to successfully identify every case where a logical qubit lost its state. That still doesn't provide complete error correction, and they didn't use the logical qubit to perform operations. But it's an important validation of the company's approach.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/startup-puts-a-logical-qubit-in-a-single-piece-of-hardware/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/startup-puts-a-logical-qubit-in-a-single-piece-of-hardware/#comments">Comments</a>

What solar? What wind? Texas data centers build their own gas power plants

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 15:58:49 -0000

Data center operators are turning away from the grid to build their own power plants.

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas—Abigail Lindsey worries the days of peace and quiet might be nearing an end at the rural, wooded property where she lives with her son. On the old ranch across the street, developers want to build an expansive complex of supercomputers for artificial intelligence, plus a large, private power plant to run it. The plant would be big enough to power a major city, with 1,200 megawatts of planned generation capacity fueled by West Texas shale gas. It will only supply the new data center, and possibly other large data centers recently <a href="https://www.sanmarcostx.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_06032025-4464">proposed</a>, down the road. “It just sucks,” Lindsey said, sitting on her deck in the shade of tall oak trees, outside the city of New Braunfels. “They’ve come in and will completely destroy our way of life: dark skies, quiet and peaceful.”<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/what-solar-what-wind-texas-data-centers-build-their-own-gas-power-plants/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/what-solar-what-wind-texas-data-centers-build-their-own-gas-power-plants/#comments">Comments</a>

US science is being wrecked, and its leadership is fighting the last war

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 22:00:16 -0000

Facing an extreme budget, the National Academies hosted an event that ignored it.

WASHINGTON, DC—The general outline of the Trump administration's proposed 2026 budget was released a few weeks back, and it included massive cuts for most agencies, including <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/05/trumps-2026-budget-proposal-crippling-cuts-for-science-across-the-board/">every one that funds scientific research</a>. Late last week, those agencies began releasing details of what the cuts would mean for the actual projects and people they support. And the results are as bad as the initial budget had suggested: one-of-a-kind scientific experiment facilities and hardware retired, massive cuts in supported scientists, and entire areas of research halted. And this comes in an environment where previously funded grants are being terminated, funding is being held up for ideological screening, and universities have been subjected to arbitrary funding freezes. Collectively, things are heading for damage to US science that will take decades to recover from. It's a radical break from the trajectory science had been on. That's the environment that the US's National Academies of Science found itself in yesterday while hosting the <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/44894_06-2025_the-state-of-the-science-address-2025">State of the Science</a> event in Washington, DC. It was an obvious opportunity for the nation's leading scientific organization to warn the nation of the consequences of the path that the current administration has been traveling. Instead, the event largely ignored the present to worry about a future that may never exist.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/us-science-is-being-wrecked-and-its-leadership-is-fighting-the-last-war/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/us-science-is-being-wrecked-and-its-leadership-is-fighting-the-last-war/#comments">Comments</a>

Are Dead Sea Scrolls older than we thought?

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 18:00:14 -0000

Combining radiocarbon dating and a new AI program called Enoch yields surprising results.

Over the years, scholars of the Dead Sea Scrolls have analyzed the ancient parchments with various methods: for example, X-rays, multispectral imaging, "virtual unfolding," and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeography">paleography</a>, i.e., studying elements in their writing styles. The scrolls are believed to date back to between the third century BCE and the first century CE, but those dates rely largely on paleography, since only a handful of the scrolls have calendar dates written on them. However, the traditional paleographic method is inherently subjective and based on a given scholar's experience. A team of scientists has combined radiocarbon dating from 24 scroll samples and machine-learning-based handwriting analysis to create their own AI program—dubbed Enoch. The objective was to achieve more accurate date estimates, according to a <a href="https://plos.io/44KpPfy">new paper</a> published in the journal PLoS ONE. Among the findings: Many of the scrolls are older than previously thought. As <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/05/scientists-discover-that-four-blank-dead-sea-scrolls-actually-have-text/">reported earlier</a>, these ancient Hebrew texts—roughly <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/emb_releases/2019-09/miot-htm083019.php">900 full and partial scrolls</a> in all, stored in clay jars—were first discovered scattered in various caves near what was once the settlement of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qumran_Caves">Qumran</a>, just north of the Dead Sea, by Bedouin shepherds in 1946–1947. (Apparently, a shepherd threw a rock while searching for a lost member of his flock and accidentally shattered one of the clay jars, leading to the discovery.) Qumran was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qumran">destroyed by the Romans</a>, circa 73 CE, and historians believe the scrolls were hidden in the caves by a sect called the Essenes to protect them from being destroyed. The natural limestone and conditions within the caves helped preserve the scrolls for millennia.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/are-dead-sea-scrolls-older-than-we-thought/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/are-dead-sea-scrolls-older-than-we-thought/#comments">Comments</a>

Science PhDs face a challenging and uncertain future

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 13:56:21 -0000

Smaller post-grad classes are likely due to research budget cuts.

Since the National Science Foundation first started collecting postgraduation data nearly 70 years ago, the number of PhDs awarded in the United States has consistently risen. Last year, more than 45,000 students <a href="https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf25300">earned</a> doctorates in science and engineering, about an eight-fold increase compared to 1958. But this level of production of science and engineering PhD students is now in question. Facing significant cuts to federal science funding, some universities have <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025/02/25/facing-nih-cuts-colleges-restrict-grad-student">reduced or paused</a> their PhD admissions for the upcoming academic year. In response, experts are beginning to wonder about the short and long-term effects those shifts will have on the number of doctorates awarded and the consequent <a href="https://undark.org/2025/05/01/opinion-shrinking-science-jenga/">impact on science</a> if PhD production does drop. Such questions touch on longstanding debates about academic labor. PhD training is a crucial part of nurturing scientific expertise. At the same time, some analysts have worried about an <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2021/06/22/how-phd-job-crisis-built-system-and-what-can-be-done-about-it-opinion">oversupply of PhDs</a> in some fields, while students have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2018/may/04/we-must-stop-universities-exploiting-the-unpaid-labour-of-phd-students">suggested</a> that universities are exploiting them as <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/oversupply-phds-threaten-american-science/">low-cost labor</a>.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/science-phds-face-a-challenging-and-uncertain-future/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/science-phds-face-a-challenging-and-uncertain-future/#comments">Comments</a>

Some parts of Trump’s proposed budget for NASA are literally draconian

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 16:25:17 -0000

"That's exactly the kind of thing that NASA should be concentrating its resources on."

New details of the Trump administration's plans for NASA, released Friday, revealed the White House's desire to end the development of an experimental nuclear thermal rocket engine that could have shown a new way of exploring the Solar System. Trump's NASA budget request is rife with spending cuts. Overall, the White House proposes reducing NASA's budget by about 24 percent, from $24.8 billion this year to $18.8 billion in fiscal year 2026. In previous stories, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/05/white-house-budget-seeks-to-end-sls-orion-and-lunar-gateway-programs/">Ars has covered many of the programs</a> impacted by the proposed cuts, which would cancel the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft and terminate numerous robotic science missions, including the Mars Sample Return, probes to Venus, and future space telescopes. Instead, the leftover funding for NASA's human exploration program would go toward supporting commercial projects to land on the Moon and Mars.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/06/some-parts-of-trumps-proposed-budget-for-nasa-are-literally-draconian/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/06/some-parts-of-trumps-proposed-budget-for-nasa-are-literally-draconian/#comments">Comments</a>

Milky Way galaxy might not collide with Andromeda after all

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 13:53:38 -0000

Astronomers ran 100,000 computer simulations using combined Hubble/Gaia space telescope data.

<div class="ars-video"><div class="relative" allow="fullscreen" loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o2x_31dE04s?start=0&wmode=transparent"></div><div class="caption font-impact dusk:text-gray-300 mb-4 mt-2 inline-flex flex-row items-stretch gap-1 text-base leading-tight text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-300"> <div class="caption-icon bg-[left_top_5px] w-[10px] shrink-0"></div> <div class="caption-content"> 100,000 computer simulations reveal Milky Way's fate—and it might not be what we thought. </div> </div> </div> It's been textbook knowledge for over a century that our Milky Way galaxy is doomed to collide with another large spiral galaxy, Andromeda, in the next 5 billion years and merge into one even bigger galaxy. But a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02563-1">fresh analysis</a> published in the journal Nature Astronomy is casting that longstanding narrative in a more uncertain light. The authors conclude that the likelihood of this collision and merger is closer to the odds of a coin flip, with a roughly 50 percent probability that the two galaxies will avoid such an event during the next 10 billion years. Both the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxies (M31) are part of what's known as the Local Group (LG), which also hosts other smaller galaxies (some not yet discovered) as well as dark matter (per the prevailing standard cosmological model). Both already have remnants of past mergers and interactions with other galaxies, according to the authors. "Predicting future mergers requires knowledge about the present coordinates, velocities, and masses of the systems partaking in the interaction," the authors wrote. That involves not just the gravitational force between them but also dynamical friction. It's the latter that dominates when galaxies are headed toward a merger, since it causes galactic orbits to decay.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/milky-way-galaxy-might-not-collide-with-andromeda-after-all/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/milky-way-galaxy-might-not-collide-with-andromeda-after-all/#comments">Comments</a>

Google can now generate a fake AI podcast of your search results

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 19:19:55 -0000

Because you wanted this, right?

NotebookLM is undoubtedly one of Google's best implementations of generative AI technology, giving you the ability to explore documents and notes with a Gemini AI model. Last year, Google added the ability to generate so-called "audio overviews" of your source material in NotebookLM. Now, Google has brought those <a href="https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/09/fake-ai-podcasters-are-reviewing-my-book-and-its-freaking-me-out/">fake AI podcasts</a> to search results as a test. Instead of clicking links or reading the AI Overview, you can have two nonexistent people <a href="https://blog.google/products/search/audio-overviews-search-labs/">tell you what the results say</a>. This feature is not currently rolling out widely—it's available in search labs, which means you have to <a href="https://labs.google.com/search/experiment/30">manually enable it</a>. Anyone can opt in to the new Audio Overview search experience, though. If you join the test, you'll quickly see the embedded player in Google search results. However, it's not at the top with the usual block of AI-generated text. Instead, you'll see it after the first few search results, below the "People also ask" knowledge graph section. <a href="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Audio-Overviews-search.jpg"><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Audio-Overviews-search.jpg" class="fullwidth full" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Audio-Overviews-search.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Audio-Overviews-search-640x360.jpg 640w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Audio-Overviews-search-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Audio-Overviews-search-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Audio-Overviews-search-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Audio-Overviews-search-384x216.jpg 384w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Audio-Overviews-search-1152x648.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Audio-Overviews-search-980x551.jpg 980w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Audio-Overviews-search-1440x810.jpg 1440w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px"> Credit: Google </a><a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/06/google-begins-testing-ai-powered-audio-overviews-in-search-results/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/06/google-begins-testing-ai-powered-audio-overviews-in-search-results/#comments">Comments</a>

Inside the firm turning eerie blank streaming ads into useful nonprofit messages

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 17:10:45 -0000

Nonprofits often can't afford ad space on streaming platforms.

<aside class="pullbox sidebar fullwidth">StreamTV Insider provided flights from New York City to Denver and two nights of accommodation so Ars could attend its StreamTV Show. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.</aside> DENVER—Ads shown while you're streaming shows or movies are disruptive enough. But there's something uniquely eerie about what you see when a connected TV (CTV) platform fails to sell ad inventory. You may get a black screen accompanied by ethereal music or a confusing thumping beat, alongside a graphic that says something like, "We'll be right back." Not only are streamers being forced to endure <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/amazon-prime-video-subscribers-sit-through-up-to-6-minutes-of-ads-per-hour/">more ad time than ever,</a> but that time doesn't even always benefit streaming platforms or advertisers. For the past six months, AdGood has been working to turn that blank, wasted ad space into messaging for good by helping nonprofits buy ad space for cheap. During the StreamTV Show in Denver this week, Ars spoke with Kris Johns, CEO and founder of <a href="https://www.adgood.org/about">AdGood</a>, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that sells unused, CTV ad space to other nonprofits. AdGood sells unfilled, sometimes donated, ad space at discounted rates, which <a href="https://www.adgood.org/">it says</a> can be as low as about $5 to $6 CPMs (cost per mille, or the amount an advertiser pays for every 1,000 impressions an ad earns). Johns said that CTV CPMs can vary depending on the scenario, with costs ranging from $12 to $15 and higher. Some CTV ad firms <a href="https://keynesdigital.com/ctv-advertising-rates/">peg</a> the average CTV CPM at <a href="https://keynesdigital.com/ctv-advertising-rates/">$35 to $65</a>.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/inside-the-firm-turning-eerie-blank-streaming-ads-into-useful-nonprofit-messages/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/inside-the-firm-turning-eerie-blank-streaming-ads-into-useful-nonprofit-messages/#comments">Comments</a>

Another one for the graveyard: Google to kill Instant Apps in December

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 16:32:16 -0000

It was a good idea that arrived too late to matter.

Apps used to be the measure of a mobile platform's worth, with Apple and Google dueling over who could list the most items in their respective stores. Today, the numbers don't matter as much—there are enough apps, and Google's attempt to replace parts of the web with apps is going away. <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/05/android-instant-apps-will-blur-the-lines-between-apps-and-mobile-sites/">Instant Apps</a>, a feature that debuted in 2017, will reportedly be scrapped in December 2025. In its place, you'll just have to use the Internet. Developer Leon Omelan spotted this news buried in the latest Canary release of Android Studio (confirmed by <a href="https://www.androidauthority.com/google-killing-android-instant-apps-3567211/">Android Authority</a>). The development client includes a warning that Instant Apps is headed for the Google graveyard. Here's the full notice, which is the only official confirmation from Google at this time. <img width="1932" height="302" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Google-killing-Instant-Apps.jpg" class="fullwidth full" alt="Instant apps notice" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Google-killing-Instant-Apps.jpg 1932w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Google-killing-Instant-Apps-640x100.jpg 640w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Google-killing-Instant-Apps-1024x160.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Google-killing-Instant-Apps-768x120.jpg 768w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Google-killing-Instant-Apps-1536x240.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Google-killing-Instant-Apps-980x153.jpg 980w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Google-killing-Instant-Apps-1440x225.jpg 1440w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1932px) 100vw, 1932px"> Google's latest Android Studio build announces the end of Instant Apps. Credit: Android Authority Instant Apps wasn't a bad idea—it was just too late. Early in the mobile era, browsers and websites were sluggish on phones, making apps a much better option. Installing them for every site that offered them could be a pain, though. Google's Instant Apps tried to smooth over the experience by delivering an app live without installation. When developers implemented the feature, clicking a link to their websites could instead open the Android app in a similar amount of time as loading a webpage. Google later <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/03/the-play-store-gets-a-try-now-button-for-games-no-install-required/">expanded the feature</a> to games.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/another-one-for-the-graveyard-google-to-kill-instant-apps-in-december/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/another-one-for-the-graveyard-google-to-kill-instant-apps-in-december/#comments">Comments</a>

AI Overviews hallucinates that Airbus, not Boeing, involved in fatal Air India crash

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 18:25:24 -0000

Google's disclaimer says AI "may include mistakes," which is an understatement.

When major events occur, most people rush to Google to find information. Increasingly, the first thing they see is an AI Overview, a feature that already has a <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/05/googles-ai-overview-can-give-false-misleading-and-dangerous-answers/">reputation for making glaring mistakes</a>. In the wake of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/12/world/india-plane-crash-ahmedabad">tragic plane crash in India</a>, Google's AI search results are spreading misinformation claiming the incident involved an Airbus plane—it was actually a Boeing 787. Travelers are more attuned to the airliner models these days after a spate of <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/03/initial-findings-put-boeings-software-at-center-of-ethiopian-737-crash/">crashes involving Boeing's 737 lineup</a> several years ago. Searches for airline disasters are sure to skyrocket in the coming days, with reports that more than 200 passengers and crew lost their lives in the Air India Flight 171 crash. <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/07/a-jargon-free-explanation-of-how-ai-large-language-models-work/">The way generative AI operates</a> means some people searching for details may get the wrong impression from Google's results page. Not all searches get AI answers, but Google has been steadily <a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/05/zero-click-searches-googles-ai-tools-are-the-culmination-of-its-hubris/">expanding this feature</a> since it debuted last year. One searcher on Reddit <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/artificial/comments/1l9lymm/google_is_showing_it_was_an_airbus_aircraft_that/">spotted a troubling confabulation</a> when searching for crashes involving Airbus planes. AI Overviews, apparently overwhelmed with results reporting on the Air India crash, stated confidently (and incorrectly) that it was an Airbus A330 that fell out of the sky shortly after takeoff. We've run a few similar searches—some of the AI results say Boeing, some say Airbus, and some include a strange mashup of both Airbus and Boeing. It's a mess.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/06/google-ai-mistakenly-says-fatal-air-india-crash-involved-airbus-instead-of-boeing/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/06/google-ai-mistakenly-says-fatal-air-india-crash-involved-airbus-instead-of-boeing/#comments">Comments</a>

Google left months-old dark mode bug in Android 16, fix planned for next Pixel Drop

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 16:51:02 -0000

Despite introducing the bug in March, it may be September before Google fixes it.

Google's Pixel phones got a big update this week with the <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/android-16-begins-rolling-out-today-to-pixel-devices/">release of Android 16</a> and a batch of Pixel Drop features. Pixels now have enhanced security, new contact features, and improved button navigation. However, some of the most interesting features, like desktop windowing and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/google-reveals-vibrant-material-3-expressive-coming-soon-to-a-pixel-near-you/">Material 3 Expressive</a>, are coming later. Another thing that's coming later, it seems, is a fix for an annoying bug Google introduced a few months back. Google broke the system dark mode schedule <a href="https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/329802543/schedule-dark-theme-is-not-working?hl=en">in its March Pixel update</a> and did not address it in time for Android 16. The company confirms a fix is coming, though. The system-level dark theme arrives in Android 10 to offer a less eye-searing option, which is particularly handy in dark environments. It took a while for even Google's apps to fully adopt this feature, but support is solid five years later. Google even offers a scheduling feature to switch between light and dark mode at custom times or based on sunrise/sunset. However, the scheduling feature was busted in the March update.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/google-left-months-old-dark-mode-bug-in-android-16-fix-planned-for-next-pixel-drop/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/google-left-months-old-dark-mode-bug-in-android-16-fix-planned-for-next-pixel-drop/#comments">Comments</a>

Amazon Prime Video subscribers sit through up to 6 minutes of ads per hour

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 11:20:31 -0000

AdWeek report claims gradual uptick in ad load, which ad buyers confirm is growing.

Amazon forced all Prime Video subscribers onto a <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/amazon-jacks-up-price-of-ad-free-prime-video-by-2-99-starting-in-2024/">new ad-based subscription tier</a> in January 2024 unless users paid more for their subscription type. Now, the tech giant is reportedly showing twice as many ads to subscribers as it did when it started selling ad-based streaming subscriptions. Currently, anyone who signs up for Amazon Prime (which is $15 per month or $139 per year) gets Prime Video with ads. If they don’t want to see commercials, they have to pay an extra $3 per month. One can also subscribe to Prime Video alone for $9 per month with ads or $12 per month without ads. When Amazon originally announced the ad tier, it said it would deliver “meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers." Based on “six ad buyers and documents” ad trade publication <a href="https://www.adweek.com/media/amazon-doubles-prime-video-ad-load/">AdWeek</a> reported viewing, Amazon has determined the average is four to six minutes of advertisements per hour.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/amazon-prime-video-subscribers-sit-through-up-to-6-minutes-of-ads-per-hour/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/amazon-prime-video-subscribers-sit-through-up-to-6-minutes-of-ads-per-hour/#comments">Comments</a>

Apple’s Craig Federighi on the long road to the iPad’s Mac-like multitasking

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 22:20:40 -0000

Federighi talks to Ars about why the iPad's Mac-style multitasking took so long.

CUPERTINO, Calif.—When Apple Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi introduced the new multitasking UI in <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apple-aims-for-more-personal-and-expressive-ios-26-with-new-liquid-glass-design/">iPadOS 26</a> at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference this week, he did it the same way he introduced the Calculator app for the iPad last year or timers in the iPad's Clock app <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/ipados-18-could-ship-with-built-in-calculator-app-after-14-calculator-less-years/">the year before</a>—with a hint of sarcasm. "Wow," Federighi enthuses in a lightly exaggerated tone about an hour and 19 minutes into <a href="https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/101/">a 90-minute presentation</a>. "More windows, a pointier pointer, and a menu bar? Who would've thought? We've truly pulled off a mind-blowing release!" This elicits a sensible chuckle from the gathered audience of developers, media, and Apple employees watching the keynote on the Apple Park campus, where I have grabbed myself a good-but-not-great seat to watch the largely pre-recorded keynote on a gigantic outdoor screen.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apples-craig-federighi-on-the-long-road-to-the-ipads-mac-like-multitasking/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apples-craig-federighi-on-the-long-road-to-the-ipads-mac-like-multitasking/#comments">Comments</a>

HP reveals first Google Beam 3D video conferencing setup, priced at $25,000

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 16:17:32 -0000

The giant 3D video chat system also requires a Google Beam license for cloud processing.

Amid all the <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/gemini-2-5-is-leaving-preview-just-in-time-for-googles-new-250-ai-subscription/">Gemini hype</a> at Google I/O last month, the company also turned one of its experiments into a (kind of) real product. <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/10/google-is-serious-about-its-giant-video-chat-booths-starts-real-world-testing/">Project Starline</a> was reborn as Google Beam, a 3D video conferencing system that makes it look like you're in the same room with the other party. Google said HP would reveal the first Beam setup, and now it has. The HP Dimension is coming this year, and the price tag is a predictably hefty $24,999. Google Beam calls for a lot of advanced hardware, so the high price isn't a surprise. The HP Dimension uses six high-speed cameras positioned around the display to capture the speaker from multiple angles. This visual data is then fed into Google's proprietary volumetric video model, which merges the streams together into a 3D reconstruction of the speaker. Eventually, there will be Beam systems of various sizes, but the HP model comes with a big 65-inch display. All Beam systems will use light field screen technology, which can show the volumetric model in 3D, eliminating the need to wear a headset or glasses for the 3D effect. Google says Beam can show minute details at 60 fps with millimeter-scale precision.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/hp-reveals-first-google-beam-3d-video-conferencing-setup-priced-at-25000/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/hp-reveals-first-google-beam-3d-video-conferencing-setup-priced-at-25000/#comments">Comments</a>

Android 16 is here, but the cool stuff is coming later

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 18:00:07 -0000

Android 16 arrives with a few new goodies, but the big changes are still cooking.

After months of speculation and beta testing, Google is <a href="https://blog.google/products/android/android-16">rolling out Android 16</a> starting today. The new software will arrive first on Pixel phones, but you can expect to see updates on other phones in the coming weeks—or more likely months. For those with Pixel devices, the OTA should begin appearing soon. If you just can't wait, Google will have <a href="https://developers.google.com/android/images">system images</a> and <a href="https://developers.google.com/android/ota">update files</a> on its developer pages. You probably don't need to get up in arms about potential delays, though. Like other recent Android updates, there aren't many changes bundled into this version. Many of the most interesting changes are coming later this year. <h2>Android 16 has landed</h2> Despite the light feature set at launch, there are a few things of note. Right at the top of the list is a cleaner notification shade. Google launched bundled notifications in Android 7.0 Nougat, which has helped to clean up phones ever since. With Android 16, Google is stepping up notification bundling by forcing it on apps. Now, multiple notifications from a single app will be merged together into a single expandable item. Neat.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/android-16-begins-rolling-out-today-to-pixel-devices/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/android-16-begins-rolling-out-today-to-pixel-devices/#comments">Comments</a>

A history of the Internet, part 2: The high-tech gold rush begins

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 11:00:21 -0000

The Web Era arrives, the browser wars flare, and a bubble bursts.

In 1965, Ted Nelson submitted a <a href="https://archive.org/details/hartoriginal1965/mode/2up">paper</a> to the Association for Computing Machinery. He wrote: “Let me introduce the word ‘hypertext’ to mean a body of written or pictorial material interconnected in such a complex way that it could not conveniently be presented or represented on paper.” The paper was part of a grand vision he called Xanadu, after the poem by Samuel Coleridge. A decade later, in his book “Dream Machines/Computer Lib,” he described Xanadu thusly: “To give you a screen in your home from which you can see into the world’s hypertext libraries.” He admitted that the world didn’t have any hypertext libraries yet, but that wasn’t the point. One day, maybe soon, it would. And he was going to dedicate his life to making it happen. As the Internet grew, it became more and more difficult to find things on it. There were lots of cool documents like the <a href="http://www.textfiles.com/internet/hitchhik.gui">Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Internet</a>, but to read them, you first had to know where they were.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/a-history-of-the-internet-part-2-the-high-tech-gold-rush-begins/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/a-history-of-the-internet-part-2-the-high-tech-gold-rush-begins/#comments">Comments</a>

Apple details the end of Intel Mac support and a phaseout for Rosetta 2

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 22:37:17 -0000

Rosetta app translation features for Intel apps won't stay around indefinitely.

The support list for macOS Tahoe still includes Intel Macs, but it has been whittled down to just four models, all released in 2019 or 2020. We speculated that this meant that the end was near for Intel Macs, and now we can confirm just how near it is: macOS Tahoe will be the last new macOS release to support any Intel Macs. All new releases starting with macOS 27 will require an Apple Silicon Mac. Apple will provide additional security updates for Tahoe until fall 2028, two years after it is replaced with macOS 27. That's a typical schedule for older macOS versions, which all get one year of major point updates that include security fixes and new features, followed by two years of security-only updates to keep them patched but without adding significant new features. Apple is also planning changes to Rosetta 2, the Intel-to-Arm app translation technology created to ease the transition between the Intel and Apple Silicon eras. Rosetta will continue to work as a general-purpose app translation tool in both macOS 26 and macOS 27.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apple-details-the-end-of-intel-mac-support-and-a-phaseout-for-rosetta-2/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apple-details-the-end-of-intel-mac-support-and-a-phaseout-for-rosetta-2/#comments">Comments</a>

Apple drops support for just three iPhone and iPad models from iOS and iPadOS 26

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 19:42:08 -0000

Not every device stays supported, but it's a fairly light year for casualties.

Every year, Apple releases new versions of iOS and iPadOS, and most years those updates also end support for a handful of devices that are too old or too slow or otherwise incapable of running the new software. Though this year's macOS 26 Tahoe release was unkind to Intel Macs, the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 releases are more generous, dropping support for just two iPhone models and a single iPad. The iOS 26 update won't run on 2018's iPhone XR or XS, and iPadOS 26 won't run on 2019's 7th-generation iPad. Any other device that can currently run iOS or iPadOS 18 will be able to upgrade to the new versions and pick up the new Liquid Glass look, among other features. <figure> <img decoding="async" width="1024" height="742" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.18.35%E2%80%AFPM-1024x742.png" class="ars-gallery-image" alt="" loading="lazy" aria-labelledby="caption-2099942" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.18.35 PM-1024x742.png 1024w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.18.35 PM-640x464.png 640w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.18.35 PM-768x557.png 768w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.18.35 PM-980x710.png 980w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.18.35 PM.png 1380w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"> <figcaption> <div class="caption font-impact dusk:text-gray-300 mb-4 mt-2 inline-flex flex-row items-stretch gap-1 text-base leading-tight text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-300"> <div class="caption-icon bg-[left_top_5px] w-[10px] shrink-0"></div> <div class="caption-content"> Everything that runs iOS 26. Credit: Apple </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> <figure> <img decoding="async" width="1024" height="642" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.19.00%E2%80%AFPM-1024x642.png" class="ars-gallery-image" alt="" loading="lazy" aria-labelledby="caption-2099941" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.19.00 PM-1024x642.png 1024w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.19.00 PM-640x401.png 640w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.19.00 PM-768x481.png 768w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.19.00 PM-980x614.png 980w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.19.00 PM.png 1340w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"> <figcaption> <div class="caption font-impact dusk:text-gray-300 mb-4 mt-2 inline-flex flex-row items-stretch gap-1 text-base leading-tight text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-300"> <div class="caption-icon bg-[left_top_5px] w-[10px] shrink-0"></div> <div class="caption-content"> Everything that runs iPadOS 26. Credit: Apple </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> Apple never provides explicit reasoning for why it drops the devices it drops, though they can usually be explained by some combination of age and technical capability. The 7th-gen iPad, for example, was still using a 2017-vintage Apple A10X chip despite being introduced a number of years later.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/ios-and-ipados-26-will-run-on-most-things-that-support-ios-and-ipados-18/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/ios-and-ipados-26-will-run-on-most-things-that-support-ios-and-ipados-18/#comments">Comments</a>

macOS Tahoe signals that the end is near for Intel Macs, dumping all but four models

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 18:58:22 -0000

All Intel MacBook Airs and Mac minis are gone; just a few other models remain.

Apple's new <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apples-macos-26-tahoe-has-new-liquid-glass-look-customizable-folders-and-more/">macOS Tahoe release</a> isn't the end of the road for Intel Macs, but it sends Apple's clearest signal yet that it's nearly finished with the Intel Mac era. The macOS 26 update will support just four Intel Macs, all released in 2019 or 2020, and it entirely drops support for all Intel versions of the MacBook Air and Mac mini. Other models that run the current macOS 15 Sequoia release that won't support macOS Tahoe include all 15-inch MacBook Pros, all 13-inch MacBook Pros with two Thunderbolt ports, and the 4K and 5K versions of the 2019 iMac. <img width="1900" height="920" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-11.36.19%E2%80%AFAM.png" class="fullwidth full" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-11.36.19 AM.png 1900w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-11.36.19 AM-640x310.png 640w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-11.36.19 AM-1024x496.png 1024w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-11.36.19 AM-768x372.png 768w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-11.36.19 AM-1536x744.png 1536w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-11.36.19 AM-980x475.png 980w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-11.36.19 AM-1440x697.png 1440w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1900px) 100vw, 1900px"> The compatibility list for macOS 26 Tahoe. Credit: Apple Apple has generally been <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/06/the-case-for-and-against-macos-15-sequoia-being-the-final-release-for-intel-macs/">pulling support for new macOS releases</a> from Intel Macs more aggressively than it was in the mid-to-late 2010s, giving most systems six-ish years of new macOS releases followed by another two years of security updates. Some models fared better than others; for example, Intel MacBook Air models have been getting dropped more aggressively than MacBook Pros.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/macos-tahoe-signals-that-the-end-is-near-for-intel-macs-dumping-all-but-four-models/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/macos-tahoe-signals-that-the-end-is-near-for-intel-macs-dumping-all-but-four-models/#comments">Comments</a>

Apple’s macOS 26 Tahoe has new Liquid Glass look, customizable folders, and more

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 18:34:25 -0000

New OS also makes big additions to Shortcuts and Spotlight search.

Apple unveiled the next version of macOS today during the Worldwide Developers Conference. Codenamed Tahoe, macOS 26 gets a visual refresh with the same "Liquid Glass" look that Apple is introducing across all of its operating systems this year. Apple has also changed the version number, jumping directly from version 14 to version 26 as it shifts to unified year-based version numbering across all of its operating systems. Liquid Glass goes all-in on translucency and transparency, changing the look of icons and windows across the operating system. Most significantly, the macOS menu bar has become entirely invisible, and the Control Center has adopted a new, glassy, translucent appearance. The same color-tinting customization features available on iOS and iPadOS are coming to the Mac this year, giving users multiple customization options on top of the standard light and dark modes and accent colors. <img width="2560" height="1440" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.56.51.jpg" class="fullwidth full" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.56.51.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.56.51-640x360.jpg 640w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.56.51-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.56.51-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.56.51-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.56.51-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.56.51-384x216.jpg 384w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.56.51-1152x648.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.56.51-980x551.jpg 980w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.56.51-1440x810.jpg 1440w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px"> The invisible menu bar and glassy Control Center in macOS Tahoe. Credit: Apple The new look will probably define the release in the minds of most users, but it's bringing the standard handful of new features and refinements across the built-in apps. For the Finder, folders can be customized with colors and emoji labels to help them stand out from a big list of folders.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apples-macos-26-tahoe-has-new-liquid-glass-look-customizable-folders-and-more/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apples-macos-26-tahoe-has-new-liquid-glass-look-customizable-folders-and-more/#comments">Comments</a>

YouTube will “protect free expression” by pulling back on content moderation

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 17:56:56 -0000

YouTube says it is still committed to preventing harm.

YouTube videos may be getting a bit more pernicious soon. Google's dominant video platform has spent years removing discriminatory and conspiracy content from its platform in accordance with its usage guidelines, but the site is now reportedly adopting a lighter-touch approach to moderation. A higher bar for content removal will allow more potentially inflammatory content to remain up in the "public interest." YouTube has previously attracted the ire of conservatives for its <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/10/youtube-cracks-down-on-qanon-conspiracists/">removal of QAnon and anti-vaccine content</a>. According to The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/technology/youtube-videos-content-moderation.html">New York Times</a>, YouTube's content moderators have been provided with new guidelines and training on how to handle the deluge of provocative content on the platform. The changes urge reviewers to pull back on removing certain videos, a continuation of a trend not just at YouTube, but on numerous platforms that host user-created content. Beginning late last year, YouTube began informing moderators they should err on the side of caution when removing videos that are in the public interest. That includes user uploads that discuss issues like elections, race, gender, sexuality, abortion, immigration, and censorship. Previously, YouTube's policy told moderators to remove videos if one-quarter or more of the content violated policies. Now, the exception cutoff has been increased to half. In addition, staff are now told to bring issues to managers if they are uncertain rather than removing the content themselves.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/youtube-adopts-looser-moderation-policy-for-videos-about-elections-gender-and-more/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/youtube-adopts-looser-moderation-policy-for-videos-about-elections-gender-and-more/#comments">Comments</a>

Apple targets “more personal and expressive” iOS 26 with new Liquid Glass design

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 17:39:32 -0000

Apple also detailed iPadOS 26 with tiling.

At the Worldwide Developers Conference today, Apple unveiled iOS 26, its next iPhone operating system (OS), which is centered on Apple's new Liquid Glass design for its software platform. Available across Apple's other upcoming OSes, like <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apples-macos-26-tahoe-has-new-liquid-glass-look-customizable-folders-and-more/">macOS 26 Tahoe</a>, Liquid Glass aims to make the software look and operate as if it has glass edges. You can see this approach throughout iOS 26 in things like the app icon's appearance, which includes softer edges and the option to be translucent. <a href="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.12.11.jpg"><img width="300" height="300" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.12.11-e1749491218409-300x300.jpg" class="none thumbnail" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.12.11-e1749491218409-300x300.jpg 300w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.12.11-e1749491218409-500x500.jpg 500w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.12.11-e1749491218409-1000x1000.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.12.11-e1749491218409-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-09-at-12.12.11-e1749491218409-600x600.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px"> </a><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apple-aims-for-more-personal-and-expressive-ios-26-with-new-liquid-glass-design/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apple-aims-for-more-personal-and-expressive-ios-26-with-new-liquid-glass-design/#comments">Comments</a>

US air traffic control still runs on Windows 95 and floppy disks

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 15:36:15 -0000

Agency seeks contractors to modernize decades-old systems within four years.

On Wednesday, acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CIYNZJoosc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the House Appropriations Committee that the Federal Aviation Administration plans to replace its aging air traffic control systems, which still rely on floppy disks and Windows 95 computers, Tom's Hardware <a href="https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/the-faa-seeks-to-eliminate-floppy-disk-usage-in-air-traffic-control-systems">reports</a>. The agency has issued a Request For Information to gather proposals from companies willing to tackle the massive infrastructure overhaul. "The whole idea is to replace the system. No more floppy disks or paper strips," Rocheleau said during the committee hearing. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the project "the most important infrastructure project that we've had in this country for decades," describing it as a bipartisan priority. Most air traffic control towers and facilities across the US currently operate with technology that seems frozen in the 20th century, although that isn't necessarily a bad thing—when it works. Some controllers currently use <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_progress_strip" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paper strips</a> to track aircraft movements and transfer data between systems using floppy disks, while their computers run Microsoft's <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/windows-95-turns-20-and-ars-reminisces-on-a-simpler-age-long-gone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Windows 95</a> operating system, which launched in 1995.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/06/faa-to-retire-floppy-disks-and-windows-95-amid-air-traffic-control-overhaul/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/06/faa-to-retire-floppy-disks-and-windows-95-amid-air-traffic-control-overhaul/#comments">Comments</a>

Full-screen Xbox handheld UI is coming to all Windows PCs “starting next year”

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 15:20:12 -0000

Microsoft has been experimenting with "handheld mode" for Windows 11 since 2022.

One weakness of Valve's Steam Deck gaming handheld and SteamOS is that, by default, they will only run Windows games from Steam that are supported by the platform's Proton compatibility layer (plus the subset of games that run natively on Linux). It's possible to install alternative game stores, and Proton's compatibility is generally impressive, but SteamOS still isn't a true drop-in replacement for Windows. Microsoft and Asus' <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/06/microsoft-dives-into-the-handheld-gaming-pc-wars-with-the-asus-rog-xbox-ally/">co-developed ROG Xbox Ally</a> is trying to offer PC gamers a more comprehensive compatibility solution that also preserves a SteamOS-like handheld UI by putting a new Xbox-branded user interface on top of traditional Windows. And while this interface will roll out to the ROG Xbox Ally first, Microsoft <a href="https://www.theverge.com/news/682011/microsoft-windows-xbox-pc-combination-features-rog-xbox-ally-devices">told The Verge</a> that the interface would come to other Ally handhelds next and that something "similar" would be "rolling out to other Windows handhelds starting next year." Bringing a Steam Deck-style handheld-optimized user interface to Windows is something Microsoft has been experimenting with internally since at least 2022, when employees at an internal hackathon identified most of Windows' handheld deficiencies in a slide deck about a proposed "<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/04/handheld-mode-for-windows-could-make-it-work-better-on-steam-deck-style-pcs/">Windows Handheld Mode</a>."<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/06/full-screen-xbox-handheld-ui-is-coming-to-all-windows-pcs-starting-next-year/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/06/full-screen-xbox-handheld-ui-is-coming-to-all-windows-pcs-starting-next-year/#comments">Comments</a>

Warner Bros. Discovery makes still more changes, will split streaming, TV business

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 13:13:23 -0000

Yet another streaming giant chooses to separate television from streaming.

Warner Bros. Discovery will split its business into two publicly traded companies, with one focused on its streaming and studios business and the other on its television network businesses, including CNN and Discovery. The US media giant said the move would unlock value for shareholders as well as create opportunities for both businesses, breaking up a group created just three years ago from the merger of Warner Media and Discovery. Warner Bros. Discovery last year revealed its intent to split its business in two, a plan first reported by the Financial Times in July last year. The company intends to complete the split by the middle of next year.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/warner-bros-discovery-makes-still-more-changes-will-split-streaming-tv-business/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/warner-bros-discovery-makes-still-more-changes-will-split-streaming-tv-business/#comments">Comments</a>

Bill Atkinson, architect of the Mac’s graphical soul, dies at 74

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 12:30:47 -0000

Creator of MacPaint, HyperCard, and pull-down menus shaped modern computing.

On Thursday, pioneering computer engineer and Apple veteran William "Bill" Atkinson died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Portola Valley, California, surrounded by family. He was 74. "We regret to write that our beloved husband, father, and stepfather Bill Atkinson passed away," <a href="https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10238073579963378&id=1378467145&_rdr">his family wrote on Facebook</a>. "He was a remarkable person, and the world will be forever different because he lived in it." As Apple employee No. 51, Atkinson transformed abstract computer science into intuitive visual experiences that millions would use daily: His <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QuickDraw">QuickDraw</a> graphics engine made the Macintosh interface possible; he introduced the wider world to bitmap editing with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacPaint">MacPaint;</a> and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/05/25-years-of-hypercard-the-missing-link-to-the-web/">HyperCard</a> presaged hyperlinked elements of the World Wide Web by years. <img width="650" height="400" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/macpaint_1.avif" class="fullwidth full" alt="A screenshot of Bill Atkinson's MacPaint, released with the Macintosh in January 1984." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/macpaint_1.avif 650w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/macpaint_1-640x394.jpg 640w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px"> A screenshot of Bill Atkinson's MacPaint, released with the Macintosh in January 1984. Credit: Benj Edwards / Apple "I say this with no hyperbole: Bill Atkinson may well have been the best computer programmer who ever lived," <a href="https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/06/07/bill-atkinson-rip">wrote</a> veteran Apple analyst John Gruber on Daring Fireball in a tribute. "Without question, he's on the short list. What a man, what a mind, what gifts to the world he left us."<a href="https://arstechnica.com/apple/2025/06/bill-atkinson-architect-of-the-macs-graphical-soul-dies-at-74/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/apple/2025/06/bill-atkinson-architect-of-the-macs-graphical-soul-dies-at-74/#comments">Comments</a>

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