May 2026: SpaceCamp at 40, heat's toll on animals, and the botnet takedown
This month's tech and science roundup spans nostalgia, climate impacts, public health threats, and a major cybersecurity victory—plus developments in AI regulation, space exploration setbacks, and unexpected discoveries in biology.
On its 40th anniversary, we reassess 1986's SpaceCamp
Four decades after its release, the film SpaceCamp remains difficult to categorize. Is it a hidden gem, a cult classic, or hopelessly dumb? The answer appears to be all three at once.
They call it stupid hot for a reason: Heat muddles animal brains
Rising temperatures affect animal behavior in unexpected ways. Some creatures become more aggressive while others find their capacity to learn diminished.
Grifters, cynics, and true believers: The family tree of vaccine opponents
A new book examines the lengthy history of vaccine opposition, tracing how different motivations have driven resistance to immunization across generations.
Environmentalists turn out in force to oppose Trump coal ash rollbacks
The Trump administration is pushing to shift coal ash monitoring and enforcement to individual states, allowing them to circumvent federal standards.
Proposed new US funding rules: We can cancel any grant at any time
Under new guidelines, peer review would become optional while political staff would screen grants for topics deemed forbidden.
Kenyan court blocks Trump admin from dumping Ebola-exposed Americans there
The United States has previously constructed specialized facilities designed specifically for this kind of situation.
Botnet of more than 17 million devices dismantled
Authorities took down a massive botnet comprising over 17 million devices that was apparently connected to a Russia-based residential proxy network.
Analysis of Texas measles outbreak shows just how dangerous virus is
Data from the Texas measles outbreak reveals the severity of the disease. Roughly one in five infected individuals required hospitalization, and the majority of those hospitalized experienced additional complications.
Notable stories from the month
- I spent $4,000 on a robot dog from China
- Physicist does the math on Star Trek's "Picard maneuver"
- Bouncy castle launches horrifying MRSA outbreak, striking 48 kids in Ireland
- Trump's forced coal plant extensions thrown out by judge
- ChatGPT-using lawyer punished for citing fake testimony from made-up witnesses
House of the Dragon S3 trailer revels in dragons, fire, and blood
The crown is a weight that crushes. You'll do things that spell death for all involved.
Trump FCC warns all broadcasters to follow orders or be punished like ABC
ABC has characterized the early renewal requirement for all stations as unprecedented and lacking legitimate purpose.
DOJ sues states that rejected ICE requests for undercover license plates
The Department of Justice continues to accuse ICE monitoring sites of doxing, though concrete evidence remains elusive.
Startup offers free home cleaning—if it can record it all for robot training
A new venture is compensating humans to wear head cameras for robot training data collection, offering free home cleaning services in exchange.
After years of stability, F1 reliability can no longer be taken for granted
Formula 1's recent reliability troubles mark a departure from earlier consistency. Drivers previously faced roughly a six in ten chance of completing a race.
Severed sea cucumber appendages don't seem to die
Detached sea cucumber appendages appear capable of reorganizing their tissues and continuing to survive independently.
Rocket Report: A dark day for Blue Origin; Pentagon eyes new launch site
A fresh crew launched to China's Tiangong space station, with one astronaut scheduled to remain aboard for a full year.
Here's why the failure of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket is so catastrophic
I hope that it makes it far enough away from the pad that it does not cause pad damage.
These researchers would be in Africa fighting ebola—but Trump cut their funding
Infectious disease centers that were established during COVID and launched by the US have lost their funding under the Trump administration.
The most spectacular rocket explosion since N1 just happened in Florida
New Glenn was slated to serve as a key component in NASA's Artemis Program.
2027 Audi RS5 first drive: A performance PHEV with split personalities
Audi has engineered a brand-new electric torque-vectoring rear differential for the vehicle.
LLMs believe false statements even after explicit warnings that they're false
Testing through fine-tuning reveals "bias… toward confidently representing the claims as true."
Fed up with vibe coders, dev sneaks data-nuking prompt injection into their code
A developer embedded an undisclosed prompt injection into jqwik that instructed AI coding agents to erase application output.
US healthcare still stupidly expensive, with pathetic outcomes, study finds
While strategies exist to enhance healthcare quality, the United States is not implementing them.
Researchers develop a new process to get lithium out of rocks
Should this technique prove scalable, it could expand the range of available sources for this crucial material.
FBI says Google engineer used internal search data to win $1.2M on Polymarket
According to the FBI, a Google employee leveraged internal search data to predict betting outcomes and generated $1.2 million in profits on Polymarket.
A respectable port of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition invades macOS
The macOS version appears well-executed, with comprehensive DLC support included. However, crossplay functionality is absent.
Apple working to cram massive Gemini model into iPhone to power new Siri
As Apple attempts to compress Gemini for iPhone deployment, a cloud-based component will likely prove necessary.
Amazon turns to Jeff Bezos' other company to do some heavy lifting
Amazon is shifting its approach to launch providers, though ULA's Vulcan rocket remains unable to fly.
How pigeons exploit magnetic fields for navigation
Iron-rich immune cells located in the liver may function as magnetic field sensors, acting as a biological compass system.
Intel makes a bid for handheld gaming PCs with new Arc G3 processors
Intel's Arc B390 integrated GPU has demonstrated strong performance capabilities in laptop applications.
Trump loses more control over AI regulation as Illinois passes landmark law
Anthropic and OpenAI have endorsed Illinois' safety testing requirements.
Steam Deck sells out in North America within 24 hours of price hike
Inventory remains available in Europe, Australia, and Asia for those seeking to purchase before supplies dwindle.
Bad cholesterol slashed 62% by single dose of gene-editing drug in small trial
Interim Phase I trial results from 35 participants show promising outcomes, though the sample size remains limited.
Forecasters predict below-average hurricane season, advise against complacency
Forecasters anticipate that El Niño conditions should suppress Atlantic hurricane activity, yet they urge continued preparedness.
California defeats Tesla's attempt to throw out racial discrimination lawsuit
California's civil rights agency celebrates its victory against Tesla and expects the case to proceed to trial in July.
Websites have a new way to spy on visitors: Analyzing their SSD activity
Browser-based JavaScript can detect and measure distinctive SSD activity patterns from site visitors.
Mystery GPS jammer in Iran becomes test for NASA satellites' capabilities
NASA science satellites are demonstrating dual-use potential by locating the source of GPS interference.
Source: Ars Technica