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Spacecraft propulsion traditionally relies on volatile fuels and separate, bulky systems for different types of maneuvering in space. NASA is working to change that paradigm. Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, recently completed a rigorous series of environmental and physical tests on a new small satellite designed to make spaceflight safer and more efficient. The ASCENT (Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic) Propulsion Dual Mode mission is a flight demonstration of a spacecraft about the size of a large shoebox. The mission will test a single, integrated propulsion system that uses a common fuel tank to feed two…

planetary boundaries — vital for preserving the safe operating space for humanity — are transgressed and heading further into the danger zone.Mounting pressures on land carbon sinks, the seafloor, and escalating releases of novel entities (various forms of synthetic pollution) risk increased destabilization of Earth’s life support systems.Large-scale and urgent action is needed to return as swiftly as possible to the safe zone, scientists say.See All Key Ideas Human activities continue eroding the planet’s stability, resilience and life-support functions, the third edition of the Planetary Health Check released in September warns. The “scary” part of the 2026 report,…

The interview with the new chair of Arts Council England (ACE), who says she wants the organisation to “get its swagger back”, misdiagnoses the crisis facing England’s cultural system (‘I want us to be loud’: Arts Council England’s new chair aims to reconnect young people with culture, 18 September). Swagger is not what is missing. What is required is contrition, honesty and structural reform.Eighty years after its creation, Arts Council England remains built on a 1946 architecture that privileges opera and classical institutions while systematically marginalising jazz, folk, world, brass, choral and grassroots arts and music. This is not a…

Claim: A photograph taken in September 2026 authentically shows U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump staring at the camera and frowning. Rating: In September 2026, some people on social media shared an image that appeared to show U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump frowning as they stared into the camera lens. For example, one X post (archived) said of the image, “For just a moment, the world saw their true nature. This is a real photo.” The same image was shared to Reddit (archived) and Threads (archived). Some social media users doubted the authenticity…

Civilians and senior military officials among 14 dead after an army plane crashes into a residential area in the DRC.Published On 26 Sep 202626 Sep 2026At least 14 people, including senior military officials, were killed on Friday when a Congolese army plane crashed in the southwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).The plane was travelling to the capital, Kinshasa, from the southwestern city of Kikwit on Friday when it developed a technical fault and attempted to land in Kenge, in Kwango province.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listRemy Saki Bokinda, deputy governor of Kwango, said: “With no…

Hitting its goal of making 20,000 Optimus robots per week is reportedly proving tricky for Tesla. The Information reports that Tesla produced “several hundred robots a week” last month, after it repurposed its Model S and Model X production lines for Optimus earlier this year. However, this strategy is reportedly creating manufacturing snags, like issues lining up parts precisely, as The Information notes: “Not only are the Optimus production lines new, but the Optimus parts are much smaller and have to fit together far more precisely than car parts.”It reports that even in the “V3” Optimus robots it’s currently producing,…

Secure file-sharing software company Kiteworks is urging customers worldwide to temporarily shut down their servers on Saturday for a six-hour window after receiving threat intelligence warning of a potentially imminent cyberattack. According to German technology publication Heise, Kiteworks CISO Frank Balonis emailed customers warning that the company had received “credible threat intelligence from law enforcement indicating an attack on Kiteworks systems may be imminent this weekend.” “We strongly recommend you shut down your Kiteworks system for six hours,” the notification reportedly states. Heise says the shutdown window applies to customers worldwide, with affected time zones ranging from Australian Eastern Standard Time…

She described the breach as the digital version of slipping forged withdrawal slips through a bank’s own teller window. The vault keys never left the building. Someone got into the office that prepares the slips, created paperwork that looked official, and sent it through the same approval window the bank uses every day. To the system doing the approving, it looked like a normal payout.The outflow, however, has been stopped, Chen confirmed. “Loss containment is confirmed. No further unauthorized transfers are possible. The specific method of system intrusion remains under active investigation. A full technical report will follow once confirmed,”…

Researchers studying the origins of Stonehenge’s Altar Stone have proposed a new possibility for how the enormous rock began its journey from Scotland to southern England. A team from Sheffield Hallam University and Curtin University, Australia, analyzed ancient ice movement and found that glaciers during Britain’s last ice age may have transported the stone from Scotland’s Orcadian Basin as far as Dogger Bank in the North Sea. From there, however, people would still have had to move it hundreds of kilometers to Salisbury Plain. Stonehenge’s central Altar Stone is a six-tonne sandstone megalith that researchers now believe came from northeast…

Claim: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel “is equal to 40,000 innocent Americans slaughtered in less than 24 hours. That’s 16 times 9/11. Sixteen 9/11s that occurred not very far from here.” Rating: On Sept. 24, 2026, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly, where many delegates walked out at the beginning of his speech. Following his speech, many people online attributed various quotes to Netanyahu, with some claiming he said Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, was equivalent to “sixteen 9/11s.” According to numerous posts shared on…