A preprint reports radio bursts localized to the giant exoplanet Beta Pictoris b. The authors interpret them as likely auroral emissions tied to a magnetic field—not an alien signal.
Jack Kirby’s unused Lord of Light artwork helped the CIA sell its fake Argo movie cover during the 1980 rescue of six Americans from Iran.
The missing 1999 Phantom Menace vending machine resurfaced 2,400 miles away in Los Angeles after its creator took it on a cross-country trip.
Ken Carter spent five years and about $1 million building a rocket car and ten-storey ramp for an attempted mile-wide jump across the St. Lawrence.
Researchers carbonized a modern papyrus replica, then used X-rays to read its hidden text. The experiment may help identify which fragile Herculaneum scrolls are worth scanning next.
Harvard’s natural-history exhibit pairs an oyster containing a mummified pearlfish with a Komodo skull tied by curators to the story behind King Kong.
Two sea spider species new to science were described from the Salish Sea. One has red eyes, bristly legs and comb-like appendages it uses to groom itself.
Researchers estimated T. rex’s body temperature at about 97°F by studying chemical bonds in fossil tooth enamel. The result gives a famous dinosaur a surprisingly familiar number.
Marvel’s VisionQuest will reunite Paul Bettany’s Vision and James Spader’s Ultron in the final chapter of the WandaVision-era trilogy. The surprising hook is not a cameo: it is a reckoning between two versions of synthetic life.
Netflix and SEGA are developing a Crazy Taxi comedy. Its most interesting challenge is turning a brilliantly simple arcade loop into a story worth riding through.
