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While we have months to wait for the first images from the freshly-launched Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, NASA’s other incredible observatories do not disappoint. The agency released a new collection of 16 galactic images taken with the Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes. 

Galaxies are separated into three main categories—spirals, ellipticals, and irregulars. Spirals are like our own Milky Way and appear to spin around a central focus. Ellipticals are older galaxies and likely the results of mergers. Irregulars that can encompass a wide range of galactic phenomena. 

Spirals, ellipticals, and irregulars are all represented in this new collection. Each image hasX-ray data from Chandra, combined with data from other telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Hubble, IXPE, Swift, and NuSTAR, and others both in space and on the ground. Gaze into the galaxies in the gallery below. (Click to expand images to full screen.)

NGC 16-72 A barred spiral galaxy featuring a prominent central bar or bridge of stars that channels gas toward its core. Chandra X-rays (purple) highlight growing black holes along the bar and core, merged with Hubble optical light (white, yellow and soft blue) and JWST infrared dust filaments (red). Studying barred spirals in action can help reveal how gas in our own Milky Way, which is also a barred spiral, feeds its central black hole and forms new stars. Image X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/Hubble Heritage Team; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/J. Lee and T. Williams; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare, J. Major, K. Arcand. II Zw 096 A chaotic, dust-shrouded system of merging galaxies forming stars at a furious rate. Chandra X-ray data (magenta) pinpoint powerful black hole activity and hot gas, while Hubble optical (blue and white) and Webb infrared (red and grey) data illuminate vast stellar nurseries hidden behind interstellar dust. Systems like II Zw 096 show us how powerful galaxy collisions shaped the early universe. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare and J. Major. M33 A nearby, face-on spiral galaxy whose clear spiral arms offer an unhindered view of its stellar engine. X-ray data from Chandra (purple) highlights point sources like neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes pulling material off companion stars (systems called X-ray binaries), while optical data from the Very Large Telescope’s MUSE instrument (pink and grey) maps glowing pockets of hydrogen gas. Ultraviolet data from NASA’s Swift telescope (blue) reveals populations of young, massive stars sizzling across the spiral arms. M33’s proximity to us allows astronomers to audit individual high-energy objects and map how stellar feedback affects a galaxy’s ecosystem. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: ESO/VLT; UV: NASA/Swift; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare. NGC 4258 A spiral galaxy famous for having two extra, “anomalous” spiral arms composed of hot gas. Chandra’s X-rays (royal blue) show superheated shockwaves created by central black hole jets, combined with optical light from Hubble (red, yellow and pale blue) and infrared dust filaments from Webb (bright orange). M106 helps show how supermassive black holes can create structural features that mimic star-bearing spiral arms, influencing a galaxy’s evolution. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare. NGC 1569 A compact dwarf irregular galaxy undergoing a violent, compact burst of star formation. Chandra and XMM-Newton observations (blue and purple) reveal massive bubbles of million-degree gas inflated by stellar winds, set against a backdrop of optical light (magenta, orange and white) imaged by Adam Block. Dwarf starburst galaxies can serve as local laboratories for studying the conditions of the early universe, where small, primitive galaxies formed stars at frantic rates. Image: X-ray: (XMM):ESA/XMM-Newton, (Chandra): NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Univ.of Arizona/Mt Lemmon SkyCenter/Adam Block/Josep Drudis; Image Processing: NASA?CXC/SAO/L. Frattare. M90 A large spiral galaxy that is being stripped of its gas as it plunges at high speed through hot gas in the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. Chandra’s X-ray data (magenta) pinpoints high-energy point sources—such as X-ray binaries and supernova remnants—and diffuse hot gas nestled within the spiral disk imaged by Hubble (blue, brown and gold). A ground-based optical light image taken from New Mexico by Timothy Martin reveals red filaments of hydrogen gas streaming over 300,000 light-years behind the galaxy as it falls into the Virgo Cluster. Image: Accidental Astronomers. X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/D. Thilker/J. Lee/PHANGS-HST Team; Full-field: Tim Martin; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare. Centaurus A A giant elliptical galaxy undergoing a dusty merger, featuring a powerful jet of particles blasting tens of thousands of light-years into space. Chandra’s X-rays (blue) showcase the high-energy jet, with additional X-rays from IXPE (orange), while Webb infrared (magenta) and optical light (amber and white) from the European Southern Observatory expose a dark, churning dust lane. As one of the closest active galaxies to Earth, Cen A allows astronomers to study the effects of supermassive black hole jets in extraordinary detail. Image: X-ray: (Chandra) NASA/CXC/SAO, X-ray (IXPE): NASA/MSFC; Optical: ESO; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare, K. Arcand, and J. Major. M104 Famous for its broad central bulge and dark outer dust ring, this galaxy sits at a nearly edge-on tilt to Earth. Chandra X-rays (cyan and orange) isolate compact point sources and hot gas in the galaxy’s sprawling halo, merged with Hubble optical light (warm white) and Webb infrared vision (purple-red dust lane). Studying M104 may help bridge the gap between spirals and ellipticals, helping astronomers better understand how a galaxy’s giant outer cloud of stars grows and ages alongside its inner disk. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical:NASA/Hubble Heritage Team/AURA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare. Arp 143 This ring galaxy system formed when a smaller companion galaxy punched straight through its center like a bullseye, creating a powerful cosmic shockwave. Chandra X-rays (purple) uncover bright X-ray binary systems scattered along the collision shock wave, laid over Hubble’s optical image (blue and white) of expanding stellar rings. Such head-on collisions can trigger vast ripple effects, sparking huge waves of star birth across entire galaxies. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/J. Dalcanton; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare. NGC 4725 A “one-armed” barred spiral galaxy surrounded by a prominent star-forming ring. Chandra’s X-ray data (magenta) pinpoints several bright X-ray sources, likely caused by growing black holes, embedded within the sweeping optical disk (soft blue and white) captured with the Mt. Lemmon Observatory. Galaxies with unusual single arms can offer a window into how the gravity from a passing galaxy can trigger bursts of star formation. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/NAOJ/R. Gendler; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare. NGC 1385 A barred spiral galaxy packed with regions where stars are actively forming. Chandra X-ray data (magenta) highlights stellar nurseries and X-ray binaries scattered along dusty spiral structures brought to life by Hubble optical (white and grey) and Webb infrared (orange and red) observations. Comparing multiwavelength data of barred spirals containing active star formation helps scientists map how local starbursts build up galactic mass over time. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare. NGC 660 A rare “polar ring” galaxy where a tilted outer ring of stars and dust rotates over the galaxy’s poles, an unusual structure likely caused by a collision with another galaxy about a billion years ago. Chandra’s X-rays (purple) reveal a possible growing supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy, plus X-ray binaries nestled within the stars and dust captured by the Gemini Observatory in optical light (gold, blue and white). Studying polar rings teaches us about the diverse effects of stellar collisions on the shapes of galaxies. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical:NSF/International Gemini Observatory/AURA; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare. M82 An irregular galaxy undergoing intense star formation because of a gravitational interaction with a neighboring galaxy hundreds of millions of years ago. Chandra X-rays (blue), supplemented by NuSTAR data, show towering superwinds of million-degree gas blowing thousands of light-years out of the galactic disk, with Hubble optical light (yellow, orange and white) showing the galaxy shape, and Webb and Spitzer detailing infrared dust emission (red). M82 was nicknamed the Cigar Galaxy mostly because of its edge-on angle to Earth, which makes its central disk look like an elongated, cigar-shaped oval with small optical telescopes. The galaxy illustrates how violent galactic “exhaust systems” can regulate a galaxy’s growth by venting gas outwards. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare, J. Major, and K. Arcand. NGC 3256 A pair of colliding, gas-rich spiral galaxies merging into a single massive system. Chandra’s X-ray data (pink) isolates point sources and shock-heated gas, Hubble’s optical light (blue and white) captures tidal tails of stars, and Webb’s infrared vision (red and orange) cuts through the dust to show hidden star formation. Galaxy collisions like this offer a preview of our far future, showing what might happen if our own Milky Way collides and merges with the nearby Andromeda Galaxy. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare. NGC 3938 A face-on spiral galaxy whose orientation gives us an unobstructed view of its disk. X-ray emissions from Chandra (magenta) detail energetic X-ray binaries and supernova remnants scattered across dust lanes in an optical image (white, blue and gold) from Adam Block with Mt. Lemmon Observatory. Face-on orientations are important for galactic studies because they provide the most unobstructed views of a galaxy’s stars and gas. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare. NGC 4631 A spiral galaxy viewed from its side, featuring a giant halo of hot gas blowing out of its stellar disk. X-rays from Chandra and ESA’s XMM-Newton (purple and royal blue) trace hot gas driven out by supernovas and black holes and neutron stars pulling gas from their companions, while optical light (light blue, gold and white) from ground-based observer R. Jay GaBany showcases dense dust lanes. Edge-on views of galaxies allow astronomers to study how flat their stellar disks are and provide the clearest views of material located above or below the disk. Image: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: ©2011-2015 by R Jay GaBany, Cosmotography.com; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare.

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A little less than 2,000 years ago, Mount Vesuvius became the antihero of the ancient world’s most well-known tragedy. The infamous explosion covered Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic debris, immortalizing the final moments of the ancient Roman cities and some of their unfortunate inhabitants in stunning detail. 

Now, however, visitors can witness the glory of Pompeii before it all came crashing down in 79 CE. A former game engineer from Illinois and his team have developed an application that brings sites at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii to unprecedented life via Immersive Extended Reality technology. In other words, you can now stand in the forum alongside other ancient Romans and watch in horror as Mount Vesuvius starts to rumble along the horizon. 

Todd Porter, the former game engineer and now founder of the software company Histoury, went through a different kind of horror to make it happen—walking every inch of the archaeological sites to execute 155 scans under southern Italy’s blazing sun. 

An idea ahead of its time 

Porter founded Histoury less than three years ago, but the lightning bolt of inspiration originally struck him 15 years ago on a visit to Herculaneum, Porter tells Popular Science. It was while wandering around the archaeological sites that he had the idea of using his video game background to reconstruct his surroundings in a virtual world one could visit with their phones. 

Of course, in 2012, smart phones didn’t have enough processing power to support the sort of software required for something like that. “It only took 13 years for phones to catch up to my vision,” Porter jokes. 

But that vision could only manifest with the Pompeii archaeological park’s consent. Thankfully, a member of the team—a former hotel front desk employee who, after learning about the team’s project, offered to quit his job and do their business development—wouldn’t take no for an answer. He knocked on Pompeii’s door every day until, possibly out of exhaustion, the park agreed to a demonstration. 

[ Related: DNA reveals new stories about Pompeii’s victims ]

The scanner looks like a bomb

Histoury’s digital reconstructions start with two different kinds of scans—a high resolution scan and a spatial scan. 

The high resolution scan creates a virtual 3D model of the site with an accuracy range of less than 2 centimeters, and involves walking around the archaeological site with an instrument called a LiDAR scanner. 

“That’s just me walking around with a device that looks like a bomb,” Porter says. “It’s shaped like a giant pill with a light whirling around and it makes a noise. You hold it with one hand and you’re looking at your phone with the other.” 

Todd Porter, the former game engineer and now founder of the software company Histoury, walked around with this scanner capturing every inch of Pompeii. Image: Histoury, Inc.

The resulting 3D model is then converted into 3D mesh—essentially a kind of digital model compatible with the game development software they use. Histoury’s artists then build the reconstruction directly on top of this 3D mesh, in consultation with a team of archaeologists to make sure everything is as historically accurate as possible. 

The other scan—the spatial scan—employs a less powerful instrument called an Xgrid Portalcam, and serves several different purposes. The main one is to secure spatial accuracy. Traditional GPS data is largely inaccurate. Instead, Histoury’s application uses artificial intelligence to determine where the user is standing and which way they are facing within six inches of accuracy. The AI matches the image captured by the smart phone to images of known locations in its data. 

The other purpose of the spatial scan is to allow artists to double check their work without having to visit Pompeii in person. “We blend the two [scans] in our tool set so that the artist can walk around and they can switch back and forth between their recreation and the real world just to triple check that everything is lined up,” Porter explains. “AI is really sloppy with a lot of things. Music, art, but the stuff that it’s really good at is the stuff we use it for, which is number crunching.”

In the final step, the team’s lead AI expert has AI agents that “walk” the entire digital reconstruction, looking in every direction. Simply put, these walk-throughs help check how accurate the spatial aspect of the reconstruction is. 

“If it’s not accurate at all or less than a certain percentage, it sends the team back to the site for another spatial scan,” Porter explains. “It means we don’t have to send people on site to stand in 5,000 different places to figure out our accuracy,” says Porter. “We can do that virtually.”

[ Related: What did Pompeii smell like before it burned? ]

A magical project

The final product is a smart phone or tablet application, Portyl, that shows what Pompeii would have looked like before Mount Vesuvius’ devastating explosion wherever you point your device. The recreation is populated with people, animals, sound effects, and audio explanations. It’s about as close as you can get to strolling through Pompeii before it was demolished. 

The reconstructed sites available for virtual tour currently include Pompeii’s amphitheater, large theater, small theater, quadriporticus (a space turned into a gladiator training school), House of the Citharist (a large aristocratic house), forum, and basilica. The team is also working on additional Pompeii locations. Everything is free until September 1, and the app is accessible even for people who aren’t there in person. 

The amphitheater of Pompeii is one of the oldest Roman amphitheaters in the world. When you download Histoury, you can see what this massive theater would’ve looked like in its prime. Image: Histoury, Inc.

But for those who are in Pompeii, “you hold your phone or iPad up, we recognize where you’re standing usually within six inches and we know exactly where you’re facing and then we basically spawn the recreation right there,” Porter says enthusiastically. 

“Like in the amphitheater, you’re walking around gladiators fighting. There’s 30,000 people in the crowd around you, and you hear the roar, and you hear the clang of the metal. Of all the things I’ve ever done in my life, this is truly one of the most magical things I’ve ever been part of. I think that’s what really gets everybody—it gets you emotionally.” 

Histoury is close to signing a contract with Herculaneum and making moves in other countries, including Egypt. 

The complexities of AI in Pompeii 

This isn’t the first time AI has been put to work at Pompeii. Earlier this year, the archaeological park released an AI-generated video based on archaeological data depicting the final moments of a man whose skeleton was discovered outside of one of Pompeii’s gates. In our article on the subject, we paused to wonder what the victim would have thought about people watching his terrified face to the sound of “Dark Horror Intro” royalty free music. 

Since Histoury’s Portyl users can trigger the explosion of Mount Vesuvius and then watch it erupt to the sound of screams and the sight of people running for their lives, the question perhaps stands in this case, too. 

[ Related: AI makes Pompeii victim’s final moments look shockingly real ]

But they can also simply peer around the basilica or the amphitheater, and there’s something uniquely respectful about paying tribute to Pompeii’s former glory instead of adoring its tragic remains. And more broadly, there’s no denying the fact that a live reconstruction has the potential to make ancient history feel closer than it has ever been before, especially for people who have a hard time imagining the bygone world on their own.  

Virgil once wrote, “fugit irreparabile tempus,” meaning “irretrievable time flies.” The ancient poet may have thus been surprised to learn that today, time is indeed retrievable—at least somewhat. 

The post Explore what Pompeii looked like before catastrophic eruption appeared first on Popular Science.

Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland, 3rd September 2026, CyberNewswire

106 Model Ys were registered in Texas for Tesla robotaxi in about 24 hours, bringing the total to 375 Model Ys and 45 Cybercabs as of September 2, more than doubling the count from the prior week. Trackers like Texas Autonomous Vehicle Tracker confirmed the number after the final Model Y registration, with Tesla now ...

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Google has released Gemini 3.8 Flash, its fourth Flash model in under four months – it scores 59 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index and reaches the Intelligence vs. Cost per Task Pareto frontier

1% of companies generate 80% of OpenAI and Anthropic’s enterprise revenue. The top 1% of firms spend about 600x per employee what the median firm spends. Among individual developers, the top 1% write 46x more AI-generated code per day than the median user and merge 15x more pull requests. A small group of agentic power ...

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People generally want to spend as little time as possible in a public restroom. The vulnerability, the crass graffiti, the (lack of) cleanliness, uncomfortable toilet seats—the list of reasons is lengthy. But despite their infamy, public bathrooms remain an absolute societal necessity that deserve much more appreciation. At least, that’s what designer Jake Welch believes.

“There is perhaps no space in society which better captures the creativity and impertinence of humans when they know that nobody else is watching,” Welch explains in the description for his ongoing Restroom Archive project.

Although he admits the Restroom Archive started as a joke in 2023, he officially launched the site last year. It already features nearly 100 bathrooms, including amenities found in restaurants, gas stations, coffee shops, and various other public spaces in 36 cities across the United States and Europe.

Welch isn’t a one-man urinal investigation unit, however. Almost 250 archivists have contributed to the project so far, and anyone is welcome to help document this wide and weird subsection of urban planning. As long as you can provide a 3D scan of a bathroom. While scanning a building’s interior may sound technical, Restroom Archive includes a quick how-to section on the website. The easiest way is to download a LIDAR-based smartphone app called Polycam to digitally map each space, but Welch offers a couple alternative routes, as well. Volunteers then tag the bathroom’s location and provide a brief description of the lavatory itself.

“This compact stall has white painted cinder block walls and a speckled tile floor with an open top with a pale yellow door trimmed in a brick red,” reads one entry for a graffiti-covered faculty bathroom in the Fine Arts building at Spain’s University of the Basque Country.

“A sign in the back left of the stall encourages users in Spanish and Basque to ‘not leave evidence’ on the toilet seat,” the uploader added.

The post Restroom Archive gives public bathrooms their due appeared first on Popular Science.

A rare dime that inadvertently launched one of most successful coin collecting careers in history has sold for an astounding $1.25 million. The coveted 1894 S-Dime was auctioned during Stack’s Bowers Galleries “Rarities Night” on September 1, and was this particular coin’s fourth auction appearance. Known as a Barber Dime for its designer, United States Bureau of the Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber, only 24 of the 10-cent pieces were ever manufactured. Of those, just nine are known to still exist, making them exceptionally coveted by collectors. The Barber Dime is also ranked fourth in the widely used 100 Greatest U.S. Coins reference guide.

Coincidentally, Stack’s Bowers is named after one of those very collectors. In 1957, a 19-year-old Dave Bowers successfully bid on the same Barber Dime auctioned earlier this month. Bowers made international headlines given his age, and the idea that anyone would pay $4,750 for a dime. He soon leveraged both to help launch his own career in numismatism. Bowers resold the 1894 S-Dime for $6,000 in 1960, before later moving between a handful of other collectors.

There are multiple conflicting stories to explain why the 1894 S-Dime is so rare, although they all tie back in one way or another to the Panic of 1893. Within a year of its onset, the economic depression practically eradicated the need to mint any new coinage for months. Some historians allege the dimes are a result of the San Francisco Mint needing to melt $2.40 in leftover silver, while other experts claim the Mint’s superintendent made the coins as gifts for his daughter and a handful of banker friends. Regardless of the true origin story, only nine Barber Dimes are accounted for today.

Unlike the current U.S. dime’s design featuring Franklin D. Roosevelt, Barber dimes showcase a portrait of Lady Liberty on the front along with the words “One Dime” above another wreath on the back.

The post One of the rarest dimes in the U.S. sells for $1.25 million appeared first on Popular Science.

What began as a routine police response to a reported break-in turned into a brief standoff between nature and technology. Last week, law enforcement in the city of Kirkland, Washington (just northeast of Seattle) responded to a 911 call from a resident reporting loud banging inside their home. Officers arrived expecting a human intruder, but were instead greeted by a more literal cat burglar: a trapped and confused bobcat. 

Not wanting to risk a claw to the face, the officers backed out and reassessed the situation. They ultimately decided to deploy a remote-controlled drone into the house, to monitor the feline intruder from a safe distance. Video captured from the drone’s perspective and released on Facebook, shows the frustrated bobcat standing by a staircase, growling and arching its back at the hovering machine. After a brief standoff with the buzzing, metal alien, the bobcat carefully retreated, sidestepping into an adjacent empty room.

Police were then able to close their door and keep the bobcat isolated until a team from the  Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife arrived. Wildlife officials then sedated the cat, loaded it into a crate, and transported it to nearby Forbes Creek. The feline was then released back into the wild, startled but safe. As for how a bobcat ended up in the house in the first place, Kirkland Police believe the adventurous intruder climbed a tree and jumped through an open window, possibly lured in by the resident’s indoor cat. Both the owner and its likely shocked cat were unharmed, according to the police. Thankfully, curiosity didn’t kill this cat.

The Kirkland Police Department did not immediately respond to Popular Science’s request for comment. 

The aerial deployment was made possible by a public safety drone program the Kirkland Police began in 2022. Today, they reportedly maintain five drones and have 17 FAA-licensed pilots ready to operate them. The typical use cases for those drones include search and rescue, tactical search, scene documentation, and, apparently, bobcat removal. 

The bobcat before its release near Forbes Creek. Image: Kirkland Police Department. Drones are changing the way police surveil wildlife…and people 

Drones and robotic dog-like quadrupeds are reshaping how local communities approach wildlife management. In Japan, authorities deploy a combination of camera-equipped drones and robotic Monster Wolves to locate and deter bears following a record spike in human-bear encounters driven by urban sprawl and declining farmland. In the United States, police in Santa Fe, New Mexico, recently used an aerial drone to track an errant bear wandering near a school. Expanded drone programs are also playing a greater role in locating lost or missing pets. Just last month, firefighters in t Florida used a remotely controlled drone to find an overly adventurous dog trapped in a storm drain. 

But this increased prevalence of drones comes with other, more controversial concerns as well. Police forces around the country are ramping up “drones as first responder” programs, which civil liberty critics say could introduce unreasonable surveillance. Law enforcement around the country has already used these drones to monitor political protesters. Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is reportedly interested in using Boston Dynamics’ quadruped robot “Spot”  to aid in immigration operations. Private security companies like Flock and Axon are also investing heavily in aerial surveillance drones. 

The post Home-intruding bobcat no match for police drone appeared first on Popular Science.

Following an outpouring of support for Jackie, a famous bald eagle mother watched by millions, the California State Senate passed Senate Resolution 140. The bipartisan measure honors Jackie and proclaims that Friday September 4, 2026 is California Wildlife Day to honor her memory and celebrate the Golden State’s biodiversity.

The resolution was introduced by State Senator Tony Strickland (R-Huntington Beach) and is sponsored by KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles. It recognizes the eagle’s role in connecting people with wildlife conservation, while highlighting the state’s biodiversity. 

“Jackie captured the hearts of people in California and around the world, giving so many of us a front-row seat to the beauty, strength, and resilience of wildlife,” Senator Strickland said in a press release. “Her story reminds us that wildfire conservation brings people together. As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday this year and reflect on the values that unite us, it is especially meaningful to honor the Bald Eagle and Jackie’s incredible legacy here in California.”

Amy King, the host of “Wake Up Call” on KFI AM640 in Los Angeles, said it was clear how many humans connected with these eagles and their story. 

“Over the past decade, many of our listeners watched the webcam and witnessed the beautiful life Jackie, her mate Shadow, and their eaglets created together,” King added. “Jackie’s story brought people together across generations and communities. As storytellers, we believe stories can connect people, inspire compassion, and create a shared sense of community. It has been an honor to share Jackie’s story with our listeners and to be part of the community that followed her remarkable journey.”

Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV), the nonprofit organization that runs the nest cameras that brought Jackie and Shadow to the world, are also planning a memorial service for October 3. 

Jackie’s story

Jackie was born, raised, and lived in Big Bear Valley in southern California. Prior to the 2011-2012 nesting season, no bald eagle chicks were known to have ever hatched in Big Bear Valley. Then came Jackie, named after a forest ranger and born to parents Ricky and Lucy in 2012. 

During the 2016-2017 nesting season, Jackie took over a nest where Friends of Big Bear Valley (FOBBV) had a camera stationed. In 2018, she had two chicks named Stormy and Big Bear Baby (or BBB) with her first mate, Mr. B. 

Her long-time partner Shadow entered the picture in summer 2018. He showed up at the nest and would not leave. FOBBV called the new male Shadow because he appeared so determined to stay in the nest, and the team initially believed he was one of Jackie’s siblings, also named Shadow. The eagle’s plumage indicated he was one year older than the other Shadow and not Jackie’s sibling, but the name stuck. 

Shadow continued to hold his ground and Mr. B gave up and eventually left. Jackie then accepted Shadow as her new mate.

Wildlife cameras documented Jackie and Shadow’s life together, offering viewers a direct look into the brutality and beauty of nature. The pair successfully raised chicks in 2019 (Cookie and Simba) and 2022 (Spirit). The pair’s eggs failed to hatch in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, Jackie laid three eggs that all hatched in early March. However, a strong snowstorm dumped up to two feet of snow and battered the nest with strong wind and only two of the chicks (Sunny and Gizmo) survived.  

In January, Jackie laid two eggs in the nest, but ravens destroyed them. She later laid two more eggs that hatched in April and named Luna and Sandy. The name Sandy is in honor of FOBBV’s former executive director Sandy Steers who died from cancer in February. 

Jackie’s injury

On July 17, Jackie was found injured on the ground near Dana Point Park, California. Cell phone video from a witness confirmed that she had an altercation with two other subadult eagles. She successfully fended off the other eagles by turning over and using her talons, but could not fly far away. 

She was transferred to the Ojai Raptor Center for care, where she was diagnosed with severe anemia. Her anemia worsened during the first week of August, the Ojai Raptor Center said that she was in unstable condition on August 9. Her packed cell volume (PCV) fell below percent, before rising to nine percent. She died early in the morning on August 10 and a full necropsy report is still forthcoming. 

Jackie’s resilience inspired millions of people around the world. 

The post California Wildlife Day to honor beloved bald eagle Jackie appeared first on Popular Science.

It’s a bird’s world, and we’re just living in it. Today, the National Audubon Society officially announced the winners of the 2026 Audubon Photography Awards. The contest is now in its 17th year and celebrates stunning photos (and even a few videos) that showcase the beauty of birds and the challenges they face. For the second year, the judges awarded prizes to residents of Chile and Colombia, as well as the United States and Canada, highlighting how avians connect us across geographies and ecosystems. 

This year’s Grand Prize winners each received $5,000 and a voyage to Antarctica with HX Expeditions—an expedition cruise company and Audubon’s exclusive cruise partner.

Take a peek at the winners in the gallery below. (Click to expand images to full screen.)

Prizes for United States and Canada Residents

Grand Prize: Jacqueline Burke, roseate spoonbill

A roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, in St. Augustine, Florida. Image: Jacqueline Burke.

Youth Prize: Ian Shultz, rock pigeon

A rock pigeon (Columba livia) in Golden Gardens Park in Seattle, Washington. Image: Ian Shultz.

Video Prize: Piper VanOrd, great blue heron

A great blue heron (Ardea herodias) at Allegheny Islands Wilderness, National Wild & Scenic Allegheny River, in Warren, Pennsylvania. Credit: Piper VanOrd.

Female Bird Prize: Gail Bisson, common merganser

A common merganser (Mergus merganser) in East Bay Sandbar, Nova Scotia, Canada. Image:  Gail Bisson.

Plants for Birds Prize: Mike Henry, Gila woodpecker and saguaro cactus

A Gila woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis) and saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) in Tucson, Arizona. Image: Mike Henry.

Birds Without Borders Prize: Nick Parayko, Tennessee warbler

A Tennessee warbler (Leiothlypis peregrina) in photographer Nick Parayko’s backyard in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. Image: Nick Parayko.

Birds in Landscapes Prize: Liron Gertsman, white-tailed tropicbird

A white-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus) in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park in Hawai’i. Image: Liron Gertsman.

Conservation Prize: Josh Galicki, northern gannets

Northern gannets (Morus bassanus) on the Isle of Noss in the Shetland Islands, United Kingdom. Image: Josh Galicki. Prizes for Chile and Colombia Residents

Grand Prize: Francisco Castro Escobar, lesser horned owl

A lesser horned owl (Bubo magellanicus) in Antofagasta, Chile. Image: Castro Escobar.

Youth Prize: Juan David Camacho Márquez, Canada warbler

A Canada warbler (Cardellina canadensis) in Doña Dora Birding, El Queremal, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Image: Juan David Camacho Márquez.

Video Prize: Nicolás Muñoz García, black-browed albatross

A black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) is on Isla Chañaral Marine Reserve, Huasco Province, Chile. The nearest town is Caleta Chañaral de Aceituno. Credit: Nicolás Muñoz García.

Birds Without Borders Prize: Rodrigo González Pairoa, black-browed albatross

A black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) in Almirantazgo Fjord, Chile. Image: Rodrigo González Pairoa.

Conservation Prize: Santiago Pérez Rincón, yellow-eared parrot

A yellow-eared parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis) in Anaime River Canyon, Rural District of the Municipality of Cajamarca, Department of Tolima, Colombia. Image: Santiago Pérez Rincón.

Plants for Birds Prize, Colombia: Santiago Giraldo, yellow-eared parrot and Quindio wax palm

A yellow-eared parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis) and Quindio wax palm (Ceroxylon quindiuense) in Anaime, Cajamarca, Tolima, Colombia. Image: Santiago Giraldo.

Birds in Landscapes Prize, Colombia: Faber Mosquera Álvarez, oilbird

Oilbird (Steatornis caripensis) in the Cañón de los Guácharos, Pijao, Quindío, Colombia. Image: Faber Mosquera Álvarez.

Birds in Landscapes Prize, Chile: Timothy Dhalleine, crested caracara

A crested caracara (Caracara plancus) in Torres del Paine National Park, Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic region, Chile. Image: Timothy Dhalleine.

Coastal Birds Prize, Chile: Gonzalo Bertolotto Quintana, gentoo penguin

A gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) in Fildes Bay, Antarctica, in the vicinity of the Chilean bases. Image: Gonzalo Bertolotto Quintana.
Gonzalo Bertolotto Q

The winners and honorable mentions are published online in Audubon magazine, and winners will be in the Fall 2026 print issue. The annual Top 100 photos will also be announced on September 23, 2026, and additional selections will be featured in digital galleries on Audubon’s website.  

The 2027 Audubon Photography Awards will open for entries on January 13, 2027. 

The post Tweet! Here are the winners of the 2026 Audubon Photography Awards appeared first on Popular Science.

Gemini 3.8 Flash is Google’s newest Flash-tier model released September 2, 2026. It is the most capable Flash model yet for mid-difficulty long-horizon software engineering, autonomous agents, and enterprise workflows, while keeping Flash-level speed and the same introductory pricing as 3.7 Flash. It is a value model. Pricing is the same as 3.7 Flash Introductory ...

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One of a smartwatch’s main selling points can be its ability to track the calories burned while exercising. But similar to the health tech industry’s “10,000 steps” selling point, new research strongly suggests a wearable’s workout assessment may overestimate your efforts—and in some cases, the readings are off by as much as 25 percent.

“You can’t treat the calories burned number it gives you as an accurate number, because it’s not,” Florida International University kinesiologist Jason Kostrna said during a recent profile.

Kostrna and his colleagues compared four of the most popular fitness wearables on the market: the Apple Watch Series 8, Samsung Galaxy Watch 5, Fitbit Sense 2, and Garmin Forerunner 955 against clinical-grade measurement equipment. They then asked 58 adult volunteers to use a stationary bike during a controlled workout session, while alternating between moderate and intense activity. Their results were simultaneously recorded by one of the commercially available wearables, as well as a COSMED K5 metabolic analyzer. For reference, COSMED fitness equipment can be seen during James Bond’s physiology assessment scene in the 2012 film Skyfall.

According to results recently published in the journal PLOS One, smartwatch calorie overestimations ranged between 15 and 25 percent. Apple was the most comparatively accurate, while Garmin and Samsung offered the most generous results. Meanwhile, the researchers needed to discard Fitbit from their trial entirely because the device repeatedly glitched during experiments. In some instances the Fitbit recorded a single calorie burned during an entire workout, or even failed to generate any assessment.

To put the larger findings in perspective: if your wearable claims you burned 500 calories at the gym, that number may be much closer to 350 calories. This may not seem too serious, but the errors can easily add up over time.

“You could be hundreds of calories off each week and easily end up in a calorie surplus when you think you’re in a calorie deficit,” said Kostrna.

Tests also consistently indicated that smartwatches become less accurate for wearers with higher body fat percentages. The exact reason is still unclear, but Kostrna’s team suspects the issue may stem from how each device’s algorithms are calculated. This information is often highly guarded from public scrutiny by the tech companies themselves.

“When the companies are developing those algorithms, we don’t know where the test data is coming from,” Kostrna explained. ” That’s why I think it’s beneficial for the companies to see this type of data, so they can refine their products over time.”

However, this doesn’t mean the devices are completely useless. Their caloric measurements should just be taken as generous estimates. Researchers suggest treating a reading as a best case scenario after each workout, while people with higher body fat index may want to view the actual numbers even more conservatively. At the same time, the study’s authors warn against solutions like more aggressive dieting, since the body still requires healthy foods to recharge and improve. In any case, Kostrna stressed that calorie monitoring should only be one part of a person’s larger fitness goals.

“Focus on how you’re feeling, and use data to get a little better over time,” he suggested.

The post Your smartwatch may be overestimating calories burned by 25 percent appeared first on Popular Science.

I consider myself to have a somewhat challenging personality. The popular Myers-Briggs test labels me an ‘INTJ,’ commonly referred to as an “Architect.” We’re supposedly independent, determined, curious, and original, but we’re also considered combative, overly critical, dismissive of emotions, and more concerned with “rationality and success over politeness.” 

My family would generally agree with that description of me. Perhaps thankfully, we are a rare bunch: only two to four percent of people, and about one percent of women, are INTJs.

I’m expecting my first child, a daughter, in January. The prospect of meeting a mini “Architect” has me wondering: Are we born with our personalities?

The answer is complicated—and still evolving. 

“All of it comes from genes, and all of it comes from [the] environment in a sense,” says Matthew Keller, a behavioral geneticist at the University of Colorado Boulder. 

Dozens of twin studies have found that personality is partly heritable, but exactly how genes shape who we become is far from straightforward, and it’s even less clear how environmental factors play a role.

What is personality?

The very definition of personality is complex and somewhat “squishy,” Ted Schwaba, a personality psychologist at Michigan State University, concedes.

Most people think of personality as traits. The adjectives we use to describe a person: creative, hard-working, honest, kind. But personality also encompasses identity, life story, reputation, and how other people see you, says Schwaba. 

Brent Roberts, a personality psychologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, adds that skill, ability, interests, and motivations also play a role. Someone can have remarkable talent in, say, soccer or music, but without the interest or motivation to pursue those areas, one’s ability may never become central to what they do.

“Personality is really any kind of stable characteristic of a person that makes them who they are,” says Schwaba. 

The Myers-Briggs test is a popular self-report questionnaire that categorizes people into 16 different personality types. Video: Myers-Briggs Explained in Less than 5 Minutes – 16 Personalities, Frank James

While personality itself remains somewhat difficult to define, most psychologists use the standardized “Big Five” model to measure it. The framework scores people along five broad traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, the tendency to experience negative emotions. 

Though imperfect, the model lets researchers compare personality across people and over time. The Big Five and other measures of personality have proven consistent predictors of school and work performance, relationships, health, and even longevity. 

How much of personality is genetic?

Throughout much of the 20th century, researchers studied twins to understand how genes and environment shaped personality. One 1996 study compared 123 pairs of identical twins, who share nearly all their DNA, with 127 pairs of fraternal twins, who share about half, and found that genetic differences accounted for roughly 40 to 60 percent of variation across the Big Five traits.

That estimate has endured. A 2015 meta-analysis of more than 100,000 people found that personality is about 40 percent heritable. 

Heritability tells us how much of the variation in personality, or other traits, can be linked to genetics. If something is 100 percent heritable, all the differences we see among people would be linked to genetics, Keller explains. If it is 0 percent heritable, then genetics would explain none of those differences.

So, when researchers say personality is about 40 percent heritable, they don’t mean 40 percent of a person’s personality comes from their genes. An outgoing mother may pass along genetic variants that make her child more likely to be outgoing too, but her daughter is not destined to share the trait. 

And just because a trait is heritable doesn’t mean it is immutable or set at birth. Environmental factors still matter. Height, for example, is roughly 80 to 90 percent heritable, yet genes don’t determine exactly how tall someone will become. A child with tall parents may have the genetic potential to be tall, but without proper nutrition may never reach that potential.

Most psychologists use the standardized “Big Five” model to measure personality. Video: The Big 5 OCEAN Traits Explained – Personality Quizzes, Practical Psychology

Both height and personality are genetically complex. A 2022 study of 5.4 million people identified more than 12,000 genetic variants associated with height, while a 2024 study of the Big Five identified 254 genes associated with at least one trait. There is no single gene for height nor is there a single gene for being extroverted, agreeable, or conscientious. Instead, these traits appear to arise from the combined effects of many genes, each with a very small influence.

Schwaba likens individual genetic variants to grains of sand on a beach. One grain tells you nothing about what the beach will look like, but collectively thousands of them help shape the landscape.

What else shapes our personality?

If genes explain only part of personality differences, what explains the rest? Scientists are still trying to figure that out.

Over the past few decades, researchers have investigated everything from parenting and birth order to socioeconomic status and major life events. Except for extreme experiences such as abuse, trauma, or severe deprivation, most non-genetic aspects have turned out to have surprisingly small effects. 

Roberts calls it “death by a thousand cuts.” No single experience appears to explain much, but thousands of small environmental influences may accumulate over a lifetime to shape personality.

Studying environmental factors is much harder than studying DNA. Scientists can sequence a genome, but understanding environmental impacts requires psychologists to follow thousands of people for decades.  

Researchers do know that personality isn’t fixed; it can change over the course of one’s life. People can even deliberately alter some traits. Therapy can change personality, Schwaba says, and adults can even become more outgoing, for example, if they put intensive effort into socializing and pushing themselves outside their comfort zone.

Scientists aren’t certain when personality first emerges. Schwaba says individuality is obvious by preschool, but recently he and a colleague found themselves wondering whether future extroverts might kick more in the womb. 

“We don’t actually know of a study on that,” he says.

Will my daughter be a mini-Architect? Maybe in some ways. The genes she inherits may nudge her personality in certain directions, but they won’t lock her into them. Who she becomes will depend on a lifetime of experiences that scientists are still trying to untangle.

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

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The post What shapes your personality? Your genes and environment play a big role. appeared first on Popular Science.

Melbourne, Florida, 2nd September 2026, CyberNewswire

Elon Musk posted on September 2, 2026 that Grok 4.7 comes out in 10 days so September 12. 2.1 trillion parameters — a new, larger pretrain, up from Grok 4.6’s 1.5T base. Elon has said it will be better than 4.6 in every way except that it will be slightly slower to serve, with better ...

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NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will create enormous cosmic panoramas, which astronomers will use to explore everything from dark energy and dark matter to distant planets and black holes. The first observations will start in early 2027. It is launched and is moving to position. Roman will collect light from far across the universe ...

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OpenAI Astra is getting cybersecurity safeguards but will be released soon. It will like release before the end of the week. OpenAI said it might reach a critical level of cybersecurity capability. Astra meets the Critical cybersecurity capability threshold under the OpenAI Preparedness Framework. It is the first model OpenAI have designating at this level, ...

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Just like 20-somethings yelling or waving in a crowded, strobe light-filled club, three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) can change their social behavior for the benefit of the group. These small fish will change how they swim to help find food when they are in cloudy water. The findings are detailed in a study published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

There are eight known species of sticklebacks (order Gasterosteiformes). These small fish live in fresh, brackish, and marine waters all over the Northern Hemisphere and as far north as the Arctic Ocean. They can grow to a maximum length of roughly seven inches and are known for a row of two to 16 spines on their backs.

Since they live in everything from salty seas to fresh lakes, their habitats can range from crystal clear to densely clouded. Turbidity is when small particles like mud, algae, or silt make water cloudy. While it is a natural process, farming, mining, construction, and other pollutants are increasing turbidity and reducing visibility in rivers and coastal waters around the world. This can make it more difficult for aquatic animals like sticklebacks to see their food, friends, or enemies.

“At the moment, we’re seeing our weather flipping between hot, dry periods to heavy rains, which mean[s] our rivers and streams experience sudden surges of muddy, highly turbid water,” 

Dr. Sean Rands, a study co-author and behavioral ecologist at the University of Bristol, said in a statement. “It is good to know that the fish can respond to these big changes.”

For this study, the team observed how three-spined sticklebacks responded to their water becoming cloudier and noted their directions when food suddenly appeared in the water. 

In murkier water, the fish took longer to swim towards the food than those in clear water. However, individuals in larger groups responded more quickly in both clear and cloudy water. 

The study found in murkier water fish took longer to move towards the food than those in clear water, but individuals in larger groups responded more quickly overall. Image: Christos Ioannou.

The way that the sticklebacks moved together also influenced their response to the food. The smaller groups living in murky water got to the food more quickly when they swam close together in the same direction. By contrast, tighter coordination slowed the group’s response for larger groups of fish in clear water.

Before the food was introduced, fish in murky water tended to stick closer together, align their movements more closely, and respond more eagerly to the behavior of group members that were nearby.

According to the team, these results suggest that sticklebacks can compensate for reduced visibility in the water by increasing cooperation and coordination with one another. 

“When we put an unexpected piece of food in the water, it took the fish longer to find it when the water was cloudier. This makes sense and has been shown before in different water-living species,” added study co-author and behavioral ecologist Christos Ioannou. “However, we were excited to see that the sticklebacks were able to compensate for this challenge by changing their shoaling behaviour. Their shoals became more coordinated, with the fish moving and aligning themselves together much more closely in poor conditions. This in turn meant the fish were able to find the food faster than if they weren’t coordinating.” 

This enhanced social behavior may help them overcome the challenges of living in murky environments and respond better when there is an opportunity to find a meal. 

“Finding that these rules are able to change in response to the challenges animals experience is reassuring, as it shows that these little fish have some extra tricks for the changes that humans are causing to their homes,” said Rands. 

The post These fish rely on teamwork to find food in murky water appeared first on Popular Science.

Anthropic released FAble 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 and they continue to get better at agentic coding and scientific research. Fable 5.1 will cost an estimated 25% less than Fable 5 for typical workloads, wherever usage is billed by token. This is because we’re reducing our pricing on cache reads (where the model reads inputs that ...

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