2 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Science

Featuring the latest in daily science news, Verge Science is all you need to keep track of what’s going on in health, the environment, and your whole world. Through our articles, we keep a close eye on the overlap between science and technology news — so you’re more informed.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
This week in the big AI data center buildout.

AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:

They want your blood

Health tech companies want data from your blood in return for a vague promise of a longer life.

Victoria Song
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Elon Musk believes Starlink connectivity could generate “several hundred billion dollars a year” in revenue.

During today’s Q3 SpaceX earnings call, Musk also said the company should “probably” do a “longer presentation on the game plan” for the business.

In Q3, SpaceX’s Connectivity business reported $5.2 billion in revenue, and the company recently acquired low-band spectrum as part of a plan to become a “major mobile carrier” that competes with T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon.

You can read more about SpaceX’s earnings in our story here.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Who slowed down Ukraine’s Starlink? Trump and Musk call not-it.

After Ukraine said a Starshield slowdown had interrupted its military operations, Elon Musk claimed any limits “are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” Then the president told reporters, “It wasn’t me... and I don’t think it was Elon.”

Now WSJ sources are pointing the finger back at Musk, with some claiming “Musk acted unilaterally.”

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
OpenAI has acquired Orchestra Bio, a biotech startup.

OpenAI describes Orchestra Bio as “a platform that helps biopharma teams coordinate the complex process of drug development.” The company will bring Orchestra’s team and tech “together with Rosalind, our AI models and tools for life sciences research.”

Can you see everything?

What three hours of a documentary looks like to someone who spent four months at the Holmes trial.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Japan is launching a Mars moon probe later today.

The Martian Moons eXploration mission is scheduled to launch at 2:41PM ET and, if successful, should return to Earth in 2031 carrying samples from Phobos. It’ll study both Phobos and Deimos on its journey to shed some light on how they came to exist, and hopefully provide new insights into both Mars and Earth.

SpaceX’s ambitious, pricey gamble to replace AT&T and Verizon
Play

Elon Musk is pushing SpaceX’s Starlink to become a major competitor to AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. But becoming a fourth major carrier in the United States has a long, messy, and expensive history.

Nilay Patel
The incredible flying Tesla Roadster is just for show

It’s okay to marvel at the stunt — it’s pure spectacle.

Andrew J. Hawkins
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Blue Origin is spending big to build out New Glenn.

$330 million is going towards expanding manufacturing plans next year that aim to produce up to 150 rocket upper stages. Blue Origin is also requesting to increase launches from 12 to 50 per year, and plans to “support multiple flights per week by the end of the decade.” That involves building additional New Glenn launch pads at Cape Canaveral, alongside restoring the one that blew up in May.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Android’s earthquake alerts have expanded to over 200 regions.

Google’s worldwide phone-powered earthquake alert system now covers even more of the planet. After launching in California in 2021 and eventually expanding to 98 countries and regions including Greece and New Zealand, the system is now available in over 200 regions with Panama, Guatemala, and more joining the list.

Three screenshots showing how Android’s earthquake alerts work and appear.
Image: Google
Robert Hart
Robert Hart
OpenAI is giving $5 million to help mathematicians make sense of AI-generated research.

The funding is part of a $15 million initiative led by the Simons Foundation, with Anthropic also contributing. It follows months of upheaval in the field as AI companies race to solve longstanding problems and comes just over a week after OpenAI dumped hundreds of preprints on the research community.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Ukraine says its Starshield services have been restored.

A Ukranian official tells Axios that Starshield — SpaceX’s government-focused internet service that runs on Starlink satellites — has been “restored to full capacity.” Sudden restrictions on Ukraine’s Starshield services disrupted the military’s drone operations, officials said on Wednesday.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Starlink uses Grok’s voice model to handle customer service calls.

Here’s a tidbit in SpaceXSI’s announcement post for Grok Voice 3.0 today:

Starlink call centers use Grok Voice to answer 20,000 customer calls every day across multiple languages. Roughly 70% are resolved with no human in the loop, and one in four sales calls ends in a purchase before the caller hangs up. A single agent built on Grok Voice 3.0 verifies customers, troubleshoots hardware, issues credits, and ships replacement equipment.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Neocloud CoreWeave’s bonds are distressed, and so am I.

The company’s unsecured debt due in 2032 is now trading below 80 cents on the dollar, Bloomberg reports. “Yikes” is right, Elon — if CoreWeave crumbles, other debt-laden neoclouds might be in trouble, too.

CoreWeave is in many ways the poster child of the current AI buildout, which may have disastrous consequences if things don’t go as planned.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
This week in the big AI data center buildout.

AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:

My AI doppelganger tells me what to eat

In return for feeding a ‘digital twin’ my metabolic data, it predicts how I’ll react to certain foods — and one day, maybe medicines.

Victoria Song
The Tesla Roadster could have stayed vaporware

It took nearly a decade for Tesla’s next-gen sports car to arrive, but it’s finally here. The timing couldn’t be worse.

Andrew J. Hawkins
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Sleep soundly with Samsung’s latest updates.

The Samsung Health app has made Sleep Coaching reports more detailed, and now only requires three days of data within the past two weeks to initiate the feature, instead of seven days within a month. Additional Health app updates include expanded Running Coach programs, and new nutrition managmenet features for meal-logging and diet score assessments.

Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
Amazon’s Starlink competitor is still launching this year.

Despite not deploying any new space-internet satellites since early July because of issues at launch partners, Amazon says it’s on track “to launch initial service in 2026” with its existing 396 Leo satellites, having already missed its revised “mid-2026” target. “We’re still doing work to raise them into final position, and then you know there’s a lot of work on the ground to do,” says Amazon VP Chris Weber.

Early adopters should temper expectations, however, until the Leo constellation gets closer to its goal of 3,232 satellites.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Trump discloses Nvidia and SpaceX trades before awarding their CEOs.

As reported by Reuters, Trump bought up to $1.6 million in Nvidia stock and sold up to $1 million in August. Trump also disclosed an investment of as much as $5 million in SpaceX debt, according to CNBC.

On Thursday, Trump presented Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk with the National Medal of Science.