A group of students in Pisa, Italy, recently set a new Guinness World Record for the “largest paper aircraft.” The previous record stood for over a decade. Icarus is made from glue and paper but was designed and built using actual aeronautical engineering techniques which helped it glide nearly 194 feet.
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.


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:
- Government Technology: Oregon Tech, Policy Could Face Anti-Data Center Backlash
- Houston Chronicle: Greg Abbott calls for prohibition on data center construction in rural Texas neighborhoods
- Newsweek: ‘Cost Me the Election’: Data Centers Trigger Voter Backlash
- WBUR: Gov. Healey slams brakes on data center tax incentives
If you loved Microsoft sticking Copilot in everything, just wait until its marketing department gets ahold of “quantum.“
itsmrfungible666:
Get ready for Microsoft Windows 12 Elite with Copilot Quantum
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In an update on Tuesday, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp says the company is working to “identify and correct” the issue that led its New Glenn rocket to explode on the launchpad last month. Limp adds that the company plans to return to flight by the end of this year with a new launch pad configuration.
Anthropic launched Claude Science in beta today, calling it an “AI workbench for scientists.” The tool pulls fragmented tools and datasets into one environment, and generates figures and visuals like 3D protein structures.
Anthropic stresses “Claude Science is not a new AI model” — a noteworthy caveat amid ongoing drama surrounding its last rollout.

The Trump administration wants a useful quantum computer in two years. Microsoft wants one in three. Independent researchers cry hype.
Forget for a moment that it’s morally disgusting to let people bet on wildfires; people have already spent $1.2 million doing it. The real question is when someone will commit financially-motivated arson in order to win their bet — because unlike other major environmental events, massive fires are easy to create.
[High Country News]

‘Everyone will be affected, not just scientists. Every community in the country.’


SpaceX bonds are creating losses for the fast-money types who piled in at the offering. “Bond types either aren’t sure that SpaceX will hang on to its investment-grade credit ratings, or will only get involved if they get paid a fat risk premium for doing so,” the Financial Times explains. SpaceX stock is, as of this writing, trading below its IPO price. Gee, if only someone had pointed out that this company is a stinker.
[Financial Times]

I measured my body composition on five devices. I still don’t know what my exact body fat percentage is.
President and COO Gwynne Shotwell has apparently told investors that SpaceX plans to launch a new terrestrial Starlink service that would sell mobile contracts directly to individuals in the US — a threat that could extract better revenue-sharing deals from its current telecom partners. Analysts think a T-Mobile acquisition makes sense to accelerate the move and solve SpaceX’s spectrum deficit issue.
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:
- 404 Media: ’We Will Fight to Our Very Last Breath:’ Township Leaders Vow to Fight Nuclear AI Data Center
- The Frontier: How data center developers won secrecy pledges from Oklahoma officials
- Harvest Public Media: As people protest data centers across the Heartland, lawmakers rush to regulate development
- NJ.com: A tiny N.J. borough approved a $1.8B AI data center — now its residents are fighting back
- Virginia Business: Virginia budget with data center tax moves to Spanberger’s desk
Musk’s total net worth is now $957 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That figure is still $660 billion higher than Larry Page, the next person on the list, whose net worth is $297 billion.
[Bloomberg]

8
Verge Score
Google Health remains a work in progress, but it could be so much worse.
Sure, you could buy a smart scale for a body composition breakdown, but why bother?
Hoto:
I don’t need some fancy two-bit scale to give myself a breakdown about my body composition
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The open-source AI startup has a deal through 2029, similar to Anthropic and Google, to rent compute capacity from SpaceX’s Colossus 2 data center for $150 million per month (up to $6.3 billion), reports the Wall Street Journal.
[Wall Street Journal]
Where else can you find cutting edge gadget coverage and excellent sunscreen recommendations?
pretendworld:
seeing a photo of my sunscreen on the verge.. i really don’t need to visit any other site this place has it all
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John Jumper, who has worked as a researcher at Google DeepMind since 2017, announced his departure from the company on X. In 2024, Jumper and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing an open-source AI model that predicts protein structures.

Other countries have been doing it right for over 20 years. It’s about time we caught up.
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:
- WPLN News: Nashville zoo’s data center pushback captures broad political support
- MPR News: At Minnesota Capitol, pushback from unions, industry halted new regulations on massive data centers
- Fox 7 Austin: Proposed data center in Taylor draws pushback from community
- KCRG: ‘We’re practically full’: Data center workers fill Eastern Iowa campgrounds
During the VivaTech 2026 conference in Paris, Samsung announced a new feature for its mobile devices created through a collaboration with the pet health management platform, Lifet. You’ll be able to snap a photo of your dog or cat which will be analyzed by AI to alert you to conditions like periodontal disease and obesity.


The Justice Department argues that xAI’s Mississippi data center should be allowed to pollute the air because it’s “critical” for military operations, which honestly explains a lot.
Nicholi:
How are we going to keep losing the war against Iran without Grok?
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The Justice Department is trying to intervene and dismiss a case from the NAACP alleging xAI’s use of gas turbines in Mississippi are illegally polluting the air. Preventing xAI from using them would endanger national security, DOJ argues, because “Grok provides critical support for the Department of War’s military operations.”
The controversial birth control app is rolling out “Sleep Insights,” allowing users to view key metrics — including sleep duration, efficiency, and timing — alongside their daily fertility status. It requires either an Oura Ring or Natural Cycles Band wearable, and over time, can show how hormonal changes and menstrual phases can impact sleep patterns.
While SpaceX plans satellite-based AI servers, Bloomberg reports it ran into trouble trying to develop and run Grok AI in Memphis, citing unnamed sources. They claim that deals renting capacity to Anthropic ($15 billion annually) and Google ($920 million per month) happened following hardware variation and lag issues:
Elon Musk’s company had planned to train its most cutting-edge AI models on a massive amount of computing power by using a cluster of three data center campuses. However, the firm encountered latency issues when connecting Colossus 1 with two other sites located more than 10 miles away, the people said, compounded by aging network infrastructure.
Oura says New Yorkers’ hearts were palpitating on Wednesday night during Game 4. Turns out, baseline heart rates increased by 3.7 beats on average at the final buzzer. Heart rates were also elevated for the entirety of the game, and nobody seemed to get a peaceful night of sleep. Guessing we’re in for more of the same on Saturday.

















