gettyWhen you think of Albert Einstein, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the Theory of Relativity, which he played a key role in developing. So it may come as a surprise to learn that this isnt what he won the Nobel Prize for. That honor went to his discovery of the photoelectric effect. You may not have heard of that one, but you see its impact every dayit underlays technology ranging from solar panels to medical imaging to digital cameras.Many of the technologies we rely upon today stem from smaller breakthroughs in science and engineering that preceded it by years or decades. All around the world, scientists and engineers are constantly pushing boundaries and making new discoveries that may one day drive the future. Here are five such innovations in 2024 that are among them.One step closer to DNA computersSince the 1990s, researchers have been investigating the possibility of using DNA for computing, which would theoretically provide advantages in power requirements, parallel processing and data storage. (For example, a gram of DNA could hold about 10 million hours worth of videosomething that currently requires a whole server rack.) A practical DNA computer is still a ways off, but there have been some interesting developments this year that could bring it a few steps closer.In August, a research team from Johns Hopkins University and North Carolina State University published a paper demonstrating essentially a first-of-its-kind DNA computer thats capable of not only computation but also accessing, adding and changing data. The researchers were able to use their prototype to solve simple problems in games like chess and sudoku.Another interesting development for DNA computation happened this year, too. In October, researchers at Peking University published a paper demonstrating using DNA to store information in binary code, making it more compatible with conventional programming languages. An even more practical application of this technique? It doesnt require the trained lab researchers and specialized equipment that are typically needed for this type of computing, making DNA an easier storage medium to work with.Scientists made a real-life version of Spider-Mans web fluidThe web fluid developed by Tufts researchers here seen suspending a beaker in air.Marco Lo Presti/TuftsIn the comics, Spider-Mans web fluid is an incredibly versatile substance, capable of being stored as a liquid, sticking to objects and able to carry heavy weights. In October, researchers at Tufts University developed a real-life version of the substance by extracting fibers from silk moth cocoons and adding chemical additives to create liquid that begins to solidify when squeezed from a needle and exposed to air. The adhesive substance is capable of sticking to objects and carrying over 80 times its own weight.The next step for the researchers is to improve the strength of the material (real spider silk, for example, is about 1,000 times stronger). But it could potentially be used for a variety of different applications as its properties are refined, just as silk is used for many industrial and commercial products today.Manufacturing drugs in space and bringing them back to EarthVarda's automated laboratory after its landing on Earth.John Kraus/VardaIn March of this year, California-based startup Varda Space Industries published a paper showing that it had successfully manufactured HIV drug ritonavir in a small, automated laboratory in space. The company also successfully brought the drugs back, a milestone in demonstrating that drugs created in microgravity are still stable when they return to Earth.Manufacturing drugs in orbit allows for finer control over a crystallization process thats common to how many drugs are made. That level of control can make a difference between turning a medicine into a pill or having to deliver it using an IV, which is why pharmaceutical giants have been conducting a variety of similar experiments on board the International Space Station.Get the latest emerging tech news delivered to your inbox every Friday with The Prototype newsletter. Subscribe here.Vardas spacecraft offer an advantage over the ISS because theyre automated and dont require astronauts to be on board. That means they arent tied to NASAs crewed flight schedule, which significantly reduces the costs involved, the companys president Delian Asparouhov told Forbes earlier this year. In April, the company raised a $90 million series B round to accelerate production of its spacecraft.Mapping this cellular process could lead to new disease treatmentsIt took a decade, but in October scientists at Barcelonas Center for Genomic Regulation published a map of the human spliceosome. This is the part of the cell that reads and edits your DNA to create different proteins. Over 90% of your genes are edited through this mechanism, which has turned out to be significantly more complicated than previously thought.These blueprints to one of the cell's most vital processes is a monumental step towards new medicines. Errors in the spliceosome are linked to a wide variety of diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinsons, genetic disorders and most types of cancer. Now that scientists have access to an accurate map of how each component of it works, it may be possible to find new targets for drug development.Your EVs next battery might be partially made from coalCoal particles being superheated as part of the graphite manufacturing process.Oak Ridge National LaboratoryOne of the most crucial components of lithium-ion batteries is graphite, a material thats expected to face shortages in the 2030s due to demand from electric vehicles. Currently, the world is dependent on China, which produces nearly 80% of the material. The country has both mines and manufacturing facilities that can produce graphite artificially, currently an expensive process.In December, researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory may have found a solution to stave off these potential shortages: theyve developed two new processes that can turn coal into graphite. One process takes solid forms of coal and uses an electrochemical reaction to transform it. The other filters a liquified form of coal called a slurry, then electrochemically treats it to make graphite. In both cases, the process uses less energy than conventional methods, making them a potentially lower-cost alternative.Project leader Edgar Lara-Curzio told Forbes that this innovation highlights the possibilities that coal, which remains abundant around the world, could still hold in the 21st century. You could make things like carbon fibers and electrodes for energy storage devices and construction materials, he said. The breakthrough heralds a promising future for places where coal still dominates the economy as the world transitions to renewable forms of energy.MORE AT FORBES

Kevin Costners Horizon: An American SagaHorizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 is now available to stream on Netflix. The films inclusion on Netflix is somewhat of a surprise, considering Chapter 1was believed to be a Max exclusive. However, Warner Bros. has been licensing its movies and TV shows to Netflix for over a year. Even Dune: Part Two, Warner Bros. highest-grossing movie of 2024, is now streaming on Netflix.Recommended VideosIs CostnersHorizonlooking for a new home? In July, World of Reel reported that Netflix offered to buy the rights to Horizon: An American Saga,which includes funding for Chapters 3 and4. Costner declined the offer and remains adamant about releasing Horizonin theaters.Please enable Javascript to view this contentAfter premiering at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1opened in theaters on June 28, 2024. The film received mixed reviews and grossed $38 million against a $50 million budget. After the disappointing box office performance ofChapter 1, Warner Bros. removed Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 2from its release calendar.Chapter2played at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival.Horizon: An American Saga - Official Trailer #2 - Warner Bros. UK & IrelandCostner, who had a public feud with Taylor Sheridan over his Yellowstonedeparture, only filmed some ofChapter 3. Costner recently told Deadline that hes meeting all the billionaires to secure funding to film Chapters 3 and4.RelatedIm going to make3,Costner said. I dont know how Im going to do it, but Im going to make it,and then Im going to make the fourth one. And if you want to say The End at that point, then thats the end.IfChapter 1becomes a hit on Netflix, perhaps Costner will reengage conversations about adding future chapters of Horizonto the streamer.Stream Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1on Netflix and Max.Editors Recommendations

New Years Day is a great time to watch a movie while youre recovering from staying up late to ring in the new year. If youre feeling like starting 2025 with a mix of action and drama, a war movie is a great option, and many quality options are available on streaming services.To help you find something without scrolling endlessly, weve pulled together this list of great war movies to watch on New Years Day, including the streaming service theyre available on.Recommended VideosWe also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max,andthe best movies on Disney+.RelatedEditors Recommendations

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsObliteratedThe Night AgentA Man on the InsideEvilOutlanderHopefully you didnt stay out too late on New Years Eve. By the fluke of the calendar, this years New Years Day falls in the middle of the week, and we all have to get back to work on January 2. But since you do have a day off right now, Netflix has plenty of programing to keep you busy in the new year.Just to make things easier for you, weve narrowed your options down to the five great Netflix shows to watch on New Years Day. Our picks include two action series, a fantastic comedy, a supernatural show, and a historical romantic drama thats been making audiences swoon for a decade.Recommended VideosNeed to watch more movies and shows to ring in 2025? Then try 5 great free movies to watch on New Years Eve, 5 great Netflix movies to watch on New Years Day, 5 great Netflix thrillers to watch on New Years Eve, and 5 great Netflix sci-fi movies to watch on New Years Eve.RelatedNetflixObliterated only had a short run on Netflix, but it feels like an appropriate choice for New Years Day. An elite team led by CIA officer Ava Winters (Shelley Hennig) and Navy SEAL Chad McKnight (Nick Zano) just saved Las Vegas from a terrorist plot to nuke the city. And to celebrate, they all went out to party and get drunk or high out of their minds.Unfortunately for the team, the party was a little premature. The nuke they disarmed was a dud, and the real nuclear device is still in the hands of the terrorists. If this group cant sober up fast and get back in the saddle then theres going to be a big pile of dust in the desert where Las Vegas used to be. Because there are only eight episodes, dedicated binge watchers should be able to power through this show before January 2.Watch Obliterated on Netflix.Dan Power / NetflixOn January 23, Netflix will drop The Night Agent season 2. So take the opportunity to catch up on the series on New Years Day. Gabriel Basso stars as FBI agent Peter Sutherland, a man whose act of heroism seems to earn him a role as a glorified telephone operator for the White Houses Night Action division. And the phone hes expected to monitor rarely rings.When Peter finally gets the literal call to action, it comes from Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan), a former tech CEO whose aunt and uncle were Night Action agents. Rose doesnt know whats going on, but she does have a warning for Peter that theres a traitor positioned near the president of the United States. And since Peter is the only one Rose can trust, shell stay as close to him as possible until they smoke out the traitor.Watch The Night Agent on Netflix.NetflixOn the surface, Charles (Ted Danson) is just a widowed college professor who is starting the next stage of his life by moving into the Pacific View Retirement Community in San Francisco to be with people his own age. However, as the title of the show hints, Charles is A Man on the Inside, and he has a mission.A private investigator named Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) hired Charles to infiltrate the community because shes convinced that someone who lives there stole a very valuable necklace. Charles leaps at the chance to play detective; he just doesnt have the skills to really pull it off. His investigative instincts get him into some tight spots inside the community, and theyre also straining his newfound relationships. Can Charles maintain his newfound friendships if the people living in Pacific View learn why hes really there?Watch A Man on the Inside on Netflix.CBS StudiosEvil is real, and so is Evil the show. The third season of this formerly Paramount+ exclusive show just hit Netflix, and its a bigger hit on this streaming service than it ever was on its old home. Think of this series as a theologically charged X-Files. Dr. Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) is a skeptic who is hired by the Catholic Church to investigate unexplained and potentially supernatural cases.Shes joined on these cases by a priest in training, David Acosta (Mike Colter), and a tech expert named Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi), who is an atheist and perhaps even more skeptical than Kristen. The teams activities capture the attention ofDr. Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson), a man who is communing with demonic powers. Leland and Kristen have a mutual hatred of each other, and that conflict expands in scale as the series plays out.Watch Evil on Netflix.StarzThe second half of Outlander season 7 is currently playing out on Starz, with an eighth and final season to follow in the future. However, Netflix has all six of the previous seasons of this historical romance drama, which has a few sci-fi/fantasy touches. Caitrona Balfe stars as Claire Fraser, a British nurse during World War II who is transported back in time to the 18th century in the Scottish highlands. Despite being married to another man in the future, Claire marries Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) in the past for her own protection.Over the course of the first season, Claire and Jamie come to truly love each other, and not even centuries of time can keep them apart when Claire figures out how to return to her own time. By the time of the sixth season, Claire and Jamie have a large extended family, and theyre getting increasingly involved with the American rebellion against the British, which tests their loyalties to both family and country.Watch Outlander on Netflix.Weve also rounded up all the best new shows to stream this week, the best movies on Netflix, the best shows on Hulu, the best shows on Amazon Prime, and the best shows on Disney+because we take our streaming seriously. Watching while traveling abroad? Use a Netflix VPN to access your countrys catalog from anywhere in the world.Editors Recommendations

The H-1B program lets companies fill roles for software developers, engineers and other technology jobs.

Bad Bunny, the Weeknd, FKA twigs and other artists have recently put out promising singles from albums due to be released in the next few months.

The producer helped bring about the swing era in the 1930s, but a new set highlights the later jazz recordings he oversaw in the 1950s, many of them featuring Count Basie regulars and even the bandleader himself.

High atop Chiles 2,700-meter Cerro Pachn, the air is clear and dry, leaving few clouds to block the beautiful view of the stars. Its here that the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will soon use a car-size 3,200-megapixel digital camerathe largest ever builtto produce a new map of the entire night sky every three days. Generating 20 terabytes of data per night, Rubin will capture fine details about the solar system, the Milky Way, and the large-scale structure of the cosmos, helping researchers to understand their history and current evolution. It will capture rapidly changing events, including stellar explosions called supernovas, the evisceration of stars by black holes, and the whiz of asteroids overhead. Findings from the observatory will help tease apart fundamental mysteries like the nature of dark matter and dark energy, two phenomena that have not been directly observed but affect how objects in the universe are bound togetherand pushed apart. Rubin is the latest and most advanced entrant into the illustrious lineage of all-sky surveyorsinstruments that capture, or survey, the entire sky, over and over again. Its first scientific images are expected later this year. In a single exposure, Rubin will capture 100,000 galaxies, the majority invisible to other instruments. A quarter-century in the making, the observatory is poised to expand our understanding of just about every corner of the universe. The facility will also look far outside the Milky Way, cataloguing around 20 billion previously unknown galaxies and mapping their placement in long filamentary structures known as the cosmic web. I cant think of an astronomer who is not excited about [Rubin], says Christian Aganze, a galactic archeologist at Stanford University in California. The observatory was first proposed in 2001. Then called the Large-Aperture Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), it grew out of an earlier concept for an instrument that would study dark matter, the enigmatic substance making up 85% of the matter in the universe. LSST was later reenvisioned to focus on a broader set of scientific questions, cataloguing the night sky over the course of a decade. Five years ago, it was renamed in honor of the late American astronomer Vera Rubin, who uncovered some of the best evidence in favor of dark matters existence in the 1970s and 80s. During operations, Rubin will point its sharp eyes at the heavens and take a 30-second exposure of an area larger than 40 full moons. It will then swivel to a new patch and snap another photo, rounding back to the same swath of sky after about three nights. In this way, it can provide a constantly updated view of the universe, essentially creating this huge video of the southern sky for 10 years, explains Anais Mller, an astrophysicist at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. A view of the back of the Rubin Observatorys massive LSST camera, which boasts six filters designed to capture light from different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.SPENCER LOWELL 1) Secondary mirror (M2); 2) Lenses; 3) Primary Mirror (M1); 4) Tertiary mirror (M3)GREG STEWART/SLAC NATIONAL ACCELERATOR LABORATORY/NSF/DOE/RUBIN OBSERVATORY/AURA To accomplish its work, Rubin relies on an innovative three-mirror design unlike that of any other telescope. Its primary mirror is actually made up of two separate surfaces with different curvatures. The outer section, 8.4 meters wide, captures light from the universe and reflects it onto a 3.4-meter-wide secondary mirror located above it. This bounces the light back onto the inner part of the primary, which stretches five meters across and is considered a tertiary mirror, before being reflected into a digital camera. The compact configuration allows the enormous instrument to be powerful but nimble as it shifts around to take roughly 1,000 photos per night. It has five seconds to go to the next position and be ready, says Sandrine Thomas, the deputy director for the observatorys construction and project scientist for the telescope. Meaning that it doesnt move. It doesnt vibrate. Its just rock solid, ready to take the next image. Technicians reinstall a cover on the secondary telescope mirror, to protect it before installation.SPENCER LOWELL The observatorys three mirrors and the housing of the LSST camera are mounted on a structure called the Telescope Mount Assembly. The assembly has been carefully engineered for stability and precision, allowing the observatory to track celestial objects and carry out its large-scale survey of the sky.SPENCER LOWELL The primary and tertiary telescope mirrors are positioned below a chamber at the Rubin Observatory that is used to apply reflective coatings.SPENCER LOWELL A view of the Telescope Mount Assembly from above, through the observatorys protective dome shutter.SPENCER LOWELL Rubins 3,000-kilogram camera is the most sensitive ever created for an astronomical project. By stacking together images of a piece of sky taken over multiple nights, the telescope will be able to spot fainter and fainter objects, peering deeper into the cosmos the longer it operates. Each exposure creates a flood of data, which has to be piped via fiber-optic cables to processing centers around the world. These use machine learning to filter the information and generate alerts for interested groups, says Mller, who helps run what are known as community brokers, groups that design software to ingest the nightly terabytes of data and search for interesting phenomena. A small change in the skyof which Rubin is expected to see around 10 million per nightcould point to a supernova explosion, a pair of merging stars, or a massive object passing in front of another. Different teams will want to know which is which so they can aim other telescopes at particular regions for follow-up studies. The focal plane of the LSST has a surface area large enough to capture a portion of the sky about the size of 40 full Moons. Its resolution is so high that you could spot a golf ball from 24 km (15 miles) away.VERA C RUBIN OBSERVATORY Matter in the universe can warp and magnify the light from more distant objects. The Rubin Observatory will use this phenomenon, called gravitational lensing, to study dark matter an as-yet-unidentified substance that makes up most of the universes matter.ESA, NASA, K. SHARON/TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY AND E. OFEK/CALTECH With its capacity to detect faint objects, Rubin is expected to increase the number of known asteroids and comets by a factor of 10 to 100. Many of them will be objects more than 140 meters in diameter with orbits passing near Earths, meaning they could threaten our world. And it will catalogue 40,000 new small icy bodies in the Kuiper Belt, a largely unexplored region beyond Neptune where many comets are born, helping scientists better understand the structure and history of our solar system. We have never had such a big telescope imaging so wide and so deep. Anais Mller, astrophysicist, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia Beyond our solar system, Rubin will see telltale flickers that signal exoplanets passing in front of their parent stars, causing them to briefly dim. It should also find thousands of new brown dwarfs, faint objects between planets and stars in size, whose positions in the Milky Way can provide insight into how the environments in which stars are born affect the size and type of objects that can form there. It will discover never-before-seen dim dwarf galaxies orbiting our own and look closely at stellar streams, remnant trails of stars left behind when the Milky Way tore other, similar galaxies apart. The facility will also look far outside the Milky Way, cataloguing around 20 billion previously unknown galaxies and mapping their placement in long filamentary structures known as the cosmic web. The gravitational pull of dark matter directly affects the overall shape of this web, and by examining its structure, cosmologists will glean evidence for different theories of what dark matter is. Rubin is expected to observe millions of supernovas and determine their distance from us, a way of measuring how fast the universe is expanding. Some researchers suspect that dark energywhich is causing the cosmos to expand at an accelerated ratemay have been stronger in the past. Data from more distant, and therefore older, supernovas could help bolster or disprove such ideas and potentially narrow down the identity of dark energy too. An overhead view of the observatory.SPENCER LOWELL In just about every way, Rubin will be a monumental project, explaining the near-universal eagerness for those in the field to see it finally begin operations. We have never had such a big telescope imaging so wide and so deep, says Mller. Thats an incredible opportunity to really pinpoint things that are changing in the sky and understand their physics. Adam Mann is a freelance space and physics journalist who lives in Oakland, California.

As a low-income student, I didn't think college was for me.I then enrolled in a college class as a high schooler, and it changed everything.I could finally see myself in college, and the class helped me find the right school for me.I didn't always assume I'd go to college. However, during my senior year of high school, I had an opportunity to dual enroll in an English class at a local college for credit.I grew up in a small rural town, and my school talked about different pathways post-graduation, including joining the military, entering the workforce, attending a trade school, or taking the "college-bound" track. I liked school, but the bureaucracy behind college enrollment, like college applications and FASFA forms, felt overwhelming at times.My school allowed select students with the appropriate requirements to attend college classes in person at a local college. Students could earn college credit and interact with college students before returning to high school to finish out the day.Enrolling in the college class was relatively straightforward since it was through a program at my school. The tuition for the class was covered. I just had to buy the books, which I was able to afford from the money I earned working as a hostess at a restaurant.New opportunities gave me a glimpse of what waited after high schoolOn Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during a semester of my senior year of high school, I attended the small liberal arts college in my hometown.I was side-by-side with college students and gleefully joined freshmen for an introductory English class. The professor was nice and supportive, and the process demystified college for me. Assignments that initially sounded intimidating, like papers and finals, weren't so different from my high school classwork.The lectures were enjoyable and included funny movie clips from time to time. Completing the assignments kept me engaged intellectually and helped me feel accomplished.Since the class was free, it was a no-pressure way for me to experience what college coursework would look like. This gave me practice as a student and made me realize I could handle it.Most importantly, this opportunity gave me the confidence as a low-income student to realize that I could handle college classes. It also helped save me some money in the long run since I entered college with credits.It helped me articulate and understand class differences in a new wayMy hometown was a microcosm of America. It was socioeconomically diverse. There was rural poverty in my town which is what I grew up in and was most exposed to during my childhood.But my town was also home to an expensive college, where my dual enrollment was held. The college's tuition rates were more expensive than many locals earned all year, so there were affluent areas in my town as well.Attending the college exposed me to new ways of living. I was integrated into a community that highlighted different realities for me.While my school emphasized a variety of different options, I now understood that many people would have different paths. Many of the college students I interacted with were always expected to be on a "college-bound" path. Their trajectory reflected their expected outcome, and it was interesting to understand these new perspectives.It shaped my futureMy professor, who taught me in my dual enrollment class, helped me home in on my next steps, anticipating what my future could look like after high school graduation.He suggested a college for me to apply to, which was the place he'd earned his Ph.D.. It was a school that I had never heard of, and I would never have learned about it without his guidance since it was in another state.Ultimately, I took his advice and applied to the university that he suggested. I was accepted and attended. That decision changed the trajectory of my life, and it all started with the college class I took in high school.

New Orleans reported a mass casualty event on Bourbon Street.Police said a vehicle may have plowed into a group of people and there are reported deaths.The city's public safety body said 10 people were killed and 30 injured.New Orleans' public safety body on Wednesday said that 10 people were killed and 30 more injured after a vehicle drove into a crowd in the heart of the city's party district.NOLA Ready, the city's emergency preparedness campaign, said there was "a mass casualty incident involving a vehicle that drove into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street."It said that "there are 30 injured patients that have been transported by NOEMS and 10 fatalities," and that its public safety partners were responding on scene.The incident took place around 3 a.m. local time.NOLA Ready had written earlier on X that "there has been a mass casualty incident on Canal and Bourbon Street. Get yourself away from the area."A New Orleans Police spokesperson told CBS News that "initial reports show a car may have plowed into a group of people. Injuries are unknown but there are reported fatalities."Kevin Garcia, a 22-year-old who was present at the time, told CNN "All I seen was a truck slamming into everyone on the left side of Bourbon sidewalk."He said that "a body came flying at me," and that he heard gunshots.One eyewitness told CBS that a truck drove into the crowd at Bourbon Street at high speed and that the driver got out and started firing a weapon, with the police firing back.Bourbon Street, in the city's French Quarter, is a famous party destination known for drinking and revelry.