How to solve today's Wordle.SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesLooking for Fridays Wordle hints, clues and answer? You can find them here:Saturday is here at last, which means its time to kick back and chill for a couple days. Maybe read a good book, make a fancy cocktail, eat some comfort food, or solve a word puzzle or two. You can also check out all the new TV shows and movies streaming this weekend in my weekend streaming guide!We have a Wordle to solve before any of that, however. Lets solve it!How To Solve Todays WordleThe Hint: A 60s supergroup that goes well with coffee.The Clue: This Wordle has two vowels in a row.Okay, spoilers below!...The Answer:Today's WordleCredit: Erik KainWordle AnalysisEvery day I check Wordle Bot to help analyze my guessing game. You can check your Wordles with Wordle Bot right here. I dont even feel bad about taking four guesses today, even though I would have preferred a better game. STORE left me with 214 words but also two yellow boxes, which I turned into a lot more boxes with REACH. Still no greens, however, but CLEAR slashed my remaining guesses to two and I got lucky with CREAM for the win!Competitive Wordle ScoreToday's Wordle BotScreenshot: Erik KainI get 0 points for guessing in four and -1 for losing to the Bot, who guessed in two somehow!How To Play Competitive WordleGuessing in 1 is worth 3 points; guessing in 2 is worth 2 points; guessing in 3 is worth 1 point; guessing in 4 is worth 0 points; guessing in 5 is -1 points; guessing in 6 is -2 points and missing the Wordle is -3 points.If you beat your opponent you get 1 point. If you tie, you get 0 points. And if you lose to your opponent, you get -1 point. Add it up to get your score. Keep a daily running score or just play for a new score each day.Fridays are 2XP, meaning you double your pointspositive or negative.You can keep a running tally or just play day-by-day. Enjoy!Todays Wordle EtymologyThe word cream comes from the Old French cresme (Modern French crme), which itself derives from the Late Latin crisma or chrisma, meaning "ointment" or "anointing." This, in turn, comes from the Greek khrisma (), meaning "anointing" or "unction." The connection likely arose because of the thick, rich texture of cream, resembling ointments used for anointing. Over time, the term came to specifically refer to the fatty layer that rises to the top of milk.Let me know how you fared with your Wordle today on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog where I write about games, TV shows and movies when Im not writing puzzle guides. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.

Today's NYT Strands hints and answersCredit: New York TimesLooking for Fridays Strands hints, spangram and answers? You can find them here:Rejoice, dearest Strandistas, for I have returned! Your humblest of all Strands guides is back to help you with todays grid. What great luck! What great fortune! And while I jest, I am happy to be back to solve this fun NYT puzzle alongside all of you. Lets dive right in!Strands is the newest game in the New York Times stable of puzzle games. Its a fun twist on classic word search games. Every day were given a new theme and then tasked with uncovering all the words on the grid that fit that theme, including a spangram that spans two sides of the board. One of these words is the spangram which crosses from one side of the grid to another and reveals even more about the days theme.Spoilers ahead.Todays Strands HintsRead on for todays theme and some hints to help you uncover todays words.Todays Theme: Here we (dont) go againHint #1: Too many carsHint #2: Too few alternatives to get where youre goingTo help you uncover all the words, here are the first two letters of every word, including the spangram.COGRBLOVTRRemember, spoilers ahead!What Are Todays Strands Answers?Todays spangram is: TRAFFICJAMHeres the full list of words:CONGESTIONGRIDLOCKBLOCKAGEOVERCROWDINGHeres the completed Strands grid:Today's StrandsScreenshot: Erik KainTodays Strands BreakdownTodays was a unique Strands in that it only had five words total, including the spangram, and each is obviously quite long. I actually found the spangram first. I found the word LOGJAM and when that didnt work, I tried to find something else to tag the JAM to, and there was TRAFFIC, plain as day. From here, I found BLOCKAGE and then noticed an ING next to it. Again, working in reverse I discovered OVERCROWDING. Only two words remained, and these were definitely tricky, but once I spotted the TION and worked backward, there was CONGESTION and it was just a hop, skip and a jump to GRIDLOCK. Man, I hate traffic so much.How did you do on your Strands today? Let me know on Twitter and Facebook.Be sure to check out my blog for my daily Wordle guides as well as all my other writing about TV shows, streaming guides, movie reviews, video game coverage and much more. Thanks for stopping by!

Apple redesigned the Mail app on iPhones with the release of iOS 18.2 update back in December, but strangely skipped the treatment for iPads and Macs. The company has finally made a course correction with the macOS 15.4 and iPad OS 18.4 developer beta updates, which are now available for testers.The biggest change introduced by the new Mail app are categories. All your emails are now neatly slotted across four categories. Heres a brief breakdown of how it works:Primary: For personal messages and time-sensitive content.Transactions: A section for keeping a tab on confirmation emails, receipts, and shipping-related alerts.Updates: All the content that youve signed up to receive via an email agreement, such as news, newsletters, and social media updates.Promotions: This is the section where you get marketing and shopping material, such as coupons and sales-related notifications.Recommended VideosApple, however, notes that if any of your emails across the last three categories contain time-sensitive details, they will appear in the Primary bracket. Apple is also taking an approach similar to social media profiles, when you open messages from a specific sender within these three categories.Nadeem Sarwar / Digital TrendsWhen you tap a Transactions, Updates, or Promotions message, a digest view of messages from that sender opens, says the company. This is a great way to catch up on activities such as alerts from your banking service provider, as you see all your payments neatly slotted in a vertically-scrolling card-like format. Of course, you can always choose to disable categories and enable the classic list view that shows all your emails in the same order as they landed in your inbox. The idea is neat, as it separates unimportant jargon from relevant communication, but its not perfect.The arrival of the updated Mail experience on iPads and Macs solves a big problem, even though it add some versatility, like letting users create their own categories. iPhones have had the new interface for a while now, and if you got used to it, not having a consistent experience on your Mac or iPad was a bummer.With the arrival of macOS 15.4 and iPadOS 18.4s first developer beta updates, there is finally some respite. Its now only a matter of time before the developer and public beta testing comes to an end, and the overhauled Mail experience is available across the entire mobile and desktop ecosystem.As far as other AI-powered tricks in the Mail app are concerned, Mac users can also take advantage of email summaries, smart replies, and priority messages.Editors Recommendations

Microsoft is set to get a major AI update and is preparing its server capacity to support the next iteration of OpenAIs models. As OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman has previously indicated the brand will soon release the GPT-4.5 large language model in the coming weeks, the Verge has reported that the new model could be available as early as next week.As with other technology advancements, OpenAI has made claims of GPT-4.5 being significantly more powerful than its prior version, GPT-4. The model, codenamed Orion, is set to be OpenAIs last non-chain-of-thought model. Also indicating the coming launch of GPT-5 flagship model with major updates to its functionality, will also affect how partners, such as Microsoft incorporate the technology as well.XMicrosoft is set to receive the GPT-5 code in May; however, the publication noted that this time frame is not set in stone. Previously, reports suggested OpenAI intended to release GPT-4.5 in late 2024, but that launch was delayed. In its place, the company began introducing its series of reasoning models, which differ from large language models in that they require less training to produce a better result. They also allowed OpenAI to frequently release several new reasoning models in standard and mini versions in a short period.Recommended VideosHowever, the GPT-4o model clashed with subscription-based AI features on Microsofts Azure cloud service. The companys team was at a loss on how to integrate some of the speech and translation functions. However, with enough time the engineers can sort out any hiccups, according to Android Headlines. OpenAIs most recent reasoning models are the o3 and o3 mini models. The company has indicated plans to combine its large language models and reasoning models to avoid confusion and get closer to its goal of achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI). Currently, users must select a model option for the type of processing result they desire. However, GPT-5 is set to be integrated with o3 mini, allowing users to have the power of both models in one option.Altman recently took to X to express his dissatisfaction with the breakdown of all the different AI models that are now available for his platform, stating that he believes in the magic of unified intelligence.Editors Recommendations

Soaring demand for reasoning models will consume electricity, microchips and data-center real estate for the foreseeable future.

Recharge, then recharge some more Researchers figure out how to get fresh lithium into batteries Regular doses of lithium let a battery survive nearly 12K cycles (and counting). John Timmer Feb 21, 2025 4:33 pm | 11 Credit: Kinga Krzeminska Credit: Kinga Krzeminska Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreAs the owner of a 3-year-old laptop, I feel the finite lifespan of lithium batteries acutely. It's still a great machine, but the cost of a battery replacement would take me a significant way down the path of upgrading to a newer, even greater machine. If only there were some way to just plug it in overnight and come back to a rejuvenated battery.While that sounds like science fiction, a team of Chinese researchers has identified a chemical that can deliver fresh lithium to well-used batteries, extending their life. Unfortunately, getting it to work requires that the battery has been constructed with this refresh in mind. Plus it hasn't been tested with the sort of lithium chemistry that is commonly used in consumer electronics.Finding the right chemistryThe degradation of battery performance is largely a matter of its key components gradually dropping out of use within the battery. Through repeated cyclings, bits of electrodes fragment and lose contact with the conductors that collect current, while lithium can end up in electrically isolated complexes. There's no obvious way to re-mobilize these lost materials, so the battery's capacity drops. Eventually, the only way to get more capacity is to recycle the internals into a completely new battery.There's potentially another option: inject some new material into the battery itself. While there are physical limits to how much you can cram into the physical space inside the battery, this does have the potential to extend its useful life and get more out of the cost and energy required for manufacturing.By all appearances, however, that isn't what the team behind the recent research was trying to do. Instead, most of the new paper describing the researchers' work is focused on a related problem: getting lithium into a battery during the manufacturing process. It just happens to be the case that the approach they are developing will work for both manufacturing and rejuvenation.In current manufacturing processes, the lithium is typically included in one of the electrodes, leaving the battery ready for use. There are, however, a number of electrode materials that can potentially store a lot of lithium but aren't easy to load up with it ahead of manufacturing. So, the researchers were interested in manufacturing the battery, then finding a way to get the lithium in afterward.So, they started searching for a lithium compound that fit a very long list of fairly specific properties. One is that it had to undergo reactions that liberated the lithium within the voltage range typically used by the mature batteries so that all of it would eventually react. The reaction also had to be irreversible to prevent ongoing cycles of reactions between the lithium and the remains of the chemical that brought it there. Those chemical remains had to be easy to get back out of the battery, as well. Finally, the chemical had to be soluble in battery electrolytes and stable when exposed to air and moderate heat so it could be used in existing manufacturing.Lithium deliveryThe chemical they came up with is LiSO2CF3. Under voltage, the chemical will lose both the lithium and an electron, leaving behind an unstable chemical that breaks down into SO2 and a mixture of HCF3 and C2F6. All of those products are gases at room temperature and will simply bubble out of the electrolyte if there's any space for them to do so.To test it, the researchers essentially built a lithium-free lithium battery. Then, using an electrolyte with dissolved LiSO2CF3, they filled an electrode with lithium ions by applying a voltage, drawing off the gases that formed in the process. Once fully loaded, they could seal the battery off, expecting it to cycle the lithium as normal.In their testing, they use a couple of unusual electrode materials, such as a chromium oxide (Cr8O21) and an organic polymer (a sulfurized polyacrylonitrile). Both of these have significant weight advantages over the typical materials used in today's batteries, although the resulting batteries typically lasted less than 500 cycles before dropping to 80 percent of their original capacity.But the striking experiment came when they used LiSO2CF3 to rejuvenate a battery that had been manufactured as normal but had lost capacity due to heavy use. Treating a lithium-iron phosphate battery that had lost 15 percent of its original capacity restored almost all of what was lost, allowing it to hold over 99 percent of its original charge. They also ran a battery for repeated cycles with rejuvenation every few thousand cycles. At just short of 12,000 cycles, it still could be restored to 96 percent of its original capacity.Before you get too excited, there are a couple of things worth noting about lithium-iron phosphate cells. The first is that, relative to their charge capacity, they're a bit heavy, so they tend to be used in large, stationary batteries like the ones in grid-scale storage. They're also long-lived on their own; with careful management, they can take over 8,000 cycles before they drop to 80 percent of their initial capacity. It's not clear whether similar rejuvenation is possible in the battery chemistries typically used for the sorts of devices that most of us own.The final caution is that the battery needs to be modified so that fresh electrolytes can be pumped in and the gases released by the breakdown of the LiSO2CF3 removed. It's safest if this sort of access is built into the battery from the start, rather than provided by modifying it much later, as was done here. And the piping needed would put a small dent in the battery's capacity per volume if so.All that said, the treatment demonstrated here would replenish even a well-managed battery closer to its original capacity. And it would largely restore the capacity of something that hadn't been carefully managed. And that would allow us to get far more out of the initial expense of battery manufacturing. Meaning it might make sense for batteries destined for a large storage facility, where lots of them could potentially be treated at the same time.Nature, 2025. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08465-y (About DOIs).John TimmerSenior Science EditorJohn TimmerSenior Science Editor John is Ars Technica's science editor. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. When physically separated from his keyboard, he tends to seek out a bicycle, or a scenic location for communing with his hiking boots. 11 Comments

In a Friday ruling Judge Carl Nichols allowed President Donald Trump to resume putting USAID employees on leave.Nichols reversed a prior order halting the plans, saying the plaintiffs "overstated" the need for intervention.USAID workers may still prevail as the case progresses, but the agency is left gutted for now.After being targeted in the DOGE office's efforts to cut federal spending and root out waste, USAID on Friday lost a major court battle, leaving the international aid agency gutted while legal challenges play out.US District Judge Carl Nichols, in his Friday ruling, allowed President Donald Trump's staff reductions at USAID to proceed, reversing his prior order to halt them pending a request for a temporary injunction brought by the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents about 800,000 federal workers, and the American Foreign Service Association.Nichols had previously issued a temporary restraining order in the case, forcing the staff reductions to stop while he considered the plaintiffs' argument that an agency shutdown and the immediate recall of international employees back to the US would cause irreparable harm to the employees and their families, who are stationed abroad in service of the agency's humanitarian missions."The Court was concerned by this alleged harm when issuing the TRO: it observed that recalling employees on such short notice could subject them to non-financial injurieslike harms to the continuity of their healthcare and their children's educationthat no future lawsuit could redress," Nichols wrote in his Friday ruling. "But again, the government's subsequent submissions have convinced the Court that plaintiffs' initial assertions of harm were overstated."While the USAID workers may still prevail as the case progresses through court somelegal scholars have argued Trump's cuts to federal agencies are "flatly illegal" the rescinded temporary restraining order leaves the aid agency with the bulk of its US employees on administrative leave."We are disappointed in today's decision and believe the harms faced by USAID workers are real," Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward, the legal services firm representing the USAID workers, said in a statement. "We remain confident that the court will find the administration's efforts to decimate USAID contrary to law. We will continue to pursue all legal options in this case in order to ensure the safety of Americans at home and abroad."Representatives for the White House and the plaintiffs' legal team did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

The 5 most perfect video games ever made Readers FeatureGameCentralPublished February 22, 2025 1:00am Super Metroid a game without faults? (Nintendo)A reader names the five video games he thinks are almost entirely without fault and just as playable now as when they were first made.Before I start this, I want to address the obvious and say that nothing is perfect. So all the games Im about to list do have flaws, but theyre small and unimportant that the overall impression is that they literally do not put a foot wrong.What Ive realised in making this list is that the older a game is the easier it is to be flawless, because the less its doing. You might say Space Invaders, or whatever your favourite arcade is, is perfect but thats in large part because its not really trying to do all that much.On the other hand, newer games can be absolute classics but still quite flawed. Nobody would argue that the combat in The Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2 is anything more than mediocre at best but just as much, nobody would argue that they arent amongst the best of the last decade. So with that in mind, see what you think of my list (which is no particular order).Super MetroidIn doing some research for this list I was surprised to find that Super Metroid on the SNES was perhaps the least controversial choice for calling any game perfect. Not that it doesnt deserve to be, but I was surprised at how many people were happy to just accept that as fact. It has aged incredibly well though and as one of the very first Metroidvania games it still feels like something that could be released today.The design and open-endedness is so well done and while its less obvious now the graphics were state-of-the-art at the time. But on top of that it even had a decent story going, with a very memorable ending. Super Metroid is so good even its unintended glitches are fun. Also, Metroid Prime is pretty much perfect too.Chrono TriggerLooking around, I saw a lot of people calling Final Fantasy 7 perfect but thats really not the word Id use for it. Like The Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2, its definitely a great game, and very influential, but its riddled with flaws most obviously its terrible translation. For me the best role-player on the SNES, and the best Japanese role-player of all time, is the incredible Chrono Trigger.Why this series hasnt been milked to death, but Final Fantasy has, I dont know but what amazes me about Chrono Trigger is that its so well paced, whereas even back in the 90s role-players were long-winded and bloated. All the characters are likeable, the combat is relatively traditional but fast-paced and doesnt waste your time, and the setting and story is constantly on the move.Its so perfect all they could think to add for the directors cut is some animated cut scenes and a new, but completely random, new area.Super Mario WorldTo be honest, there could be a lot of Nintendo games in this list. I considered Zelda: A Link To The Past and Ocarina Of Time, as well as various other Mario games and Advance Wars. But I think Super Mario World deserves the spot the most.You could argue the graphics were a bit primitive, even back in 1991, but beyond that this is just masterpiece gaming, with a mania for inventing and exploring new ideas on every level, almost to the point where it feels like its being programmed live with Nintendo just coming up with wild ideas off the top of their heads.Super Mario Bros. 3 is probably no less perfect and Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 are up there too, so yeah looking forward to that new Super Mario for the Switch 2.Civilization 5Like every Civ fan, Ive been very disappointed by Civilization 7, which is the worst Ive ever seen the series at launch. As a reader said recently, you only ever buy a new Civilization when its replaced by another new one and I think that probably is the rule of thumb for the fandom, so Ill be looking into Civilization 6 a lot over the next few weeks.But at the moment, with all the DLC, updates, and mods I think Civilization 5 is the perfect incarnation of the idea and a perfect game in its own right. It takes time to learn but I dont see that as a flaw; its a game about controlling the whole of human history, youre not going to do that without a certain degree of complexity.The fact that it works at all is some kind of miracle, but Civilization 5 manages to have the perfect balance of depth and accessibility that means its almost impossible to improve on.TetrisThe thing that unites all these games is that theyre something that has never aged and probably never will. But nowhere is that more true than with Tetris.The grandaddy of puzzle games is 40 years old this year and not only is the original version still fully playable (and Im talking about the old Russian version, not even the Game Boy) but the new versions that are being made today, like the excellent Tetris Effect, are still basically the same game.More TrendingThe graphics are better, as far as they can be, and the controls are a little smoother, with more player assists, but its 99% the same game it was in 1985. Its essentially perfect and I salute it.By reader Benjy Dog You cant improve on perfection (The Tetris Company)The readers features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you wont need to send an email.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Nature, Published online: 19 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00303-zCellular organelles called mitochondria contain DNA and can fuse together or split apart. It emerges that excess fusion is averted by stress-activated regulators, preventing the potentially harmful release of mitochondrial DNA.

Nature, Published online: 19 February 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08591-1Functional connectivity between gastric cancer cells and sensory neurons offers a potential therapeutic target.