The big new reveal trailer for Fallout: Bakersfield makes it look so awesome, you might come away thinking it’s an official new boomer shooter from Bethesda set in its popular post-apocalyptic universe. But nope, this upcoming standalone game, built

here comes the boom! Falcon 9 sonic booms can feel more like seismic waves Trajectories, wind shear, temperature gradients, topography, and weather can affect how a sonic boom spreads. Jennifer Ouellette – May 27, 2025 12:36 pm | 1 A Falcon 9 rocket lifted SPHEREx into orbit in March. Credit: NASA/Jim Ross A Falcon 9 rocket lifted SPHEREx into orbit in March. Credit: NASA/Jim Ross Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more The Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara, California, serves military space launch missions as well as launches for NASA and commercial entities like SpaceX. But how do all those launches affect residents living along the Central Coast? People might marvel at the spectacular visual display, but as launch activity at the base has ramped up, so have the noise complaints, particularly about the sonic booms produced by Falcon 9 launches, which can reach as far south as Ventura County. The booms rattle windows, frighten pets, and have raised concerns about threats to the structural integrity of private homes. There have been rockets launching from Vandenberg for decades, so why are the Falcon 9 launches of such concern? "Because of the Starlink satellites, the orbital mechanics for where they're trying to place these in orbit is bringing [the trajectories] closer to the coast," said Brigham Young University's Kent Gee, who described his research into sonic boom effects on neighboring communities in a press briefing at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in New Orleans. And the launches are occurring much more frequently, from two to three launches per year in the 1980s to between five and seven launches each month today. There were 46 Falcon 9 launches out of the Vandenberg base in 2024 alone, per Gee. Gee joined a project called ECOBOOM (Environmental and Community Observation of Sonic Booms) to study the factors that can impact just how jarring those sonic booms might be, conducted jointly by BYU and California State University, Bakersfield, with cooperation from the Space Force. "Space Force is interested in this because they feel a sense of stewardship," said Gee. "These rockets from SpaceX and other providers are launched from the base for a variety of missions and they want to understand the effects both on and off base, trying to understand how they can complete the mission while minimizing [negative] impacts." Gee and his cohorts monitored 132 separate sonic booms last summer, relying on data gathered via a network of 25 or so acoustic monitoring stations located along 500 square miles, including the beaches of Isla Vista and further inland to the hills of Ojai. "The measurements were made in parks, people's backyards, parking lots, wastewater plants, and all sorts of different locations," said Gee. More bang than boom A view of a Falcon 9 rocket launch from a park in Ventura County. Credit: Kent Gee There has been a great deal of research on supersonic aircraft, but the sonic booms produced by rockets like the Falcon 9 are acoustically distinct, according to Gee. For instance, most sonic booms have two shock waves, but the Falcon 9 booster produces a boom with three shocks as it descends through the atmosphere after launch. Gee co-authored a paper earlier this year analyzing the acoustic signatures of three Falcon 9 flyback sonic booms. While the first and third shocks were what one might typically expect, the second central shock "is formed by a combination of the grid fins and the lower portions of the booster, including the folded landing legs," Gee and BYU colleague Mark C. Anderson wrote. "These lower portions of the booster produce a rarefaction wave that tends to migrate toward the back of the shock system while the grid fins produce a shock wave that tends to migrate toward the front of the shock system." Those shock waves merge, and their relative strengths determine where this second shock appears in the full sonic boom acoustic signature. Sonic booms from rockets are also lower frequency, with peaks of less than 1 Hz—below the range of human hearing. The result is less of a "boom" and more of a "bang," according to Gee, that can last a few seconds, compared to milliseconds for a typical acoustic wave. It's more akin to a seismic wave, particularly if one is indoors when it hits. "Sometimes you get a very low amplitude rumble, but it comes on suddenly, and it's there for a few seconds and disappears," he said. It's also one reason why the sonic booms can travel so far afield of the Vandenberg base. Could the similarities confuse California residents who might mistake a sonic boom for an earthquake? Perhaps, at least until residents learn otherwise. "Since we're often setting up in people's backyard, they text us the results of what they heard," said Gee. "It's fantastic citizen science. They'll tell us the difference is that the walls shake but the floors don't. They're starting to be able to tell the difference between an earthquake or a sonic boom from a launch." Launch trajectories of Falcon 9 rockets along the California coast. Credit: Kent Gee A rocket's trajectory also plays an important role. "Everyone sees the same thing, but what you hear depends on where you're at and the rocket's path or trajectory," said Gee, adding that even the same flight path can nonetheless produce markedly different noise levels. "There's a focal region in Ventura, Oxnard, and Camarillo where the booms are more impactful," he said. "Where that focus occurs changes from launch to launch, even for the same trajectory." That points to meteorology also being a factor: Certain times of year could potentially have more impact than others as weather conditions shift, with wind shears, temperature gradients, and topography, for instance, potentially affecting the propagation of sonic booms. In short, "If you can change your trajectory even a little under the right meteorological conditions, you can have a big impact on the sonic booms in this region of the country," said Gee. And it's only the beginning of the project; the team is still gathering data. "No two launches look the same right now," said Gee. "It's like trying to catch lightning." As our understanding improves, he sees the conversation shifting to more subjective social questions, possibly leading to the development of science-based local regulations, such as noise ordinances, to address any negative launch impacts. The next step is to model sonic booms under different weather conditions, which will be challenging due to coastal California's microclimates. "If you've ever driven along the California coast, the weather changes dramatically," said Gee. "You go from complete fog at Vandenberg to complete sun in Ventura County just 60 miles from the base." Jennifer Ouellette Senior Writer Jennifer Ouellette Senior Writer Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 1 Comments

The first thing you need to know about Honey O’Donahue is that she is a fabulous movie detective. Now you might be saying to yourself right now, “That just means she’s a great detective, right? A master solver of mysteries?” And sure. Maybe. Honestly, it’s a bit open to debate after watching Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s new slinky potboiler, Honey, Don’t! But more important than the crime-stopping is how she pieces together the mystery of what it means to be a proper movie detective. She knows, for instance, that when a jealous spouse offers you money to confirm his husband is having an affair, you should kindly but firmly recommend he spend it instead on a romantic dinner that ends in candid conversation. She also recognizes the necessity of being not only smarter than the local dick on the police force, but able to remind him of this fact with snappy put-downs. She is a detective you simply enjoy watching drink, smoke, and carouse her way through the wreckage of a case, one dead body—or for that matter, a live one in her bed—at a time. And as played by Margaret Qualley with an authentic Carolina lilt, she ascends in Honey Don’t!’s best moments into becoming a kind of Southern-fried, queer Marlowe; a detective whose investigations are nearly impenetrable to follow, but like Bogie or Mitchum before her, you’re just happy to vibe in the patter of her day-to-day rigamarole. She is, in other words, a great creation for Qualley and the not-so-secret weapon in a character piece that sizzles despite the film’s deliberately (and perhaps too) shaggy plot. That plot, of course, involves dead bodies and criminal conspiracies-within-conspiracies on the outskirts of sunny Bakersfield, California. It’s there that local private eye Honey O’Donahue begins looking into the apparent death by car accident of a lonely woman in the community. She keeps her reasons to herself when the police gumshoe (Charlie Day) asks what her interest in the case is, just as she keeps him at further distance when he presses if she wants to discuss the case over drinks. “Book club,” she answers curtly. But didn’t she just tell him she had a book club meeting two days ago? “Dostoevsky, we’re really struggling with it.” The truth of course is Honey has eyes more for the likes of M.G. (Aubrey Plaza), the no-nonsense cop in charge of the station’s evidence locker, than she does for members of the male persuasion. But it’s fair to wonder if her real passion is for verbally sparring with almost anyone who crosses her path. That includes the local fuzz, as well as her sister and a wayward teenage niece, who both have a habit of not wanting Honey’s advice while implicitly yearning for her approval; it likewise pertains to the paranoid client (Billy Eichner) who wants to disgrace his husband at any cost; and you can sure as hell bet she saves her most scathing witticisms for the likes of a pastor at a local church who calls himself Reverend Drew (Chris Evans). Drew has big used car salesman energy, and the more Honey breathes it in, the more his congregation looks like a cult. All parties wind up involved in ways great or small in a scheme that proves more intricate than one might guess. But the key element that really gives momentum to the whole web is the perpetually bemused smile on Qualley’s face, which can simultaneously appear both empathetic and contemptuous in an unblinking glance. It’s a part clearly written toward Qualley’s talents by Coen and Cooke, who after working previously as director and editor on films like The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou? have combined forces as writers and film editors. And like last year’s Drive Away Dolls, the pair imagine Honey Don’t! to be part of a “lesbian B-movie trilogy,” a film which leans lightly into the exploitation of grindhouse cinema while also offering a frothier narrative for LGBTQ cinema than, say, the tragedies that Oscar voters so love. Honey Don’t! is intentionally slight and sleight of hand while setting up the type of boneheaded criminal conspirators who populated so many Coen movies of yore, back when Ethan was writing with Joel. I would also say that despite its happy desire to titillate and objectify, the film feels closer in line with the original film noir movement of the 1940s and ‘50s with its most base pleasures coming from dialogue and performance. Qualley is again the charismatic sun around which everything else orbits, but Plaza also gets plenty of room to build a character miles apart from her frequent Parks and Rec type. To be sure, M.G. has a deadpan about her too, but it’s more bitter, deadly variety—the kind of hard edge that can only come from being sharpened by a lifetime spent as the other in a small, Christian town. Meanwhile Evans is having fun as another creep, although six years on from hanging up Captain America’s shield, and then trying on the sleazebag sweater in Knives Out, it’s fair to wonder if he is now typecast in the other direction. Reverend Drew is a bit more one-note than Knives Out’s Ransom, but it works for the arch and typically dimwitted criminal comedy that Ethan and Joel began their directing career fixated on. Drew is at the focal point of an underworld rife in sex, drugs, and murder, but the mechanics of it—and how it intersects with Honey’s other investigations—is obscure. If one sits down and thinks about it, there seems to really be a greater narrative plotted out by Cooke and Coen left teasingly off-screen, and which would make it all snap into place. But as they appear determined to draw on films famous for their “plot doesn’t matter” legacies, the writers elect to keep Honey and audiences somewhat in the dark all the way to the end credits. The choice benefits from what a gem of a role the title character is for Qualley, funneling all of the film’s attention toward Honey O’Donahue’s swaggering hips and gait. However, it also makes the film slightly frothier and fleeting than it probably needed to be. The writers and star have built such a great character, you want to see her utilized for more than the B-movie aspirations set before her. Yet while working within the purposeful confines of this box, the creatives have succeeded in crafting a merry little murder yarn full of style and devastating zingers. This might be the second part of a thematic trilogy, but one leaves also hoping it’s the first part in a series of cases, and next time Qualley and Honey get to sink their teeth into a larger Coen crime syndicate. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Honey Don’t! premieres at the Cannes Film Festival on May 24 and in theaters on Aug. 22.

Want something sexy, silly, and scandalous? Then you'll treasure Honey Don't!, the latest collaboration between married filmmakers Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke. The pair, who've been collaborating since the 1990 Coen Bros movie Miller's Crossing, brought audiences the madcap mayhem of Drive-Away DollsDrive-Away Dolls star Margaret Qualley reunites with Coen and Cooke, playing a title character once more. Honey O'Donahue is a small-town private eye who keeps her cards close to her chest. When a new client turns up dead in a suspicious car crash, she quips to the crumpled police detective on the scene (Charlie Day, perfectly cast as an affable dope), but won't give up a single observation. Unspoken, this is her mystery to solve. Over the course of this murder investigation, she'll cross paths with a moped-riding femme fatale (Lera Abova), a surly sapphic cop (Aubrey Plaza), and an ultra-vain cult leader (Chris Evans). It's a wild ride with twists, sex, and murder!  You May Also Like Margaret Qualley is dynamite in Honey Don't!While this is the second offering in Coen and Cooke's proposed lesbian trilogy, Honey Don't! doesn'tDrive-Away Dolls. The key to both films is Qualley, who sets the tone. In the first film, she was a chaotically comical masc with a Southern accent as thick as molasses and a libido as powerful as the sun. The movie followed her frenzied energy through pacing and plotting, taking wild turns with madcap energy. In Honey Don't!, click-clacking heels, pencil skirts or tailored flowing slacks with tidy but never bland dress shirts — reflects these old-school inspirations. So does her frankness; she carries a Katharine Hepburn attitude without the Mid-Atlantic accent. So when the aforementioned police detective flirts with her, she says, smooth as butter, "I like girls." (To which Day replies with a cheery bemusement, "You always say that!") Whether playing the cool gay aunt to a small army of nieces and nephews, uncovering a kinky clue, or hooking up with a one-night stand, Honey is suave and sharp, but also warm. This temperament sets her apart from the fleets of male detectives who've come before her, all swagger and steely glares. Plus, her attitude reflects the atmosphere of Honey Don't!'s setting: Bakersfield, California, a sunny place with a dark appetite.   Mashable Top Stories Stay connected with the hottest stories of the day and the latest entertainment news. Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up! Honey Don't! is a raw and refreshing caper.  Writer Tricia Cooke, actor Margaret Qualley and writer/director Ethan Coen on the set of their film "Honey Don't!" Credit: Karen Kuehn / © 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC The screenplay by Coen and Cooke is committed to dark humor, offering gleeful jokes about kinky sex, gruesome death, and the general idiocy of crooks and con men. As Coen directs Honey Don't!, it's tempting to look for comparisons in his shared filmography with his brother, Joel. Is Honey Don't! more Raising Arizona or The Big Lebowski? Burn After Reading or No Country for Old Men? But engaging in this debate risks overlooking the exciting exploration of crime stories that Coen and Cooke are building with their trilogy. Her stamp is clear and important here as the film's co-writer, producer, and editor. Yes, Honey Don't! pulls from film noir inspirations, as do several previous Coen Bros movies… and hundreds of other movies before that. But this crusty California setting gives fresh air to tropes like the femme fatale or the double cross. Where Drive-Away Dolls dug into the rich Americana and queer culture to be found in road trip attractions and lesbian bars, Honey Don't! embraces a less-familiar clutch of gnarly characters, sunbaked and deranged. Chris Evans is hilarious, freed from Disney constraints. Thank goodness that Chris Evans' MCU era has ended. Now the actor who has proven to be a sensational bastard in Knives Out can cut loose with characters who aren't remotely role models.  Related Stories In Honey Don't!, he plays Reverend Drew, a preacher who leads a congregation of dedicated minions who will grant any wish of sex or violence his twisted heart desires. Honey Don't! offers an array of beloved character actors, like Plaza, Day, Billy Eichner, and acclaimed theater performer Gabby Beans. And they are all game for whatever damned thing Cooke and Coen throw their way. Where Qualley plays the straight man to this cluster of kooky clowns, Evans is a ringmaster of his own circus. From the moment he flashes a comically insincere smile, there's a thrill of excitement. Playing punchlines with a gleeful obliviousness, Evans creates a sharp satire of a certain brand of religious leader who believes too much in his own bullshit. His physicality is suitably absurd. Whether he's barking orders in the nude or giving the most hysterical delivery of the word "oui" ever committed to screen, he moves like a cartoon caricature of an arrogant buffoon. Props to Evans for finding a new and fantastic way to continue being America's ass. What's most thrilling about Honey Don't! is perhaps also what's most frustrating about it. Coen and Cooke set up a mystery with a form that seems vaguely familiar at the start. But as Honey chases down the suspects and confounding clues, this story is anything but what you'd expect. And that comes down to the finale, which is sure to divide critics and audiences. Personally, I relished the final surprise of the film, as it suggests this story is bigger than one movie and maybe even one setting can contain. Instead of closure, Honey Don't! offers a taste of something sweet and wild, with the potential for more. And I'm not mad at that. Honey Don't! was reviewed out of the Cannes Film Festival. It will open in theaters on Aug. 22. Topics Film