Lately I’ve been playing a new job sim game, Crime Scene Cleaner, while also watching BBC’s comedy series The Cleaner, both of which focus on the aftermath of gruesome murders – sometimes you just need some cosy viewing to take the edge off the day. In the TV show, Greg Davies plays Wicky, the acerbic employee of a government-endorsed clean-up company, while Crime Scene Cleaner’s lead character Kovalsky is a lowly janitor, mopping up blood and disposing of trash to cover up for a mob boss named Big Jim.The crime scenes in both are laughably over the top. Or are they? I’ve never actually seen a real-life murder scene, so perhaps copious blood sprayed over walls and ceilings and the masses of broken furniture is completely normal.Take the edge off … Greg Davies as Wicky in the BBC’s The Cleaner. Photograph: Tom Jackson/PAStepping into Kovalsky’s plastic overshoes, the aim is to leave each location exactly as it was prior to the … um … incident. Unlike Wicky, who has to constantly deal with annoying homeowners and neighbours, Kovalsky has no living humans for company; just the dead ones that he hauls over his shoulder before slinging them unceremoniously into the back of his pickup truck. Each scene plays out in silence, save for the occasional brief chat with Big Jim and Kovalsky’s own pithy self-talk. Both Kovalsky and Wicky are world-weary labourers, doing what is necessary to get through each blood-splattered scene. But there are differences between the two men: Kovalsky swipes cash and valuables to boost his bank balance (he’s saving up to pay his daughter’s medical bills) while Wicky just wants to get finished in time for curry night at the pub.Crime Scene Cleaner is a weird concept for a game, the unnatural offspring of PowerWash Simulator and Hitman. But despite the macabre premise, I’ve come to appreciate the quiet, contemplative and satisfying process of cleaning up, as Kovalsky stuffs fragments of glass, pizza slices and broken crockery into his bin bag before hurling it into his truck and getting started on all the blood spatter with a microfibre mop, pushing sofas and tables back and returning ornaments to their rightful spot on the shelves afterwards. It’s immensely satisfying, despite the game’s realistic yet tiresome insistence on continually wringing out your mops and sponges.No living humans for company … Crime Scene Cleaner video game. Photograph: President StudioExploring increasingly bizarre locations is also a common theme between the two: Crime Scene Cleaner has a pizzeria, a museum and a spooky smart house; The Cleaner takes in an ice-cream parlour, theatre and stately home. I love that the game gives me a chance to become a more sedate version of The Cleaner’s Wicky without the interference of coppers, maniacal novelists or even the killer themselves (as brilliantly portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter in the show). With his daughter ensconced in a medical clinic, Kovalsky’s only (living) companion is his playful German shepherd. Its name? Dexter. Of course.At the end of each clean-up, I find myself standing back and admiring the scene, content with a job well done. Crime Scene Cleaner and The Cleaner both tap into the very essence of black comedy, where horror becomes amusingly banall. In both, the crimes have already happened, the worst has been done and all that remains is… the remains.

They're all the rage right now.Space ComputerChina is launching a space-bound AI supercomputer — and the first batch of the satellites it's comprised of was just sent up.As the South China Morning Post reports, the so-called "Three-Body Computing Constellation" project launched the first 12 of its planned 2,800 satellites last week from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.The orbital supercomputer network will, when complete, allow for rapid in-orbit data processing rather than relying on terrestrial computing facilities to relay information to Earth and then back up to space. It also doesn't require the copious amounts of water ground-based computers need to stay cool.Each satellite, the SCMP notes, carries an eight-billion-parameter AI model that can process raw data in orbit. Paired with the satellites' massive computing power of one quintillion operations per second, the constellation is expected, when complete, to rival the world's most powerful terrestrial supercomputers.Orbital ProcessingLaunched from northwest China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, each satellite carries, per a statement from the ADA Space startup that helped launch the constellation, unique scientific payloads that can do everything from detect gamma ray bursts to create "digital twins" of Earth terrain for emergency services and other industries.While the concept of orbital computing is nothing new, this project is, as Harvard astronomer Jonathan McDowell told SCMP, "the first substantial flight test" of the gambit.As McDowell pointed out, theoretical space cloud computing projects are "very fashionable" right now, with private companies like Axiom Space and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin planning their own orbital computing satellites.Unlike terrestrial data centers, which, according to the International Energy Agency are on track to use as much energy as Japan by 2026, orbital data centers can "use solar power and radiate their heat to space, reducing the energy needs and carbon footprint," as McDowell told SCMP.With the launch of the first of its 2,800 satellites, China's orbital supercomputer puts the country ahead of the United States in the rival countries' space race, though there's no telling which will actually cross the finish line first.More on the space race: White House Announces It Can Now "Manipulate Time and Space"Share This Article

The last 48 hours have been a wild rollercoaster ride for AI hardware. On Tuesday, Google ended its I/O keynote — a roughly two-hour event with copious references to AI — with its vision for Android XR glasses. That included flashy partnerships with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, as well as the first hands-on opportunity with its prototype glasses for the developers and the majority of tech media alike. On the ground, it was among the buzziest things to come out of Google I/O — a glimpse of what Big Tech thinks is the winning AI hardware formula.A day later, Jony Ive and Sam Altman kicked down the door and told Google, “Hold my beer.”If you’ve somehow missed the headlines, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that the company was buying Ive’s AI hardware startup for $6.5 billion. That alone was enough to set the tech media sphere ablaze. After all, Ive is the legendary figure behind the iPhone and Apple Watch’s iconic design, revered for his relationship to Steve Jobs. Altman is not only the most recognizable figure in this new AI era, he’s also frequently compared to Jobs himself. It’s a narrative that writes itself. But for gadget nerds, the real nugget was the tidbit that Altman had seen an actual prototype from Ive. They coyly dropped hints that this mystery gadget would be to AI what the iPhone was to mobile computing. It was, they implied, unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. That in turn set everyone hunting for clues and leaks about what this device could possibly be.RelatedHere’s what we know so far. In a leaked call reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Altman told OpenAI staffers it’s not a phone, or glasses — the form factor that Meta and Google are betting big on. Altman also indicated that Ive wasn’t keen on a device that had to be wearable. It would be part of a “family of devices,” screenless, and a “third core” gadget outside of your phone and laptop. It’s something that can be stuck into your pocket but also displayed on your desk. Altman has described the prototype as one of the coolest pieces of technology ever, while Ive also threw shade at the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1, the two biggest AI hardware flops of 2024.It’s enough to make any gadget nerd scream.Right now, we’ve entered what I’d call the spaghetti phase of AI hardware. Big Tech and smaller gadget makers alike are throwing anything and everything at the wall to see what sticks. Silicon Valley wants generative AI on your devices. It’s just that no one agrees on what’s the best approach, or what people would actually pay for and use. You could also view it like the board game Clue, except instead of murder suspects, rooms, and weapons, we’re all trying to guess who’s going to crack the code in terms of form factor, company, and use cases. Is it Samsung with Project Moohan in your living room as you ask Gemini to take you to Tokyo? Meta with its Ray-Ban glasses on a Thai beach as its Live AI feature translates a drinks menu? Bee or Plaud in a boardroom, diligently summarizing action items from your meeting? Or maybe it’s Ive and Altman — with whatever this prototype will do in whatever scenarios we’re meant to use it.Meta has been vocal about how smart glasses are the ideal form factor for AI hardware. Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The VergeAn educated guess right now would need to include a few key elements, combined with a good-faith reading of what’s been leaked. (Of course, acknowledging that Ive in particular is a whiz at cheeky misdirection.) There are a few things AI gadgets have had in common thus far:CamerasSpeakersMicrophonesBatteriesSome kind of internet connectivityPortabilityThese are the ingredients needed to enable multimodal AI — as in, a device that can see what you see, access a large language model, be with you wherever you go, interact with you to answer questions, and last long enough to be useful in a variety of scenarios. Given these parameters, it’s no surprise that Big Tech has largely landed on wearable gadgets, particularly glasses and pins. The thing most players in this space can’t agree on is whether the average person will want a display. So far, Ive and Altman don’t seem to think so.Right after the news broke, I suspected this meant some kind of headphone or a mini portable speaker scenario. Then earlier today, notable supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that the current prototype is “slightly larger than the AI Pin, with a form factor as compact and elegant as an iPod Shuffle.” A potential use case involves you wearing it around the neck, that there’ll be cameras and microphones, and that it will connect with smartphones and computers.Now imagine this, but with a camera and perhaps slightly longer with a pinch of Ive design. That’s what I’m betting on. Image: PlaudThat leads me to believe we’re talking about something that’s a mix between the Plaud NotePin and the AI Pin. Plaud’s device can be worn in various ways, including as a necklace, is pill-shaped, and gives off a sleek, compact vibe. Meanwhile, the Humane AI Pin had a camera, speaker, microphone, and the Apple-esque elegance in terms of design. (Even if it violated nearly almost every tenet of good wearable design, got too hot to wear comfortably, and required an expensive LTE subscription.) In some ways, that means we’re kind of talking about an always-listening, smart body cam (that could also be a decorative item on your desk).I could be completely off-base. I’m holding space for Ive and Altman to have not only reinvented the wheel, but redefined the next era of mobile computing. And that ambiguity is kind of the point. We don’t know — and according to leaks, probably won’t until late 2026 or 2027. That’s just enough time to dangle a few tantalizing tidbits, drum up curiosity and hype, and crucially, build anticipation that will possibly be sweeter than whatever it is they eventually launch. Strategically, it also lets Ive and Altman throw rivals off their game — make us all question, are smart glasses really the best vehicle for AI?In other words, this is the fun part where anything is possible.See More:

Table of Contents1. Project Astra: Your Universal Personal Assistant2. Gemini in Google Chrome Helps You Manage the Web3. Project Mariner: A Next-Level Shopping Assistant4. Google's Many Enhanced Content Creation Tools5. Google Meet's Real-Time Speech Translation At I/O 2025, Google is showcasing the many improvements to its many AI initiatives that promise science-fiction-like conveniences in the very near future. Sure, we aren't getting Jetsons-style flying cars, but a Rosie the Robot-style assistant who helps with online tasks will be in your home sooner than expected. Google promises AI integrations in Chrome, agentic digital agents that handle online tasks for you, and many more fantastic tools that are poised to change how we communicate, create, and generally get things done. These are the top five upcoming AI-related features that wowed me at Google I/O.1. Project Astra: Your Universal Personal AssistantProject Astra was teased last year as a next-generation AI assistant, and part of the larger Google DeepMind initiative. This "universal AI agent" is designed to understand the world around you and interact with it via various multimodal inputs. Google demonstrated its impressive AI capabilities, showing a user requesting assistance with a bike repair. Astra scoured the internet to locate a PDF manual and a YouTube tutorial, and even called a local bike shop to inquire about a part, seemingly without further user interaction beyond voice commands. It can process information from many sources, interact with apps, and manage multiple tasks while maintaining a natural conversation with you.I consider myself a fairly social person, but I hate making appointments or reservations, regardless of whether they're done online or via telephone. An AI-powered assistant to handle those tasks would be a tech godsend. I could also see myself using it in more everyday circumstances, too. It would be a great tool for finding recipes when I'm bustling around in the kitchen. Project Astra is coming later this year.2. Gemini in Google Chrome Helps You Manage the WebGoogle's Gemini chatbot is comingChrome browser, giving ChatGPT fierce competition. Gemini is currently accessible via a dedicated website and mobile app, but this new integration will enable unique functionalities. You'll be able to ask questions about the current web page you're viewing, summarize content, clarify details, retrieve information from past browsing sessions, and engage with Gemini through voice.Gemini integration while browsing has enormous productivity and accessibility potential. Summarization is nice on its own, but Gemini clarification could assist with your understanding and recontextualize what you're reading. Accessing information from multiple tabs without switching between them can keep you focused on other tasks, too. I see myself using Gemini to brainstorm ideas when browsing or shopping, picking the AI's brain about whatever I'm reading on the page, or fact-checking the copious amounts of information (and misinformation) we parse through every day.Gemini in Chrome is available starting May 21, but only for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers ($19.99 per month and $249.99 per month, respectively). It's also available in the Chrome Beta, Dev, and Canary channels. Recommended by Our Editors3. Project Mariner: A Next-Level Shopping AssistantProject Mariner is a smart assistant for the Chrome browser available to Google AI Ultra subscribers that can actively browse the internet to perform tasks on your behalf, such as looking up information, conducting research, booking flights and reservations, and making purchases (with permission). Unlike Project Astra, Project Mariner is meant to operate specifically within web browsers, whereas Astra is more general-purpose and multimodal. Google's Project Mariner demo was quite impressive. During Google I/O, Project Mariner was used to search for real estate listings, make reservations, and even help with shopping. As someone thinking about purchasing a home in the near future, my mind boggles at the thought of having an AI assistant comb the internet on my behalf, finding prospective properties for me to compare based on criteria I assign to it. I’m a sucker for deals too, so having the tool search for the best prices, adding it to a shopping cart, and sending it to me for approval sounds like a proper step toward the future. 4. Google's Many Enhanced Content Creation ToolsGoogle has updated two of its most potent creation tools: Imagen and Veo. Imagen 4 (available in Gemini) has 2K resolution image support and enhanced texture rendering for fabric, fur, and water. The goal? More photorealistic images. It also has Google Workspace integration for apps like Docs, Slides, and Vids, letting you generate images directly within workflows. If filmmaking sounds more like your cup of tea, Google launched Veo 3 (available with a $249.99-per-month Google AI Ultra subscription). It offers shockingly polished AI video creation tools that create life-like images.AI-generated content creation is a divisive subject, but from a consumer perspective, I like the idea of powerful creation tools at my fingertips. Granted, they're not readily available to the public yet. Still, the potential is huge, and given time, I expect many of these features to trickle down into consumer hands soon enough.5. Google Meet's Real-Time Speech TranslationReal-time voice translation has always fascinated me; it’s future tech that seemed within our grasp yet just beyond our fingertips. Google is developing near-real-time speech translation for Google Meet, aiming for natural conversations. The current beta version supports English-to-Spanish translation. More languages are planned for release in the coming weeks. This builds on Google's previous experiments with live video-chat translation, as demonstrated at their I/O event. As someone with family across the globe, these Google Meet improvements sound phenomenal. My Spanish is incredibly rusty, so this improved functionality can help me communicate much more easily with my relatives in Europe and South America. Likewise, as new languages are added, I can also start connecting with my non-English speaking family in Germany and Italy. This AI-powered feature requires a Google AI Pro subscription ($19.99 per month).

Hyundai has used the clean-sheet nature of electric powertrains to make new vehicles radically different from its internal-combustion models, but what happens when the best thing a new car can be is ordinary?  The 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9 is a three-row SUV that, to succeed, needs to prioritize space and an effortless ownership experience over radical styling or sports-car driving dynamics. That doesn’t leave much room for creativity, but Hyundai has done its best by giving the Ioniq 9 futuristic styling combined with the proven E-GMP dedicated EV platform from its other Ioniq models and the Kia EV9.  The enthusiastic response to the EV9, from Hyundai’s sibling brand, shows why, despite having two gasoline three-row SUVs in its lineup already, Hyundai needed an all-electric one as well.Another daring design from Hyundai Stephen Edelstein/Digital Trends Many automakers create a family look across their lineups, but Hyundai went in a different direction with its Ioniq EVs. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Hyundai Ioniq 6 are polar opposites when it comes to styling, and the Ioniq 9 follows yet another path that helps it stand out from other three-row SUVs. Recommended Videos It’s clear that engineers spent a lot of time in the wind tunnel, but unlike so many other low-drag designs, the Ioniq 9 still has the upright proportions of a true SUV. The result is something that looks like it would be right at home on a school pickup line in the Tron Grid. The tall hood is decidedly SUV-like, but the front end is smoothed as if by erosion. Squared-off fenders add a bit of ruggedness but don’t stick out far enough to impede air flow. And at the back, the body sides taper back, and the roof descends, into a chopped-off tail not unlike what helped make the 2004 Toyota Prius so distinctive and aerodynamically efficient. All of this is topped off with another iteration of the pixel lighting previously seen on the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6. The light bar running across the hood gives the Ioniq 9 a distinctive and futuristic look when viewed through a rearview mirror, while at the back the lights form a hoop around the tailgate. This helps punch up the design a bit, adding visual interest to the otherwise smooth and unadorned surfaces of this electric SUV. Less successful in that regard is the copious black plastic trim, which seems tacked-on. And just as piano-black plastic interior trim is hard to keep clean, the black license-plate surround will likely always be covered in fingerprints. Still a practical three-row SUV Stephen Edelstein/Digital Trends As with so many of its other vehicles, Hyundai made a different styling statement while using the same platform as a dramatically different-looking model from sibling brand Kia. The Ioniq 9 is based on the same plus-sized version of the E-GMP architecture as the Kia EV9 (a Genesis luxury model is also on the way). The EV9 trades the Ioniq 9’s wind-smoothed surfaces for sharp edges, but they look virtually identical to a measuring tape. The Hyundai is 2.0 inches longer, 1.6 inches taller, and just 0.1 inch wider. Headroom and legroom are pretty much identical as well, no matter which seating position you’re talking about. And like most three-row vehicles, Hyundai offers second-row bench seat and captain’s chairs options, making the Ioniq 9 a six- or seven-seater, respectively. The second row can slide forward or back in either case, but even with the seats slid all the way forward, adults won’t find much knee room in the third row. There’s still plenty of space for the kids that will most likely be occupying it, though. Open the Ioniq 9’s standard power tailgate and you get 21.9 cubic feet of cargo space. That expands to 46.7 cubic feet with the third row folded, and 86.9 cubic feet with the second row folded. All three numbers surpass the EV9, and Hyundai claims more cargo space behind the second and third rows than in a Rivian R1S (Rivian doesn’t publish its own comparable figures to verify this). But while the R1S has a spacious frunk, the Ioniq 9 only has a small under-hood compartment just spacious enough for charging cables. Hyundai’s dual-screen setup, with 12.3-inch screens serving as the instrument cluster and touchscreen, remains impressive — especially now that Hyundai is integrating wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with this bigger display. But the Ioniq 9’s Universal Island 2.0 center console really stole the show. Incorporating plenty of storage space front and rear, it’s also accessible from either direction and slides fore and aft. It’s a thoughtful feature for a vehicle where every seat is important.  Quick, but not sporty Stephen Edelstein/Digital Trends Hyundai is offering three powertrain configurations for the 2026 model year, all with a 110.3-kilowatt-hour battery pack. The Ioniq 9 S base model has a single motor sending 215 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels. SE and SEL models have a dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain making 303 hp and 446 lb-ft. Limited, Calligraphy, and Calligraphy Design models have a “performance” dual-motor powertrain rated at 422 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. The rear-wheel drive Ioniq 9’s output is identical to a rear-wheel drive EV9, but the highest-output version of the Hyundai has a bit more horsepower than the Kia (torque is the same), getting it from zero to 60 mph 0.1 second quicker, at 4.9 seconds. The advantage will shift to Kia once a more powerful EV9 GT arrives later this year, though. Quick acceleration is handy for merging onto highways, but it’s not really the point of the Ioniq 9. It doesn’t try to be anything other than a big, comfortable SUV that will whisk kids to extracurricular activities, or serve as an analogue to the big sedans of old for buyers who simply want a spacious vehicle. The suspension absorbed bumps without any waterbed-like jiggling, and like all EVs the Ioniq 9 was impressively quiet (although there was a bit more tire noise than anticipated). It’s nice to drive, just not exciting. Helping to maintain comfort and composure is Hyundai’s i-Pedal brake-control system. This automatically blends regenerative braking and friction braking to slow the vehicle as smoothly and efficiently as possible. It’s a carryover feature from other Ioniq EVs, but the tuning for the Ioniq 9 was particularly good. While it’s still possible to summon a burst of regenerative braking with steering-wheel paddles, it was hard to match i-Pedal’s smoothness. NACS onboard Stephen Edelstein/Digital Trends Hyundai estimates 335 miles of range for the base rear-wheel drive S trim level, 320 miles for dual-motor SE and SEL models, and 311 miles for the high-end Limited, Calligraphy, and Calligraphy Design models, all of which have the more powerful “performance” powertrain tune. That gives the Ioniq 9 a range advantage over its Kia EV9 platform-mate, which only tops 300 miles in rear-wheel drive Light Long Range form, but that advantage is achieved with a larger battery pack. Both Hyundai and Kia are switching to the North American Charging Standard (NACS) charging port for the 2026 model year, giving drivers access to Tesla Supercharger DC fast-charging stations. This provides access to more chargers with a proven reliability record, but in this case it doesn’t necessarily mean faster charging. Hyundai estimates that the Ioniq 9 can complete a 10%-80% charge in 41 minutes at a V3 Supercharger, but that drops to 24 minutes at a 350-kilowatt Combined Charging Standard (CCS) station, using an adapter. When Level 2 AC charging, a full recharge takes nine hours and 40 minutes at 11 kW, according to Hyundai. Like other models based on the E-GMP architecture, the Ioniq 9 is also capable of bidirectional charging for powering devices and appliances. So far, Hyundai hasn’t discussed a full home backup-power system like the one that’s available for the EV9, but its Hyundai Home marketplace provides a ready portal for selling such equipment. A relative value in a high-priced market segment Stephen Edelstein/Digital Trends With a base price of $60,555 with rear-wheel drive, the Ioniq 9 is the most expensive SUV in Hyundai’s lineup. Prices rise significantly from there. The all-wheel drive SE and SEL start at $64,365 and $67,920, respectively. The luxe Limited starts at $72,850, the Calligraphy starts at $76,590, and the Calligraphy Design tops things off at $78,090. Kia hadn’t released pricing for the 2026 EV9 at press time, but for reference the 2025 model started at $56,395 with a smaller battery pack and less range than the base Ioniq 9. Hyundai’s trim walk is also more top heavy with high-end trim levels, but that may also be the case for the EV9 — Kia has already confirmed Nightfall Edition and GT models for 2026 that likely won’t be bargains. All Ioniq 9 models will also be built in Georgia and will qualify for a $7,500 federal EV tax credit, but that’s not guaranteed with the EV9. This pricing structure might help differentiate the two brands, but it doesn’t make much sense for customers, as the EV9 and Ioniq 9 offer similar features, interior space, and the same generous warranty coverage. The Ioniq 9 does at least stay below the Rivian R1S and the handful of luxury-brand three-row electric SUVs currently on the market. It’s a sensible choice, but not an extraordinary value. That’s appropriate for what is an ordinary vehicle, not an extraordinary one — just as the mission brief says.

Images sent back by NASA's Viking spacecraft in the 1970s revealed some unusual streaks stretching across the arid landscapes of Mars.The sighting had scientists excited about the possibility of free-flowing water on an otherwise desolate planet. The streaks — which, at times, were thousands of feet long — appeared much darker, contrasting against the mostly monotonal, surrounding hills, looking as if somebody had spilled an enormous glass of water on a patch of hilly sand.But decades later, we've got copious amounts of new data to rely on, suggesting we were entirely wrong about the features all along. As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Nature Communications, a team of planetary scientists concluded that the streaks didn't have anything to do with flowing water."A big focus of Mars research is understanding modern-day processes on Mars — including the possibility of liquid water on the surface," said coauthor and Brown University postdoctoral researcher Adomas Valantinas in a statement. Our study reviewed these features but found no evidence of water. Our model favors dry formation processes."For decades, the streaks had intrigued scientists, inspiring theories about salt buildups that could allow water to flow on the predominantly dry Martian surface, which only rarely peaks above freezing temperatures. The theory suggested these streaks could therefore be a great place to not only look for Martian life, but possibly inhabit as well.But new insights have thrown cold water on the idea, if you will. A detailed global Martian map, in particular, revealed over half a million streak features lining the planet's surface, allowing scientists to get a much broader look at the phenomenon."Once we had this global map, we could compare it to databases and catalogs of other things like temperature, wind speed, hydration, rock slide activity and other factors," said coauthor and University of Bern researcher Valentin Bickel in a statement. "Then we could look for correlations over hundreds of thousands of cases to better understand the conditions under which these features form."The researchers found that the streaks were not associated with other factors tied to liquid water or frost, such as slope orientation, surface temperature, or humidity levels.According to the data, they concluded that the streaks were far more likely to have been formed by high wind speeds and areas with plenty of dust accumulation.Their theory: the streaks were the result of layers of fine dust suddenly slipping down steep slopes, the result of shockwaves caused by meteorite impacts and marsquakes.In other words, the streaks aren't a great place to inhabit after all, despite plenty of optimism.On the other hand, given that microbial life surviving on these slopes is looking extremely unlikely, NASA may be more prone to explore the area with spacecraft since the risk of contamination by an extraterrestrial organism is low.Share This Article

What we've been playing - wiping an old save, old memories made new, and small mazes A few of the things that have us hooked this week. Image credit: Eurogamer / Bethesda Feature by Robert Purchese Associate Editor Additional contributions by Ian Higton, and Marie Pritchard Published on May 17, 2025 17th May Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing. This week, Bertie returns to Oblivion after nearly 20 years; Marie plucks up the courage to wipe an Animal Crossing save 300 hours in the making; and Donlan - who's back with us for a week - finds an ingenious little game about mazes. What have you been playing? Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We've Been Playing archive. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, PS5 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Oblivion now and Oblivion then. Oblivithen.Watch on YouTube What is it about remaking games from our past that is so appealing? I question this a lot when another remake whirls around, Oblivion being the latest of them. I loved that game; is love the right word? I played it a lot. It means a lot to me. But I don't believe it was devoid of problems. There's only so many caves one can explore. Regardless, back around Oblivion has come, and I've been questioning why. But at the same time I've been excited about it. I thought a lot about returning to Oblivion in the past. Perhaps it was something to do with having already spent the effort to learn the game and get competent with it, or because I wanted to be back in that sunny fantasy world. Whatever the reason, I've been putting it off because Oblivion looked old. Now, though, it isn't. Oblivion is new again. So far, I'm really impressed. I've only played the opening part (check out my amazingly cool character in the headline image above) in the prison and sewers and up to the iconic 'Oblivion moment', as you emerge into the wider world, and technologically speaking it's great. It's smooth and handsome - it takes me back to the first time I explored the game and wowed by how nice it looked. It's like playing the Oblivion of my memory. I hope it lasts; I've been told it doesn't. Digital Foundry's Tom Morgan was telling me the performance is abysmal as you get out into the world proper. But for now, it's fine and I get it - I get the desire to return to places we've been. -Bertie Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Switch Ian and Aoife show off their Animal Crossing islands.Watch on YouTube I deleted my almost 300-hundred hour Island that I'd curated during Lockdown. Instant regret washed over me as I looked at my (new) basic Island with nothing on it except a few villagers and Tom Nook explaining another money-making scheme to take my Bells again. But all those hours experimenting with different Island formations and spending a copious amount of time in the Island Designer app creating interwoven rivers, ponds, waterfalls, cliffs had not been wasted, as I'd first feared. My last Island had been the perfect test run for creating my vision this time around; and that's when it occurred to me that starting again was the best idea I'd had yet. Sure, I do miss having all of the services and places unlocked (like Harv's Island) whenever I want to use them, but being able to start fresh has allowed me to think more about where I want to place everything. Currently, Nook's Cranny has just upgraded again and the Able Sisters have finally opened their shop, so now I'm considering where to permanently move them.. Not only that but I'm thinking more strategically about how I use my Bells based on my previous experience. I won't waste so many Bells repeatedly moving the villager houses into different formations until I find one I like. I'll take my time to consider each move carefully first. Starting again has also given me more opportunities to think about how I want the rest of the island to look. Do I want to create a lush forest-themed Island filled with plants? Do I want to create a town reminiscent of a seaside paradise?Perhaps I could even make both by splitting the Island in two! Oh and for the record, my last island became a disorganised mess that r didn't have any character or l feel to it.t felt like what it was: a test run for ideas which didn't work out. What I initially worried was a terrible judgement call, then, became the best in-game choice I'd made in a long time. It's made me fall in love with Animal Crossing all over again. -Marie 20 Small Mazes, PC Small Mazes by Fleb.Watch on YouTube 20 Small Mazes is one of those games that feels like a gift. It is a gift, of course, because it's literally free, but it's also a gift because it's wildly generous. A bunch of mazes arranged like papers on a desk for you to sift through and enjoy, and an approach to mazes that even extends to the start menu. Every now and then I remember 20 Small Mazes exists and I head back in. Today I spent two minutes playing an ingenious maze in which I moved between three overlapping mazes of different colours, all with slightly different arrangements of paths. The idea is to go as far as you can in one colour, switch, and then keep going. There's probably a whole game in this - it feels like the kind of thing WayForward was cranking on in games like Mighty Flip Champs! But here it is, and it's free, and it's a perfect little thing that contains so much ingenuity. -Donlan

May 15, 20255 min readThe Wonders of Bird-Watching without TechTechnology has made it easier than ever to quickly find, identify and record birds. But to truly appreciate feathered friends, consider unpluggingBy Derek Lovitch edited by Kate WongA Boreal Owl emerges from its roost to begin its evening of hunting activities in Northern Minnesota. The Boreal Owl is a tiny but fierce gnome of the deep boreal forest—the belt of cold, wet, largely coniferous forest that encircles the North Pole. Highly sought after by birders, this owl appeals less for its plumage than for its secrecy and its rarity in most places where people tend to live. This past winter, a huge movement of this species to regions south of its usual range occurred because of food scarcity—an event called an irruption. This put Boreal Owls within striking distance of birders—including me—who were looking to add the species to their “life list,” a record of all the species a person has seen. So in March, before the visiting owls returned home, some friends and I made a last-minute weekend trip to Duluth, Minn., to look for them. Although there’s always a frenetic energy to a rarity chase such as this, to me, the experience underscored the importance of taking time to pause and observe the birds we find.Deep birding. Slow birding. Holistic birding. There are a lot of things we can call it, but I prefer, simply, “bird-watching.” I’ve spent most of my career as a biologist introducing people to birding and getting them to engage in the natural world, from the backyard and beyond. The recent surge of interest in birding, which began during the peak of the COVID pandemic, has been wonderful to see. But the vast majority of recent birders, particularly those who began birding in the past five years, have found birding to be intimately tied to technology, especially cell phones.We have phone apps that can keep lists of birds we’ve seen, apps to help identify birds, apps that allow us to contribute data to scientific projects and messaging apps to alert others to rare bird sightings. We can also use our phones to document our birding discoveries with photographs, videos and audio recordings.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.But I wonder whether, by relying on technology to this extent, we are losing out on the most important tool for birding—and perhaps life in general: the power of observation.Slow DownAt just 10 inches from head to tail, a Boreal Owl hidden in a dense conifer stand is the proverbial needle in a haystack. But on cold, sunny mornings, the owls come out to sun themselves at forest edges, using the meager winter rays rather than hard-earned calories to warm up. One famous “edge” is the length of the North Shore Scenic Drive heading north from Duluth. On our first morning of the trip, as we ventured onto this road, a text alerted us to a nearby Boreal Owl. After the longest 12-minute drive of my life, we saw the growing group of gawkers. We jumped out of the car, and there was our quarry, sitting in a sun-soaked spruce tree! We basked in the glory of a little predator that is so hard to find that people fly halfway across the country to spend a weekend shivering in hopes of seeing it. Mission accomplished!Birders were coming and going, some seeing the owl only for a moment before they hopped back into their car and raced off for the next tick mark in the never-ending collecting game of modern birding. My friends were getting cold, and they were antsy to find a Great Gray Owl that had been seen a few miles away. I couldn’t blame them—Great Grays are active during the day, so they can be seen flying, hunting or otherwise doing something. This Boreal was just sitting there. But I couldn’t leave. I handed my friends the car keys and said, “Give me a little longer.”When I was growing up as a young birder, I had a field guide, an inexpensive pair of binoculars, and a pen and notebook. I loved my time in the woods, with only the birds for company, eagerly learning the nuances of identification and watching their behavior. Without the instant gratification of an ID or listing app, I had to pay close attention to the details of birds. I learned from my many mistakes. Mentors shared their ethical practices with me, and I relished the personal connections I made in the birding community.Yet these days, I describe myself not as a birder but rather a bird-watcher. Sure, I make use of the latest tools. For example, my birding plans during migration are informed by the complex algorithms that underpin modern weather forecasting and advanced radar technology that allows me to gauge the movement of birds overnight. But once I am out in the field, all I want to do is disconnect, to absorb, to engage. I typically enter the trails with nothing more than a weatherproof notebook and my trusty binoculars. If I take a camera, it’s handy in case I need to document a rarity or capture a special moment, but it’s a distant second in my priorities.Instead I take copious notes. When traveling, I write down descriptions of unfamiliar birds, even new species pointed out to me by a local guide. Like many people, I retain information better from the simple act of writing it down. And my field notebook holds more memories than any checklist can accommodate.What fascinates me the most about birds is their behavior, which isn’t easy to understand when looking through a viewfinder or reviewing photographs at home. So when observing a bird, I also jot down what it is doing. What is it looking at? How is it interacting with its mate? How does it look when it flies (after all, flight is the most magical thing about birds)?Go DeepWhen my friends left me with the Boreal Owl, I settled in to give it my fullest attention. The bird acknowledged my presence for nearly a second as it opened one eye before turning its head and nestling its face into its fluffy back. When a Black-capped Chickadee called nearby, the owl awoke and made sure it wasn’t going to be harassed by the fearless chickadee before it went back to sleep. Later a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches decided they weren’t too happy about the predator’s presence but only gave a half-hearted attempt to drive it away. This owl was apparently boring to them.It wasn’t to me. I was transfixed on my life bird. What would it do next? How old was it—could I tell based on the wear and molt patterns of its feathers? Would it be as tolerant of the nuthatches the next time? I was in deep.Only when my friends returned did I realize I had been staring at this barely moving bird for a full two hours. No wonder I could no longer feel my feet or hands. But I had seen—truly seen—a Boreal Owl. I could finally leave now.Birding is a chance to turn off our devices and use our senses, to breathe fresh air, to connect with the natural world and immerse ourselves in the now, the moment, the bird. The next time you see a bird, whether it’s a rare Boreal Owl or a common American Robin, maybe step back, stay a while and put the watching back in bird-watching.