Featuring the latest in daily science news, Verge Science is all you need to keep track of what’s going on in health, the environment, and your whole world. Through our articles, we keep a close eye on the overlap between science and technology news — so you’re more informed.
The $70 billion in investments will be announced at an event in Pennsylvania tomorrow, according to Bloomberg.
[bloomberg.com]
Stats released Monday showed that in 2023, the state’s estimated annual clean energy percentage (energy produced from nuclear, large hydro, and renewable sources like solar or wind) crossed the two-thirds mark, exceeding the previous record of 64 percent in 2019 and 61 percent in 2022.
The state has also been on a record pace of adding more clean energy capacity over the last few years, although Trump’s recently passed budget bill is adding some hurdles for future projects.
In Kerr County — one of the most affected by deadly flash floods on July 4th — not everyone received alerts on their cell phones with safety instructions, according to records obtained by NBC News. The investigation adds to questions over why there wasn’t more done to warn people of the catastrophic flooding.
After years of working as NASA’s film liaison, Bert Ulrich is reportedly heading to Space 11 Corp — a studio focused on making cinematic projects about and sometimes set in outer space — where he will serve as executive vice president of production development and communications.
It’s bleeding senior-level talent with at least 2,145 employees taking buyouts, deferred resignations, and early retirement offers, Politico reports.
The Trump administration wants to cut thousands more jobs at NASA as part of its efforts to decimate the federal workforce. The Supreme Court just issued a decision yesterday that allows Trump to move forward with mass layoffs while a lawsuit challenging that plan plays out in lower courts.
Gemini’s on the wrist, there’s a new Antioxidant Index, and a slightly updated Ultra, too.
House Democrats are holding a science fair of canceled grants in Washington, DC today to call attention to research projects that the Trump administration has defunded.
Apparently following through on his threat to challenge Republicans who supported Donald Trump’s budget bill, Musk tweeted, “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.” He also said it will be ready next year -- a “consistently proven wrong” theme for Musk.
“One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” to hold a deciding vote on “contentious laws,” said Musk on Friday.
The H.R.1 spending bill Trump signed Friday that expands mass deportations, cuts social services, and stalls clean energy projects also includes a requirement for a “Space Vehicle Transfer.”
The target is Space Shuttle Discovery, which Texas senators are attempting to snatch from the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian estimates moving it could cost more than $300 million, and there’s the small detail that the modified Boeing 747 used to transport the shuttles is no longer available.
The Environmental Protection Agency placed 144 employees on administrative leave, the New York Times reports. The move comes after hundreds of EPA employees signed a letter accusing the Trump administration of “ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters.”
Since Donald Trump stepped back into office, the EPA has worked to roll back dozens of environmental regulations, including plans to weaken protections against forever chemicals in drinking water. DOGE also tore into the agency, making it more difficult to hold companies accountable for breaking environmental laws.
The bill quickly sunsets incentives that Congress approved in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act that was expected to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 40 percent from peak levels by 2030. On top of more pollution, wholesale electricity prices could also increase by 25 percent by 2030 as a result of the bill, according to one initial analysis
The bill now heads to President Donald Trump to sign into law.
Jenna Shumway, a former manager at SpaceX, accuses the company of failing to pay her as much as her male counterparts for similar work, as reported by TechCrunch.
In the lawsuit, Shumway also claims that one of her superiors, Daniel Collins, fostered a hostile work environment by beginning “a campaign of harassment and retaliation,” while also making “concerted efforts to terminate” her employment.
The US is rich with oil and gas so that’s how the Trump administration sees the world. China, lacking those same resources, now dominates solar and battery production. The New York Times explores the winners and losers of these competing strategies, but I think you can guess which country is best positioned to capitalize on future demand.
It pulled down the federal website that houses national climate assessments, reports that show how climate change affects every region of the US and that have been published every four years or so since 2000. Researchers working on the next national assessment were dismissed in April.
Farmers have successfully sued the Trump administration, however, to restore other climate resources they rely on to federal websites.
Publishing giant Springer Nature is losing millions as a result, Axios reports.
President Trump is also working to slash funding for research institutions in the US, while hundreds of scientists and engineers have accused his administration of censorship.
Tech companies are making bold bets on reaching the “Holy Grail” of energy, nuclear fusion. It’s a dream scientists have been chasing for decades, and that many believe is still decades away at best. Nevertheless, the energy needs of AI and an arms race with China are pumping billions of dollars into efforts to make fusion power a reality.
[washingtonpost.com]
Another batch of Jeff Bezos’ Kuiper broadband satellites are now operating in low Earth orbit as Amazon prepares to light up its high-speed low-latency Starlink competitor later this year. It comes almost two months after Kuiper’s inaugural launch of 27 satellites on April 28th.
For those keeping score: that other billionaire is launching a few dozen broadband satellites every two days.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has released the first images taken by its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) camera — the largest digital camera ever made — ahead of starting its 10-year survey of the southern sky. You can read up on details about these shots in PetaPixel’s report, and more images and video will be released later today following a Rubin Observatory livestream at 11AM ET.
The Senate parliamentarian — a nonpartisan congressional advisor — says Republicans are violating a budget reconciliation rule in their attempt to fast-track some parts of President Trump’s agenda.
That includes measures to undo Biden-era tailpipe pollution standards and repeal funding authorizations for climate programs under the Inflation Reduction Act. Republicans have been getting creative lately, however, with ways to get around the parliamentarian’s objections.
The Trump administration is thinking about scrapping a ban on white asbestos, a material used in roofing, chlorine manufacturing, and more. White asbestos is banned in many countries; exposure to it has been linked to lung cancer and other serious health risks.
“By siding with corporate polluters and willfully ignoring decades of public health evidence, they are dismantling life-saving protections,” Michelle Roos, executive director of the Environmental Protection Network, said in a press release today.
