This is one of the best Easter deals you can get on Amazon.

Plus: Apple will employ user data to improve Apple Intelligence, Comcast has a 5-year price lock, and a new laser skin-care tool arrives in the US.

It's a laser vape, because lasers make everything more fun.

Some $380 million is now in limbo after reductions in the federal workforce affected staff that run a program helping low-income people pay their energy bills.

Whether anything ever lived on Mars is unknown. And the present environment, with harsh temperatures, intense radiation, and a sparse atmosphere, isn’t exactly propitious for life. Despite the red planet’s brutality, lichens that inhabit some of the harshest environments on Earth could possibly survive there.

Lichens are symbionts, or two organisms that are in a cooperative relationship. There is a fungal component (most are about 90 percent fungus) and a photosynthetic component (algae or cyanobacteria). To see if some species of lichen had what it takes to survive on Mars, a team of researchers led by botanist Kaja Skubała used the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences to expose the lichen species Diploschistes muscorum and Cetrarea aculeata to simulate Mars conditions.

“Our study is the first to demonstrate that the metabolism of the fungal partner in lichen symbiosis was active while being in a Mars-like environment,” the researchers said in a study recently published in IMA Fungus. “X-rays associated with solar flares and SEPs reaching Mars should not affect the potential habitability of lichens on this planet.”

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The mission is set for a close encounter with the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson on April 20.

Plus: A US judge rules against police cell phone “tower dumps,” China names alleged NSA agents it says were involved in cyberattacks, and Customs and Border Protection reveals its social media spying tools.

A new experiment suggests that the thalamus plays a key role in humans becoming consciously aware of stimuli their brain receives.

Star Wars Zero Company will release sometime in 2026, according to an announcement from Disney and EA. The game’s title was revealed earlier this week.

Alongside the release year, the two companies also shared a bit more information about what you can expect from the game. “In Star Wars Zero Company, players will step into the shoes of Hawks, a former Republic officer, to command an elite squad of cunning operatives through a gritty and authentic story set in the twilight of the Clone Wars,” according to a press release.

You’ll be able to customize Hawks’ appearance and class, and team members you recruit can “be personalized from a range of original Star Wars character classes and species.” Your team members can also “forge bonds” to “unlock powerful combat synergies that can turn the tide of battle.”

Zero Company will launch on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X / S.

Bit Reactor is leading development on Zero Company alongside Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games. The game was initially announced without a title in January 2022 as part of a three-game set of Star Wars titles that Respawn would be working on. The other two games are Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and a new FPS game.

The Clone Wars gets tactical with the 2026 release of Star Wars: Zero Company

China sits at the heart of Apple's supply chain - and has benefited hugely from it. Can they break up?

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Downdetector, which tracks platforms, showed more than 20,000 people reported Spotify was not working on Wednesday.