Nissan's third-generation Leaf sounds like it will be quite the attractive electric vehicle. Smaller but more spacious than the car it will replace later this year, it should be more efficient and at last feature proper thermal management of the battery. But now it seems that Nissan will build fewer Leafs than it planned, thanks to Chinese restrictions on the export of certain rare-earth elements that are critically important for electronics and electric motors.

The export restrictions mean a lack of spare parts for the Leaf, according to Reuters, and that means Nissan is reducing the output of its factory in Japan that is building the new car. Fellow Japanese automaker Suzuki had to suspend production of one of its models earlier this year as a result of the Chinese ban.

China began restricting exports of rare earths in April in response to the global trade war started by President Trump. Currently, US automakers and manufacturers are allowed to apply for export licenses that are good for six months, no more.

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© Nissan

It's getting harder to find hyperboles to describe the performance of modern EVs. Horsepower figures measured in four digits and acceleration figures clocking in well under three seconds aren't exactly de rigueur, but they're well short of rare these days.

Rivian's latest generation ticks those boxes, joining the automaker's range alongside the cheaper dual-motor models we tested last year. The new Gen 2 Quad-Motor versions of the company's R1S SUV and R1T truck offer 1,025 hp (764 kW) and 1,198 lb-ft (1,624 Nm) of torque, enough to get the pick-up from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds—the heavier SUV is a tenth slower. That's awfully quick for a truck that weighs in at around 7,000 pounds (3,175 kg) and can tow 11,000 pounds (5,000 kg) or, in the case of the SUV, seat seven comfortably.

That spread of performance and practicality is impressive, but as I learned in a day behind the wheel of both the $115,990 truck and $121,990 SUV, winding around and over the mountains surrounding Lake Tahoe, that's just scratching the surface of what they can do.

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© Tim Stevens

Greetings, Arsians! It's Prime Day, where we celebrate liberation from our Cybertronian oppressors, the Decepticons, and the mighty Autobot leader who fought for our freedom, Optimus Pr—hmm, one moment. I am once again being told that in spite of the name, Prime Day does not in fact have anything to do with the veneration of Optimus Prime, and is in fact all about buying things.

All right, in that case, let's shift gears and engage in some commerce! Our partners over at the Condé mothership have been toiling in the e-commerce mines for days, gathering some tasty deals for your perusal. We'll be poking at the list throughout the next day or two, adding items and removing them as deals come and go. Please remember to check back if there's nothing there right now that tickles you!

Amazon devices

• Amazon Echo Pop for $22 ($18 off)
• Amazon Echo Dot (5th gen) for $32 ($18 off)
• Amazon Echo Show 8 (3rd gen) for $110 ($40 off)
• Amazon Kindle Kids for $95 ($35 off)
• Amazon Kindle Scribe (2nd gen)  for $260 ($140 off)

Apple devices

• Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M4) for $849 ($151 off)
• Apple MacBook Air (15-inch, M4) for $1,049 ($150 off)

Tech deals

• Google Pixel tablet for $249 ($150 off)
• Microsoft Surface Pro 13-inch (11th edition) for $870 ($330 off)
• HP Chromebook Plus x360 for $329 ($270 off) 
• Netgear Nighthawk RAXE300 router for $200 ($200 off)
• Amazon Eero Pro 6E mesh system (3-pack) for $350 ($200 off)
• Asus ROG Rapture GT6 mesh system (2-pack) for $300 ($180 off)
• TP-Link Deco X20 mesh system for $120 ($60 off)
• LG UltraGear 34GS95QE 34-inch OLED curved gaming monitor for $777 ($523 off)
• LG MyView 32SR85U-W smart monitor for $460 ($166 off)
• Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SD for $650 ($250 off)
• Logitech G Pro X TKL Lightspeed wireless gaming keyboard for $150 ($70 off)
• Lofree Flow84 low profile mechanical keyboard for $150 ($20 off)
• NZXT Lift 2 Symm for $25 ($25 off)
• Plugable USB-C docking station for $224 ($56 off)
• Lamicall Gooseneck tablet holder for $19 ($10 off)
• DJI Power 1000 portable power station for $417 ($182 off)

Phones

• Samsung Galaxy S24 FE Android smartphone for $470 ($175 off)
• Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Android smartphone for $1,399 ($400 off)
• Ugreen 145W power bank for $66 ($34 off)
• Belkin BoostCharge Pro 2-in-1 wireless charging stand for $57 ($43 off)
• Bokilino cup holder phone mount for $10 ($6 off)
• Baseus Mini retractable USB-C cable for $10 ($7 off)

TVs

• Roku Plus Series 55-inch smart TV for $298 ($50 off)
• TCL 65-inch QM6K TV for $548 ($150 off)
• Sony 65-inch Bravia 8 II OLED TV for $2,998 ($500 off)
• Roku Ultra for $69 ($31 off)

Headphones and speakers

• JLab Go Pop ANC for $21 ($9 off)
• Sony WH-1000XM5 for $298 ($100 off)
• Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 for $169 ($41 off)
• Soundpeats PearlClip Pro open earbuds for $38 ($22 off)
• Nothing Ear (a) for $69 ($50 off)
• Ultimate Ears Boom 4 for $95 ($55 off)
• Sonos Roam 2 for $143 ($36 off)
• JBL Authentics 200 for $200 ($150 off)
• Bose Soundlink Max for $299 ($100 off)
• ZVox AccuVoice AV157 for $150 ($50 off)
• Blue Yeti USB mic for $90 ($50 off)
• Loop Quiet earplugs for $17 ($11 off)
• Loop Switch 2 earplugs for $42 ($18 off)
• Wiim Amp for $239 ($61 off)

Kitchen

• Breville Barista Express for $550 ($200 off)
• De’Longhi Linea Classic espresso machine for $150 ($80 off) 
• AeroPress Original coffee press for $34 ($6 off)
• Fellow Opus conical burr grinder for $156 ($44 off)
• Dreo ChefMaker Combi air fryer for $239 ($120 off)
• Nama J2 cold press juicer for $464 ($121 off)
• Instant Pot Pro Plus for $143 ($87 off)
• Meater Pro XL wireless smart meat thermometer for $276 ($73 off)

Home

• Dyson V8 Plus cordless vacuum for $300 ($170 off)
• Roborock Qrevo S for $460 ($340 off)
• Shark PowerDetect cordless stick vacuum for $320 ($130 off)
• Coway Airmega Mighty AP-1512HH true HEPA air purifier for $155 ($75 off)
• Aura Carver mat for $141 ($38 off)
• Eufy 11S Max robot vacuum for $140 ($140 off)
• Nest Cam Outdoor security camera for $117 ($63 off)
• Ring Indoor Cam security camera (2-Pack) for $60 ($60 off)
• Eufy Indoor Cam S350 security camera for $85 ($45 off)
• Arlo Pro 5S outdoor security camera for $90 ($90 off)
• Yale Assure Lock 2 for $204 ($36 off)
• Aqara Smart Lock U50 for $100 ($50 off)
• Babelio Mini sound machine for $18 ($15 off)
• Snooz smart white noise sound machine for $85 ($15 off)
• TP-Link smart water leak detector for $15 ($5 off)
• Steelcase Gesture for $1,111 ($370 off)
• Flexispot EN1 standing desk for $160 ($40 off)
• FLIR ONE Gen 3 thermal imaging camera for $160 ($44 off)
• Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights Pro for $300 ($140 off)

Outdoor and Active

• Fitbit Sense 2 for $200 ($50 off)
• Garmin Instinct 2S Solar for $217 ($183 off)
• Amazfit Balance for $130 ($70 off)
• Google Pixel Watch 3 (45 mm) for $300 ($100 off)
• Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra (47 mm) for $325 ($325 off)
• OLIGHT Arkfeld Pro for $80 ($20 off)
• PeckPerk Bird Feeder With Camera for $95 ($65 off)
• Sperax Walking Pad for $159 ($51 off)
• Segway Ninebot E2 Pro electric scooter for $400 ($100 off)

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Open clusters of stars—which consist of dozens up to a few thousand stars—are an interesting tool for astronomers to study the Universe.

That's because all of the stars in such a cluster formed more or less at the same time, allowing astronomers to compare different types of stars, in terms of size and composition, which are all of a similar age. This is useful for understanding how different kinds of stars evolve over time.

Some of these open clusters are pretty famous, such as the Pleiades cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters. This is relatively close to Earth, just 444 light-years away. Others are much more distant, such as NGC 460 and NGC 456. They reside in a nearby galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud, and are the subject of today's post.

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© NASA, ESA, and C. Lindberg (The Johns Hopkins University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Two Chinese satellites have rendezvoused with one another more than 20,000 miles above the Earth in what analysts believe is the first high-altitude attempt at orbital refueling.

China's Shijian-21 and Shijian-25 satellites, known as SJ-21 and SJ-25 for short, likely docked together in geosynchronous orbit sometime last week. This is the conclusion of multiple civilian satellite trackers using open source imagery showing the two satellites coming together, then becoming indistinguishable as a single object.

Chinese officials have released no recent public information on what the two satellites are up to, but they've said a bit about their missions in prior statements.

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© s2a systems

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy, and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

When President Donald Trump signed legislation to revoke California’s authority to enforce stricter tailpipe emissions standards and to ban sales of gas-powered cars by 2035, the effects rippled far beyond the Golden State.

Seventeen states relied on California’s Clean Air Act waivers to adopt stronger vehicle pollution rules on their own, including New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Washington.

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© Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News

Starting today, Google is implementing a change that will enable its Gemini AI engine to interact with third-party apps, such as WhatsApp, even when users previously configured their devices to block such interactions. Users who don't want their previous settings to be overridden may have to take action.

An email Google sent recently informing users of the change linked to a notification page that said that “human reviewers (including service providers) read, annotate, and process” the data Gemini accesses. The email provides no useful guidance for preventing the changes from taking effect. The email said users can block the apps that Gemini interacts with, but even in those cases, data is stored for 72 hours.

An email Google recently sent to Android users.

No, Google, it’s not good news

The email never explains how users can fully extricate Gemini from their Android devices and seems to contradict itself on how or whether this is even possible. At one point, it says the changes “will automatically start rolling out” today and will give Gemini access to apps such as WhatsApp, Messages, and Phone “whether your Gemini apps activity is on or off.” A few sentences later, the email says, “If you have already turned these features off, they will remain off.” Nowhere in the email or the support pages it links to are Android users informed how to remove Gemini integrations completely.

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Some Apple rumors just don't go away, hanging around in perpetuity either because they reflect things that Apple is actually testing in its labs or because hope springs eternal. A HomePod-like device with a screen? A replacement for the dear, departed 27-inch iMac? Touchscreen MacBooks? The return of TouchID fingerprint scanning via a sensor located beneath a screen? Maybe these things are coming, but they ain't here yet.

However, few rumors have had the longevity or staying power of "Apple is planning a low-cost MacBook," versions of which have been circulating since at least the late-2000s netbook craze. And yet, despite seismic shifts in just about everything—three distinct processor instruction sets, two CEOs, innumerable design changes, and global trade upheaval—Apple's cheapest modern laptops have started around $1,000 for more than two decades.

Last week, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (whose Apple predictions aren't always correct but whose track record is better than your garden variety broken-clock prognosticators) kicked up another round of these rumors, claiming that Apple was preparing to manufacture a new low-cost MacBook based on the iPhone’s A18 Pro chip. Kuo claims it will come in multiple colors, similar to Apple's lower-cost A16 iPad, and will use a 13-inch screen.

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© Valentina Palladino

Epic Games, buoyed by the massive success of Fortnite, has spent the last few years throwing elbows in the mobile industry to get its app store on more phones. It scored an antitrust win against Google in late 2023, and the following year it went after Samsung for deploying "Auto Blocker" on its Android phones, which would make it harder for users to install the Epic Games Store. Now, the parties have settled the case just days before Samsung will unveil its latest phones.

The Epic Store drama began several years ago when the company defied Google and Apple rules about accepting outside payments in the mega-popular Fortnite. Both stores pulled the app, and Epic sued. Apple emerged victorious, with Fortnite only returning to the iPhone recently. Google, however, lost the case after Epic showed it worked behind the scenes to stymie the development of app stores like Epic's.

Google is still working to avoid penalties in that long-running case, but Epic thought it smelled a conspiracy last year. It filed a similar lawsuit against Samsung, accusing it of implementing a feature to block third-party app stores. The issue comes down to the addition of a feature to Samsung phones called Auto Blocker, which is similar to Google's new Advanced Protection in Android 16. It protects against attacks over USB, disables link previews, and scans apps more often for malicious activity. Most importantly, it blocks app sideloading. Without sideloading, there's no way to install the Epic Games Store or any of the content inside it.

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© Ryan Whitwam

Back in 1929, archaeologists unearthed several human skeletons (seven adults and three children) while excavating Skuhl Cave just south of Haifa, Israel. Dating back 140,000 years to the end of the Middle Pleistocene, most were classified as early Homo sapiens. But one skeleton was that of a child, between the age of 3 and 5 years old whose features seemed to show a mix of early human and Neanderthal characteristics. A new analysis involving CT scanning may resolve the long-standing debate, according to a new paper published in the journal L’Anthropologie.

Neanderthals and Homo sapiens traded genes frequently during the period when their populations overlapped. "The two came in contact as modern humans began their major expansion out of Africa, which occurred roughly 60,000 years ago," Ars Science Editor John Timmer previously reported. "Humans picked up some Neanderthal DNA through interbreeding, while the Neanderthal population, always fairly small, was swept away by the waves of new arrivals."

Nor is this the first case of a possible hybrid hominid species. In 2018, scientists analyzed a sliver of bone excavated from a cave site in Russia. The findings made global headlines when the team concluded that the individual to whom it belonged—a young girl of about 13, dubbed "Denny"—was the offspring of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father. This suggested that rather than dying out, Neanderthals may have been absorbed by other species; such inbreeding may have been more common than previously thought.

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© Israel Hershkovitz

Over the weekend, the tally of measles cases reached 1,281, setting a new case record since the highly contagious viral disease was declared eliminated from the country in 2000. The previous record was set in 2019, when there were 1,274 cases and officials warned that the US had narrowly avoided losing the elimination status.

Overall, the current case tally is a 33-year high for the preventable infection, and the outlook for the country is bleak. Vaccination rates have only fallen since the pandemic, and the top health official in the country—Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—is an unswerving anti-vaccine activist who has spent his short time in the position so far spreading dangerous misinformation about the measles vaccine—as well as peddling unproven treatments and downplaying the infection.

Experts expect that the US will lose its elimination status, which will occur if the virus spreads uninterrupted for 12 months. To block transmission, experts say populations must maintain vaccination rates of 95 percent or higher. But, nationally, the vaccination rate among kindergartners has fallen to 92.7 percent in the latest data, with some communities having vaccination rates far lower, leaving them vulnerable to widespread outbreaks.

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© Getty | Povorozniuk Liudmyla

The Federal Communications Commission has regained its authority to hold spectrum auctions and could use that power to take spectrum away from Wi-Fi networks and license it to mobile carriers AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

As we previously wrote, the Senate budget bill pitched by Ted Cruz (R-Texas) called for at least 800 MHz to be auctioned and allowed part of it to be taken from the 6 GHz band that's being used to boost speeds in the new generation of Wi-Fi networks. The House previously voted to exclude the entire 6 GHz band from spectrum auctions but ultimately adopted the Senate's language in a 218-214 vote when it approved the final budget bill on July 3. It was signed into law by President Trump on July 4.

The new law also allows spectrum to be taken from the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), which goes from 3.55 to 3.7 GHz. While other spectrum bands could be targeted too, advocates say it would be hard for the FCC to fulfill the congressional mandate without taking spectrum from Wi-Fi, CBRS, or both.

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© Getty Images | mattjeacock

Fubo has agreed to pay $3.4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the sports-streaming service provider of unlawfully distributing customers' personally identifiable information (PII) without their consent.

In December 2023, Ne’Tosha Burdette filed a complaint [PDF] against Fubo with the stated goal of stopping Fubo’s "unlawful disclosure of its customers'" PII. The complaint argued that Fubo violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), “which prohibits the disclosure of consumers’ video viewing history without their informed, written consent." The filing added:

Critically, Defendant utilizes sophisticated tracking technology that collects its subscribers’ personally identifiable information… including information which identifies a person as having viewed specific videos on Defendant’s streaming service. Defendant knowingly discloses this information to third party advertisers so that they can target specific users with specifically tailored advertisements based on their viewing history.

Fubo’s privacy policy at the time stated that Fubo collected various data from its users, such as location information—including “precise or near-precise geolocation” and the use of “GPS coordinates”—as well as device and usage information (including “pages and content viewed and order of those pages" and "content recorded on FuboTV,”) per the complaint.

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© Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The ransomware group linked to the recent cyberattacks on UK retailers Marks and Spencer, Harrods, and the Co-Op has begun a turf war with its rivals, triggering a battle within the industry that could bring more hacks and further fallout for corporate victims.

DragonForce, a group of largely Russian-speaking cyber criminals behind a spate of high-profile attacks this year, has clashed with one of its biggest competitors RansomHub, according to cybersecurity experts tracking the battle to dominate the booming criminal ransomware sector.

They warn that the conflict between the two groups, which operate in the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) market, could increase risks for companies, including the potential of being extorted twice.

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© Mehau Kulyk/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

Could Donald Trump possibly follow through on his campaign promise to save TikTok by finally making a deal that keeps the app operating in the US without compromising America's national security?

Outlook not so good.

Despite The Information reporting that a new version of TikTok is being prepped to launch in the US market this September, even Trump can't be sure the deal is imminent.

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© VCG / Contributor | Visual China Group

Someone made very sophisticated wooden tools in China 300,000 years ago, and it might have been Denisovans or even Homo erectus.

The digging sticks, curved root-slicers, and a handful of somewhat puzzling implements were all found at a lakeshore site called Gantangqing. They are the oldest wooden tools from East Asia so far. All the previous Pleistocene tools found in the area were made from harder material like stone, bone, or antler. But logic suggests that hominins must have prepared and used softer materials as well. That thought led archaeologists to what is called the Bamboo Hypothesis: the idea that during the Pleistocene, hominins (including our own species) might have used bamboo the way wood gets used elsewhere.

The jury is still out on bamboo, because there is no actual evidence of bamboo tools yet. What we now have, it turns out, are nearly three dozen tools made of wood.

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© Liu et al. 2025

The heat dome that oppressed much of Europe has broken. Not a drop of rain marred the 24 hour races at Le Mans, the Nürburgring, or Spa-Francorchamps, held unusually over consecutive weekends this June. Similarly, last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix took place under scorching skies that were baking the Tyrolean mountains. No such luck for the vast crowds at Silverstone attending the British Grand Prix this past weekend, who definitely needed their waterproofs. On the plus side, the addition of rain certainly made things interesting.

Like many British race circuits, Silverstone was a former World War II airbase. Originally home to Wellington Bombers, it's very exposed to the wind, which was gusting at times during practice and qualifying, making life complicated for the drivers. Lewis Hamilton made the home crowd smile by topping the time charts during FP1. Hamilton has struggled to get to grips with his new Ferrari for much of this season, but at Silverstone he looked much more comfortable, finishing FP2 less than a 10th of a second behind his teammate, Charles Leclerc, although neither could match McLaren's Lando Norris for outright speed.

On Saturday, it was Red Bull's Max Verstappen who rose to the top, snatching pole position from the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Norris by about a 10th of a second. George Russell's Mercedes was competitive in the colder temperatures, securing fourth on the grid ahead of the Ferraris of Hamilton and Leclerc. Mercedes' young rookie, Kimi Antonelli, qualified seventh but would start 10th as a result of a penalty acquired in Austria, and Haas rookie Oliver Bearman put in the eighth-fastest time, but ignoring a red flag during Saturday's final practice session landed him with a 10-place grid penalty. As it was, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso lined up seventh for the race, followed by Pierre Gasly's Alpine, Carlos Sainz in the first Williams, and then Antonelli rounding out the top 10.

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© Clive Mason/Getty Images

In April 2023, a few weeks after the launch of GPT-4, the Internet went wild for two new software projects with the audacious names BabyAGI and AutoGPT.

“Over the past week, developers around the world have begun building ‘autonomous agents’ that work with large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 to solve complex problems,” Mark Sullivan wrote for Fast Company. “Autonomous agents can already perform tasks as varied as conducting web research, writing code, and creating to-do lists.”

BabyAGI and AutoGPT repeatedly prompted GPT-4 in an effort to elicit agent-like behavior. The first prompt would give GPT-4 a goal (like “create a 7-day meal plan for me”) and ask it to come up with a to-do list (it might generate items like “Research healthy meal plans,” “plan meals for the week,” and “write the recipes for each dinner in diet.txt”).

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© Aurich Lawson | Getty Images

Dmitri Mendeleev famously saw the complete arrangement of the periodic table after falling asleep on his desk. He claimed in his dream he saw a table where all the elements fell into place, and he wrote it all down when he woke up. By having a eureka moment right after a nap, he joined a club full of rather talented people: Mary Shelley, Thomas Edison, and Salvador Dali.

To figure out if there’s a grain of truth to all these anecdotes, a team of German scientists at the Hamburg University, led by cognitive science researcher Anika T. Löwe, conducted an experiment designed to trigger such nap-following strokes of genius—and catch them in the act with EEG brain monitoring gear. And they kind of succeeded.

Catching Edison’s cup

“Thomas Edison had this technique where he held a cup or something like that when he was napping in his chair,” says Nicolas Schuck, a professor of cognitive science at the Hamburg University and senior author of the study. “When he fell asleep too deeply, the cup falling from his hand would wake him up—he was convinced that was the way to trigger these eureka moments.” While dozing off in a chair with a book or a cup doesn’t seem particularly radical, a number of cognitive scientists got serious about re-creating Edison’s approach to insights and testing it in their experiments.

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© XAVIER GALIANA

Over the past few years, LG has set off a strange tech trend that’s been rolling onto devices sold across Amazon and other online electronics retailers.

In 2022, the company launched the StanbyME, which is essentially a $1,000 27-inch tablet running LG's smart TV operating system (OS), webOS, but lacking a tuner. LG's press release announcing the device described it as a “wireless private TV screen with a built-in battery” that is easily portable and ideal for watching shows and movies, in addition to  “video conferencing with family and coworkers and viewing online lectures.”

Today, the StanbyME competes against a slew of similar devices, including some from Samsung, but mostly from smaller brands and running Android.

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© Scharon Harding