Saturday 18th May 2024

Open letter before European Parliament election: Prioritize democracy as authoritarianism grows

“These converging challenges have created a real risk that in this global election year, EU member states as well as some of its key partners may see the ascent of anti-democratic political actors,” according to the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, which initiated the open letter.

“It is important that they pay attention to dealing with those challenges in an effective way so as to protect the credibility of the EU’s message on democracy, which I insist is key, given the very unpromising winds that are blowing when it comes to democracy globally,” Casas-Zamora added.

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The centuries-old baba recipe made with 96 egg yolks

The baba is often served at Easter in Poland, with the most extraordinary version – the muslin baba – made from a rich dough of flour, yeast, butter and quite a lot of egg yolks.

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Can Boeing's Starliner Actually Compete With SpaceX's Crew Dragon?

Comparing these two to the original Space Shuttle offers a revealing look at how we will get people and equipment orbital for the foreseeable future.

NASA needs a new workhorse. Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, finding a reliable ship to resupply the ISS — with parts, experiments, and people — has been a high, if slow priority. This is why this month the folks at NASA are eagerly awaiting for the Boeing Starliner to launch its first astronauts into space. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, veterans of the Space Shuttle and the Russian Soyuz, are expected to fly this soon aboard the Starliner when it makes its inaugural crewed flight. But Starliner has undergone a string of delays due to a valve issue of its rocket and, more recently, a helium leak. The latest slated launch date is set for May 21.

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The Messiest Chapter in Marvel Movie History is Finally Coming to an End

While Marvel’s Cinematic Universe is dealing with stagnation and superhero fatigue, Sony — which owns the rights to Spider-Man villains and sidekicks — never got its universe off the ground in the first place. While Venom enjoyed modest success, later attempts like Morbius and Madame Web were huge flops.

With the serially-delayed Kraven the Hunter still in the works, it’s clear the Sony universe needs a fresh start, and it’s found one in the directors of the one Sonyverse project that’s been a massive success: the Spider-Verse trilogy.

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PlayStation's Secret Weapon Is Lurking In A Quiet Summer Game Lineup

Recent PlayStation headlines have been mixed, with IGN lamenting that Sony’s summer release schedule is bare even as Sony continues to stomp Microsoft in the sales department. PlayStation 5 owners have recently enjoyed Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but the rest of 2024 is largely limited to expansions for hits like Destiny 2 and Elden Ring. No offense to September’s Earth Defense: World Brothers 2, but it’s probably not going to upend the industry.

Next year will supposedly bring us DeathStranding 2, Grand Theft Auto VI, and other high-profile releases. In the interim, Sony is still outselling Microsoft like hotcakes compared to an unpopular rival hotcake brand, with analysts estimating that the PlayStation outsold Xbox by a margin of five to one in Q1 2024. But the most interesting data to be revealed, while not as eye-catching, tells you everything you need to know about where Sony — and likely the entire industry — is heading.

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A Wild New Study Sheds Light On Why Exercise is So Good For Our Brains

Researchers unearth exercise secrets from a biomolecular soup of synthetic innervated muscle tissue.

It’s no secret that regular exercise is great for the body and the brain. Scientific studies have shown, time and time again, that physical activity has both short and long-term cognitive benefits, from boosting memory and concentration in the hours following a gym sesh, to reducing inflammation and mitigating risk of progressive, degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

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One of Tesla's More Impressive Cybertruck Claims May Be a Total Sham

The Cybertruck is fast, but it’s not that fast. As it turns out, Tesla’s viral video depicting the Cyberbeast beating a Porsche 911 in a race while towing another Porsche 911 was at the very least misleading. MotorTrend took it upon themselves to recreate the same conditions in some extensive drag race testing, which debunked Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s bold claim.

During the delivery event of the Cybertruck, Musk claimed that the Tesla’s latest EV could “tow a Porsche 911 across a quarter mile faster than the Porsche 911 can go by itself.” According to MotorTrend’s tests, that didn’t happen once.

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A New NASA Image Captures A Trio Of Stars In A Cosmic Nursery

Three baby stars light up the cosmic dust that likely gave birth to them — 550 light-years away.

This week, NASA published an enchanting image of a trio of stars emerging from the clouds of dust and gas from which they formed. This young trio shows what amounts to a cosmic nursery — young stars emerging from the gaseous clouds that likely created them.

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'GTA 6' Says It's Coming in Fall 2025. That's Very Unlikely

The internet got a rare update on what’s happening with Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto sequel Thursday, with publisher Take-Two Interactive narrowing the anticipated game’s release window to Fall 2025. But I wouldn’t schedule that vacation time with the boss just yet: there’s good reason to believe Take-Two might be off in their estimation by at least a few months.

“Our outlook reflects a narrowing of Rockstar Games' previously established window of Calendar 2025 to Fall of Calendar 2025 for Grand Theft Auto VI,” Take-Two said during a financial report Thursday. “We are highly confident that Rockstar Games will deliver an unparalleled entertainment experience, and our expectations for the commercial impact of the title continue to increase.”

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McLaren's Off-Road E-Bike is the Supercar of Electric Mobility

McLaren is about to give e-bikes a little F1 flavor. The Extreme and Sport series e-bikes from McLaren — which, for the uninitiated, is a major name in the world of supercars — are the company’s first foray into the world of electric mobility and boast some specs to match the “Extreme” moniker.

The first thing you need to know about the Extreme and Sport bikes is that they pack a lot of power — in the most expensive variant, about 852W of peak power from a 600W motor to be exact. All that power translates to 161nM of torque, which is about 118 lb-ft in imperial measurement. For reference, a small car might pack around 100 lb-ft, so... buckle up, baby.

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