Wildfire smoke blankets volcanoes across the Pacific Northwest | Space photo of the day for Aug. 17, 2026

(Image credit: NASA) Imagine orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth and seeing your home planet below — up in smoke. That was the reality recently for astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) who captured this image of the volcano Mount Rainier covered in smoke from nearby wildfires. What is it? This past July, hundredsContinue Reading

the-30-year-cold-case-of-tupac-shakur-|-bbc-news

The drive-by shooting that killed rap superstar Tupac Shakur on 7 September 1996 changed the trajectory of hip-hop and elevated the rapper from the face of the genre to a cultural icon. His killing became one of popular culture’s great mysteries, with countless theories but no arrests until 2023, whenContinue Reading

ubuntu-is-growing-faster-on-windows-than-on-linux

Back in April, Jon Seager, Canonical’s VP of Engineering, spoke with The Pragmatic Engineer (paywalled), telling them that Ubuntu inside Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is growing faster than native Ubuntu desktop installs. He expects WSL to pull ahead within months. Jon was speaking on the topic of how AIContinue Reading

the-eu-and-us-cheer-on-the-‘bus-ification’-of-ukraine

The following story is co-published with Matt Bivens’ Substack newsletter,  The 100 Days. Millions are in hiding. Those who have escaped Ukraine are fanned out across Europe, clinging to low-paying jobs and temporary housing. But Europe’s leaders are impatient with them. The young Ukrainian men should go back, they say.Continue Reading

the-epa’s-data-bank-on-cancer-risk-from-air-pollution-has-gone-dark

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. Darya Minovi was mapping pollution from medical sterilization plants across the country when many of the communities she was speaking to began asking the same question. The facilities emit ethylene oxide, a potent carcinogen, and those who livedContinue Reading