New York’s after‑hours headliner isn’t a DJ—it’s 3 million rats holding ultrasonic cocktail parties we can’t hear. In this story, I covered researchers who eavesdropped on the city’s most ubiquitous night shift. The team found that rats modulate their ultrasonic chatter to compete with urban din, juveniles roam in packs and hefty solo veterans scout like grizzled sentries—information that could steer trash schedules, building design and “rat’s‑eye” simulations for smarter mitigation.
If “CSI” had a pause button, this is it: Forensic reconstructionist Michael Haag walked me through how investigators could freeze the chaotic aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting with tripod‑mounted 3D laser scanners that capture millions of measurements and let analysts “fly through” the scene later—checking sightlines from rooftops and seats as if they were in a video game. The tech has been standard at major crime scenes since the early 2000s and can lock in where chairs, awnings and barricades were before memories and furniture shift.
The James Webb Scape Telescope just gave us a deeper look at the universe’s most famous cosmic fender‑bender. The new image of the Bullet Cluster reminds us of why this system is every astronomer’s favorite crash lab and what it could teach us about dark matter.
In Other AI News
Eli Lilly just turned its AI brain trust into a bring-your-own-data library card. The pharma company launched TuneLab, a platform that lets small biotech startups use drug discovery models trained on years of Eli Lilly experiments—data the company says cost over $1 billion to generate. In exchange, selected startups contribute their own data to help train future models. With FDA policy nudging drugmakers to use AI for faster discovery and reduced animal testing, AI research and development spending could grow to more than $30 billion by 2040.
Vegas just added a new spectacle between the fountains and the faux pyramid. Amazon’s Zoox flipped the switch on free, open‑to‑the‑public robotaxi rides on and around the Strip, using a purpose‑built pod that skips the quaint traditions of steering wheels and pedals. The current route map is just five designated zones, and though rides top out around three miles, they’re free while Zoox waits for permission to charge.
Google’s AI Overviews just got served. Penske Media—the family firm behind Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Variety—filed suit in D.C. federal court, marking the first major U.S. publisher to challenge Google’s AI summaries for allegedly republishing its journalism without consent and siphoning clicks. Penske says Google is leveraging its dominance to force a choice: let Overviews ingest your work or watch your search visibility fade; the legal argument points to a federal court’s finding that Google holds a roughly 90 percent U.S. search share. The complaint also quantifies the pain: about 20 percent of Google searches that link to Penske sites now show an Overview, and affiliate revenue has fallen by more than a third from its peak.
If you wander over to friend.com, you’ll meet “Friend,” an AI pendant that hangs from your neck and texts you running commentary about your life, now selling for $129 in the U.S. and Canada. Reviewers didn’t exactly swoon: WIRED’s two‑week test found the always‑listening trinket could come off less like a supportive buddy and more like a snarky roommate. To its credit, the company says it doesn’t sell your data for marketing or profiling, while also reminding you that you’re responsible for obeying local surveillance laws as the device passively records your surroundings. So basically, you’re always wearing a wire. We know how that story ends in the movies.
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—Deni Ellis Béchard, Senior Reporter, Technology
