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Science

Featuring the latest in daily science news, Verge Science is all you need to keep track of what’s going on in health, the environment, and your whole world. Through our articles, we keep a close eye on the overlap between science and technology news — so you’re more informed.

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SpaceX is trying to get the DOJ’s suit over its hiring policies tossed.

Elon Musk’s company is arguing in a Texas federal court that the Justice Department’s lawsuit alleging that the company is illegally disqualifying asylees and refugees from employment is unconstitutional.

Bloomberg noted in a report last week that the company is engaged in “a handful of lawsuits by former employees” over discrimination.

The company’s Texas filing may be to ensure the case funnels through the Fifth Circuit appellate court on appeal since that court tends to push back on federal regulatory action lately, writes Space News.


NASA released footage of the Parker Solar Probe flying through a coronal mass ejection.

According to NASA: “Coronal mass ejections are immense eruptions of plasma and energy from the Sun’s corona that drive space weather.” You can find out more about the probe’s mission and see the uncompressed, unedited version on NASA’s website.

NASA launched the probe to learn more about the Sun in August 2018, and it’s already taken an incredible photo of Venus. You can also find out more about how it deals with being hit by all that solar dust and where it got its name.


Parker Solar Probe’s Wide Field Imagery for Solar Probe (WISPR) camera observes as the spacecraft passes through a massive coronal mass ejection on Sept. 5th, 2022.
Parker Solar Probe’s Wide Field Imagery for Solar Probe (WISPR) camera observes as the spacecraft passes through a massive coronal mass ejection on Sept. 5th, 2022.
Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Lab
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Climate protesters arrested outside the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The Verge saw NYPD fill at least three police vans with protesters who marched through NYC’s financial district to end fossil fuels. Demonstrators are still blocking entrances to the bank, and there are more arrests going down.


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Good morning, here’s some body horror.

Have you ever wondered why celebrities’ teeth all look the same? It’s veneers, and this Cronenberg-esque piece highlights the problems with treating the body as a platform — and the TikTok account of a dentist devoted to calling veneers out.


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Actors add their support to end fossil fuels.

Edward Norton, Jane Fonda, Mark Ruffalo, Rosario Dawson, Alyssa Milano, Marisa Tomei, and Alicia Silverstone are among the actors who joined some 700 activists and organizations that signed a letter urging President Joe Biden to phase out fossil fuels. The letter comes ahead of a ‘March to End Fossil Fuels’ and a United Nations Climate Ambition Summit in New York City next week. “You have the executive authority to stop approving fossil fuel projects, phase out fossil fuel production on federal lands, and halt oil and gas exports,” the letter says.


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You can’t teach an oil company new tricks.

Exxon kept trying to mislead people on climate change even after finally admitting publicly in 2006 that fossil fuels are to blame, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation. Exxon continued to support research that questioned mainstream climate science after pledging to stop funding climate denial, according to the report. Before that, Exxon had already spent decades studying climate change while sowing doubt about the risks of burning fossil fuels.


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This guy’s job is cleaning up after Burning Man.

Dominic Tinio started cleaning up after the Burners in 2000. He has a month to clean up after the festival before the Bureau of Land Management inspects the site.

Black Rock City’s around 3,600 acres—3,600 football fields, we’ll say. 157 million square feet. So that’s a lot of territory to cover. But we cover it. I’m going to have somewhere between 175 and 200 people out here doing a line sweep. Everybody lines up and we, block for block, walk the desert.


‘Bodies on the line’: why climate protesters risked arrest to block BlackRock

Demonstrators blocked traffic outside the entrance to BlackRock headquarters ahead of a key climate summit in New York City.

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The Verge
The environmental impact of Apple switching to USB-C is iffy.

The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will have a USB-C port so that Apple can comply with a European Union rule requiring a universal charger. The EU’s rule is supposed to cut down e-waste, although Apple has argued that ditching Lightning chargers could do the opposite. The Verge spoke with e-waste experts last year about the change, and the environmental impact depends on a couple wild cards: consumer behavior, and whether standardization makes it easier to recycle discarded chargers.


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The CDC recommends that Americans six months and older get an updated covid shot.

After the FDA approved Pfizer and Moderna’s newly formulated covid vaccines on Monday, the CDC signed off on both shots today, stating “vaccination remains the best protection against COVID-19-related hospitalization and death.” The new vaccines will become available later this week,


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The Verge
What do you plan to do with all those Lightning cables?

If you’re thinking about upgrading to one of the new line of iPhone 15s, you’re not going to need your old Lightning cables. In fact, you may have lots of other outdated tech sitting around the house that you’re not using. We’ve put together a rundown of how you can responsibly get rid of old tech, clothing, books, and other clutter.


More than Sally Ride: Loren Grush explains how NASA’s first women astronauts changed space

In the 1980s, NASA wanted space to become a booming business — and the first six women astronauts were meant to help get it off the ground.

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Blue Origin may fly again soon.

Ars Technica reports that Blue Origin may conduct a flight test of its reusable New Shepard rockets skyward next month. It’s been just over a year since the catastrophic failure of its NS-23 mission, when its uncrewed capsule safely ejected as the rocket exploded.

As Ars writes, “two sources familiar with the company’s manifest” say if the “tentative plans” go well, it will conduct a crewed flight in mid-February.


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Sims, but with toxic waste.

You can head to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY to check out a prototype of SimEnvironment, a never-released game of pollution simulation. Or you can dive into Maddie Stone’s investigation into why this game is even a thing — if it ever really existed at all.


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Apple endorsed a California bill that would force companies to disclose their carbon footprint.

The bill would make it mandatory for big companies doing business in California to share how much greenhouse gas emissions they’re creating. The SEC is weighing a similar federal mandate, but has faced steep industry pushback. California could beat the SEC to the punch; its bill is expected to be voted on by September 14th.


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It’s official, this was the hottest summer on record for the Northern hemisphere.

The last three months have been the hottest on record for the planet, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Heatwaves in North America and Europe in July (the hottest month on record) would have been virtually impossible without climate change, research found. The extreme heat stressed power grids across the world and led to spikes in emergency room visits in the US and heat-related deaths in India.


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Elon Musk borrowed $1 billion from SpaceX last year around the time he acquired Twitter.

Musk drew on the money last October and paid it back, with interest, in November, according to The Wall Street Journal. It’s not clear why he borrowed the money. It’s an awful lot! SpaceX had $4.7 billion in cash and securities on hand at the end of last year, WSJ reports.