Japanese researchers have developed a catalyst that selectively degrades polyurethane in mixed plastic waste, opening a practical route to recycling materials long considered too complex to separate. Credit: Takanori Iwasaki / Kyushu University
Ever wondered where your plastics end up? A PET bottle can be washed, shredded, melted and given a second life. But most everyday items—toys, mattresses, car seats—are made from different plastics that refuse to mix when melted, producing unusable, contaminated material. Sorting is difficult and expensive, so most mixed plastic waste ends up burned or buried, and the materials are lost for good.
Two fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) with a rainbow where one has exhaled. Credit: Hannah Clayton under NMFS permit # 21678
Usually there's safety in numbers, but it doesn't always work that way. Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) filter-feed on immense shoals of krill, engulfing colossal mouthfuls of water containing up to 144 kg of the crustaceans. But then the mighty creatures expel the water by squeezing it out through the racks of baleen lining their mouths.
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 30: Max Scherzer #31 of the Toronto Blue Jays looks on during a workout day ahead of game six of the 2025 World Series at Rogers Centre on October 30, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
Should Anthropic trust Elon Musk to host its models? After users on X implied that Musk could wake up one day and simply boot the AI lab from SpaceX’s servers as a way to kneecap a rival, Musk replied with glowing praise for the AI lab. He said that such a trick was “not my style.”
It was not particularly surprising to hear that Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis, the other remake of Final Fantasy 7 that opts for a more faithful approach to the original game (if being filled with gacha rolls counts as faithful), is ending service. Square Enix have been ceasing development on pretty much every mobile game they have out at the moment, so why would this one be any different? It's a shame, though, not just because of the fact that it'll be completely inaccessible when it goes down, but because of its inclusion of Before Crisis.
Three years ago, Sequoia partner David Cahn was one of the first people to do the math and put a number on the implications of Silicon Valley’s titanic spend on AI infrastructure.
Actors on stilts join Broadway union workers during a demonstration to vote on whether to authorize a strike in 32 Broadway theatres ahead of the holidays season, in New York, December, 12, 2012. Broadway theater cleaners, porters and matrons gathered on New York's Times Square to decide on wether to authorize a strike, calling on theatre owners to pay higher wages and provide access to healthacare and other benefits. AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel DUNAND (Photo credit should read EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images)
A team of researchers at the University of Ottawa and its Nexus for Quantum Technologies Institute, in collaboration with researchers from Federico II University in Italy, has developed a programmable quantum simulator that shapes a beam of light to replicate how particles move through complex materials, avoiding the need for ever-larger electronic hardware.
