NASA officials sidestepped questions on Artemis II risks—there’s a reason why

When talking about risk during a press conference on Thursday, the NASA officials in charge of the upcoming Artemis II Moon mission hedged their answers.

Reporters’ questions on the risks were certainly valid and appropriate. In an open society, it is vital to set expectations for any hazardous venture such as spaceflight—most importantly for the astronauts actually making the journey, but also for NASA’s workforce, the White House, lawmakers, and members of the public paying for the endeavor.

What’s more, Artemis II will be the first mission since 1972 to fly humans to the vicinity of the Moon. This is not following the well-trodden yet perilous path that astronauts take to reach the International Space Station, just a few hundred miles above Earth.

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Woman sneezes out maggots after fly larvae get trapped in her deviated septum

A 58-year-old woman in Greece appears to hold the record for growing a parasitic sheep bot fly in her nose the longest, almost creating a snot rocket that could literally fly.

Usually, when the sheep bot fly accidentally nosedives into a human’s schnoz, the first-stage larvae they deliver don’t actually develop. In contrast, in its normal target—a sheep’s nose—the larvae would move up into the sinuses, feed, grow, and molt into second- and third-stage larvae. From there, the flies (Oestrus ovis) drip from the nose onto the ground, burrow into the soil, pupate, and emerge as adult flies.

For a long time, experts thought that the flies couldn’t complete their development in humans beyond the first larval stage. But a few human cases have been reported in recent decades involving the second- and third-stage larvae. The woman’s case, reported in the Journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases by a medical entomologist and colleagues, goes the furthest yet, finding pupa and a puparium—the hard casing of a pupa—in the woman’s nose.

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Slay the Spire 2 is a bit too familiar for its own good

Do you remember the joyful satisfaction you felt when you really started to understand Slay the Spire?

This isn’t a totally rhetorical question. If you’re reading this piece about Slay the Spire 2—published roughly a week into what promises to be a lengthy Early Access period—I have to assume you’ve put in dozens, if not hundreds (or thousands?) of hours with the original Slay the Spire. At this point, the game probably feels less like a game and more like a comfortable old pair of sneakers. You probably have a favorite character, a preferred set of card synergies to focus on building for that character, and a set of alternative strategies to aim for when the vagaries of chance make that preferred strategy impossible. The game’s plentiful randomization makes each run feel a bit different, but the contours of those runs start to feel a little common to anyone who has tinkered with the game for years.

But think back, if you can, to when Slay the Spire was an exciting new challenge. Remember those first few runs, when you were still deep in the trial-and-error phase of your Slay the Spire journey. You still had to read each new card carefully as it appeared, developing potential strategies on the fly and weighing key deckbuilding and power-building decisions for minutes at a time to maximize your chance of survival. Sure, you failed a lot. But you got a little more confident each time and a little farther every few sessions and just a little more knowledgeable about and immersed in the game’s intricate, well-balanced systems.

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Apple A18 Pro In MacBook Neo Beats All x86 CPUs In Single-Core Benchmarks

Apple A18 Pro In MacBook Neo Beats All x86 CPUs In Single-Core Benchmarks
Apple made a splash earlier this month when it debuted a slew of new products, but the stand-out was undoubtedly the budget minded MacBook Neo, which one PC executive says sent a “shock” through the entire PC market. It’s the company’s most affordable MacBook, powered by the A18 Pro that debuted with the iPhone 16 Pro in 2024, which most expected

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Hits Record Low $429, ASUS X870 Gaming Bundle Deal

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Hits Record Low $429, ASUS X870 Gaming Bundle Deal
Do you have a Socket AM5 system? Do you play games on it? Do you have a 3D V-Cache processor? If the answers to those questions are YYN like some kind of Rush song with the third part turned sideways, then you should absolutely check out today’s deal, where you can pick up a Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, until recently the fastest gaming CPU

PC Gaming Revenue To Overtake Consoles By 2028, Report Says

PC Gaming Revenue To Overtake Consoles By 2028, Report Says
It now appears that the gaming industry is entering a structural recalibration of sorts. According to Newzoo’s 2026 PC & Console Gaming Report, the post-pandemic plateau has finally broken, giving way to a projected $103.7 billion market by 2028. However, the forces driving this growth have fundamentally shifted from the explosive player acquisition

Sale Announced: 25% Off Zwift Ride Smart Frame

Zwift has never sold the standalone Ride frame at a discount, aside from a very limited sale on cosmetic-blemish frames last March. But yesterday, Zwift announced a 25% off sale on the standalone Zwift Ride Smart Frame!

The sale lasts through the end of March.

Zwift Ride Frame Basics

This isn’t your typical bike frame. It’s made to work specifically with Zwift’s virtual shifting, which requires virtual shifting controllers (built in the handlebars of the Zwift Ride) as well as a smart trainer compatible with virtual shifting (see list below).

Haven’t tried virtual shifting yet? It’s pretty great: flawless, silent shifting, even under power, with more gearing range than a standard cassette. Read more about Zwift’s virtual shifting >

The Zwift Ride is also easily adjustable, with an integrated tool that lets you quickly change saddle height, bar height, and reach. Zwift says the frame fits riders from 5′ to 6′-6″, and up to 265 lbs.

While the cassette on your trainer should work just fine with the Zwift Ride, frames ship with an adjustable v2 Zwift Cog, which you can install on your trainer if you wish.

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Note: if you purchase the frame via the links above, Zwift Insider will be paid an affiliate commission by Zwift to help support this site. Thanks!

Compatible Trainers

Custom Options/Add-Ons

Zwift offers three add-ons for the Ride frame:

Adjustable Crank Arms

The Zwift Ride frame ships with 170 mm cranks, but you can purchase Zwift Ride Adjustable Crank Arms for $99US. These support 5 crank length options: 160 mm, 165 mm, 170 mm, 172.5 mm, and 175 mm.

Multi-User Seatpost

The Zwift Ride frame is easily adjustable for riders of various sizes, but cyclists are often pretty particular about which saddle they use. Households with multiple users may want to purchase the Zwift Ride Multi-User Seatpost, so each user can mount their preferred saddle and simply swap out the entire post.

Tablet Holder

Zwifting on in iPad/tablet? The Zwift Ride Tablet Holder mounts securely to the front of the Ride frame, keeping your setup clean and compact.

Questions or comments?

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Study Finds AI May Be Homogenizing Human Thought And Expression

Study Finds AI May Be Homogenizing Human Thought And Expression
New research is suggesting that while generative AI is being developed as a tool to expand human creativity, it is instead acting as an engine for cultural homogenization. By funneling vast amounts of diverse human data through standardized mathematical models, AI is reportedly creating a feedback loop that narrows the spectrum of human expression

An investigation of the forces behind the age-verification bills

Reddit user “Ok_Lingonberry3296” has posted the
results of an extensive investigation
into the companies that are
pushing US state legislatures to enact age-verification bills.

I’ve been pulling public records on the wave of “age verification”
bills moving through US state legislatures. IRS 990 filings, Senate
lobbying disclosures, state ethics databases, campaign finance
records, corporate registries, WHOIS lookups, Wayback Machine
archives. What started as curiosity about who was pushing these
bills turned into documenting a coordinated influence operation
that, from a privacy standpoint, is building surveillance
infrastructure at the operating system level while the company
behind it faces zero new requirements for its own platforms.

(See also this article for a look at the
California law.)