alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: Astronomers have an answer for a long-running mystery in astrophysics: why is the growth of supermassive black holes so much lower today than in the past? A study using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other X-ray telescopes found that supermassive black holes are unable to consume material as rapidly as they did in the distant past. The results appeared in the December 2025 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

[…] The team ran tests of the three main possible scenarios currently being considered for the slowdown of black hole growth. These options were: could the decline in black hole growth be caused by less efficient rates of consumption, or by smaller typical black hole masses, or by fewer actively growing black holes? Their analysis of the data, extending over billions of years of cosmic history, led them to the conclusion that black holes are indeed consuming material less rapidly the later they are found after the Big Bang. The researchers expect this trend of slower-growing black holes to continue into the future.

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Sony Honda Mobility, the automotive venture from two of Japan’s most storied companies, has swung the axe on its EV project. In a statement, it said it would “discontinue the development and launch” of the Afeela 1 and 2, its long-in-development electric cars. The company added it would review its “business direction,” and announce its future plans “at the earliest possible opportunity.” Which, if we’re honest, probably means the whole thing is going to be shut down, or scaled back so much it’s no longer worth talking about.

2026 has not been a great year for Honda. On March 12, it posted an up-to $15.7 billion loss as it wrote off a big chunk of its investment in EVs. The US’ pivot toward fossil fuels, removal of federal EV tax credits and the imposition of tariffs has hit its business pretty hard. Not to mention the high-profile embarrassment of its current F1 engine project with Aston Martin, which promised so much and has delivered less than nothing. 

Sony’s journey into the automotive world began six years ago with the announcement of the Vision-S, the car which would eventually be re-christened Afeela. But while the product looked good on trade show stands, it stood still while the rest of the car world sprinted ahead. In January, Tim Stevens said Afeela 1 looked a little dated, and a little lacking in emotion, and a lot more expensive than comparable models from rivals. It’s also worth noting Sony and Honda’s vision of a smart device on wheels is hardly a novel concept these days.

Not to mention that Afeela 1 is a sedan, being sold to a world that’s increasingly fallen out of love with the type in favor of higher-riding SUVs. In Sony’s statement, however, the SUV-aping Afeela 2 didn’t even get a mention by name, which hints that it was as much an afterthought for the company as we might have guessed when it was announced. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/sony-and-honda-kill-its-afeela-evs-100426852.html?src=rss

By the time you read this, the Audi RS6 Avant is dead. Production at the factory in Neckarsulm, Germany, has already switched over to new models; any unsold wagons at dealerships will be the last of their kind. Time moves on, leaving the unelectrified 2026 RS6 Avant Performance as a relic from a bygone age where people didn’t care quite so much about melting glaciers. In this regard progress is good and climate catastrophe is bad, but there are other things to like about the RS6 Avant, and much that Audi could and should bring to its other cars.

The car was always something of a unicorn here in the US. As the SUV became ascendant, the station wagon suffered a corresponding decline with the general public, and automakers like Audi responded by not importing them anymore. The economics, we were told, didn’t add up: wagon sales would just cannibalize SUV sales but at too small a rate to make the imported wagons profitable. But with smaller volumes, the math made more sense, which is why in 2019 the car maker buckled to pressure and said fine, we’ll import the RS6 Avant. And with a starting price of $130,700, you can understand why this is a low-volume model.

Subtly swollen

A look down its flanks reveals wheel arches that bulge to accommodate larger wheels, part of Audi Sport’s RS transformation applied to the sedate A6 starting point. Larger wheels provide clearance for larger brakes, which in turn help stop it from prodigious velocities—if you have a long enough runway or the right stretch of German Autobahn, top speed for this version, the Performance, tops out at 190 mph (305 km/h). Under the hood, hidden from view by plastic paneling, lies a twin-turbocharged 4.0 L V8 engine, which generates 621 hp (463 kW) and 627 lb-ft (850 Nm), sending power to all four wheels via an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission.

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X is updating its revenue-sharing incentives to give more weight to engagement from a user’s home region, Nikita Bier, the company’s Head of Product has announced. Bier said the change in policy was to “encourage content that resonates with people in [the user’s] country, in neighboring countries and people who speak [their] language.”

Bier continued that while X appreciates everyone’s opinion on US politics, the company is hoping the new policy can “disincentivize gaming the attention of US or Japanese accounts.” The US and Japan have the largest number of users on X. Bier didn’t mention it outright, but dozens of popular accounts tweeting pro-Trump sentiments and commentaries focusing on US politics in general were revealed to be based outside the US late last year, when X rolled out a transparency feature that exposed users’ locations. Those accounts, which pretended to be from the US and garnered millions of likes, views and reposts, turned out to be based in countries like India, Kenya and Nigeria.

“X will be a much richer community when there’s relevant posts for people in all parts of the world,” Bier said. When one user responded to his post that some countries barely have any users, making it hard to earn money from the website, Bier just suggested that they should write about their day-to-day experiences. “Of course, you’re welcome to continue chiming in on America politics. We just won’t send money overseas for that content,” he said. X’s new policy will start taking effect on Thursday, March 26.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/x-is-changing-its-revenue-sharing-policy-to-deter-users-pretending-to-be-americans-090701729.html?src=rss

Bourbon is a multi-billion-dollar market, but the American barrel-aged whiskey also produces a lot of wasted grain at distilleries. Chemists at the University of Kentucky developed a method to transform that stillage into electrodes and used those electrodes to build supercapacitors with energy storage capacity on par with existing commercial devices. They presented their work at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in  Atlanta, Georgia.

US distillers began making bourbon in the 18th century, particularly in Kentucky, but it really took off commercially, in terms of consumption and exports, after World War II. Legally, a whiskey can only be sold as bourbon if its mash is comprised of at least 51 percent corn, with any other cereal grain (usually rye and barley) making up the remainder.

The grain is ground up and mixed with water, and mash from a previous distillation is added to create a sour mash. The addition of yeast launches fermentation, after which the mash is distilled to a clear spirit called “white dog.” That spirit is poured into charred new oak barrels for aging of at least two years. It’s the caramelized sugars and vanillin in the charred wood that give bourbon its distinctive dark color and flavor. The barrels are never reused for bourbon, typically being recycled for making barrel-aged beer, wine, and even barbecue and hot sauces.

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NASA is reportedly halting work on the lunar Gateway in favor of a more direct push to build a lunar base. The new plan would cost tens of billions over the next decade, though the change could face hurdles because Congress previously funded Gateway specifically. SpaceNews reports: “Starting today, we’re building humanity’s first deep space outpost,” said Carlos Garcia-Galan, program executive for NASA’s moon base effort. The lunar base will take place in three phases. Phase 1, running from 2026 to 2028, “is all about getting to the moon reliably,” he said. That includes a significant increase in the cadence of lander missions through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services and other programs. It will also focus on developing enabling technologies and getting “ground truth” for potential base locations at the lunar south pole.

Phase 2, from 2029 through 2031, starts building the base, he said. That would include building out communications, navigation, power and other infrastructure, developing larges CLPS cargo landers and supporting two crewed missions a year. Phase 3, beginning 2032, will enable “long distance and long duration human exploration” on the moon, he said, with routine logistics missions to the moon and uncrewed cargo return missions from the moon. Garcia-Galan said NASA foresees spending $10 billion each on Phases 1 and 2. Phase 3, lasting to at least 2036, would cost an additional $10 billion or more.

The base would leverage existing programs, although with some changes. NASA is planning to revamp the Lunar Terrain Vehicle program after concluding the current approach would take too long to get a crew-capable rover to the moon. “We were projecting a delivery on the lunar surface by 2030,” he said. The agency is instead issuing a draft request for proposals for simplified rovers that could be quicker and easier to develop but could be upgraded later. The base, though, would include some new capabilities and technologies. One example Garcia-Galan provided was MoonFall, a drone that would be able to hop from one location to another on the lunar surface. The drones will be “built on the legacy” of Ingenuity, the small Mars helicopter. “We’re going to take everything that we learned from Ingenuity’s systems, the avionics, all of that, to build this.”

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One of the federal vaccine advisors hand-selected by anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has angrily resigned from his position, complaining of “drama” amid a spat with a spokesperson. Robert Malone—a former researcher turned outspoken anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist—confirmed he was stepping down Tuesday afternoon to CQ Roll Call, which first reported the news.

He told the outlet that his decision to quit came after a “miscommunication” about the fate of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Kennedy had populated ACIP with anti-vaccine allies including Malone, who served as vice chair, after summarily firing all 17 experts on the panel last June. Last week, a federal judge temporarily blocked Kennedy’s ACIP appointments, including Malone. He also stayed the changes that its members had made to federal vaccine guidance, as well as the dramatic overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule Kennedy made without them. The judge ruled all the moves were likely illegal.

On Thursday, Malone claimed on social media that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had disbanded ACIP and planned to completely reconstitute it (again), without appealing the judge’s ruling or defending Kennedy’s ACIP picks from the judge’s claims that they were unqualified. But soon after, Malone retracted his claim, saying it was a miscommunication and that disbanding ACIP was merely one of the “options being considered.”

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