Monday, September 28, 2026

SpaceX is set to attempt Starship's first-ever orbital flight on September 28, marking the vehicle's 14th test flight and first operational payload deployment of 26 Starlink V3 satellites.^[1]

Astronomers have confirmed the youngest known exoplanet, Elias 2-24 b, which is less than one million years old and still forming within the dusty disk surrounding its host star about 450 light-years from Earth.^[2]

Researchers have discovered that gentoo penguins actually comprise four distinct species, including a newly identified species on the remote Kerguelen Islands—the first new penguin species named in more than 100 years.^[3]

A single CRISPR gene-editing treatment targeting the ANGPTL3 gene cut LDL cholesterol levels in half and maintained the reduction for a full year in trial participants, according to new research published in the New England Journal of Medicine.^[4]

Researchers at MIT have developed an AI control system that enables a tiny flying robot to move with insect-like agility, boosting its speed by about 450 percent and allowing it to perform acrobatic maneuvers that could enable search and rescue operations in confined spaces.^[5]

Scientists at the Technical University of Denmark have created a needle-thin brain implant that can simultaneously record neural activity, deliver drugs, and stimulate multiple brain regions using a single flexible fiber, offering a less invasive approach to neuroscience research.^[6]

NASA has awarded SpaceX a $946 million contract modification for three additional crewed missions to the International Space Station, extending the company's astronaut transportation services through 2030 and bringing its total contracted flights to 17.^[7]

Caltech researchers have developed a tiny chip that can redirect a beam of light in just 74 femtoseconds using a nanoscale silicon metasurface, a breakthrough that could enable dramatically faster photonic communications and computing.^[8]

U.S. President Donald Trump said he expects talks with Iran to resume in the coming week despite rejecting Tehran's proposal for a seven-day roadmap to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the ongoing conflict.^[9]

The UN General Assembly's high-level general debate concluded its main session in New York, with nearly 130 heads of state and government addressing the assembly on topics including climate, conflict, and international cooperation.^[10]