Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok is joining woke idiots like Rosie O'Donnell in blaming President Donald Trump for deaths resulting from the horrific flooding in central Texas during Independence Day weekend. After receiving pushback, the AI chatbot ultimately conceded to X users by changing its claim from "directly" to "likely," and promising to "aim for more nuance."

During the early hours of Friday, a flash flood ravaged Kerr County, Texas causing widespread damage and road washouts, as well as the deaths of nearly 70 people. The search for 11 missing girls and others continues.

Elon Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, was quick to blame the tragedy on Donald Trump.

"Grok is woke and full of shit. What the fuck is happening to X?" popular X influencer Catturd wrote, sharing a screenshot of a post in which the AI chatbot claimed cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Weather Service (NWS) resulted in deaths.

Studies undertaken by researchers at Queen Mary and University of Konstanz have identified a critical chemical signal in the development of red blood cells. The discovery will help make the manufacture of artificial blood more efficient.
A breakthrough in the understanding of how mammals create red blood cells by Dr Julia Gutjahr, who began her research into the mechanisms of blood production in the lab of Professor Antal Rot in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, could lead to opportunities for articifical blood to be created at scale for the first time.

Dr Gutjahr is now a biologist at the Institute of Cellular Biology and Immunology Thurgau at the University of Konstanz in Germany. She identified the molecular signal, chemokine CXCL12, that triggers the expulsion of the nucleus by the red blood cell precursors, a key step in the development of red blood cells.

An explosion captured in a new image could help astronomers to better understand the "standard candles" at the center of a major cosmological mystery.

For the first time, astronomers have captured stunning visual evidence of a star double-detonating itself to death.

The twin eruption was discovered by scientists studying two concentric rings of calcium that surround SNR 0509-67.5, a remnant of a star that met its explosive demise in a type Ia supernova centuries ago.

And the discovery isn't just a pretty picture. The researchers who made it say that much of our knowledge of how the universe expands — a major controversy in cosmology — depends on reliably measuring this type of supernova, which is also the primary source of iron throughout the cosmos. The scientists published their findings July 2 in the journal Nature Astronomy.

An international team of scientists, including from McDonald Observatory at The University of Texas at Austin, has discovered a potentially star-forming cloud that is one of the largest single structures in the sky and among the closest to the Sun and Earth ever to be detected.

The cloud of gas is located about 300 light years away. Scientists estimate that it would look vast to stargazers on Earth - if it were visible - measuring about 40 moons across the sky. Its mass is estimated as roughly 3,400 times that of the Sun.

The gigantic ball of hydrogen was recently revealed by looking for its main ingredient: molecular hydrogen. The finding marks the first time a molecular cloud has been detected with light from the hydrogen molecule emitted in the far-ultraviolet realm of the electromagnetic spectrum and opens the way to further explorations using the approach.

The scientists have named the cloud "Eos," after the goddess of dawn in Greek mythology. Their discovery is outlined in a study published April 28 in Nature Astronomy.

"This opens up new possibilities for studying the molecular universe," said Blakesley Burkhart, an associate professor at Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences who is a lead author on the study.

The federal government is quietly breeding billions of flies in an ongoing effort to stop a dangerous parasite that threatens livestock and wildlife in Texas and along the southern border.

The project, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with support from Mexico, targets the screwworm fly, a lethal parasite that burrows into open wounds and can kill cattle, deer, and other large animals in days.

To expand the program, the USDA is building a new $8.5 million insect dispersal center in Texas, while also upgrading a site in southern Mexico to boost fly production and sterilization capacity.

The plan? Release waves of sterile male screwworms into infected regions so the wild female population can't reproduce — effectively collapsing future generations of the pest.

Astronomers have discovered what seems to be a new "jellyfish" galaxy about 12 billion light-years away from Earth using high-resolution imaging from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

The galaxy appears to have tentacle-like trails of gas and stars jutting off from one side, likely making it a jellyfish galaxy — a class of galaxies that drip tendrils of star-forming material as they swim through space. Though more analysis is needed to confirm whether the newfound galaxy truly falls into this category, all signs so far indicate that it does.

Ian Roberts, an astronomer at Waterloo University, found the unique galaxy while sifting through images taken by JWST. His team's research is available to read on the preprint server arXiv, but has not yet been peer reviewed.

Scientists say they have very strong evidence that the adult human brain is capable of making new neurons, a point of ongoing controversy in neuroscience.

Researchers say they have found clear evidence that the human brain can keep making new neurons well into adulthood, potentially settling decades of controversy.

This new neuron growth, or "neurogenesis," takes place in the hippocampus, a critical part of the brain involved in learning, memory and emotions.

"In short, our work puts to rest the long-standing debate about whether adult human brains can grow new neurons," co-lead study author Marta Paterlini, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, told Live Science in an email.

Originally, the abundance of bright, early galaxies shocked astronomers. After 3 years of JWST, we now know what's really going on.

Back when the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) first opened its eyes on the Universe, there were a number of observations that delighted astronomers. Star-forming regions came into view crisper than ever, revealing gas, dust, knots, and the sites of new stars, protostars, and planets at a deeper level than ever before. Planetary features within our own Solar System appeared sharper than any remote observatory had ever revealed. Features around recently deceased stars showed up in ways we had never seen before, allowing us to view accelerated electrons and heated dust in unprecedented fashions. And galaxies, both near and far, were seen as never before, including from supermassive black hole activity.

But in the ultra-distant Universe, a great surprise awaited. Almost as soon as we began observing galaxies found at the greatest cosmic distances, we discovered that there were more of them than we had anticipated. Not only were there more of them, but specifically the ones that stood out were the:

• brightest,
• highest-mass,
• and most evolved

which defied our predictions. In fact, the abundance of the brightest, most luminous galaxies was more than 100 times what our best theories had predicted.

Researchers at University of Tsukuba analyzed the source process of a significant earthquake that occurred in Myanmar in March 2025 using a novel approach, the potency density tensor inversion method. Unlike conventional methods, this approach does not assume the rupture propagation direction or fault geometry, allowing for a more flexible and accurate analysis. The results revealed an exceptionally complex source process characterized by asymmetric and rapid rupture growth that repeatedly propagated along the fault in both the north and south directions.

Tsukuba, Japan — On March 28, 2025, a major earthquake with a moment magnitude (Mw) of 7.7 struck Mandalay, central Myanmar (referred to as the 2025 Myanmar earthquake). This event caused severe shaking and substantial damage in Myanmar and neighboring countries. Aftershock distribution extended southward from the epicenter, indicating predominant southward rupture propagation. In such cases, a Doppler-like directivity effect usually results in sharp, high-amplitude pulse waveforms recorded in the rupture propagation direction (south of the epicenter in this instance). However, seismic observations showed large amplitudes and sharp pulses at stations north of the epicenter, while stations to the south recorded smaller amplitudes and prolonged, multi-peaked waveforms. This anomalous pattern suggests that the Myanmar earthquake exhibited an unconventional rupture behavior.

To investigate this, researchers applied the potency density tensor inversion method to flexibly analyze the seismic waveform data without predefining the rupture direction or fault geometry. The analysis revealed that the source process consisted of multiple rupture episodes with complex characteristics. Notably, asymmetric ruptures propagated in both north and south directions, while each episode generally extended southward from the hypocenter. In particular, during the initial rupture episode, the rupture propagated southward before reversing direction and propagating northward in a boomerang-like manner at a shear velocity exceeding the S-wave velocity, indicating supershear rupture.

A new object is entering the Solar System from interstellar space. Provisionally named A11pl3Z, it is about 20 kilometers wide and currently travelling at a blistering 66 km/s. Early measurements of its orbit suggest an eccentricity of 6 which, if confirmed, would be strong evidence that it comes from another star.
A11pl3Z was first photographed by NASA's ATLAS asteroid system on June 14th. Only now, though, are astronomers understanding its significance. A11pl3Z is only the third known interstellar object to pass through the Solar System, following mystery object 'Oumuamua in 2017 and comet Borisov in 2019. This makes A11pl3Z a high-priority target for astronomers.

The new visitor will spend months in range of backyard and professional telescopes. According to a preliminary orbit, A11pl3Z will pass between the orbits of Earth and Mars with a close approach to Mars in October 2025. After that, it will begin its journey back to the stars.