Expert

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission can approve massive spaceflight projects on its own, including satellite constellations that could visibly alter the night sky for everyone on Earth. Space law experts note that despite growing public outcry over projects like these, the FCC remains effectively the sole gatekeeper, and there is very little legal recourse available to challenge its decisions.

The Trump administration is moving forward with a plan to supply plutonium from dismantled Cold War-era nuclear warheads to companies that would convert the material into fuel for nuclear power plants. The proposal has generated debate and some unease among experts and officials over the safety and proliferation risks of handling the dangerous substance.

Experts, including former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe, say that while being hit by falling space debris remains less likely than a lightning strike, the odds are shifting as more objects re-enter the atmosphere. They argue governments and companies should be required to use materials that fully burn up on re-entry, sparking renewed debate over regulating the growing amount of orbital junk.

Andrej Karpathy says the gap in shared understanding of what large language models can and cannot do is widening. The remark, shared on social media, quickly drew strong engagement from the tech community, with many agreeing that public perception of AI capability lags behind what practitioners see, and that this mismatch complicates debates about safety, regulation and adoption.

The Safeguarding Democracy Project hosted a webinar examining what could go wrong and what could go right with the United States' November midterm elections, and an archived video of the discussion has been made available online. Election law experts have been weighing potential problems and safeguards as voters head to the polls.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's assertion that he was targeted by a coordinated bot campaign is being met with skepticism from experts, who question the evidence behind the claim. Analysts and commentators are debating whether the alleged operation was real or exaggerated, and the dispute has drawn wide attention in political and media circles.

ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks is out with a breakdown of the NBA contract extensions most likely to be signed before the deadline, and the decisions that could stall. He highlights which players and teams face high-stakes calls on rookie and veteran extensions, and what each outcome would mean for rosters and salary-cap planning heading into the season.

The Washington Post has launched a new podcast focused on personal finance aimed at "real people" rather than financial experts. The show was highlighted by CBS News, which notes the paper's move to make money advice more accessible to ordinary listeners navigating budgets, savings and everyday financial decisions.

An astrophysicist has explained a common electromagnetism question: fridge magnets do not violate the impossibility of magnetic monopoles. Instead, they work through a clever arrangement of magnetic field topology across many smaller magnetic domains assembled together, with each domain acting as a tiny dipole. The explanation, shared as part of an electromagnetism trivia poll, notes that just over half of respondents answered correctly.

The Guardian has published a feature explaining how bomb disposal experts deal with unexploded Second World War ordnance still found across Europe. The piece describes the risks devices pose, with experts noting a single bomb could destroy an entire street, and details the careful techniques used to defuse them safely. Readers are sharing the story widely.

Chinese authorities have arrested a retired chemistry professor accused of running a large-scale drug manufacturing operation, drawing comparisons to the television series "Breaking Bad". The arrest was widely shared on social media, with commenters highlighting the irony of a former academic allegedly turning to illegal drug production. Details about the suspect, the substances involved, and the scale of the operation have not yet been released.

Security flaws in commercial refrigeration equipment were publicly disclosed months before hackers launched attacks on retail companies, according to Cybersecurity Dive. The report suggests retailers had ample warning about the vulnerabilities but many systems apparently remained unpatched, leaving store networks exposed. Cybersecurity experts are pointing to the incident as another example of slow patching practices in critical, often overlooked infrastructure.

A researcher has died at a Russian laboratory that works with plague pathogens, and medical experts say the official account of the death 'doesn't add up'. Doctors are laying out what is and isn't known so far, including the circumstances of the infection and how the lab handles dangerous bacteria. The case is drawing comparisons to past lab-safety incidents and fuelling demands for independent verification.

A new analysis warns that making daylight saving time permanent could damage sleep and mental health, arguing that standard time aligns better with human circadian rhythms. The findings feed into an ongoing debate in the United States over whether to stop clock changes, with health researchers pushing back against proposals to lock in later sunsets year-round.

UN human rights experts have issued a call for the Food and Agriculture Organization to uphold human rights standards and ensure protection for its staff. The appeal, published through the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, signals concern over working conditions or treatment of personnel within the Rome-based agency. Details of specific cases have not been made public.

The University of Virginia's Miller Center is hosting a discussion examining what is wrong with Congress, exploring dysfunction and gridlock in the US legislature. The event is drawing attention as questions mount about the institution's effectiveness, with the center convening experts to diagnose the problems undermining Congress's ability to legislate and respond to national challenges.

Step 5 Preview, a new mixture-of-experts model from Chinese AI company StepFun supporting a 1 million-token context window, has been listed on OpenRouter, the model aggregator used to access many AI providers via one API. The listing suggests a broader release is underway or imminent, and observers are noting StepFun's growing push into the international market.

Psychiatrist Alok Kanojia, known online as Dr. K, has released a segment in which he responds to ironic mental health advice circulating online, evaluating which popular sayings hold up clinically and which do not. The item has drawn large engagement, with hundreds of thousands of likes, as viewers discuss the gap between meme-style wellness tips and actual psychiatric guidance.

Forecasts and warnings about a potential super El Niño event in 2026 are drawing attention in Brazil, where the climate pattern strongly affects rainfall and drought. Experts cited in coverage warn that a particularly intense El Niño could bring severe weather disruptions, and people are searching for what a 2026 event could mean for agriculture, water supplies and temperatures.

A menopause expert featured in the Mirror says she swears by a quick yoga-based trick to ease symptoms of menopause and perimenopause. The advice focuses on simple movements or breathing techniques that can be done in minutes to help women feel better day to day. It has drawn modest attention among readers following health and wellbeing discussions around menopause care.

A technology review channel challenged professional users to try a fake, AI-generated version of Photoshop and see how it holds up against the real software. The experiment drew millions of reactions as viewers watched experts grapple with AI-driven editing tools that mimic Adobe's interface and features. It feeds into the ongoing debate over how quickly AI image editors are catching up to industry-standard programs like Adobe Photoshop.

A paranormal expert is sharing an account of coming face to face with a powerful jinn while performing ruqyah, the Islamic practice of spiritual healing through Quranic recitation. The story is presented as a horror-style narrative and is drawing wide attention among audiences interested in the supernatural, jinn possession and traditional Islamic exorcism practices.

Fitness expert Jeremy Ethier has released a self-experiment examining how often people should work out each week, testing different training frequencies and comparing the results. The discussion centers on what the latest evidence says about workout frequency, muscle growth and recovery, and whether training more days per week actually leads to better outcomes than fewer, more intense sessions.

Indonesian figures Andi Azwan and Subhan, together with a constitutional law expert, have commented publicly following a Constitutional Court ruling. Their remarks were carried in coverage by Kompas TV's Merauke desk, drawing large audience engagement. The comments address the legal and political implications of the decision, though the specific subject of the ruling is not stated in the available reporting.

A recent International Court of Justice ruling has drawn attention to the future of the right to strike worldwide, prompting analysis from Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program on what the decision means for workers on the ground. Legal experts and labour advocates are weighing how the judgment may shape industrial action protections globally.

Investor Saurabh Mukherjea joined Raj Shamani's 'Figuring Out' conversation to discuss the risk of a stock market crash and how to build what he calls a bulletproof portfolio. The discussion covered gold as a hedge, the appeal of US stocks for Indian investors, and strategies for protecting wealth amid market volatility, drawing wide attention from retail investors.

United Nations human rights experts have called on the world's food agency to ensure its operations comply with international human rights standards, citing concerns linked to its work connected to Gaza. The appeal, reported by Anadolu Agency, adds to growing scrutiny of how international organisations handle Gaza-related activities as the humanitarian crisis there continues.