Science & Technology — July 14, 2026

Astronomers detect sugar in interstellar space. A team spotted erythrulose — a sugar found in raspberries — in a giant molecular cloud near the galactic core, the first sugar ever detected between stars.

Scientific American · Read more →

Apple sues OpenAI over trade secrets. The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of conspiring with former Apple employees, including one who allegedly exploited a rare bug to download confidential files after leaving.

Ars Technica · Read more →

FCC approves first space mirror launch. Startup Reflect Orbital can launch a sunlight-reflecting satellite later this year — a plan astronomers call an existential threat to optical astronomy.

Space.com · Read more →

New York freezes new data centers. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the first statewide moratorium on hyperscale data centers, pausing environmental permits for up to a year to study grid and water impacts.

The Verge · Read more →

Heat dome threatens 90-plus temperature records. A new heat dome settling over much of the U.S. this week could tie or break more than 90 records — with record-warm overnight lows compounding health risks.

According to Phys.org, the pattern extends an already ongoing stretch of blistering heat rather than starting a new one, and forecasters flag nighttime as a particular concern. In many cities, overnight temperatures are expected to remain near record-warm levels, offering little relief between hot days. That absence of nighttime cooling is what elevates health risks across affected areas, even in places where daytime records do not fall.

Phys.org · Read more →