Science & Technology — August 5, 2026

Texas pauses data center grid connections. Gov. Greg Abbott halted new data center connections to Texas' power grid and ordered an audit after power requests exceeded 400 gigawatts.

The move marks a shift for Abbott, who had previously promoted Texas as the epicenter for artificial intelligence development, according to Ars Technica. The volume of requested power connections, exceeding 400 gigawatts, prompted both the pause and the ordered audit. The decision suggests state officials want to assess whether the grid can accommodate the industry's demands before approving further connections.

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Waymo opens Dallas robotaxis to everyone. Waymo dropped its Dallas waitlist, letting anyone hail a driverless ride as it scales service across the U.S., U.K., and Europe.

Removing the waitlist means Dallas riders no longer need approval before hailing a driverless vehicle, a step Waymo has typically taken as a market matures. TechCrunch reports the change is part of a broader expansion push, with the company working to grow its robotaxi operations not only across U.S. cities but also into the United Kingdom and continental Europe.

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Ancient fossil reveals origins of spider fangs. A tiny 518-million-year-old fossilized sea creature preserved pincerlike limbs that researchers identified as the earliest known precursors of spiders' fangs.

The finding pushes the evolutionary lineage of spider fangs back to the Cambrian period, more than half a billion years ago, and to a marine animal rather than a land-dwelling arachnid. Researchers identified the creature's preserved pincerlike limbs as the earliest known precursors of the fangs, offering a rare fossil window into how one of spiders' defining anatomical features originated.

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SpaceX rocket stage crashes into the Moon tonight. A discarded 9,000-pound rocket stage will strike the Moon at roughly 5,400 mph; scientists will study the impact for clues to crater formation and lunar dust.

The collision was not planned, but astronomers told the BBC the accident could yield useful science. Because researchers know the size and speed of the school-bus-sized stage before impact, observing the strike offers a rare controlled-variable opportunity to study how craters form and how lunar dust behaves when disturbed, data that is difficult to gather from natural impacts of unknown objects.

BBC World · Read more →