Science & Technology — October 2, 2026

Google launches AI chips to space. Google sent its first AI chips into orbit aboard a SpaceX rocket, testing whether solar-powered data centers can one day operate in space.

The effort is called Project Suncatcher, according to Scientific American, which characterizes it as a moonshot experiment rather than an operational deployment. The orbital test is meant to establish whether computing hardware running on solar power can function reliably beyond Earth, an early step toward the company's longer-term idea of placing data center infrastructure in space rather than on the ground.

Scientific American · Read more →

First enhanced geothermal plant finishes in 23 months. Fervo Energy completed the world's first enhanced geothermal power plant in under two years, a milestone for a clean-energy technology that could ease strained U.S. grids.

TechCrunch · Read more →

Fossil reveals dinosaurs' parallel path to flight. A newly discovered feathery-limbed dinosaur species unearthed in China adds evidence that dinosaurs evolved toward flight along a path parallel to birds, researchers report in Nature.

Nature · Read more →

Crew-13 sets U.S. speed record to ISS. SpaceX's Crew-13 docked with the International Space Station just under eight hours after launch -- a U.S. record. Jessica Watkins became the first Black woman to command a space mission.

Phys.org · Read more →