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SAVE $80: As of Feb. 3, Apple AirPods Pro 2 are on sale for $169.99 at Amazon, down from their usual price of $249. That’s a 32% discount and one of the lowest prices we’ve seen for Apple’s best wireless earbuds.
Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirPods Pro 2 $169.99 at AmazonIf you've been waiting for the perfect time to upgrade to Apple's best wireless earbuds, AirPods Pro 2 just dropped to $169.99 at Amazon, which is $80 off the regular $249 price tag. These earbuds offer industry-leading noise cancellation, superb sound quality, and seamless integration with all Apple devices.
The H2 chip inside the AirPods Pro 2 gives them a massive edge over standard AirPods, boosting sound clarity, active noise cancellation, and battery efficiency. Apple's Adaptive Transparency mode intelligently reduces harsh environmental noise while keeping important sounds audible, so you won't have to remove them when crossing the street or having a quick chat. And with Personalized Spatial Audio, these earbuds deliver an immersive, cinema-like experience for music, movies, and games.
SEE ALSO: Where to preorder Samsung's new Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra smartphonesComfort is also a priority. Apple includes four sizes of silicone ear tips to ensure the best fit, improving both comfort and passive noise isolation. Plus, they're IP54-rated, meaning they can handle sweat, dust, and light rain, making them perfect for workouts or travel.
Battery life is another win. You get up to six hours of listening time on a single charge (with Active Noise Cancellation enabled) and up to 30 hours with the USB-C charging case. Speaking of the case, it now has a built-in speaker for Find My alerts, so you'll never lose it in couch cushions again.
For Apple users, the AirPods Pro 2 is an easy recommendation. They connect instantly to iPhones, iPads, and Macs, and features like automatic switching, audio sharing, and "Hey Siri" support makes them incredibly intuitive to use.
At $169.99, this is one of the best prices we've seen on the AirPods Pro 2, and it might not last long on Amazon. Stock tends to sell out fast when discounts hit this level, so if you want top-tier noise cancellation and premium audio at a discount, grab them now before the price goes back up.
SAVE $30: As of Feb. 3, Apple AirPods 4 are on sale for $99.99 at Amazon, down from their usual price of $129. That’s a 22% discount and the lowest price in the past 30 days.
Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirPods 4 (Without ANC) $99.99 at AmazonIf you’ve been searching for a solid deal on wireless earbuds, Apple AirPods 4 just hit $99.99 at Amazon, marking a fresh price drop that makes them one of the best-value wireless earbuds for iPhone users. With a 22% discount off the usual $129 price tag, this deal is as good as it gets for Apple’s latest AirPods. The updated H2 chip improved Personalized Spatial Audio and USB-C charging case make them a worthy upgrade, even if you already own an older pair.
The AirPods 4 may not come with Active Noise Cancellation, but they still deliver solid sound quality with Apple’s fine-tuned audio processing. The H2 chip enhances sound clarity and voice isolation, making them a great choice for calls in noisy environments. If you frequently hop on FaceTime, take work calls on the go, or want your podcasts to sound crystal clear, this is a solid pick. Battery life is also a strong suit, with up to 30 hours of listening time when using the USB-C charging case.
SEE ALSO: Where to preorder Samsung's new Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra smartphonesDurability has also been improved, with an IP54 rating, making the AirPods 4 resistant to dust, sweat, and light rain. Hit the gym, take them on a jog, or just want peace of mind in unpredictable weather; they’re built to last. The redesigned shape also means a more comfortable fit for longer listening sessions, which is always a plus if you wear earbuds for hours.
Setup is as effortless as ever; open the case near your iPhone, and they’re ready to go. They also work seamlessly across iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches, letting you switch between devices without hassle. If you’re in the Apple ecosystem, these earbuds make sense.
For casual listeners, commuters, or anyone who wants wireless earbuds that work flawlessly, the AirPods 4 at $99.99 are an absolute steal. This deal won’t last forever, though. If history is anything to go by, stock could start disappearing fast. If you’re thinking about upgrading, now’s the time to grab a pair before the price jumps back up.
As the teaser puts it, "this bitch is back."
On Sunday, Universal Pictures dropped the teaser for Gerard Johnstone's M3GAN 2.0, a follow-up to the massively popular original about the dancing AI doll going on a murderous rampage. This time, per the description, M3GAN's creator Gemma (Allison Williams) is forced to resurrect M3GAN after there's a new AI threat in town.
The teaser itself doesn't give too much away, but it does brings back the doll's viral dance, this time to the lyrics of Chappell Roan's iconic "Femininomenon".
M3GAN 2.0 is in theatres from June 27.
At the top of each Apple Cider Vinegar episode, characters break the fourth wall and tell us, "This is a true story based on a lie."
SEE ALSO: 2025 TV preview: All the TV shows you need to know, and where to stream themThe true story in question? The rise and fall of Australian influencer Belle Gibson (Booksmart's Kaitlyn Dever), who used her brain cancer diagnosis to build a wellness empire. The lie? That she ever had cancer in the first place.
Netflix's Apple Cider Vinegar examines how Belle's lie came to be, placing it in the context of the rise of Instagram and influencer stardom. The limited series also dramatizes the lives of key people in her orbit, from a rival wellness influencer to a cancer patient who hangs onto Belle's every word. These story threads should help flesh out the full impact of Belle's actions, but in reality, they turn Apple Cider Vinegar into a strange paradox. The show is a flashy examination of so-called wellness influencers, but it's also a very upsetting cancer story — and neither side gets quite the depth it deserves.
Apple Cider Vinegar brings scammer Belle Gibson's story to life. Kaitlyn Dever in "Apple Cider Vinegar." Credit: Courtesy of NetflixApple Cider Vinegar takes a nonlinear approach to Belle's story, beginning with her 2015 meeting with a crisis management PR firm following the exposure of her lies. Then, the show jumps back in time to show us how she first lied about having brain cancer, how she claimed she had mitigated the cancer through healthy eating and a natural lifestyle, and how these fabrications spiraled into the popular app The Whole Pantry. The show's jumbled chronology has little impact though, seeming more like a tool to give Apple Cider Vinegar the guise of prestige TV sheen than an actual meaningful narrative device.
Belle's isn't the only story at the heart of Apple Cider Vinegar. The show also introduces us to Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey, It's What's Inside), a fictionalized version of "wellness warrior" Jessica Ainscough. Unlike Belle, though, Milla actually has cancer. At age 22, she was diagnosed with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma in her arm. But instead of amputating her arm, as recommended by her team of doctors, she chose to pursue a "natural" treatment path involving juicing and coffee enemas. Her blog on the subject earns her quite the following, including an obsessive Belle, who sees Milla as the blueprint for who she wants to be.
SEE ALSO: 'Mo' Season 2 review: Here's why it's still one of TV's most important showsRounding out the main cast of Apple Cider Vinegar are breast cancer patient Lucy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), who hopes to follow in Belle's footsteps and stop medical treatment, and Milla's close friend Chanelle (Aisha Dee), who becomes entangled in Belle's business. Each represents a different kind of victim. Lucy's belief in Belle's lies results in great physical harm. Chanelle, on the other, realizes she's been caught up in a predatory financial scam.
Based on the scam-heavy nature of Apple Cider Vinegar, it's hard not to draw comparisons to another Netflix true crime show: Inventing Anna. Like Anna Delvey, Belle has her fair share of horrendous girlboss moments that boggle the mind and will keep viewers pressing play on further episodes. But her scam also involves cancer, a deeply painful subject matter that is at odds to Apple Cider Vinegar's frothy approach to elements of Belle's story.
Apple Cider Vinegar's flashy Instagram aesthetics are at war with its cancer-centric story. Kaitlyn Dever in "Apple Cider Vinegar." Credit: Courtesy of NetflixApple Cider Vinegar is bursting with stylized sequences. In a jam-packed opening, Britney Spears's "Toxic" blares while Dever, Debnam-Carey, Cobham-Hervey, and Dee perform a choreographed dance in gold sparkly dresses. Throughout the show, during scenes involving social media, comments and posts pop up on screen, while glowing thumbs up and heart emojis swirl around Belle as she gets the attention she so craves. With all these elements, as well as a nonstop parade of big-name needle drops and gorgeous stars, Apple Cider Vinegar co-opts the aesthetics of aspirational social media posts in order to highlight just how big a role these platforms played in Belle's rise. But in making use of this visual language, is it really commenting on how shallow and artificial influencers' posts can be? Or is it falling prey to that very same artificiality?
Both things can be true. Apple Cider Vinegar's flashiness is undoubtedly an effort to critique Milla and Belle's approach to social media. Several scenes show them painstakingly drafting their posts in the hopes of walking that perfect line between relatable and unattainable. After all, it takes a lot of effort to appear effortless.
SEE ALSO: Sleepmaxxing is TikTok's latest wellness trend, but does it really work?Yet Apple Cider Vinegar barely dives into how social media can actually perpetuate harmful messaging around health. We don't understand what led Milla or Belle to be so "naturally" focused in the first place beyond some nods to vague "research," so their strict adherence to their lifestyles feels hollow and somewhat unmotivated. Meanwhile, Lucy's character becomes the stand-in for Apple Cider Vinegar to explain how what Belle and Milla are doing is harmful, but she's so often sidelined that that messaging just falls away.
Belle's manipulation is what most viewers will be familiar with, and what spawns the most cringeworthy sequences of the show, all at her expense. But it's Milla's storyline that is the hardest to watch. Her refusal to treat her cancer — along with forcing her family members to partake in her "all-natural" lifestyle — is some of the most upsetting TV I have seen in a while. It borders on body horror, not in the sense that Apple Cider Vinegar is showing us gore, but in the sense that Milla is violating her own body in order to try to uphold an impossible standard of health. To watch anyone buy into it in the show is nothing short of nauseating.
Yet how much of this reaction comes from what Apple Cider Vinegar is actually showing us, versus audience members bringing their own emotional experiences with cancer to the show? Despite strong performance by Dever and Debnam-Carey, I know that my main reaction to Apple Cider Vinegar was less tied to Belle and Milla as characters, and more due to projecting my own family members and friends onto the cancer patients in the series.
Apple Cider Vinegar tries to tackle true crime, with mixed results. Alycia Debnam-Carey and Aisha Dee in "Apple Cider Vinegar." Credit: Courtesy of NetflixOn top of juggling complex topics about the beginnings of social media, wellness grifters, and the emotional weight of cancer, Apple Cider Vinegar also gets meta about its own status as a true crime show.
Not only does each episode begin with the aforementioned warning, they often come with another reminder, either spoken or written, that Belle Gibson was not paid for the recreation of her story.
These moments showcase Apple Cider Vinegar's efforts to distance itself from claims that it's glorifying its true crime story, claims which have impacted other Netflix series like Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. But in drawing attention to Apple Cider Vinegar's roots in reality, the series feeds the fire of awed disbelief that makes people want to keep watching true crime in the first place.
SEE ALSO: Untangling true crime: Inside the ethics of Hollywood's greatest guilty pleasureApple Cider Vinegar chides the audience for that instinct too, at one point asking whether we even care about whether some names and characters were fictionalized. (At another point, we're told we can just Google what happened next, as if the series won't be held responsible for our continued interest in the subject it informed us on.) That scolding attitude is a double-edged sword. Yes, your audience may want to keep watching, but who made the series in the first place? Who brought more notoriety to Belle Gibson and glammed up her story with Instagram filters?
Apple Cider Vinegar's reflection on the true crime genre is still somewhat fascinating, but in the end, like so much of the show, it just lacks the depth or focus to get at the root of the issue.
Chappell Roan won her first ever Grammy Award on Sunday night, beating out formidable artists such as Sabrina Carpenter and Doechii to take the title of Best New Artist. She also took the opportunity to call for record labels to provide artists with health insurance and a livable wage.
Taking the stage in a conical hennin hat befitting her flamboyant style (though she quickly lost it), Roan began her acceptance speech in the standard manner, thanking her supporters, collaborators, and family. The "Good Luck, Babe!" singer had no intention of squandering her platform though, seizing the opportunity to direct attention toward working conditions in the music industry.
SEE ALSO: The complete list of winners at the 2025 Grammy Awards main ceremony"I told myself if I ever won a Grammy and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a liveable wage and healthcare, especially to developing artists," Roan said to cheers and applause, with fellow nominee Benson Boone even getting to his feet. A few others such as Taylor Swift were already on their feet in response to Roan's win, but remained standing during her statements.
Reading from pre-prepared remarks, Roan recounted being signed to a label as a minor, then being dropped and having to search for employment while having "zero job experience."
"Like most people, I had a difficult time finding a job in the [COVID-19] pandemic, and could not afford health insurance," said Roan. "It was so devastating to feel so committed to my art, and feel so betrayed by the system, and so dehumanised to not have health [insurance]. And if my label would have prioritised artists' health, I could have been provided care by a company I was giving everything to."
"So record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection," Roan continued. "Labels, we got you, but do you got us?"
Roan's comments were widely applauded both in the room and on social media, where many praised the singer for raising the issue.
Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deletedChappell just won Best New Artist and is reading for filth her former label & the entire music industry for exploiting developing musicians, not providing a sustainable living and healthcare, and all the artists are standing up with her. My wife says she just Luiigi Mangion’d the record industry.
— Aaron Stewart-Ahn (@badideas.bsky.social) February 3, 2025 at 1:46 PMChappell Roan dedicating her accepting speech to the fight for fair treatment, healthcare, and accountability from big labels to protect the next generation of new artists is why I’m so happy for her. She’s not only talented, but a great person.
— Aly CHIEFS THREEPEAT ❤️ 💛 (@catastrophicblues.swifties.social) February 3, 2025 at 2:03 PMChappell taking her moment to call out the industry's and her own label's mistreatment of artists and crew & asking them to consider livable wages and healthcare - that's how you use it.
— Abbey Simmons (@abbeysimmons.bsky.social) February 3, 2025 at 1:42 PMThough Roan was nominated for six Grammy Awards, she only ended up taking home the trophy for Best New Artist. Yet as always, she was sure to make the most of her time on stage.
You can see the full list of winners at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards here.
TL;DR: Live stream Ottawa Senators vs. Nashville Predators for free with a 30-day trial of Prime Video. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
Every Monday, you can watch NHL games for free on Prime Video.
February kicks off with a matchup between the Ottawa Senators and Nashville Predators. The Senators, part of the Atlantic Division, are having an average season. The Predators are near the bottom of the Central Division. Both teams have a solid chance of winning this game.
If you want to watch the Ottawa Senators vs. Nashville Predators for free from anywhere in the world, here is everything you need to know.
When is Ottawa Senators vs. Nashville Predators?Ottawa Senators vs. Nashville Predators takes place at 7:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 3. This fixture will be played at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
How to watch Ottawa Senators vs. Nashville Predators for freeOttawa Senators vs. Nashville Predators is available to live stream on Prime Video in Canada, but you don't need to be subscribed to Amazon Prime to watch this game. Fans in Canada can watch Ottawa Senators vs. Nashville Predators (plus more Monday Night Hockey fixtures) for free with a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime.
If you're abroad for this fixture, you might need to use a VPN to watch the NHL for free on Prime Video. This process is straightforward:
Sign up for a 30-day Amazon Prime trial (if you're not already a member)
Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
Open up the app and connect to a server in Canada
Watch Ottawa Senators vs. Nashville Predators for free from anywhere in the world
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but top VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can gain access to free live streams of the NHL without actually spending anything. This is obviously only a short-term solution, but this gives you enough time to watch select NHL fixtures before recovering your investment.
If you want to retain permanent access to free live streams from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.
What is the best VPN for the NHL?ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream the NHL, for a number of reasons:
Servers in 105 countries
Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure
Fast connection speeds
Up to eight simultaneous connections
30-day money-back guarantee
A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95, saving you 49% on list price. This deal includes a bonus of three months of coverage, a year of unlimited cloud backup, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Live stream the Ottawa Senators vs. Nashville Predators for free from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
TL;DR: Tackle creative and professional tasks faster with 1minAI’s lifetime Business Plan subscription for just £48.38 (reg. £290.30).
Opens in a new window Credit: 1minAI 1minAI Advanced Business Plan Lifetime Subscription £48.38 at the Mashable ShopIf your goal this year is to work smarter, not harder, you’re not alone. Between juggling creative tasks, content creation, and never-ending to-do lists, it’s easy to feel stretched thin. That’s where 1minAI steps can assist. Instead of piecing together AI tools from every corner of the internet, this all-in-one AI platform brings everything you need under one roof — from writing and editing to image creation and audio/video processing.
Whether you’re a small business owner, content creator, freelancer, or uni student, 1minAI has everything in one place. You can chat with AI assistants powered by GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, and other models for smart, interactive problem-solving.
For just £48.38 (down from £290.30), you get a lifetime subscription to an ever-improving suite of AI tools designed to supercharge productivity and spark creativity. No ongoing subscriptions. No juggling multiple apps. Just streamlined efficiency whenever you need it.
At its core, 1minAI uses cutting-edge AI models to assist you with time-consuming tasks. Imagine overcoming writer’s block with AI-powered blog post generators or whipping up polished visuals with advanced image editing.
Need to summarise a lengthy PDF? 1minAI’s tools can handle that, too. The platform even offers AI-driven audio and video processing tools, so you can easily edit, transcribe, or translate media.
The beauty of 1minAI is its all-in-one convenience. Instead of paying separate subscriptions for writing tools, image generators, and PDF editors, you get everything bundled into one user-friendly platform. Need a blog post? Done. Want to upscale an image or remove its background? Easy. Need to translate an audio file? No problem.
Though it doesn't replace human creativity or judgment, it can enhance your work, handle repetitive tasks, and help spark new ideas. You’re still the creative genius.
Take this opportunity to get a lifetime subscription to the 1minAI Business Plan for just £48.38 (reg. £290.30).
1minAI Advanced Business Plan Lifetime Subscription - £48.38 | Get It Here
StackSocial prices subject to change.
There's a lot going on in the U.S. right now. Still, the show is continuing on, with the 67th Annual Grammy Awards offering some brief distraction on Sunday night.
Hosted by comedian Trevor Noah for the fifth year in a row, the 2025 Grammy Awards' main ceremony was once again held at Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena. Appropriately, the night included several reminders of the devastation left by the recent L.A. wildfires, with Noah presenting footage of the disaster in a more serious moment of the ceremony. Nominees Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga also gave a performance in tribute to L.A. and those impacted by the fires, covering The Mamas and the Papas' iconic "California Dreamin'."
SEE ALSO: Beyoncé, 'brat,' and The Beatles: 5 takeaways from the 2025 Grammy nominationsAs usual, the vast majority of the Grammy Awards' 94 categories were announced during the Premiere Ceremony prior to the main telecast. However, the biggest awards were saved for the main broadcast ceremony, including Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year.
Here is the full list of nominees and winners at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards' main ceremony. This article is being updated live, with winners bolded as they are announced.
Best Rap AlbumMight Delete Later by J. Cole
The Auditorium, Vol. 1 by Common and Pete Rock
Alligator Bites Never Heal by Doechii
The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) by Eminem
We Don't Trust You by Future and Metro Boomin
Short n' Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter
HIT ME HARD AND SOFT by Billie Eilish
eternal sunshine by Ariana Grande
Chappell Roan: The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess by Chappell Roan
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT by Taylor Swift
COWBOY CARTER by Beyoncé
F-1 Trillion by Post Malone
Deeper Well by Kacey Musgraves
Higher by Chris Stapleton
Whirlwind by Lainey Wilson
Benson Boone
Sabrina Carpenter
Doechii
Khruangbin
Raye
Chappell Roan
Shaboozey
Teddy Swims
Funk Generation by Anitta
El Viaje by Luis Fonsi
GARCÍA by Kany García
Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran by Shakira
ORQUÍDEAS by Kali Uchis
"us." by Gracie Abrams Featuring Taylor Swift
"LEVII'S JEANS" by Beyoncé Featuring Post Malone
"Guess" by Charli xcx and Billie Eilish
"the boy is mine" by Ariana Grande, Brandy, and Monica
"Die With A Smile" by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars
"TEXAS HOLD 'EM" by Beyoncé
"Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter
"360" by Charli xcx
"BIRDS OF A FEATHER" by Billie Eilish
"Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar
"Good Luck, Babe!" by Chappell Roan
"Fortnight" by Taylor Swift Featuring Post Malone
"A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozey (songwriters Sean Cook, Jerrel Jones, Joe Kent, Chibueze Collins Obinna, Nevin Sastry, and Mark Williams)
"BIRDS OF A FEATHER" by Billie Eilish (songwriters Billie Eilish O'Connell and Finneas O'Connell)
"Die With A Smile" by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars (songwriters Dernst Emile II, James Fauntleroy, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, and Andrew Watt)
"Fortnight" by Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone (songwriters Jack Antonoff, Austin Post, and Taylor Swift)
"Good Luck, Babe!" by Chappell Roan (Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, Daniel Nigro, and Justin Tranter)
"Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar (songwriter Kendrick Lamar)
"Please Please Please" by Sabrina Carpenter (songwriters Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff, and Sabrina Carpenter)
"TEXAS HOLD 'EM" by Beyoncé (songwriters Brian Bates, Atia Boggs, Beyoncé, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, Megan Bülow, Nate Ferraro, and Raphael Saadiq)
New Blue Sun by André 3000
COWBOY CARTER by Beyoncé
Short n' Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter
BRAT by Charli xcx
Djesse Vol. 4 by Jacob Collier
HIT ME HARD AND SOFT by Billie Eilish
Chappell Roan: The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess by Chappell Roan
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT by Taylor Swift
Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer.
If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: Hints and answers for February 3 Where did Wordle come from?Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
What's the best Wordle starting word?The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.
What happened to the Wordle archive?The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.
Is Wordle getting harder?It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.
SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for February 3, 2025 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:Multi-act theatrical entertainment.
Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?The letter E appears twice.
Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...Today's Wordle starts with the letter R.
SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.
Drumroll please!
The solution to today's Wordle is...
REVUE.
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.
SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for February 3Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Wordle.
Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections?The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
Tweet may have been deletedEach puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
Tweet may have been deletedPlayers can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for February 3 Here's a hint for today's Connections categoriesWant a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Yellow: Roast
Green: A teeny portion
Blue: Citrus finish
Purple: Mess up
Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:
Yellow: Comment After An Insult
Green: Tiny Amount, With "A"
Blue: Bit of Citrus Garnish
Purple: Bungle, With "Up"
Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today's Connections #603 is...
What is the answer to Connections todayComment After An Insult: BURN, OUCH, SNAP, ZING
Tiny Amount, With "A": BIT, LITTLE, MITE, TAD
Bit of Citrus Garnish: SLICE, TWIST, WEDGE, ZEST
Bungle, With "Up": FOUL, LOUSE, MUCK, SCREW
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for February 3Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.
Connections: Sports Edition is a new version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections Sports Edition?The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
Tweet may have been deletedEach puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
Tweet may have been deletedPlayers can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
Here's a hint for today's Connections Sports Edition categoriesWant a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Yellow: Groups within a baseball team
Green: Teams in Beantown
Blue: Played together in Washington state
Purple: Teams that "Big Shamrock" played for in the NBA
Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:
Yellow: Parts of a baseball roster
Green: Boston sports teams
Blue: Seattle sports starts, past and present
Purple: Teams Shaq played for
Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today's Connections Sports Edition #133 is...
What is the answer to Connections Sports Edition todayParts of a baseball roster - BENCH, BULLPEN, LINEUP, ROTATION
Boston sports teams - BOSTON COLLEGE, BRUINS, CELTICS, REVOLUTION
Seattle sports stars, past and present - bIRD, GRIFFEY, METCALF, PAYTON
Teams Shaq played for - HEAT, LAKERS, MAGIC, SUNS
Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.
If you're reading this, you're looking for a little help playing Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game.
Strands requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.
SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on MashableBy providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.
If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.
SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for February 3 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for February 3 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Order up!These words are ways to prepare a specific food.
Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explainedWords are ways you might order your breakfast protein.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.
NYT Strands spangram answer todayToday's spangram is MakingEggs.
Featured Video For You Strands 101: How to win NYT’s latest word game NYT Strands word list for February 3Bake
Boil
Scramble
Pickle
Coddle
Poach
Baste
Making Eggs
Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!
Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Strands.
A new WIRED report has pulled back the curtain on the inner workings of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and the picture it paints is… troubling. According to the report, the department is being staffed by a crew of fresh-out-of-college hires — many with zero prior government experience. In fact, at least one of them is still in college.
These Musk loyalists, including newly appointed Office of Personnel Management Chief of Staff Amanda Scales, have played a key role in his ongoing efforts to expand influence across multiple federal agencies.
The investigation also found a common thread linking a few of these young recruits: billionaire Peter Thiel. Some of them have connections to the tech mogul's fellowship program, with his influence in the libertarian-leaning tech and political world having grown in recent years.
SEE ALSO: Elon Musk's DOGE team attempt takeover of USAIDWhile the DOGE executive order signed by Donald Trump technically limits Musk’s authority to the U.S. Digital Service, several of his allies — among them these young, inexperienced software engineers — have secured pivotal roles within the OPM and the General Services Administration. The latter is responsible for the construction, management, and preservation of federal buildings.
The WIRED report identified six young men, aged 19 to 24, who have been listed in internal OPM documents as either "experts" or "special advisors" to the agency's director. The engineers — Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran — previously served as interns for Musk or big tech companies like Meta before being fast-tracked unvetted into government roles.
SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg doubles down on Meta's submission to TrumpDespite their limited experience, documents obtained by WIRED reveal that these individuals have been granted official U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) emails and A-suite level clearance. This access not only allows them to work on the top floor of the GSA but also grants them entry to the agency’s sensitive information and IT systems.
According to anonymous sources who spoke with WIRED, Edward Coristine — who only recently graduated high school and is now a freshman at Northeastern University — has already been sitting in on calls where GSA employees had to "go over code they had written and justify their jobs."
This latest revelation adds to the growing concerns surrounding Musk’s so-called "budget cuts," which increasingly look more like a power grab. The X and Tesla CEO has recently made moves to take control of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which oversees billions in foreign aid. Even more alarming, the unelected billionaire has now secured influence over the U.S. Treasury’s payment systems — the infrastructure responsible for managing the disbursement of the federal government’s massive $6 trillion budget.
While Musk and his allies insist they only have "read-only" access to the Treasury’s payment systems, the reality is unprecedented: an unelected group of unvetted tech operatives now wields direct influence over the U.S. government’s financial arteries.
Severance fans, if you've ever wanted to read the wise words of Dr. Ricken Hale (Michael Chernus) for yourself, you're in luck. On Jan. 31, Apple Books released the first eight chapters of The You You Are: A Spiritual Biography of You, Ricken's self-help book that spurred Lumon Industries' Innies to action in Severance Season 1.
These are available in ebook format, or in audiobook format, with Chernus himself narrating.
The You You Are is the second Severance companion book to be released, with the first being 2022's The Lexington Letter. While The Lexington Letter is an epistolary thriller diving deep into Lumon's secrets, The You You Are is a mix of self-improvement advice and cringe comedy. What else would you expect from Ricken, who famously hosted a dinnerless dinner party?
SEE ALSO: 4 fascinating things we learned from the 'Severance' companion bookApple Books' excerpt features several memorable lines from The You You Are that we heard in Season 1, like "they cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist" and "a society with festering workers cannot flourish, just as a man with rotting toes cannot skip." Even "Destiny, An Acrostic Poem Experience" makes an appearance.
But the first eight chapters of The You You Are also flesh out our understanding of the often-infuriating Ricken, as well as give us more clues about the broader world of Severance. From Ricken's backstory to Lumon's interference in his work, here are four fascinating things we learned from The You You Are.
Lumon doesn't want people reading The You You Are. Zach Cherry, Adam Scott, and John Turturro in "Severance." Credit: AppleTV+In Season 2, episode 3 of Severance, Ricken tells his wife Devon (Jen Tullock) that he is working with Lumon to write a version of The You You Are specifically for Innies. Of course, that version will completely undermine the original book's themes, but for Ricken, this is too big an opportunity to pass up.
Apple's released version of The You You Are goes one step further, implying that Lumon has completely derailed the publication of Ricken's work. In an introductory note, Ricken writes, "As you know, the book was meant to release nationwide this week, and I was deeply eager to share its splendors with you. Unfortunately, events beyond my control have led to a brief delay as I liaise with several corporate parties as to precisely where and in what form the book should be released."
SEE ALSO: I went to the 'Severance' pop-up in Grand Central. It was wild.Sounds like this is Lumon in crisis management mode following the events of the Season 1 finale.
Ricken goes on to say that he negotiated for the release of the first eight chapters. (According to Season 1, there are at least 29 chapters.) That means we miss out on the context for such banger lines from Season 1 like "bullies are just bull and lies" or "it was not me who was wrong, but literature itself." Here's hoping we'll get the last chapters by the end of Season 2 — or perhaps tied to a future season?
Ricken has a truly wild backstory. Patricia Arquette, Michael Chernus, and Jen Tullock in "Severance." Credit: AppleTV+The You You Are is required reading for anyone who has ever wondered, "why is Ricken so insufferable?" (I know I have.)
The answer began at birth, the circumstances of which make for such a bizarre passage I simply have to include it in its entirety:
Readers of my previous books know that both my conception and birth took place in a small theatre behind a defunct perfumery in Western Oregon, as part of a nine-month performance art piece originated by my parents titled "Smells Like Afterbirth, F**ker." It was noteworthy in that I was the first child sired exclusively for theatrical purposes, and critics at the time hailed it as "a baroque deconstruction of the increasingly perverse human urge to procreate."
SEE ALSO: The cast of 'Severance' on getting lost in the ever-expanding hallways of LumonRicken writes that his parents (whose performance group is called HumpDumpster) held a Boston bar hostage at gunpoint as one of their next pieces, resulting in a prison sentence and in Ricken spending much of his youth alone. The information, equal parts tragic and hilarious, proves enlightening. No wonder Ricken seeks connection with others in pretentious artsy circles.
The You You Are is full of other Ricken stories, including way too much information about his sex life, as well as some tidbits about Mark (Adam Scott) and Gemma's (Dichen Lachman) lives before Gemma's death and entrapment in Lumon.
Mark and Gemma show up in The You You Are — kind of. Michael Chernus and Adam Scott in "Severance." Credit: AppleTV+Ricken explores his relationship with Mark and Gemma throughout The You You Are. He refers to them under the pseudonyms of Flip and Nan, because they wanted their real names left out of his book. (Can you blame them?)
In one anecdote, Ricken writes about him, Devon, Mark, and Gemma going on a hike — a story he brings up to Innie Mark in the Season 1 finale, asking him, "you remember the funny bees?"
The "funny bees," we learn in The You You Are, came from a wild beehive that Ricken found both hilarious and a commentary on human society. But perhaps the most intriguing detail from the hiking story is what we hear about Gemma from Ricken. From the sound of it, they had far more of a bond than he currently has with Mark. He says the two of them read Doctor Zhivago during a lunch break on the hike, and that she entertained his bee theory while Devon and Mark mocked it.
These instances could simply be Ricken projecting kindness onto Gemma, something we see in a later story about her texting him that she is enjoying a "self-produced Tuvan throat singing album" he gave her for her birthday. (What a gift!) After Gemma's death, a grieving Mark tells Ricken that he and Gemma laughed at it. But, Ricken ponders, was the laughter playful or cruel? Either way, it colors what he thought of his interactions with Gemma in life, making for a surprisingly sad scene in a book that is otherwise full of Ricken's nonsense.
The fact that Mark plays such a large role in The You You Are adds a new layer to his Innie finding so much meaning in it. There's no way he could have known the "Flip" passages were about his Outie, but it's surreal to think of him learning about memories only one part of him knows. Plus, it adds more weight to Ricken's sadness at Outie Mark not having read the book. The You You Are isn't just an exercise in Ricken's ego — it's also partly an exploration of his grief about Gemma, and perhaps his own strange way of extending an olive branch to Mark.
The You You Are has a Lexington Letter Easter egg. Jen Tullock and Michael Chernus in "Severance." Credit: AppleTV+In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it passage, The You You Are mentions "the Dorner truck explosion" as the reason Devon and Ricken finally moved away from the city. The Dorner truck explosion plays a key role in The Lexington Letter, with Dorner referring to Lumon competitor Dorner Therapeutics.
SEE ALSO: 'Severance' Season 2: What is Cold Harbor?The Lexington Letter follows former severed Lumon employee Peggy Kincaid, who finds a way past to bypass Lumon's code detectors and communicate with her Innie. From their written conversations, Peggy learns that she completed a file just two minutes before a Dorner truck blew up in New York City. Was this just a coincidence, or had the Lumon file triggered the explosion?
The You You Are doesn't offer any further information on the subject, but its brief mention here highlights the impact the Dorner truck explosion had on the wider world of Severance. Perhaps it's only a matter of time before it's announced on the show itself.
The You You Are is free and available for download on Apple Books. Severance Season 2 is now streaming on Apple TV+, with a new episode every Friday.
Elon Musk and his allies in the federal government are at it again — this time, taking aim at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
According to a CNN report, the chaos kicked off late Saturday night when two senior USAID officials refused to let Musk-linked personnel access the agency’s offices, blocking what appeared to be an attempt to grab sensitive and possibly classified information. Their reward: administrative leave. Now, the future of USAID is hanging by a thread.
SEE ALSO: Elon Musk seizes computer system, locks out senior government officialsUSAID oversees billions in global aid, funding NGOs that fight poverty, famine, and disasters. As an agency rooted in distributing resources to the world’s most vulnerable, it has become a natural target for Musk and President Donald Trump. The duo has already attempted to dismantle social safety nets like FAFSA and SNAP, but federal judges have stopped them.
Previous Trump executive orders targeting the agency have already delayed critical relief shipments and frozen funding for NGOs operating in crisis zones. Last week, it was reported that 60 senior staff in USAID were accused of attempting to circumvent the executive order on foreign aid. According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio justifying the freeze, he said "The U.S. government is not a charity."
With its leadership sidelined and systems compromised, the ability to deliver life-saving aid will once again be in serious jeopardy.
Musk, CEO of X (formerly Twitter), has been on a posting spree, using his platform to justify and denigrate his takeover of USAID. He’s called the agency "evil," a "criminal organization," and a "viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America."
Tweet may have been deletedMusk and his allies in the Office of Personnel Management have already seized control of computer systems within the U.S. Treasury — the agency that processes $6 trillion in payments, essentially the entire federal budget. And to call a spade a spade (or a Nazi a Nazi), what Musk and his team are doing is illegal. Under the guise of budget-cutting, he has effectively taken control of which organizations and programs get funded.
If he or Trump decides that certain groups — or even competitors — don’t deserve money, they can shut them out entirely. It’s a blatant violation of Congress’ power of the purse, and it demands immediate attention.
Right now, USAID is in limbo. A source told CNN that the agency’s entire public affairs office has been placed on leave and locked out of their systems.
A bombshell report from Reuters has revealed that Elon Musk has locked U.S. government officials out of key data systems containing personal information on millions of federal employees.
According to the report, which cites two anonymous federal agents, senior officials at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) suddenly lost access to crucial department databases. The move reportedly stems from Musk’s leadership at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a role assigned to him by former President Donald Trump to "curb government spending."
SEE ALSO: Why Elon Musk is part of the controversy involving D.C.'s deadly plane crashDespite DOGE’s limited authority over OPM and other federal agencies, a "team of current and former" Musk employees have embedded themselves deep within the agency since Trump took office on Jan. 20. Since the inauguration DOGE has morphed from a non-governement advisory panel into the rebranded tech unit inside the White House.
According to the report, the team set up sofa beds in the OPM Director’s office to work around the clock, securing access to a massive database known as Enterprise Human Resources Integration. This system holds sensitive information, including birth dates, Social Security numbers, performance appraisals, home addresses, pay grades, and service records of government employees.
As a result, tracking Musk and his allies’ activities within OPM has become significantly more difficult.
This comes as Trump and Musk push for all 2.2 million federal employees to accept deferred resignations, aiming to replace them with MAGA loyalists. Meanwhile, on Friday, David A. Lebryk, the highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department, reportedly resigned after refusing to grant Musk’s operatives access to the government’s entire payment system — responsible for processing $6 trillion in payments annually.
Musk’s exact motivations for seeking unfettered access to the Treasury Department and government personnel databases remain unclear. However, his actions suggest a push for sweeping control over federal systems, granting him unprecedented influence under the guise of cutting $2 billion from government spending.
With access to these systems, Musk could bypass legal hurdles and potentially shut off funding for social programs opposed by him and Trump, further expanding his grip on federal operations.
The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe.
With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it.
So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered.
SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on MashableHere are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Sunday, February 2, 2025:
AcrossPunxsutawney ___, Groundhog Day characterThe answer is Phil.
The answer is Heron.
The answer is Image.
The answer is Latex.
The answer is Nest.
The answer is Phil.
The answer is He man.
The answer is Irate.
The answer is Loges.
The answer is Next.
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Featured Video For You The Wordle Strategy used by the New York Times' Head of GamesAre you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.
Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Mini Crossword.
When NASA launched a spacecraft to an asteroid, scientists patiently waited for their chance to look at bits of the space rock in a laboratory, hoping it would answer some of humanity's most enduring questions.
For Danny Glavin, a senior sample scientist, he wanted to solve a relentless mystery in his life's work: Why are all known living things only based on the left-handed forms of amino acids, the molecules that build proteins?
His moment arrived nearly a decade later. Glavin and a team of researchers probed the grit from Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid made of loosely bound boulders, but what they found threw them a curveball. Rather than supporting one of the leading hypotheses — that the early solar system favored the left-handed variety and brought those ingredients to primitive Earth — it showed no favoritism at all.
"I have to admit, I was a little disillusioned or disappointed," Glavin said. "I felt like this invalidated 20 years of research in our lab and my career."
SEE ALSO: NASA's asteroid sample reveals key chemistry that could lead to life Researcher Jason Dworkin holds up a vial containing a Bennu sample. Credit: NASA / James TralieMany amino acids, whether they're used in biology or not, come in two mirror-image forms. Each molecule has a central carbon atom with other atom groups attached, oriented in one direction or the reverse. This property, called chirality, is like a left and right hand: They're similar, but if you stacked them, the thumbs would be hitchhiking opposite ways.
In Earth life, the amino acids are always "left-handed," and sugars, which partly make up the backbone of DNA, are always right-handed, giving the double helix its signature twist to the right. The homogeneity found among both is especially confounding to scientists because the left and right-handed versions of all these molecules are equally available in nonliving chemical mixes.
Practically speaking, if all biological molecules took the reverse form, that might work just fine. So if life could have taken the other path, why didn't it? Is uniform "handedness" a secret ingredient in the recipe for life, and more specifically, did it have to turn left? Did the bias toward left-handed amino acids begin in the cosmos, or did it happen later on this planet?
"A fundamental question for all of us is whether life had to be the way it is," said Iris Chen, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UCLA, who wasn't involved in the asteroid study. "Is the universe predisposed to our kind of life, or is our biology the result of accidents and chance?"
NASA chose carbon-rich asteroid Bennu to study the chemical origins of life. Credit: NASAScientists knew early on they would use the material collected by NASA's $800 million OSIRIS-Rex mission, short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer, to analyze the "handedness" of individual amino acids. Bennu's mineral fragments could be older than the 4.6 billion-year-old solar system. These grains of stardust could have come from dying stars or supernovas that eventually led to the creation of the sun and planets.
To do their study, they brewed a sort of "Bennu tea," boiling a small amount of the rocks and dust in water and acids to extract organic compounds. Then they used mass spectrometry techniques to identify organic molecules, including 14 of the 20 amino acids life uses to build proteins, which carry out genetic instructions. Some of the latest findings were published this week in the journal Nature Astronomy.
"I have to admit, I was a little disillusioned or disappointed. I felt like this invalidated 20 years of research in our lab and my career."Over the past few decades, researchers have found that meteorites — rocks that have traveled space and crash-landed on Earth — have had a higher concentration of left-handed amino acids than right-handed ones, in the neighborhood of 60 percent more. Perhaps space rocks delivered the compounds that then underwent chemical reactions near Earth's deep-sea vents to form the first cells. The rest is evolution, perhaps.
Those results, coupled with the knowledge that space rocks have bombarded the planet for eons, have led scientists to believe ancient asteroids, the solar system's time capsules, would also reveal more left-handed amino acids. If the solar system indeed harbors more lefties, perhaps polarized light in space was the culprit. A slight favoritism in the environment could turn into a larger disparity over time.
Scientists think meteorites and planetary body collisions may have delivered origins of life chemistry to early Earth, including left-handed amino acids. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab illustrationBut the Bennu researchers found lefties and righties comingling equally. Now Glavin wonders if the previous studies on meteorites are invalid, perhaps contaminated with Earth proteins when they fell to the ground. Jason Dworkin, project scientist for the OSIRIS-Rex mission, thinks there may be a different reason for Bennu bucking the trend.
"Bennu is an example of one type of future meteorite which is too fragile to survive landing on Earth, and so it's not really in our collections," Dworkin said.
Maybe the reality is that life's design was determined by a coin flip. Once a successful pattern was established, the template continued through evolution. Proteins and enzymes, tiny drivers inside cells, fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. If life emerged with left-handed amino acids, switching to right-handed amino acids later might have stopped everything from working. There are vast advantages to uniformity: If people were based on right-handed amino acids, they wouldn't be able to eat and digest plants or animal products based on left-handed amino acids.
Researchers have made mirror versions of biological proteins with right-handed amino acids in a lab. They function similarly, but they're much harder to destroy. Enzymes that would typically break them down are rendered useless. Like your hair dryer on an international vacation, the tool won't work if the plug and outlet don't match.
A diagram of a left-handed and right-handed version of an amino acid from a meteorite. Credit: NASA illustrationSome scientists considering the implications of this problem have expressed concerns about the future development of mirror cells in laboratories. If people became infected with harmful mirror bacteria, their immune systems might be defenseless, unable to wage any sort of counterattack. A group of biologists recently wrote an extensive paper on the risks, as reported by The New York Times.
Despite Glavin's disappointment that Bennu didn't present a chirality bias, the research continues. He and his collaborators plan to study more samples of the asteroid to investigate other amino acids' handedness.
And there might be a silver lining: Some astrobiologists have proposed using disproportionate handedness of molecules as a biosignature. An even mix of both types in an extraterrestrial sample might suggest molecules were made chemically without the involvement of living things. But an excess of one type could be a clue for alien life.
"Frankly, it actually might make the search for life easier in some respects because we don't have this risk potentially of a false positive," Glavin said. "We (could) believe that if there's an amplification of one or the other, that there may be biology behind it."
A robotic spacecraft has beamed home crisp videos and snapshots of Earth eclipsing the moon.
Though lunar eclipses generally aren't that unusual — stargazers can watch Earth's shadow obscuring the moon a few times a year — this was different.
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander, a private spacecraft hired by NASA to take experiments to the moon, got a rare front-row seat of the spectacle in space. The phenomenon occurred when the blue marble came between the moon and the spacecraft.
Blue Ghost, named after an exotic species of firefly, captured the below footage while flying laps around Earth as it gears up for its first attempt at a lunar touchdown. Almost two weeks ago, the spacecraft witnessed another majestic moment when Earth eclipsed the sun.
"Right now, we are in a period where we're mostly just coasting for the next week-and-a-half or so, until we do our (Trans Lunar Injection) maneuver," said Will Coogan, Blue Ghost's chief engineer, in a video update, referring to the step that puts the lander on a moonbound trajectory. "During that period, we're going to do a bunch of payload operations, continue with system checkouts, just make sure everything is precisely tuned before we do that."
SEE ALSO: Private moon spacecraft just took a breathtaking snapshot of Earth Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander captures Earth on the horizon from its top deck, with the moon in the distant background. Credit: Firefly AerospaceFirefly's lander, originally scheduled to lift off in late 2024, is the first NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services mission of the year. The program has invested $2.6 billion in contracts with vendors from the private sector to help deliver instruments to the moon and send back crucial data.
The company is carrying 10 experiments for the space agency. NASA wants to see a regular cadence of moon missions to prepare for astronaut-led Artemis expeditions in 2027 or later.
Once Blue Ghost escapes Earth's gravitational pull, it will take four days for it to arrive at the moon. The spacecraft will spend 16 days in lunar orbit before dropping to the surface, planned to happen on March 2. The descent is expected to last about one hour.
Watch this time-lapse video of Firefly's Blue Ghost lander capturing Earth eclipsing the moon.
Last week, after flying some 715,000 miles, the team completed test runs on a NASA experiment dubbed SCALPSS, short for Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies. It will observe the effects of engine plumes on lunar soil.
As lunar trips become more frequent, the space agency wants to understand the impact those landings will have on other close vehicles and instruments. Firefly successfully received high-resolution images from all six of the SCALPSS cameras.
Tweet may have been deleted"It's been kind of a perpetual grind. We've been working very hard to try and make this dream a reality," Coogan said. "The first images came down, and it forced everybody to pause and realize this thing we've been trying for, for all these years, is finally actually happening, and it's working."
The mission seems to be going smoothly so far, but the team hasn't encountered the hardest part yet. Landing on the moon is onerous. The moon's exosphere provides virtually no drag to slow a spacecraft down as it approaches the ground. Furthermore, there are no GPS systems on the moon to help guide a craft to its landing spot.
So far just one company, Intuitive Machines, has made the journey all the way through lunar touchdown. Its craft landed sideways near the moon's south pole in February 2024, still managing to operate from its awkward position.
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