Starting 5: What's trending in the East and West  NBA.com

NBA Draft: 7 college basketball players trending way up after Week One in a wide-open draft class  On3

Raiders rookie Trey Zuhn was trending in the right direction in Week 9  Raiders Wire

Democrats’ House majority is trending toward historic  CNN

Jets' Garrett Wilson in concussion protocol, Breece Hall trending toward return  ESPN

1. AMD EPYC 9996 Benchmarks Show Unparalleled Performance With 256 Zen 6C Cores Review  Phoronix
2. AMD Zen 6 EPYC ‘Venice’ deep dive and benchmarking – 9686F outclasses Nvidia’s Vera, dual EPYC 9996 with 1,024 threads delivers up to 93% performance gain gen-on-gen  Tom's Hardware
3. AMD EPYC 9996 Futex Wake Ups by Placement  ServeTheHome
4. With Zen 6, AMD’s next great gaming CPU could have it all  PCWorld
5. AMD Zen 6 Architecture Brings A Phenomenal 27% IPC Increase Over Zen 5: Full Architecture Breakdown – Up To 256 Cores, 12.8 GT/s MRDIMMs, A New ISA & More  Wccftech

1. Google releases Gemini 4 Carbon with agent ‘swarm’ feature  The Verge
2. Gemini 4 Carbon is now available  blog.google
3. Gemini 4 Carbon rolling out to Gemini app for AI Ultra, Argon remains  9to5Google
4. Google's Gemini 4 Carbon Is Now Widely Available Around The World  Engadget
5. Perplexity: Gemini 4 Carbon Matches Fable 5.2 at 40% of Cost  FourWeekMBA

1. Google rolling out Android 17 QPR2 for Pixel  9to5Google
2. Pixel phones getting new icon styles, Create My Widget, and more in November Pixel Drop  Ars Technica
3. Gemini Intelligence: New features, on more devices  blog.google
4. Google's Impressive Rambler Dictation Tech Is Now Available On Pixel 10 Devices Too  Engadget
5. Google is making Pixel HiLight slightly more useful  The Verge

1. PlayStation announces end of PC streaming in December  Video Games Chronicle
2. The PlayStation Plus PC app is shutting down next month  The Verge
3. PlayStation Plus PC App Will Go Offline December 10, as Sony Continues to Retreat From PC  IGN
4. PlayStation Continues PC Withdrawal by Ending PS Plus PC App  TechPowerUp
5. PS Plus Pulls Plug on PC Streaming After Fewer Than 1% Used It  Push Square

1. Meta Reportedly Rebranding Horizon+ to 'Meta VR+', Adding Popular 3D Films to Game Service  Road to VR
2. The VR Disney Plus app on Meta Quest now has 3D movies  The Verge
3. Meta Begins Listing 3D Movies On Quest, Could Become A Horizon+ Benefit  UploadVR
4. "3D Movies Included in Your Subscription": A Leaked Meta VR Plus Screen Lists Films From Disney, Sony and Amazon MGM  https://vr.org/
5. Meta’s Horizon+ looks to become Meta VR+ and include 3D movies  9to5Google

Launched nearly 50 years ago in 1977, NASA’s Voyager 1 on Wednesday, Nov. 18 will have traveled one light-day from Earth, which is more than 16 billion miles (25.9 billion kilometers). Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object, and any light from Earth would take 24 hours to reach the spacecraft. NASA will highlight this historic milestone with two events.

On Tuesday, Nov. 17, NASA invites the world to participate in “Shine Bright for Voyager’s Light-Day” by creating a symbolic wave of golden light encircling the planet after sunset. NASA has created a website that enables smart phones and tablets to flash “VGR”, Voyager’s call sign, in morse code.

For more information about how to participate in “Shine Bright for Voyager Light-Day,” visit:

go.nasa.gov/shinebright

Everyone is encouraged to capture photos or videos of their light-day signal and share it on social platforms, tagging @NASA.

On Thursday, Nov. 19 at 12 p.m. EST (9 a.m. PST), NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California will host a moderated discussion with mission members and NASA leadership about the status of Voyager 1 and 2, the unique science the twin probes continue to gather in interstellar space, and the challenges of keeping the spacecraft operating for so long over such vast distances. A Q&A with media and other audience members will follow. In addition, there also will be a preview of the upcoming NASA+ Voyager documentary, planned for release in 2027 for the mission’s 50th anniversary.

The event will take place in NASA JPL’s von Kármán Auditorium, where JPL hosted Voyager briefings during the spacecraft’s grand tour of the outer planets.

The participants will be:

• Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, Washington
• Jonathan Lunine, chief scientist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Southern California, and professor of planetary science, Caltech
• Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager, NASA JPL
• Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager mission manager, NASA JPL
• Jamie Rankin, Voyager deputy project scientist, Princeton University

Learn where to watch online at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

U.S. media interested in attending the event in person must RSVP by Monday, Nov. 16 to Josh Smooha at: josh.smooha@jpl.nasa.gov. To be considered for onsite credentials, foreign national media must RSVP no later than Thursday, Nov. 12. Media interested in participating virtually must RSVP no later than two hours before the event. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.

For almost half a century, the agency’s Voyager mission has blazed a trail through space. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were designed to explore the outer planets by taking advantage of a planetary alignment that occurs once every 176 years. Voyager 1 entered interstellar space in 2012. Following a different trajectory, Voyager 2 entered in 2018. Both spacecraft continue to provide unique scientific observations of the environment beyond the heliosphere, the protective bubble created by the Sun.

Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California, NASA JPL built and operates the Voyager spacecraft. NASA’s Deep Space Network, also managed by NASA JPL, enables communication with the distant probes. The Voyager mission is funded by NASA’s Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

For more information about NASA’s Voyager mission, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/

-end-

Abbey Interrante / Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
abbey.a.interrante@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov

Josh Smooha
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-298-4414
josh.smooha@jpl.nasa.gov

NASA will welcome home the Expedition 74 crew during a public event at Space Center Houston following their return from a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, and Chris Williams; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot; and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud‑Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev will share mission highlights at 6 p.m. CST Tuesday, Nov. 17, at NASA Johnson Space Center’s visitor center. An awards ceremony recognizing key mission contributors will follow the presentation.

The astronauts will be available for media interviews before the event. Media may request an in-person interview no later than 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, by emailing the JSC Newsroom at jsc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.

Williams, Kud‑Sverchkov, and Mikaev launched aboard the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Nov. 27, 2025. The trio returned to Earth on July 26, making a parachute-assisted landing southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. The crew was in space for 241 days, orbiting the Earth 3,856 times and traveling more than 102 million miles. The mission was the first for Williams and Mikaev and the second for Kud-Sverchkov.

Meir, Hathaway, and Adenot launched aboard a Dragon spacecraft on Feb. 13 as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. After more than seven months aboard the space station, Meir, Hathaway, and Adenot safely splashed down on Oct. 8 in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles.

During their 237-day mission, the four crew members traveled more than 100 million miles and completed more than 3,792 orbits around Earth. The mission was the second for Meir and the first for Hathaway and Adenot. Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev also flew as part of Crew-12 but is unavailable for the event.

The Expedition 74 crew dedicated more than 1,400 hours to scientific research and technology demonstrations aboard the International Space Station. Its work advanced in-space manufacturing by testing metal and tissue 3D-printing technologies and supported human health studies examining the effects of long-duration spaceflight. Research included blood flow studies, assessments of piloting capabilities under changing gravitational conditions, and activation of a new compact exercise system. The crew also evaluated life-support and environmental systems critical to future exploration missions under NASA’s Artemis program.

In addition, the crew members conducted pharmaceutical research to crystalize proteins for cancer medications, advance tumor targeting treatments, and grow stem cells for therapeutics. They cared for the first set of plants studied outside of curated systems, upgraded an instrument used to advance our understanding of matter and develop new quantum technologies, managed visiting spacecraft, and performed essential maintenance to support the continued operation of the orbiting laboratory.

Beyond research and operational achievements, Expedition 74 engaged students and audiences around the world through live educational events, outreach activities, and the sharing of stunning imagery that highlights the importance of scientific discovery and international collaboration in space.

For more than 26 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station helps NASA understand and overcome the challenges of human spaceflight, expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, and build on the foundation for long-duration missions to the Moon, as part of the Artemis program, and to Mars.

Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

Anna Schneider / Shaneequa Vereen
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
anna.c.schneider@nasa.gov / shaneequa.y.vereen@nasa.gov

The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) observatory, now in development, will detect gravitational waves, the tiny ripples in space-time caused by orbiting masses. Now two studies led by NASA astrophysicists show in new detail how LISA could reveal a new and unique population of exoplanets — worlds beyond our solar system — throughout our galaxy. 

“The most common source for LISA is expected to be double white dwarf systems, which are binaries composed of white dwarfs in tight orbits,” said Casey McGrath, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “If an exoplanet also orbits within one of these systems, its presence becomes imprinted on the gravitational wave signal in a way we’ll be able to uncover.”

Two papers published Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal detail the findings. The first, authored solely by McGrath, examines the detection method and determines the planet masses and orbital periods where it would work best. The second paper, by McGrath and coauthors, investigates how such planets could be confirmed using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

The possibility of detecting exoplanets around LISA double white dwarf systems was first proposed by Japanese astronomer Naoki Seto in 2008.

Led by ESA (European Space Agency), the LISA mission is slated for launch in the mid-2030s. As a collaborative partner, NASA is contributing the telescopes, other critical hardware, and engineering and scientific support as part of its mission to better understand how the universe works.

The LISA detection method is similar to one called radial velocity that uses light and is already employed to find exoplanets around nearby stars. As a planet orbits, its gravity tugs on its host star, imparting a small reflex motion, or wobble, onto it. This wobble causes the star’s spectrum to oscillate, with spectral lines shifting from redder wavelengths as the star moves away from us to bluer ones as the star moves toward us. The shift is due to a phenomenon called the Doppler effect.

“Something similar occurs with gravitational waves,” said Scott Noble, a theoretical astrophysicist at NASA Goddard and a coauthor on the confirmation paper. “By themselves, double white dwarfs will emit gravitational waves at a nearly continuous frequency. Add a sufficiently massive planet to the system, and its presence causes the binary to experience reflex motion, adding a Doppler modulation to the gravitational signal.” 

For LISA, this modulation will appear as sidebands, secondary signals at both higher and lower frequencies than the primary one.  

McGrath likens the situation to modern radio communication, where some of the energy of a main radio carrier frequency goes into forming sidebands at adjacent upper and lower frequencies that carry messages (like voices or music). For gravitational waves, the sidebands carry messages about the presence of a planet.

White dwarfs are the Earth-sized remnants of stars like the Sun. While exoplanets have been detected around a few isolated white dwarfs, none have yet been found around a binary white dwarf, which means the LISA detections would represent a distinct new exoplanet population.

Astronomers estimate that our Milky Way galaxy contains 10 million double white dwarf systems with orbital periods of less than an hour, which generate gravitational waves in the right range for LISA to find. They expect LISA will resolve about 10,000 individual systems, as well as around 100 mixed binaries — with white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes — orbiting in similar periods.

“Once LISA captures its first exoplanet detections, it will be critical for us to validate some of them,” said Mary Anne Limbach, an assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan and a co-author on the confirmation paper. “These joint detections will allow us to establish that the gravitational signals correspond to genuine planets rather than false positives.”

The team described a new method for confirming these planets by taking advantage of the Webb telescope’s infrared sensitivity. A planet in a double white dwarf system produces a larger portion of infrared light than what’s expected from the stars themselves. Webb’s instruments can easily detect this infrared excess out to a distance of at least 500 light-years. 

Using this technique for a test case system at this distance, the researchers find that Webb could detect an exoplanet about five times Jupiter’s mass, while LISA could detect a sub-Jupiter exoplanet under ideal circumstances.

The LISA observatory will consist of a trio of spacecraft following Earth as it orbits the Sun. They will form a vast triangular array stretching 1.6 million miles (2.5 million kilometers) on each side. Each spacecraft will include two telescopes that will use infrared laser beams to simultaneously transmit and receive signals between adjacent spacecraft. Through these telescopes, the spacecraft will measure miniscule changes — smaller than the width of a helium atom — in their relative distances, the signals of passing gravitational waves.  

Gravitational waves were predicted by Albert Einstein’s 1916 general theory of relativity and first detected by ground-based observatories in 2015. The waves form whenever massive objects accelerate, such as two stars in orbit around each other. They travel through space-time, moving at the speed of light, and are unaffected by objects they encounter along the way. These properties make them a valuable tool for probing the cosmos.

Additional NASA contributions to the mission include the laser system, devices to manage the buildup of electric charge on the proof masses, data analysis for identifying and characterizing individual gravitational wave sources, and additional scientific and engineering expertise.

To learn more about the LISA mission, visit:

https://nasa.gov/lisa

The Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) Mission 2 crew arranged photos around a boot print in the simulated Martian sand outside their habitat on Aug. 31, 2026.

The crew recently exited their habitat on Saturday, Oct. 31, after 378 days of isolation in a facility at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Health and performance data collected from the simulation can help NASA develop methods to counter human spaceflight risks for future Artemis and Moon Base missions.

Image credit: NASA

OpenAI has not yet said what its plans are for the future of travel. But Sonder founder Francis Davidson is a well-known figure in the travel industry.

New York is preparing to enforce its sweeping AI safety law, requiring major developers like OpenAI and Anthropic to register, disclose safety practices, and report critical incidents or face fines.

Former SignalFire investor Sahir Raoof raises $27.5 million for new fund targeting AI in pharma.

X-energy received a construction permit from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build four reactors in Texas.

Each of the seven co-founders plans to sell exactly the same number of shares in the IPO, which would bring each of them about $250 million in cash at the midpoint of the price range while leaving the group in control of the company.