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25 million viewers watch the first-ever 4K livestream beamed from the Moon

260Mbps transfer speeds send video more than 250,000 miles

AWS GovCloud has an important role in NASA simulations

Amazon Web Services – the biggest cloud hyperscaler with a market share equaling the combined share of both Microsoft and Google – just helped to enable the first-ever like 4K video stream from the Moon.

The company transmitted video footage from the Orion spacecraft by laser, with an estimated 25 million people watching the coverage across NASA+, YouTube and Amazon’s own Prime Video platform.

Not only is this the first time 4K video has ever been transmitted from the Moon to Earth, but it’s also major news for video transmission by laser optics instead of conventional radio.

AWS enabled 260Mbps transfer speeds via laser

Key to supporting the video transmission was NASA’s Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O) – a laser-based terminal more than 20 years in the making that supports up to 260Mbps transfer speeds. In other words, fast enough for real-time 4K video and other crucial mission data.

Generally, streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video would recommend having internet speeds of 15-20Mbps to stream 4K video. With NASA and AWS opening up 260Mbps, more than enough buffer was available to continue transmitting other key telemetry, voice communications, mission data and other files.

Unlike traditional radio systems, optical communications promise much higher bandwidth and are better suited to transmitting much larger datasets, thus they are expected to become increasingly important as space exploration pushes new boundaries.

In this case, laser transmissions were received by Mount Stromlo Observatory near Canberra, Australia, and NASA’s White Sands Complex in New Mexico was responsible for processing and distributing signals. “AWS, NASA, and ANU partnered and stood up the connection in a matter of weeks, for the cost of a laptop,” the company declared .

All in, the video was transmitted an estimated quarter of a million miles, “connecting viewers to the farthest humans ever to travel from Earth.”

But Amazon’s partnership with NASA runs even deeper than this, with the company hosting the official NASA+ streaming platform using AWS Elemental services.

Amazon plays a crucial role in NASA’s trajectory

Besides video, Amazon’s cloud infrastructure also proves instrumental to other core NASA operations. Its flight sciences team at the Johnson Space Center runs tens of thousands of trajectory simulations for every launch opportunity, producing as much as 2-5TB of data per launch window.

Amazon proudly proclaimed that these simulations run on AWS GovCloud (US), enabling maximum security for sensitive data. Using a technique known as cloud bursting, NASA is able to “scale into hundreds of additional Intel-based cloud instances on demand,” allowing it to retarget and optimize trajectory in near real-time.

Mission control aside, Amazon’s huge video streaming success lays out the framework for future space missions, including the upcoming Artemis IV lunar landing which NASA hopes to get into the hands of 250 million live viewers.

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Leapmotor officially enters Mexico with Stellantis and Mopar support.

Range-extended B10 SUV claims nearly 620 miles between fuel stops.

100% tariffs and anti-Chinese software regs currently prevent US entry.

Chinese automakers have spent the past few years expanding almost everywhere they can. Now Leapmotor has finally reached North America, although not quite in the way some expected. Its first stop isn’t Canada but Mexico, where the Stellantis-backed brand has officially launched the B10 SUV.

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The B10 has spent more than a year being adapted for local conditions before reaching showrooms, where it’s priced at MX$575,000 (US$33,000). Engineers fine tuned it to cope with everything from high altitude roads to desert heat and tropical humidity, while also completing the certification process required for the Mexican market. More models, including the larger C10 and C16 SUVs, are expected to arrive later.

Related: The Plant That Built Dodge’s Last Hellcat Muscle Cars Could Make Chinese EVs Next

Mexico doesn’t get the fully electric B10s sold in Europe , instead focusing only on the range-extender powertrain. A 1.5-liter combustion engine never drives the wheels directly, but acts as a generator for an 18.8 kWh battery that feeds a 215 hp (218 PS / 160 kW) electric motor. Leapmotor claims a combined driving range of up to 615 miles (990 km) before you’ll need to refuel and recharge.

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The rollout has been made possible by Stellantis, which owns roughly 20 percent of Leapmotor and controls the international joint venture responsible for selling the brand outside China. Rather than starting from scratch, Leapmotor is using Stellantis dealerships, with more than 40 sales outlets already open in Mexico. Service and parts support come through Mopar’s existing nationwide network.

First Mexico, Then Canada

Canada, which recently agreed to take up to 49,000 Chinese cars each year in exchange for lower tariffs on its canola exports, could eventually become the next piece of the puzzle, particularly as Stellantis considers future manufacturing options there. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa has previously said there’s room for the brand in Mexico and possibly Canada, but “no space” in the United States for now, Automotive World reports.

Between steep tariffs on Chinese built EVs and restrictions surrounding connected vehicle technology which recently forced Polestar out of the US , the American market remains effectively closed. But for now, Mexico marks an important milestone for Leapmotor as it pushes toward an ambitious target of delivering one million vehicles worldwide this year.

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Leapmotor/Stellantis/Wikimedia Commons

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Around 100,000 years ago, an early Homo sapiens man was probably stabbed in the face with a sharp stone tool and later buried in a cave in what is now Israel, archaeologists have determined. The Stone Age cold case appears to be the earliest evidence of this kind of interpersonal violence, according to the research team.

In a study published June 30 in the journal Scientific Reports , the international team of researchers closely examined the skull and lower jaw of a person who was deliberately buried in Qafzeh cave in Israel during the Middle Paleolithic period.

At least 27 people were buried in Qafzeh cave between about 145,000 and 92,000 years ago, making them some of the earliest members of our species to be found outside Africa. Previous analysis of the skeletons, which were excavated between the 1930s and 1970s, revealed that two people had head injuries resulting from blunt trauma.

But the new analysis, which employed microscopic and micro-CT scanning techniques, revealed that Qafzeh 25, an adult male, had a cut mark across his lower left jaw that affected one of his bicuspids and part of his upper jaw. The jawbone showed signs of healing, suggesting that the man lived for a significant amount of time after being injured, the researchers wrote in the study.

Archaeologists had previously identified only a few cases of trauma caused by sharp weapons or projectiles in Middle Paleolithic skeletons. Although these injuries could have resulted from hunting accidents, the researchers wrote, they have generally been interpreted as evidence of interpersonal violence.

The cut mark on the jaw of Qafzeh 25 was found on the left side of his face, lending further support to the idea that the injury was not an accident.

A close-up of the left side of the lower jaw, showing a cut mark near a bicuspid. (Image credit: Ana Pantoja et al.) It's not clear what kind of tool made the cut mark, but stone tools found at Qafzeh included flint scrapers and sharp points that could have been fashioned into spear tips.

"Forensic studies of modern human populations have reported that craniofacial injuries resulting from blows are more frequently observed on the left side of the skull, a distribution commonly attributed to the predominance of right-handed assailants in face-to-face confrontations," the researchers wrote.

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If the researchers' interpretation of the cut mark is correct, it "would represent the earliest documented case of sharp force trauma in the archaeological record," they wrote.

Qafzeh cave is already well known within archaeology for its clear evidence that early humans buried their dead. The new discovery confirms that the earliest human groups left Africa with a complex culture.

"These results provide new data to the debate on the origin of complex behaviors such as interpersonal violence, the care of injured or sick individuals and funeral practices," study first author Ana Pantoja Pérez , a paleoanthropologist at Spain's National Research Center for Human Evolution, said in a statement .

See how much you know about early humans with our human evolution quiz!

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Back when Microsoft acquired Bethesda, our first thought was, 'I wonder if this will be bad,' but our second thought was, 'Ooh, maybe now Obsidian will make Fallout: New Vegas 2.' And when the Fallout TV show turned out to be a hit, we scratched our heads over the continued absence of a new Fallout game.

Now it looks like a new Obsidian-made Fallout RPG may actually happen. Word on the street is that Microsoft has put Obsidian's Josh Sawyer—who directed Fallout: New Vegas—at the helm of a new Fallout game as part of the "Xbox reset" shakeup.

The situation is "still in flux," according to the Bloomberg report that broke the news, and could change. But supposing that Obsidian and Sawyer do dive into this project, are you excited?

I'm feeling ambivalent. I like Obsidian and Sawyer, and a new Fallout game seems like a perfectly good pursuit for the developer and director, and a good thing for fans of the series who've been asking for just this for years.

But the news comes alongside thousands of layoffs across Xbox , including at Obsidian itself, which has reportedly cancelled an Avowed sequel and other projects to make way for Fallout. It's not exactly an auspicious way to kick off a new project, and it's hard to sustain feelings I'd describe as positive after a bunch of people were just put out of work.

Where do you land? Share your thoughts in the poll and comments below.

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The Television Academy (which is not a place where TVs go to school, I've just learned) has announced the nominations for this year's Primetime Emmy Awards. And, yeah, yeah, The Pitt got 25 nominations, of course it did, Widow's Bay got 19 noms, and Pluribus got 18.

Eh, who cares? This is a PC gaming site. How did TV shows based on PC games do?

Great! Sort of. Fallout Season 2 hauled off an impressive nine Emmy nominations , but don't pop the Nuka Cola yet—none of the actors on the show were nominated. Not Ella Purnell as Lucy, not Aaron Moten as Max, not Kyle MacLachlan as Hank, who were all great this season. Not even Justin Theroux got a nomination, despite being deliciously creepy as the unhinged Robert House.

And somehow, Walton Goggins as Cooper Howard and The Ghoul didn't get a nom. I am surprised at this! Goggions would seem to be a shoe-in as a crowd favorite: he was nominated for Fallout Season 1 in 2024, though the award went to Hiroyuki Sanada for Shōgun, and I can't really beef about that because he was great. But Goggins was even better in Season 2, particularly his scenes as Cooper Howard in the pre-war sequences, which are easily my favorite parts of the show.

Who did get nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a drama? Noah Wyle, obviously, for The Pitt, Mark Ruffalo for Task (he was good), Gary Oldman for Slow Horses (no argument here), Sterling K. Brown for Paradise (only watched the first episode), and Rufus Sewell for The Diplomat (didn't see it).

How do you feel about those guys getting nominated and Goggins not getting gogginated? Here, do me a favor and answer this quick poll:

At least the people who turn Goggins into the Ghoul are up for a nomination: Fallout Season 2 is up for two Outstanding Makeup categories (non-prosthetic and prosthetic), and one for Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes.

The show is also nominated for Outstanding Stunt Performance for the episode "The Profligate," though I just scrubbed through that episode and I'm not sure which stunt was being submitted—possibly the performer leaping through the air while wearing power armor, at the end.

Other categories include sound editing, sound mixing, hairstyling, and production design. Just no acting!

You can see Fallout's complete list of Emmy nominations here . We'll just have to cross our fingers for Goggins to finally win an Emmy in Season 3.

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