Our planet is mostly shielded from the effects of the solar wind—except near the poles, where it enters Earth’s magnetic field, creating brilliant auroras.Vadim Nefedov/Getty ImagesDespite a reputation for bestowing tans and warming beaches, the sun is not a soothing place. The middle layer of its churning atmosphere, which reaches temperatures of more than ten…

Capital One was hacked, the company has disclosed. The breach was first discovered on July 19th. A notice about the data breach is currently being broadcast from the company’s home…

Flaws in networking protocols like those found in VxWorks are rare, but can have serious consequences.Getty ImagesWhen major vulnerabilities show up in ubiquitous operating systems like Microsoft Windows, they can be weaponized and exploited, the fallout potentially impacting millions of devices. Today, researchers from the enterprise security firm Armis are detailing just such a group…

Tesla has launched a new utility-scale energy storage product called Megapack modeled after the giant battery system it deployed in South Australia as the company seeks to provide an alternative…

The epic blue mountain-scape you see above is a composite of hundreds of image layers. But they weren't made with Photoshop—or a digital camera, for that matter.Instead, artist Wu Chi-Tsung turned to analog methods from the past. He drew from both the Western tradition of cyanotype-making, developed by Sir John Herschel in 1842, and Eastern…

Here’s what I knew when I visited the Museum of Future Experiences: The startup is part of the current batch of companies at Y Combinator, and it’s doing work with…

It came in too late to be included in the last roundup, but everyone has met the Sith Trooper that got revealed in the run-up to Comic-Con International, right? Surely you've spent as much time as we have trying to work out just what that name and color scheme means. Are these the next generation…

Even before pitching onstage at Y Combinator, Indian car refueling startup MyPetrolPump has managed to snag $1.6 million in seed financing. The business, which is similar to startups in the…

Rapper Megan Thee Stallion's catchphrase has taken over social media.Lorne Thomson/Redferns/Getty ImagesIf you're having a "hot girl summer," it's time to pay up. Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion, and her definitive tweet that this season is made for hot girls, made the phrase the season's most ubiquitous meme, an internet-wide catchphrase. Got vacation pictures? "Hot…

Civil liberties campaign group Liberty has lost its latest challenge to controversial U.K. surveillance powers that allow state agencies to intercept and retain data in bulk. The challenge fixed on…