Month: September 2022

Enlarge / A screenshot of Apple's invitation sent to press. (credit: Apple)

CUPERTINO, Calif.—At 1 pm EST on Wednesday, September 7, Apple will host its first in-person, indoor launch event at the Steve Jobs Theater on the company's Cupertino campus since before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

As has long been a tradition, we'll be liveblogging the event on-site, so head back to this page when the event starts to follow along!

This being a September event, you can bet on one thing above all others: new iPhone models. Apple is expected to roll out the entire iPhone 14 lineup, including the Pro models. Rumor has it that the company will drop the mini size in favor of a new Plus or Max size for the regular iPhone 14 but that it won't have many major changes otherwise.

Enlarge / The now-extinct Haast’s eagle hunting moa in New Zealand, which lacked other large predators. Today scientists are looking at the ancient history of the islands’ birds to better understand how “natural” biological invasions happen. (credit: John Megahan/CC)

New Zealand has long been known as a place for the birds—quite literally. Before people arrived 700 years ago, the archipelago hosted an idiosyncratic ecosystem, nearly free of mammals. More than 200 bird species filled a food web all their own. Rather than cows or antelopes, there was a family of flightless birds known as moa. And in place of apex predators like tigers, New Zealand had Haast’s eagle.

Ever since a group of farm workers drained a swamp in the late 1860s and uncovered its buried bones, this eagle has captivated researchers. Julius Haast, the explorer and geologist who published the first notes on the species, described it as “a raptorial bird of enormous dimensions.” Today, biologists estimate that the eagles weighed up to 33 pounds—roughly 50 percent more than any raptor known today. But with a wingspan of only two to three meters—just beyond the range of a bald eagle—this was an oddly proportioned bird.

The shape of Haast’s eagle was one of many puzzles that scientists faced as they studied this long-extinct species, preserved in just a few skeletons, plus scattered bits and pieces. For nearly a century, there was a debate over whether such a large bird could fly; even after that feud was settled, questions remained about whether the bird was capable of killing moa, which in some cases would have been more than 15 times larger than the eagle itself. Now, new scientific techniques, combined with a clearer understanding of New Zealand’s geological history, has placed the Haast’s eagle amid a much larger ecological discussion: how species comes to “invade” new territories.

Enlarge / The SLS rocket may launch on Saturday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

11:15 am ET Saturday: NASA has officially scrubbed the Artemis I launch attempt on Saturday. The launch team was unable to solve a leak in an 8-inch hydrogen inlet leading to the Space Launch System rocket.

Launch officials attempted three troubleshooting measures, and none were able to substantially reduce the leak of cryogenic hydrogen when it flowed from ground systems on board the rocket.

It is not clear whether NASA will attempt to launch the Artemis I mission on Monday or Tuesday, or will need to roll back the massive rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building for remedial work. The latter seems most likely, but a final decision has not been made. Ars will have a full recap story later on Saturday.