Entertainment
NASA video shows how much ground a Mars rover has covered, literally
When NASA makes a new timelapse video, it’s not for reminiscence or clout chasing on the Internet.
The U.S. space agency recently pulled together images from Curiosity, one of its two robotic rovers on Mars, for a scientific purpose. The two-minute video provides a quick succession of clips spanning six years of exploration at Gale Crater. Each image shows the rover ambling over crumbling lithic landscapes as it slowly climbs Mount Sharp, which rises three miles above the basin floor.
The montage isn’t just an intriguing look back on the mission, but a tool for the rover’s science team. Using views from Curiosity’s right navigation camera, mounted on its head, the researchers analyze the sand grains shifting on the rover’s deck.
You can watch the Martian dust churn in the rover’s treads in the Instagram post below. (The Lenny Kravitz soundtrack, though not for science, certainly adds to the appeal.)
“Distinguishing between sand jostled by each drive and wind gusts can provide new information about seasonal changes in the atmosphere,” the agency said.
Curiosity took these images between Jan. 2, 2020, and March 8, but the rover’s journey began long before that. After eight months and 352 million miles flying through space, the rover landed on Mars on Aug. 5, 2012. Its mission: Find out if this smaller neighboring world ever had conditions to support living creatures.
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NASA’s question was answered rather quickly. Within a year, the rover had drilled a rock sample from a long-gone lakebed and confirmed the region had the right chemistry for habitation in its ancient past, as well as potential nutrients for microorganisms.
Since then, the rover has continued to study the alien environment using its internal chemistry lab. A recently published study revealed the rover detected 21 different organic molecules in a small rock sample, the largest set found on the Red Planet so far. Among the findings, Curiosity discovered preserved complex carbon material. Life could have produced them, though NASA can’t say for sure, as chemical reactions between water and rock could also create these molecules.
As scientists monitor the shifting sand for clues about Mars’ seasonal changes, engineers keep a close eye on how that dust and debris put wear and tear on the vehicle. Almost since the beginning of the journey, the team has noticed sharp rocks in the terrain ravaging Curiosity’s wheels, even causing punctures.
Before the rover’s sibling launched, NASA went back to the drawing board. Engineers built Perseverance with hardier wheels made from thicker aluminum. Each wheel is powered by its own motor and can turn in a full circle, allowing it to dodge and swerve around hazards more easily.
Engineers inspect damage to Curiosity’s wheels on Mars on April 18, 2016.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
But to help the elder rover, NASA has problem-solved alternative techniques, such as driving in reverse. Software engineers also provided upgrades that gave Curiosity’s team more control over individual wheel speeds to reduce the force of jagged rocky surfaces. Those efforts have kept the rover trucking, which has traveled 23 miles on Mars.
Wheel damage isn’t the only concern in the harsh conditions on Mars. Many a mission has succumbed to the effects of blustery Martian winds, which kick up dust that then settles on solar panels.
Such was the fate of Curiosity and Perseverance‘s predecessors, Spirit and Opportunity, who died from dust choking their vital power sources.
Entertainment
AI stocks are cooling — this ChatGPT trading tool keeps delivering
TL;DR: A ChatGPT-powered investing platform that helps you find and manage stocks with clearer signals—lifetime access for a one-time $54.97.
Credit: Sterling Stock Picker
The AI trade has seemingly had its moment — big runs, big headlines, big expectations. The AI fun is not over by any means. But now that things are settling, the real question is what comes next?
Instead of chasing whatever’s trending, Sterling Stock Picker leans into a more grounded approach: using a ChatGPT-powered assistant (Finley) to help you understand what’s actually happening inside a stock. You can ask questions about companies, sectors, or your own portfolio and get explanations that are tied to real data — not just surface-level summaries.
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It also handles the heavy lifting most people avoid. The platform analyzes financials, growth metrics, and risk, then surfaces signals like whether a stock is worth buying, holding, or avoiding. There’s even a “North Star” system that simplifies that call into something actionable.
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If you’re building from scratch, there’s a done-for-you portfolio builder that aligns with your risk tolerance. If you already have positions, it can suggest adjustments based on your portfolio’s performance.
One thing that stands out is how it balances guidance with transparency. You’re not just handed picks — you can see the reasoning behind them, which matters if you’re trying to build a repeatable process.
Have a lifetime way to pressure-test your judgment — especially in a market that’s moving past hype and into something more selective.
Get lifetime access to the ChatGPT-driven Sterling Stock Picker while it’s on sale for a one-time $54.97 payment (reg. $486) through May 10.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Entertainment
Get 2TB encrypted cloud storage and collaboration tools for just $112.49
TL;DR: Lifetime access to 2TB of secure Drime cloud storage is on sale for a one-time $112.49 (reg. $299.99) through May 10.
$112.49
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Cloud storage is one of those things that quickly turns into a monthly bill you forget about. That’s what makes a lifetime option like Drime worth a closer look.
You can currently get 2TB of storage for a one-time $112.49 (reg. $299.99), which means no ongoing fees just to keep your files accessible.
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But this isn’t just a place to dump files and forget about them. Drime leans more toward being a full workspace. You can upload, sync, and access files across devices, but also edit documents, leave comments, and collaborate with others without switching tools. It’s useful if you’re juggling projects, clients, or even just shared folders with family.
Security is a big part of the pitch. Files stored in the encrypted Vault are protected by end-to-end encryption, and everything is hosted in Europe in compliance with GDPR standards. This means your data isn’t floating around unsecured, and you have more control over who sees what.
There are also a lot of small quality-of-life features that make a difference over time — like version history for restoring older files, advanced link sharing with passwords and expiration dates, and even built-in e-signature tools.
It’s a simple way to get more control over your files without adding another monthly expense.
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Get lifetime access to 2TB of Drime Cloud Storage for a one-time $112.49 (reg. $299.99) through May 10.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Entertainment
The Bear still doesnt know how to write romance
Whenever The Bear introduces a new female character, I pray she doesn’t become a love interest for one of the male leads. Not because I hate romance, but because I specifically hate the way The Bear does romance.
The clearest offender is Carmy’s (Jeremy Allen White) relationship with Claire (Molly Gordon). A childhood friend who re-enters Carmy’s life, Claire is less a real human character than she is a walking self-help book for Carmy. She spends almost every moment she’s on screen talking about him: her memories of him, his mental health struggles, his relationship with his family. In theory, she has a life apart from Carmy — her defining character trait outside of being his girlfriend is vaguely “nurse” — but in watching The Bear, you wouldn’t know it.
Usually a great performer (see: Shiva Baby, Oh, Hi!, and more), Gordon is reduced to two modes here: luminous love interest hanging onto Carmy’s every word, or calming therapist. She’s not the only Bear character to meet this fate. As The Bear builds Ever staffer Jessica (Sarah Ramos) into a possible match for Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), it replaces her level-headed expertise with empty platitudes designed to ground him. (Season 4 line “honesty is sanity” made me want to drive my head through a wall.) Elsewhere, Richie’s ex-wife, Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs), acts as a similar pillar of support.
Their heads constantly askew, their eyes lit up in adoration, their mouths always ready to offer up an eager laugh or some cornball advice, these characters morph into The Bear‘s single idea of a Woman In Love. Now, The Bear‘s standalone episode “Gary” offers a new addition to this pantheon: Sherri (Marin Ireland) from Gary, Indiana.
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Sherri is a woman whom Richie and Mikey (Jon Bernthal) meet at a bar while on a work trip to Gary. She immediately strikes up a rapport with Mikey, playing a private game of “Fact or Fiction” with him, listening to his complicated woes while nestled together in a bathroom stall, and stealing his beanie and wearing it like a middle schooler trying to get a rise out of a crush. It’s a level of blindly supportive compassion we haven’t seen since Claire Bear, and Ireland, typically a huge asset to any project, soon becomes trapped in The Bear‘s love interest archetype. (Someone please ban affectionate head tilts from the set of The Bear, effective immediately.)
While Sherri feels like she was meant to be a moment of bright connection in Mikey’s life, maybe even “the one that got away,” she really just comes across as an empty vessel for him to pour his trauma into. “What are you looking for, Michael?” she wonders. Later, when he asks permission to do a bump of cocaine, she simply responds, “I want you to be you.” It’s a series of faux-deep exchanges that even two great performers can’t sell. (It doesn’t help that Bernthal and Moss-Bachrach wrote the episode.)
That faux-deepness is what sinks The Bear‘s other romances, too. The show tries to force these deep, cosmic connections, but it forgets that these relationships should be a two-way street. Perhaps that’s why many viewers are drawn to shipping Carmy and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri). While the showrunners have affirmed that their relationship is platonic — and I personally agree with that choice — what sets this hypothetical pairing apart is that they each have such rich lives, both in their work together and their time apart. That’s because The Bear is invested in both of them as characters, rather than just using one as a device to unlock the other. You simply can’t say the same of The Bear‘s other romantic pairings, and the release of “Gary” further proves that romance is the recipe The Bear has yet to master.
“Gary” is now streaming on Hulu. The Bear Season 5 premieres this June on Hulu.
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