🛫 Channel wings take flight in modern drone

Hello all,

In an earlier edition, we told you all about moving our science and health coverage to its own brand and its own site. That’s now happened, so when you click on links for articles from those categories in the newsletter (and on the New Atlas front page), you’ll now be taken to our Refractor site.

I’ve included a couple of fresh stories here to kick things off, which can be found under a new Refractor heading toward the bottom of the page. We’re stoked by the return of science/health news to our coverage, and hope that you are too.

Any issues or thoughts, let us know. Enjoy ! Paul

Headliner

Video: Semicircular wings give Cyclone VTOL a different kind of lift

by Michael Franco

We've seen lots of designs for vertical take-off and landing vehicles over the years, but none are quite as striking as the wings on HopFlyt's Cyclone. The curved wings have their root in a design first introduced in the 1920s but never employed in a commercial vehicle.

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Highlights

Tiny HousesOutdoors

Extra-wide tiny house offers spacious apartment-like living

by Adam Williams

The Mysa 400 by Irontown Modular is an extra-wide tiny house that features an apartment-style interior with a spacious living area, two bedrooms, and an open design that's suited to full-time living.

AutomotiveTransport

Is Volkswagen finally planning to bring a pickup truck to the USA?

by Utkarsh Sood

It’s been a long time coming. Volkswagen has just said it “wouldn’t rule out” the idea of a pickup for the American market. It seems that the sheer size of the pickup truck market in the US has proven hard for VW to ignore anymore.

Refine the art of writing code with MS Visual Studio 2026

Coding isn’t an easy task by any means; but the difficulty shouldn’t ever be down to a lackluster IDE. However, Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 gives you seamless software development at the discounted price of $42.97 (reg. $499.99).

Holiday DestinationsOutdoors

In China’s 'Silicon Valley,' US landmarks stand in a strange world frozen in time

by Bronwyn Thompson

Mount Rushmore may be in South Dakota, but it’s also in Shenzhen, China. Here, the four presidents look out over part of a 118-acre theme park, where iconic world sites are recreated and frozen in time – as the city around it races into the future.

BicyclesTransport

Škoda's analog invention keeps cyclists from crashing into pedestrians

by Abhimanyu Ghoshal

Czech automaker Škoda took on an interesting side quest recently to improve road safety – but for bicycles instead of cars. The company's bike bell is designed to make a sound perceptible to pedestrians strolling with ANC headphones on.

EnergyEngineering

New cold-hardy electrolyte could potentially double battery range of EVs

by Etiido Uko

White walkers can't have EVs. Not because they are lifeless zombies who probably can't drive, but because the extreme cold would degrade the lithium batteries. Scientists in China may be solving that with a new cold-resistant battery electrolyte.

GearOutdoors

AI-powered binoculars promise smart night-time discovery

by Monica J. White

The ScoPix binoculars combine night-vision imagery with AI recognition for identifying wildlife, objects, and landmarks in real time. The Kickstarter project aims to turn low-light viewing into a more interactive, informative experience.

Body and Mind

GLP-1 drugs shown to fight arthritis independent of weight loss

by Michael Franco

A new study has shown that the popular GLP-1 weight loss drug semaglutide has the power to halt, and to some extent restore, cartilage in people suffering from osteoarthritis (OA). The finding hints at a possible use of the drug beyond weight loss.

BiologyScience

Newfound giant virus holds clues to how complex life evolved

by Chelsea Haney

For two decades giant viruses have unsettled one of biology’s most fundamental boundaries forcing scientists to rethink how cellular complexity emerged. A newly discovered giant virus sharpens that debate, offering clues about how a key feature of most complex life may have evolved.

Elsewhere

🛠 Peek inside a 'rollable' smartphone.

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