The largest known Martian meteorite has just been sold at auction for $5.29 million, selling well over the asking price of $2 million to $4 million. The hefty chunk of the Red Planet could help us learn more about our cosmic neighbor — if it’s allowed to be properly studied.
The meteorite, dubbed Northwest Africa (NWA) 16788, is around twice the size of a basketball and weighs 54 pounds (24.5 kilograms), making it “the largest known piece of Mars ever found on Earth,” according to Sotheby’s — the auction house responsible for selling the space rock.
It is around 70% larger than the previous largest known Martian meteorite, and is described as having a “deep red hue” and a “glassy crust,” according to Sotheby’s.
An anonymous meteorite hunter recovered NWA 16788 from part of the Sahara desert in Niger in November 2023. The space rock was known to scientists before now but has not been studied in detail, meaning it is currently unclear how old the space rock is, according to a 2024 study.
“NWA 16788 is a geological time capsule from another world,” Sotheby’s representatives wrote. “With fewer than 400 Martian meteorites ever recorded, and most no larger than a pebble, this specimen offers the biggest tangible connection to a planet that has captivated humanity for centuries.”
Related: 32 things on Mars that look like they shouldn’t be there
A 54-Pound Martian Meteorite Just Landed at Sotheby’s — But How Did It Get Here? – YouTube
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The meteorite was sold at a natural history-themed auction held at Sotheby’s New York auction house on Wednesday (July 16), along with more than 100 other lots, which included dinosaur fossils, megalodon teeth, Neanderthal tools, rare minerals, a piece of “fossilized lightning” and several other meteorites.
Sold at the same auction was the mounted skeleton of a juvenile ceratosaurus, a theropod dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic period. The skeleton sold for $30.5 million, making it the third most-expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold at auction. The most expensive fossil ever sold was a stegosaurus skeleton named “Apex,” which sold for $44.6 million in July 2024.
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What can we learn from Martian meteorites?
Martian meteorites are chunks of the Red Planet that were ejected into space as asteroids and comets smashed into the alien world. Most of these fragments have likely drifted in space for millions, if not billions, of years before eventually falling to Earth.
While several Mars rovers have examined rocks on the Red Planet, these robots haven’t returned any to Earth so far, and this is unlikely to change due to NASA’s recent cancellation of the Mars Sample Return mission, meaning meteorites like NWA 16788 are currently the only way of directly studying Mars’ origins on Earth. (A planned Chinese mission could bring Mars samples back to Earth no sooner than 2031.)
NWA 16788 was likely blasted into space by a large asteroid impact on Mars millions of years ago. (Image credit: Science Photo Library via Getty Images)
Martian meteorites on Earth have already led to multiple discoveries: For example, in 2023, researchers discovered a “huge diversity” of organic compounds hiding in a rock that was recovered from Morocco; and in 2024, experts uncovered evidence of ancient water on Mars in a rediscovered meteorite found in a university collection.
Researchers have also traced back the likely origins of more than 200 Martian meteorites and found that they can be linked to just five different impact sites on Mars, hinting that the space rocks can be used to study specific Mars locations.
Whether or not researchers can learn more about the Red Planet from NWA 16788 depends on whether its new owner allows it to be studied by scientists.
FX has picked up a limited series called Cry Wolf, with Brie Larson signing on to star opposite Olivia Colman.
The six-episode drama comes from Sarah Treem (The Affair) and FX Productions and is based on a Danish series, Ulven Kommer, by Maja Jul Larsen. Oscar winners (and The Bear guest stars) Colman and Larson will play, respectively, a social worker and a mother thrown into crisis when the mother’s teenage daughter alleges abuse. The allegations “push both women to their limits as they navigate an impossible situation,” per the show’s logline.
Cry Wolf went into development at FX in February. Treem, Colman and her South of the River Pictures partner Ed Sinclair and Melissa Bernstein of Special Interests brought the project to the Disney-owned outlet. They will executive produce with Alena Smith, Ulven Kommer creator Larsen, and Christian Rank and Claudia Saganario on behalf of DR Sales, the format arm of Danish broadcaster DR.
Colman landed an Emmy nomination Tuesday for her guest role on season three of The Bear. She’ll next be seen in The Roses opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, which is due in theaters Aug. 29, and has a lead role in Netflix’s Pride and Prejudice remake that’s set to begin production later this year. She is repped by United Agents and Johnson Shapiro.
Larson was a 2024 Emmy nominee for her lead role in Apple’s Lessons in Chemistry (and also shared in the show’s nod for best limited series as an executive producer). The Captain Marvel star’s recent credits also include a guest appearance on the current season of The Bear, Fast X and Netflix’s animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, where she reprised her role as Envy Adams from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Larson is repped by WME, 2PM Sharp and attorney Robert Offer.
In addition to Showtime’s The Affair, which she created and ran, Treem’s writing and producing credits also include In Treatment and House of Cards. She is repped by CAA and Johnson Shapiro.
The Seahorse Nebula (left) was captured alongside the Fireworks Galaxy and the ‘Ghost Bush’ open star cluster (right). (Image credit: Greg Meyer)
Astrophotographer Greg Meyer has captured a spectacular image of the Fireworks Galaxy(NGC 6946) shining close to the dark shape of the Seahorse Nebula.
The majestic spiral arms of the Fireworks Galaxy can be found to the lower right of Meyer’s cosmic vista, surrounded by the foreground clouds of a dusty molecular cloud located within the Milky Way. The Fireworks Galaxy’s nickname stems from the 10 observable supernovas seen brightening its expanse over the past century; for comparison, our galaxy is only expected to manifest one or maybe two such events over the same period of time.
Lurking to the left of the Fireworks Galaxy is the star-forming region Barnard 150 — an enormous cloud of interstellar dust also known as the Seahorse Nebula, due to its striking resemblance to the tiny sea creature. The ‘Ghost Bush’ open star cluster is also visible to the upper right of the Fireworks galaxy, twinkling with the light of countless gravitationally bound stellar bodies.
Meyer chose to frame all three objects in a single shot to create a breathtaking deep space vista. “I don’t usually shoot galaxies with a telescope of just 400mm, but showing it in perspective to other objects maybe makes it more interesting as a wider shot,” said Meyer in an email to Space.com”
As is often the case with astrophotography, the celestial objects captured in Meyer’s portrait aren’t anywhere near as close to one another as they appear. For example, the Seahorse Nebula orbits within the Milky Way at a distance of 1,200 light-years from Earth, while the Ghost Bush open cluster lies beyond, an impressive 5,600 light-years from our Blue Marble. The Fireworks Galaxy meanwhile is a staggering 22 million light-years from our planet.
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(Image credit: Jason Parnell-Brookes)
Want to see the Seahorse Nebula? The Celestron NexStar 8SE is ideal for beginners wanting quality, reliable and quick views of celestial objects. For a more in-depth look at our Celestron NexStar 8SE review.
The light that created this stunning cosmic vista was captured in the pristine skies above northern Arizona over the course of several nights in June earlier this year. Over 17 hours were spent imaging the deep sky objects with a Sky-Watcher Esprit 80mm telescope with a Player One Poseidon M pro astrophotography camera, using a range of filters and peripherals. The data was then post processed using Adobe editing software and Pixinsight.
Astrophotographers looking to upgrade their gear should read our guide to the best cameras for capturing the night sky in 2025. We also have a roundup of the top lenses for astrophotography if you’re looking for new glass.
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Editor’s Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com’s readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
The practice days ahead of The 153rd Open have whetted the appetite for the main event.
Young fans have seen their heroes up close, the players have been fine-tuning their preparations and Live At The Range has captured some iconic moments behind the scenes.
Before the action gets underway, here is a recap of some of the best bits so far…
Harrington nails 160-yard challenge
Padraig Harrington will get The 153rd Open underway on Thursday and if this effort in the 160-yard challenge is anything to go by, he is warming up nicely.
Katla is an active volcano in the south of Iceland, with at least 20 eruptions recorded in the last 1,100 years.
On top of Katla sits Mýrdalsjökull Glacier, which is where you will find the caves, formed by meltwater carving paths and tunnels through the ice, which then freezes over.
The caves are in all different shapes and sizes. Looking at the many layers in the ice, like a tree and its rings, you can read the history of when the volcano erupted, due to layers of ash.
Depending on how light hits the ice, different colors and shades are revealed. The caves can also be unstable, and safety gear is required before entering.
The caves are constantly changing due to weather and glacier movement. It is highly recommended to go with a guide.
Several players of the popular first-person shooter Call of Duty complained last week that they were permanently banned from the game for using a well-known cheat.
Video game streamer ItsHapa wrote on X last week that Call of Duty players using ArtificialAiming, a cheat provider of more than 19 years, were the targets of a “massive wave of permabans,” referring to bans that cannot be reversed, which prevents cheaters from creating new accounts. The streamer also posted a series of screenshots from the private forum where users of ArtificialAiming’s cheat, particularly the one for 2024’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,lamented the bans.
“It’s been a long run. [Good game] all,” wrote one user.
“Lost both my main accounts today, one was almost 4 years old with mastery camos and all… think I am done with [Call of Duty]…. risk we all took,” said another.
“It’s done for me [I’m] leaving this,” one complained.
“Same 🙁,” added another player.
Neil Wood, a spokesperson for Activision, the video game publisher behind the Call of Duty series, confirmed to TechCrunch that there was a round of account bans, and not just against users of the ArtificialAiming cheat. Wood declined to specify how many players were hit by the wave. In the past, these ban waves have hit hundreds of thousands of players at a time.
“Our latest enforcement efforts disrupted operations from multiple cheat vendors, disabling their tools and issuing bans to their users. We remain committed to pursuing those who threaten our community — cheaters, cheat makers, and anyone undermining the fair play experience,” read Activision’s statement.
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Do you develop cheats, hack video games, or work in anti-cheat? We’d love to hear from you. From a non-work device and network, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or via Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb, or email.
A person with knowledge of the cheating scene told TechCrunch that ArtificialAiming is a large and storied cheat provider, but that their cheats have been increasingly detected in recent years.
In a forum post from 2021, someone who appears to be a staffer at ArtificialAiming reflected about their then-14 years working at the cheat provider and proclaimed that “cheaters won,” as video game companies had to resort to spending millions of dollars to battle cheaters.
“It seems like there is not a single day where anti-cheaters are out there trying to rustle our jimmies. Well the fact that there still are hundreds of thousands of cheaters out there and a lot of them coming from ArtificialAiming, means that we’re not defeated yet,” they wrote.
Video game cheats can be a huge business. In 2021, Chinese police arrested a group of people who worked for what the authorities claimed was the “world’s largest” video game cheating ring for the popular shooter “PUBG Mobile.” The owner and founder of that cheat software told me at the time that he netted at least $77 million from developing cheats. Other cheat developers have claimed million-dollar earnings, or at least enough to not have to work for years. Others have had to pay back millions of dollars to video game companies after they were successfully sued.
In the last few years, in response to the growing popularity and sophistication of video game cheats, companies have beefed up their anti-cheat teams and technologies, launching anti-cheat systems that run at the kernel level, giving the gaming companies visibility into virtually everything that runs on the computer.
Activision launched its kernel-level anti-cheat system Ricochet in 2021, following in the footsteps of other gaming giants, such as Riot Games, which released its own kernel-level system in 2020.
Google’s AI-generated summaries have claimed another piece of search territory: the Discover feed.
Google confirmed to TechCrunch, which first spotted the change, that AI Overviews are rolling out to the news feed on the Google app for iOS and Android. We also spotted a few AI Overviews on the Discover feed when testing it out on the iOS app. Typically, the personalized news feed shows headlines of stories from a variety of outlets, curated by your search history.
In the instances we found, AI Overviews present a summary of a news story that’s been covered by several outlets, indicated by the publisher logos in the upper left-hand corner. Clicking into the module shows a list of the different stories.
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Google said AI Overviews in the Discover feed would focus on sports and entertainment, but we found an example of an AI-generated summary for a politics story. Credit: Screenshot: Mashable / Google
The launch of Overviews in the Discover feed joins of the growing list of places in Google Search with AI-generated summaries directly on the page. It started with summaries at the top of the search page, with very mixed results, and has grown to include summaries in the People Also Ask (PAA in SEO terms) section of search results. During Google I/O 2025, the company said its AI Overviews now reach more than 1.5 billion people per month. More recently, Google introduced AI Mode, an alternative to traditional search that provides answers through an AI chatbot powered by the Gemini model.
While Google continues to minimize reports that its generative AI features are negatively impacting publisher traffic, many publishers are seeing ongoing losses. The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and others have reported a significant decline in organic search traffic, as have other major news outlets and even independent bloggers. A 2025 analysis from SimilarWeb had similar findings, reporting a 26 percent decrease in organic search traffic since the launch of AI Overviews.
A Google spokesperson told TechCrunch that AI Overviews in the Discover feed is launching in the U.S. and will focus on lifestyle topics like sports and entertainment. That said, the AI-generated summaries we found were about hard news topics like the BBC’s documentary about the war in Gaza and Mike Waltz’s Senate confirmation for his UN ambassadorship.
Google did not immediately respond to request for comment on which topics will be summarized by generative AI.
Benjamin Evan Ainsworth starred in 2022’s Pinocchio, while Bo Bragason is well known for Renegade Nell
The new film adaptation of the Legend of Zelda video game series will see two young British actors take on the leading roles, Nintendo has announced.
Renegade Nell star Bo Bragason, 21, has been cast as Princess Zelda, while Pinocchio’s Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, 16, will play the role of Link.
Announcing the news on X, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto said he was “very much looking forward to seeing both of them on the big screen”.
This will be the first attempt to make a Zelda film, although the franchise previously had an animated TV series in 1989.
Bragason has previously appeared in Disney+ series Renegade Nell and the BBC series Three Girls and The Jetty. She has also appeared in horror films Censor and The Radleys.
Ainsworth’s screen credits include the 2022 live-action remake of Pinocchio, starring Tom Hanks, as well as The Haunting of Bly Manor, Everything’s Going to Be Great, and All Fun and Games opposite Sex Education’s Asa Butterfield.
The Legend of Zelda film is scheduled to be released in May 2027.
Director plans ‘serious but whimsical’ adaptation
The game follows Princess Zelda and the elf-like warrior Link as they fight to save the land of Hyrule from an evil warlord-turned-demon king called Ganon.
In the games, Link never speaks, but fans have speculated this won’t be the case in the film. Similarly, Princess Zelda is expected to have significantly more screen time in the film adaptation than she does in the games.
The live-action film was announced in 2023, when Sony confirmed it would collaborate with Nintendo to co-finance the project.
It will be directed by Wes Ball, best known for The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and The Maze Runner.
Ball previously told Total Film: “I know it’s important, this [Zelda] franchise, to people and I want it to be a serious movie… a real movie that can give people an escape.”
“That’s the thing I want to try to create – it’s got to feel like something real. Something serious and cool, but fun and whimsical.”
Jurassic World’s Derek Connolly was previously announced as the film’s writer, but the latest draft has been written by Ball’s previous collaborator TS Nowlin.
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The video game series has sold more than 150m copies across its multiple instalments over various consoles
The Legend of Zelda game franchise was created by Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, with the first game launching in 1986.
Since then, the franchise as remained one of Nintendo’s best known brands, and has sold more than 150 million copies across its multiple instalments over various consoles.
Video game adaptations have had a mixed reception at the box office over the years. Many, such as Resident Evil, Tomb Raider and Mortal Kombat, were not always as well received as their source material.
But more recently, the success of The Super Mario Bros Movie, Sonic The Hedgehog, A Minecraft Movie and Uncharted, along with the TV adaptation of The Last of Us, has gone some way to turning the tables.
The film is being produced by Miyamoto and former Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad.
Its launch date of 7 May 2027 was originally due to be the release date of Avengers: Secret Wars, until it was delayed until December.
As AI innovation continues to accelerate, the battle is now shaking up the browser landscape and threatening to disrupt long-established digital business models. According to various reports, both OpenAI and Perplexity are close to releasing AI-powered web browsers to challenge a market currently dominated by Google Chrome.
Chrome is crucial for Google’s parent company Alphabet’s ad business because it collects user data, delivers targeted ads, and directs search traffic to Google. Alphabet’s ad business currently makes up nearly three-quarters of its revenue.
AI-powered browsers
OpenAI’s AI-powered browser, codenamed “Aura,” is set to launch in the coming weeks and aims to use artificial intelligence to fundamentally change how consumers browse the web. According to a Reuters report, OpenAI’s browser is designed to keep some user interactions within a ChatGPT-like chat interface, unlike traditional browsers where users click through to websites.
The browser would also allow OpenAI to integrate its AI agent products, such as “Operator,” into the browsing experience. Operator, released earlier this year in preview mode, is powered by a model that allows it to interact with on-screen buttons, menus, and text fields. This means OpenAI’s browser could not only threaten Chrome’s dominance but redefine how users navigate and engage with the web.
Last week, Perplexity AI also launched a Chromium-based AI web browser called “Comet.” It provides access to the Perplexity Assistant from within Comet at any point and enables it to perform tasks on the user’s behalf. Perplexity Assistant is a mobile app-based digital assistant for Android and iOS that launched in January this year.
A Tech Radar report expressed enthusiasm for Comet’s capabilities: “From booking a restaurant reservation with details you provide, or simply browsing the web to compile information on a topic, Comet is a completely new way of spending time online, and I’ve found my first 48 hours to be incredibly eye-opening.”
For now, Comet is only available to a select few who were either lucky enough to be chosen from Comet’s waitlist or subscribers to the new $200 monthly Perplexity Max plan.
Israel bombed the Syrian army’s headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday after warning the government to leave the country’s Druze minority alone, as authorities announced a ceasefire in the community’s southern heartland after deadly sectarian clashes.
Syrian government forces entered the majority-Druze city of Sweida on Tuesday with the stated aim of overseeing a ceasefire agreed with Druze community leaders following days of fighting with local Bedouin tribes.
However, witnesses reported that the government forces joined with the Bedouin in attacking Druze fighters and civilians in a bloody rampage through the city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that the violence in Sweida province since Sunday had left more than 300 people dead, including government forces, local fighters and 27 Druze civilians killed in “summary executions … by members of the defence and interior ministries”.
The Syrian presidency vowed to investigate the “heinous acts” in Sweida and to punish “all those proven to be involved”.
Syrian security forces walk together along a street, after clashes between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed in the southern Druze city of Sweida, July 16. — Reuters
State media said a fresh ceasefire had been agreed, announcing “the deployment of security checkpoints” in Sweida city. A previous truce declared on Tuesday appeared to have had little effect on the ground.
The fighting was the most serious outbreak of violence in Syria since government forces battled Druze fighters in Sweida province and near Damascus in April and May, leaving more than 100 people dead.
The authorities have had strained relations with Syria’s patchwork of religious and ethnic minorities since they toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December.
Israel, which has its own Druze community, has presented itself as a defender of the group, although some analysts say that is a pretext for pursuing its own military goal of keeping Syrian government forces as far from their shared frontier as possible.
Following Assad’s fall, the Israeli military took control of the UN-monitored demilitarised zone in the Golan Heights and conducted hundreds of strikes on military targets in Syria.
Syrian state TV reported several Israeli strikes today near the army and defence ministry headquarters in central Damascus, with Israel’s army saying it had “struck the entrance of the Syrian regime’s military headquarters”.
AFP images showed the side of a building in the defence complex in ruins after the strike, as smoke billowed over the area.
Israel said it had also struck a “military target” in the area of the presidential palace in Damascus.
The Syrian health ministry said that at least one person was killed and 18 others wounded in the strikes on Damascus.
‘Existential battle’
Turkey, which has backed Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s administration, said “Israel’s attacks on Damascus … constitute an act of sabotage against Syria’s efforts to secure peace, stability and security.”
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz called on Damascus to “leave the Druze in Sweida alone”, later threatening to unleash “painful blows” to “eliminate the forces that attacked the Druze until their full withdrawal” from Syria’s south.
Israel said it was sending more troops to the armistice line between the occupied Golan Heights and Syrian-controlled territory.
A military official said some troops would be redeployed there from the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s conflict against Hamas was in its 22nd month.
Dozens of people were crossing the heavily fortified Golan frontier, according to an AFP correspondent in Majdal Shams, a mainly Druze town in the Israeli-annexed area.
A military statement said Israeli forces were “operating to prevent the infiltration” from Syrian territory and to “safely return the civilians who crossed the border” from the Israeli-controlled side.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in February that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of forces of the government near territory it controls.
The head of the Druze community in Israel, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, called the situation “an existential battle for the Druze community”.
Abuses ‘must stop’
Sporadic gunfire continued to ring out in Sweida today, an AFP correspondent reported before the latest ceasefire was announced.
The correspondent counted the bodies of around 30 combatants, some in plain clothes and some in military uniform.
The Observatory, witnesses and Druze armed groups have said government forces took part in fighting alongside the Bedouin against the Druze.
The Syrian defence ministry accused “outlaw groups” of attacking its forces inside the city, saying they are now “continuing to respond to the sources of fire”.
The Bedouin and the Druze have been at loggerheads for decades, with the latest violence triggered by the kidnapping of a Druze vegetable merchant, the Observatory said.
Since they toppled Assad in December, Syria’s authorities and their allies have been repeatedly accused of not doing enough to protect the country’s religious and ethnic minorities.
The United States, a close ally of Israel, was “talking to both sides, all the relevant sides on this and hopefully we can bring it to a conclusion, but we’re very concerned”, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
US President Donald Trump’s administration asked Israel again to halt strikes on Syria and engage in dialogue with the government in Damascus, Axios correspondent Barak Ravid reported, citing a senior US official.
Neither Axios nor Ravid said whether that request came before or after Israeli strikes on Syria’s military headquarters and near the presidential palace in Damascus.
France said that “the abuses targeting civilians, which we strongly condemn, must stop”, while the European Union urged “all external actors” to “fully respect Syria’s sovereignty”.
Germany criticised the airstrikes, urging Tel Aviv to refrain from actions that could destabilise the country, Anadolu reported.
The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) also condemned the attacks on Damascus in the “strongest terms”, Al Jazeera reported.
In a statement, GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi said the air campaign represented a “flagrant violation” of Syria’s sovereignty, “a breach of international laws and norms, and a serious threat to regional security and stability”.
Albudaiwi reiterated the GCC’s support for Syria’s territorial integrity, adding that the continuation of the repeated Israeli attacks had constituted an “irresponsible escalation” and disregarded international efforts to achieve stability in Syria and the region.
He also called for international action to stop the “serious violations, hold the perpetrators accountable, and work diligently to protect the Syrian people and preserve its sovereignty in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law”.
