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  • Here Are the Subtle Changes iOS 26 Brings to Your Lock Screen

    Here Are the Subtle Changes iOS 26 Brings to Your Lock Screen

    Apple released the fifth public beta of iOS 26 on Aug. 25. The beta brought a handful of new features, like the ability to screen incoming calls and a new Liquid Glass design, to the iPhones of developers and beta testers. The update also lets you customize your lock screen in more ways than you could with iOS 18.

    Tech Tips

    When Apple released iOS 18, that update let you remove and change the controls on your lock screen. This was great if you found yourself accidentally pressing your flashlight control when putting your phone back in your pocket. And with the iOS 26 beta, you can move your lock screen widgets, increase the size of your clock and give your lock screen wallpaper a 3D spatial effect.

    Here’s how to bring these changes to your lock screen and what to know about each.

    Don’t forget, Apple is still beta testing iOS 26. That means the update might be buggy for you and your device’s battery life may be affected so it’s best to keep those troubles off your primary device. If you want to try out the beta, I recommend downloading it on a secondary device. 

    It’s also possible that Apple could adjust these lock screen options, and other update features, before the final version of iOS 26 is released this fall.

    Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

    Change the size of your lock screen’s clock

    The biggest change iOS 26 brings to your lock screen is the ability to change the size of your clock. The expanded clock takes up about a third of my iPhone 16 Pro’s screen at most, which I love because if I place my phone on a table I can easily see the time, even without my glasses. But you have to enable the bigger clock.

    The Font & Color menu open on an iPhone.

    Apple/Screenshot by CNET

    Here’s how to expand the clock on your lock screen.

    1. Tap Settings. 
    2. Tap Wallpaper.
    3. Tap Customize under the lock screen you want to adjust.

    Your iPhone will show you that lock screen and all the adjustable elements will be outlined. Your clock has a thicker tab in the bottom right corner of its outline. Tap and drag this down to expand your clock to your desired size. 

    Then, you can tap the clock and choose whether you want the clock to have a Glass or Solid design, and you can adjust the color and thickness of the clock, too. But, after changing the size of the clock, you can’t change the font. Only the far left clock font can be expanded for now, but maybe Apple will expand this to other fonts in a future iOS update.

    Your lock screen’s widget dock can have a new home

    Another change iOS 26 brings to your lock screen is the ability to move the lock screen’s widget dock. The update lets you place the dock near the bottom of your lock screen right above your controls. 

    To move your lock screen’s widget dock, go to Settings > Wallpaper and tap Customize under the lock screen you want to adjust. Then, tap and drag the widget dock to the bottom of your lock screen. 

    If you expand your lock screen’s clock, your widget dock will automatically be placed near the bottom of the screen and you can’t place it anywhere else on your screen.

    Spatial effects come to wallpapers

    A Lock Screen with the spatial scene option outlined in orange.

    Apple/Screenshot by CNET

    An iPhone lock screen with the controls outlined.

    Apple/Screenshot by CNET

    Your lock screen’s wallpaper also gets a fun, 3D effect that Apple calls a spatial scene. When enabled, spatial scenes add depth to elements in your wallpaper — and pictures — making them appear like they are popping out at you. As you move your iPhone around you, those elements will move, too.

    To turn your lock screen wallpaper into a spatial scene, go to Settings > Wallpaper and tap Customize under the lock screen you want to work with. Tap the hexagon near the bottom right side of your screen, and your iPhone will make the wallpaper a spatial scene.

    It’s important to note spatial scenes only work with photos and not the wallpapers Apple provides, like those under the Weather and Emoji collections.

    Controls get some color

    A pretty small change iOS 26 brings to your lock screen is it changes the color of the controls near the bottom of your screen. This change is enabled automatically in iOS 26 so you just have to add a colorful control, or create your own, to bring a pop of color to your lock screen.

    Make your lock screen your own

    Apple has slowly loosened its grip on your iPhone’s lock screen, giving you more freedom to customize its appearance and how you use it over the years. And iOS 26 is no different. 

    Being able to expand your clock, move the widget dock to more than one position and being able to give your wallpaper a 3D effect are just a few ways iOS 26 lets you create your own experience on your iPhone. These features could be improved upon — like giving you more freedom in where you can place your widget dock — but I expect Apple to keep adding ways you can customize your iPhone’s lock screen in the future.

    For more iOS news, here are my first impressions of the beta version of iOS 26, how to enable call screening in the beta and all the new features Apple said it will bring to your device later this year. You can get an early view of the upcoming iPhone features with our iOS 26 cheat sheet.

    Watch this: Apple Will Reveal the iPhone 17 Soon. Here’s What We Want


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  • Diagnostic dilemma: Rare condition made a woman see people as dragons

    Diagnostic dilemma: Rare condition made a woman see people as dragons

    The patient: A 52-year-old woman in The Hague, Netherlands

    The symptoms: The woman visited an outpatient psychiatric clinic and told the doctors that when she looked at people’s faces, she saw them transform into the faces of dragons. She also saw dragon-like faces appear in front of her spontaneously, even when no people were present. These hallucinations were disturbing and affected her ability to interact with people.

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  • Junaid Siddique included in UAE’s squad for upcoming home T20I tri-series

    Junaid Siddique included in UAE’s squad for upcoming home T20I tri-series

    Dubai: Fast bowler Junaid Siddique is amongst the known players to be included in UAE’s squad for upcoming home T20I tri-series against Afghanistan and Pakistan, set to happen in Sharjah from August 29 to September 7.

    The series serves as a preparatory competition for all three sides as the Men’s T20 Asia Cup takes place from September 9-28 in the UAE. Siddique, 32, has played 59 ODIs and 71 T20Is for the UAE and has picked up 76 and 96 wickets in the two white-ball formats respectively.

    Apart from Siddique, who last played a T20I game in December 2024, uncapped all-rounder Harshit Kaushik, leg spin bowling all-rounder Muhammad Farooq and left-arm pacer Muhammad Jawadullah have been included in place of Akif Raja, Matiullah Khan and Zuhaib Zubair.

    The rest of the UAE squad looks familiar, thanks to the likes of captain Muhammad Waseem, Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma, Rahul Chopra, Muhammad Zohaib and Saghir Khan. UAE will play against Pakistan in their opening match of the tri-series on August 30.

    Their rest of the matches in the tri-series come at a quick pace – facing Afghanistan on September 1, before meeting Pakistan again on September 4 and taking again on Afghanistan on September 5.

    UAE, coached by former India opener Lalchand Rajput, are slotted with India, Oman and Pakistan in Group A of the Asia Cup. The UAE squad for the mega event will be announced soon. In the Asia Cup, UAE will open their campaign against India at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on September 10.

    UAE squad for T20I tri-series: Muhammad Waseem (captain), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma (wk), Asif Khan, Dhruv Parashar, Ethan D’Souza, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wk), Rohid Khan, and Saghir Khan.

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  • Cold War-era research station Camp Century samples are revealing new insights about climate change today.

    Cold War-era research station Camp Century samples are revealing new insights about climate change today.

    It sounds like something out of science fiction: In the late 1950s, the US Army carved a tiny “city” into the Greenland ice sheet, 800 miles from the North Pole. It had living facilities, and scientific labs, and working showers, all powered by one small nuclear reactor.

    The research base was called “Camp Century,” a Cold War scientific project that helped researchers deepen their understanding of ice. As part of their efforts, they wound up drilling close to a mile down through the ice sheet to pull up an ice core: a series of long cylinders of ice that serve as a record of Earth’s history, with everything from atmospheric gases to volcanic fallout preserved in their tightly packed layers.

    The ice from Camp Century has been thoroughly sampled and studied since it first came out of the ice sheet. It, along with the ice from many other ice cores, has taught us a lot about Earth’s climate going back tens of thousands of years — about how abruptly climate can change and the role that greenhouse gases play in warming.

    But the drillers at Camp Century brought up more than just ice. They also brought up several feet of sediment from beneath it. Except, as a geoscientist named Paul Bierman, who wrote a whole book about the ice and sediment from Camp Century, explains, these samples went largely understudied for decades, with just a handful of papers written about them.

    “ I think the focus of the community was almost laser on the ice and not on the stuff beneath it,” he says.

    These sediments from underneath the ice were so undervalued, in fact, that they disappeared into some freezers in Denmark for years. Until, in 2017, some researchers found them again. And when scientists finally started to study these sediments in earnest, they discovered a bonanza of former lifeforms and a trove of information.

    On the most recent episode of Vox’s Unexplainable podcast, we explore these long-ignored sediments, and learn what they can teach us about our climate past — and future.

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  • After an amputation, the brain remembers the body’s lost limb : Shots

    After an amputation, the brain remembers the body’s lost limb : Shots

    A new study finds that the brain does not appear to significantly rewire its map of the body after an amputation.

    Westend61/Getty Images


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    Westend61/Getty Images

    A rare circulatory problem required Emily Wheldon to have her left arm amputated three years ago. Her brain still thinks it’s there.

    “Most days, it just feels like I’ve got my arm next to me,” she says.

    The perception is so compelling that Wheldon had to train herself not to rely on the missing limb.

    “When I first had the amputation,” she says, “I was trying to put my arm out to stop myself from falling.”

    A Sense Of Self: What Happens When Your Brain Says You Don't Exist

    Now, a study of Wheldon and two other people with arm amputations may help explain why they are living with phantom limbs.

    Brain scans showed that in all three, “the phantom hand representation is exactly similar to the pre-amputated hand representation,” even five years after surgery, says Hunter Schone, a postdoctoral associate at the University of Pittsburgh who started the project as a doctoral student at University College London.

    The finding, which appears in the journal Nature Neuroscience, challenges decades-old research in monkeys and people suggesting that after losing sensory input from a limb, the brain dramatically reorganizes the areas linked to that limb.

    How Do You Amputate A Phantom Limb?

    “I’m not sure the [new] study really negates that research,” says Dr. Krish Sathian, the chair of neuroscience at Penn State Health, who was not involved in the research. “But the plot thickens, which is always the case in science.”

    Sathian and Schone agree the finding bodes well for people who rely on a surgically implanted brain-computer interface to control a prosthetic or robotic limb. The interface depends on the brain maintaining for many years the circuits once used to move an arm, hand, or leg.

    A brain map of the body

    The news study involved three people who knew they were going to have an amputation because of cancer or some other disease.

    Stone Age brain surgery? It might have been more survivable than you think

    Researchers performed MRI scans before and after the amputation to look for changes in the somatosensory cortex, an area of the brain that maintains a detailed map of the body.

    “When you touch something with your hand, a certain region’s activated,” Schone says. “If you feel something with your toes, a different region is activated.”

    Before the amputation, participants in the scanner would move their fingers, allowing scientists to see which brain regions responded. Up to five years after the amputation, participants imagined moving their missing fingers.

    Researchers work to create a sense of touch in prosthetic limbs

    Earlier studies had suggested that after the loss of a hand, the brain would shift the borders of its body map. The area responding to the missing hand would shrink, while the neighboring area linked to the lips would expand.

    But that’s not what the team found.

    “There’s no evidence that the map of the lips is changing,” Schone says, “which goes completely against all of those old studies that suggest if you lose this body part, this region of the brain is going to completely reorganize.”

    Earlier studies were limited because they compared the brains of people who’d already lost a limb with the brains of typical people. The new study appears to be the first to look at the same person’s brain before and after an amputation.

    Prosthetic arms and phantom limb pain

    Like many people who’ve had an amputation, Wheldon often feels pain in her phantom arm and hand.

    “It’s like a throbbing pain that becomes quite unbearable at times,” she says. Sometimes it feels like her wrist is sore, other times it’s like her fingers are cramping.

    A Scientist's Pink Cast Leads To Discovery About How The Brain Responds To Disability

    Previous research suggested phantom limb pain was the result of changes in the brain’s body map. But the new study suggests it occurs because the map hasn’t changed, and the brain is still expecting signals from the missing body part.

    “Imagine if you had a nerve that was receiving a highly detailed information for the body and suddenly now it’s receiving some strange, atypical input,” Schone says. “How the brain would deal with something like this?”

    It might interpret the input as pain, he says.

    If so, he says, the solution may lie in finding a new home for a nerve ending, rather than just leaving it exposed.

    An unchanging body map could be a huge boost for the emerging field of brain-computer interfaces, which can allow a paralyzed person to speak or move a robotic arm.

    Many of these interfaces place electrodes in the same area of the brain that maintains the body map. So they depend on that map remaining constant over many years.

    The new evidence for this “offers a lot of hope for patients with neurological conditions,” Sathian says.

    Emily Wheldon isn’t seeking a brain-computer interface that could control a prosthetic left arm.

    But she says it’s helpful just to have a scientific explanation of why her missing limb still seems like it’s attached, and sometimes hurts.

    “A lot of people don’t realize that you can actually still feel the limb,” she says, “and they’re shocked when I say I’m suffering from phantom pain.”

    Wheldon has been able to control that pain with electrical stimulation and a therapy that uses a visual representation of the missing limb. And she says the phantom pain is much less severe than the pain she felt when her arm was still there.

    “Back then, the pain was so intense I couldn’t look after my newborn daughter,” she says. Now she’s back at work and able to help her kids get dressed and ready for school.

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  • Widespread temporal niche partitioning in an adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes

    Widespread temporal niche partitioning in an adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes

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  • The Clinical Impact of Tricuspid Regurgitation in Patients with a Biatrial Orthotopic Heart Transplant

    The Clinical Impact of Tricuspid Regurgitation in Patients with a Biatrial Orthotopic Heart Transplant

    Newswise — Researchers from Erasmus MC in Rotterdam have revealed significant insights into the effects of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) in patients who have undergone biatrial orthotopic heart transplants. Published in Frontiers of Medicine, this study sheds light on the prevalence and implications of TR post-surgery, offering potential guidance for clinical practices.

    Tricuspid regurgitation is a condition where the heart’s tricuspid valve does not close tightly, leading to blood flow backward into the right atrium. This study aimed to explore the long-term effects of TR on patients who had received a biatrial orthotopic heart transplant between 1984 and 2017, a group comprising 572 patients with follow-up echocardiograms.

    Biatrial orthotopic heart transplantation has been a standard procedure for patients with severe heart failure. However, post-operative complications such as tricuspid regurgitation are common and can impact patient outcomes. Existing literature suggests that TR can lead to increased mortality and associated complications, yet its dynamic progression and long-term clinical implications remain unclear.

    The study found that approximately 32% of patients experienced moderate-to-severe TR immediately following surgery. This figure declined to 11% at 5 years and 9% at 10 years post-surgery, indicating a potential natural decline in TR severity over time. The researchers discovered that pre-implant mechanical support was associated with lower TR severity during follow-up, while concurrent left ventricular dysfunction correlated with increased TR incidence during follow-up.

    Importantly, moderate-to-severe TR during follow-up was associated with a higher mortality rate, with a hazard ratio of 1.07. Furthermore, the study highlighted a significant positive correlation between longitudinal changes in TR severity and creatinine levels, as measured by creatinine levels.

    The researchers utilized a mixed-model approach to analyze the evolution of TR, integrating these findings into a Cox model to assess the association with mortality. This robust statistical framework enabled adjustment for survival-related confounding and provide reliable insights into TR’s clinical impact.

    These findings emphasize the importance of monitoring TR in heart transplant patients, particularly given its association with increased mortality and renal dysfunction. The study suggests that surgical intervention for TR might be unnecessary in the early post-transplant period, as TR severity decreases over time when adjusted for survival bias. This could inform clinical guidelines and patient management strategies, potentially improving long-term outcomes for heart transplant recipients.

    The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and conducted in collaboration with the Departments of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Cardiology, and Biostatistics at Erasmus MC. For more detailed findings, the full research article is available in Frontiers of Medicine: https://journal.hep.com.cn/fmd/EN/10.1007/s11684-022-0967-5. Future research will continue to explore the mechanisms driving TR progression and its broader implications on heart transplant success.


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  • Slate’s daily game of questions about history.

    Slate’s daily game of questions about history.

    You wanted more quizzes, and we’ve delivered! Now you can test your wits every day of the week. Each weekday, your host, Ray Hamel, concocts a challenging set of unique questions on a specific topic. At the end of the quiz, you’ll be able to compare your score with that of the average contestant, and Slate Plus members can see how they stack up on our leaderboard. Share your score with friends and compete to see who’s the brainiest.

    Today’s topic is history. Can you ace the quiz and beat the average? Good luck!

    If this is your first time playing, read the rules here. The quiz may require you to turn on cookies in your browser for it to function properly.


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  • SpaceX’s Starship releases first batch of mock satellites in orbit: What is Starlink’s deployment system and how does it work |

    SpaceX’s Starship releases first batch of mock satellites in orbit: What is Starlink’s deployment system and how does it work |

    SpaceX’s Starship achieved a key milestone in its tenth test flight by deploying its first batch of mock Starlink satellites into orbit. The demonstration, reported by Reuters, marks a turning point after several failed test attempts and showcases the rocket’s unique “Pez”-like dispenser system designed for mass satellite deployment. While the satellites were dummies, the success highlights the future potential of Starship as the backbone of Elon Musk’s ambitious satellite internet project, Starlink. Alongside this, the mission also tested new heat shield tiles during reentry, bringing the spacecraft closer to operational readiness.

    How the Starlink’s Pez-like dispenser works

    The Starship’s satellite deployment system has earned the nickname “Pez dispenser” due to its resemblance to the classic candy dispenser. Instead of side-mounted ejections, the system releases satellites vertically from an internal bay. During the test, eight dummy satellites were pushed into orbit, proving the mechanism’s capability. This design allows SpaceX to carry and release larger batches of satellites at once, increasing efficiency and reducing costs compared to the Falcon 9 system currently used for Starlink launches.

    Why mock satellites matter in testing

    The use of non-functional satellites in this mission allowed SpaceX to evaluate the reliability of Starship’s dispenser without risking expensive hardware. These mock payloads replicate the weight and dimensions of real Starlink satellites, giving engineers accurate data on deployment dynamics, orbital placement, and potential risks. By validating the process with test hardware, SpaceX reduces the chance of costly setbacks when real Starlink payloads are launched aboard Starship in the future.

    Starship’s role in Starlink’s future

    Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet venture, currently relies on the Falcon 9 rocket for launches. However, Starship’s larger payload capacity will enable the deployment of dozens, potentially hundreds, of satellites in a single mission. This efficiency is crucial to rapidly building out Starlink’s global constellation, which already numbers over 6,000 satellites. If successful, Starship could dramatically cut costs, accelerate expansion, and allow larger next-generation satellites with enhanced capabilities to reach orbit.

    What comes next for Starship

    While the dispenser test was a success, many technical hurdles remain before Starship can operate routinely. Heat shield durability, orbital refueling, and safe landings are still under development. NASA is watching closely, as Starship is slated to deliver astronauts to the Moon under Artemis III, currently scheduled for 2027. For now, the mock satellite deployment offers SpaceX proof that its innovative payload system works—and a glimpse into the future of how thousands of Starlink satellites could soon be launched into space more efficiently.


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  • New tools help track and contain deadly avian flu

    New tools help track and contain deadly avian flu

    image: ©wildpixel | iStock

    Scientists have developed new tests that can detect avian influenza, which is also commonly known as bird flu. These tests can detect influenza quickly and more accurately than ever before

    The new tests are already playing a key role in tracking the virus in both animals and the environment, including in wastewater.

    Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1), a strain known for its rapid spread and deadly impact on birds, has already affected millions of poultry worldwide. It has now begun to infect mammals, raising fresh public health concerns. While the virus hasn’t been transmitted between humans, its ability to cross species from birds to mammals like cows and cats shows the urgent need for improved monitoring.

    A technological breakthrough

    A significant part of this breakthrough is the development of two new digital RT-PCR tests by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in collaboration with several leading European health institutes.

    These tests represent a significant improvement over traditional methods, enabling scientists to detect and identify the specific genetic material of the virus, even in complex samples such as wastewater.

    RT-PCR, or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, is a standard tool used to detect RNA from viruses, such as influenza. However, the new digital RT-PCR versions are far more sensitive and precise.

    They are capable of identifying tiny amounts of viral RNA. They can even differentiate between similar viruses, such as seasonal flu strains and the highly virulent clade 2.3.4.4b H5 strains responsible for the current global outbreaks.

    Wastewater surveillance and broader impacts

    One significant advantage of these digital tests is their ability to analyse wastewater, providing a robust early warning system for virus circulation in the environment. This is especially important given the recent revision of the EU’s Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, which now includes influenza viruses as targets for surveillance.

    By using these new tools, authorities can detect the presence of avian flu before it spreads further among birds, animals, or potentially humans. This enables quicker responses to outbreaks, including targeted measures to limit the spread, mitigate economic losses in the poultry sector, and safeguard public health.

    The global poultry industry has been significantly impacted by the bird flu crisis, with mass culling of infected birds driving egg prices to record highs in some regions, including the United States. Monitoring and controlling the spread of the virus is essential not just for animal health, but also for food security and economic stability.

    The development of these advanced RT-PCR assays supports EU regulations aimed at strengthening preparedness for serious cross-border health threats. It also meets the surveillance requirements outlined in European animal health legislation, ensuring enhanced protection of both livestock and public health.

    A tested and proven approach

    The new tests were created using a highly effective computational workflow previously used to develop reliable COVID-19 tests, including those for identifying SARS-CoV-2 variants. For avian flu, thousands of viral genetic sequences were analysed to pinpoint conserved regions unique to the current H5N1 clade, allowing for fast and accurate identification in any sample type.

    These digital RT-PCR assays are now available for use by laboratories across the EU, enabling faster and more targeted responses to outbreaks and helping to safeguard both animals and humans from the threat of avian influenza.

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