Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet star as Lois Lane and Superman in Warner Bros.’ “Superman.”
Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery had a bountiful weekend at the global box office.
The studio had two films cross the $500 million mark worldwide — “Superman” soared to $502 million and Apple’s “F1,” which Warner Bros. distributed, topped $509 million in ticket sales.
The benchmark is a boon for Warner Bros.’ DC Studios, as “Superman” is the first theatrical debut of James Gunn and Peter Safran since they became co-heads of the film and TV unit in late 2022. The pair has developed a 10-year plan to reinvigorate the studio’s franchises across TV and film, including fresh spins on Superman and Batman.
At present, 2025’s “Superman” is the fourth-highest-grossing film featuring Superman. Zack Snyder’s 2016 “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” is the highest with $874 million in global ticket sales, while 2013’s “Man of Steel” is second-highest with $669 million and 2017’s “Justice League” with $661 million, according to data from Comscore.
“Superman” debuted in theaters just two weeks ago and continues to drive weekend moviegoing as well as weekday trips.
A still from the film F1 starring Brad Pitt.
Source: F1 | Apple Studios
As for Apple’s “F1,” passing the $500 million mark is just another feather in the cap for the studio. Earlier this month, the film became Apple’s best film release ever, surpassing Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon,” which generated $221 million during its 2023 run, to become Apple’s then-highest-grossing theatrical release.
The tech company has only sent a handful of films to cinemas with wide releases since delving into the media business in recent years. “Killers of the Flower Moon” tallied $158 million worldwide, “Fly Me to the Moon” took in just $42 million and “Argylle” generated $96 million in ticket sales globally.
“F1” has benefited greatly from its partnership with IMAX. Before production, Apple and the film’s top creatives reached out to not only secure the use of IMAX’s camera technology but also a three-week release in its theaters.
Hundreds of civil servants are being transferred from the Department for Transport to the state-owned rail operator as the government looks to cut Whitehall posts and overhaul the railways.
Ministers have been pushing to find savings from across the civil service, but a government spokesperson denied there would be immediate redundancies in what bosses told staff was a “critical phase” of the creation of Great British Railways (GBR).
However, industry sources believe jobs will go, as employees consider their future outside the civil service, and the government attempts to cut costs and reduce duplication in a nationalised railway.
A message to staff from two rail director generals, Richard Goodman and Alex Hynes, said the DfT was “entering an exciting and critical phase of rail reform” and had “updated colleagues involved in the moves about what this approach” would mean for them.
A formal consultation process is beginning that could lead to 300 employees being moved out over the course of this year, with many heading to offices in London Waterloo, as the state holding company DfT Operator Limited (DfTO) takes more train operators under its control.
The Essex commuter service C2C was brought into public hands a week ago. This followed the first planned nationalisation, of South Western services, in May.
Under government plans, the country’s remaining passengerservices will be renationalised and the railway will be run by GBR that will also incorporate the functions of Network Rail to integrate track and trains.
A DfT spokesperson said: “There will be no redundancies as a result of these moves into DfTO. The 200-300 DfT staff involved will transfer to DfTO, bringing their work, skills and expertise closer to the frontline of a publicly owned railway. This will bring us a step closer to ending the fragmented railway we see today, towards a railway run as a business by industry professionals.”
The DfTO chief executive, Robin Gisby, will not see through the transition to GBR, after it was announced that he would be stepping down in December.
Gisby had run state-owned train operations for seven years, and had said two weeks earlier that he would continue to work through the transition. However, sources indicated that GBR would now probably not be up and running until 2028.
The DfT spokesperson added: “DfTO is about to enter a pivotal phase and will be appointing a successor to lead the publicly owned operators through this change, bringing the network together under one mission.”
The chief executive of Network Rail, Sir Andrew Haines, is also retiring in the autumn. His successor was last week named as Jeremy Westlake, currently chief financial officer.
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Haines and Gisby are leaving at a time of the biggest operational upheaval in Britain’s railways for many years, the December 2025 timetable change.
The new timetable is intended to allow for the benefits of billions of pounds spent upgrading the east coast mainline, to include faster trains to Edinburgh and more services to stations along the route.
Previously expected last December, it was postponed amid fears of a repeat of the chaos that followed a switch in May 2018. Sources said the new timetable would still be “challenging” but the industry was under pressure to demonstrate the worth of the investment.
Passengers on the line faced disruptions on Sunday when overrunning engineering works and a power failure in north London meant no trains could run out of Kings Cross until the afternoon.
whether their Hundreds from Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar kept India’s hopes alive in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy after the fourth Test against England in Manchester ended in a draw on Sunday. With England leading the series 2-1, India still have a chance to draw the series by winning the fifth and final Test, starting on July 31 at The Oval.
After conceding a first-innings lead of 311, India were in a spot of bother with an aim to save the Test match. The visitors didn’t get the start they wanted with the dismissals of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan without a single run on the board.
But captain Shubman Gill (103) led from the front with a hundred and forged a 188-run stand with KL Rahul (90) to save the sinking ship with more than five sessions to go in the game. While Rahul missed on a hundred on the final day, Gill made sure India frustrate the English bowlers with their defensive approach throughout the day.
With vice-captain Rishabh Pant not in a position to bat, the pressure was on all-rounders Sundar and Jadeja to do the rest of the job. The duo put up a mammoth 203-run stand for the unbroken fifth wicket in 334 balls to save India’s day.
England captain Ben Stokes did try to finish the match early by having a talk with Jadeja and Sundar, but the Indians chose not to with an eye on individual hundreds. Both the batters were on eighties at that moment.
However, it didn’t take much long for them to complete three figure scores. While Jadeja sent Harry Brook over the wires to bring up his 11th Test ton, Sundar got his maiden international hundred with a single off Joe Root.
What’s next for India & England?
India will aim to square off the series with a win at The Oval, starting in a few day’s time. India are likely to have a few changes in their playing XI with Rishabh Pant being obvious. Dhruv Jurel is expected to replace Pant while Anshul Kamboj is likely to be rested. However, it is unknown whether Jasprit Bumrah will play in the fifth Test considering his workload.
In a significant advancement for public health, researchers from Pennsylvania State University, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, have introduced a novel method for estimating measles vaccination rates in regions lacking timely survey data. This innovative technique utilizes routinely collected data from clinics that handle potential measles cases, enabling health officials to model and predict vaccination coverage effectively.
Understanding vaccination rates is crucial in managing public health responses, particularly in the face of measles outbreaks, which continue to pose a major threat worldwide. Despite the availability of effective vaccines, the disease still claims over 100,000 lives annually due to global disparities in vaccine distribution. Recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated more than 1,300 confirmed measles cases in the United States during the first half of 2025, marking the highest recorded incidence in 33 years.
Traditionally, two primary sources have informed researchers about vaccination coverage: the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and administrative vaccination records. The DHS, known for its accuracy, gathers health data at the household level in over 90 low- and middle-income countries. However, these surveys are costly and time-consuming, often conducted only every three to five years. In contrast, administrative data, based on the number of vaccine doses given to specific age groups, are more frequently updated but less reliable.
The researchers aimed to bridge the gap between these two information sources, seeking a method that balances the accuracy of DHS data with the timeliness of administrative estimates. Their model incorporates crucial indicators from clinic data, including the average age of patients, their reported vaccination status, and the confirmation of measles cases.
By analyzing these indicators, the team trained a regression model to predict vaccination coverage levels, subsequently validating their findings against the DHS data. The results indicated a strong correlation, demonstrating that their method outperformed traditional administrative estimates.
This new approach presents a practical and cost-effective means for public health officials to estimate vaccination rates in regions where immediate data is unavailable. As the DHS program faces funding uncertainties, this method could serve as a vital interim solution to maintain public health initiatives and inform effective policy decisions.
The research team, which included experts from both Pennsylvania State University and the World Health Organization, emphasizes the importance of accessible data in combating diseases like measles. The model they developed not only enhances the understanding of vaccination coverage but also supports timely interventions aimed at preventing outbreaks.
It’s a bad time to be an S Pen fan — or, at least, that’s what Samsung’s not-so-quietly communicating to one of its most devoted bases. The company that practically invented the “phablet” has spent 2025 trying to leave behind (or, at the very least, downplay) one of the very things that brought it success in the first place. I’m worried the writing is on the wall for the S Pen, and it’s only going to grow bleaker from here.
To the casual Android observer, it might seem like Samsung’s uniquely-branded stylus is still thriving. The Galaxy S25 Ultra — already the fourth, believe it or not, in a line of Ultra-branded Galaxy Note successors — still has an S Pen built into its chassis, taking up space that could be used for components like larger batteries, with no signs of that changing any time soon. Our first Galaxy Tab S11 series leak all but confirms stylus support, and if previous generations are any inclination, it’ll continue to come in the box as in years prior. And while the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is missing its digitizer, Samsung clearly knows fan demand exists for this additional utility, even promising to consider bringing it back in a future foldable.
Unfortunately, things aren’t quite as positive as they seem. Over the past seven months, Samsung has pretty clearly deprioritized the S Pen in its lineup, removing features deemed unpopular before, as I mentioned ditching it from the Fold 7 altogether. If you’re a legacy Galaxy Note user who still finds plenty to love about the S Pen — built-in or otherwise — I’d make sure your voice is heard loud and clear, because for as grim as things may seem at the moment, they can get a whole lot more bleak.
2025 hasn’t been a good time for S Pen fans
It’s been a surprisingly busy year for S Pen news, so let’s break down every action Samsung’s made throughout 2025. This year kicked off with the launch of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, a perfectly fine — if somewhat-forgettable — smartphone that built on the success of its predecessor with a more comfortable design. Unfortunately, the big news story surrounding the S25 Ultra had nothing to do with the Now Bar, Now Brief, or Galaxy AI. Instead, all of the attention went to Samsung’s decision to remove Bluetooth from the S Pen, rendering it far more basic than previous iterations while also disabling all sorts of remote features.
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At the time, Samsung said that less than 1% of its user base actually relied on things like Air Command. While this change rendered the S Pen battery-less — and, therefore, lighter as a result — it also screams cost-cutting measures. Likewise, 1% of a customer base as large as Samsung’s is still a lot of people, people that would be willing to shell out to continue using these tools. But despite a series of hope-filled rumors that a Bluetooth-capable S Pen would be sold as an optional add-on, it turned out that, from the S25 Ultra onwards, features like Air Command really were as good as dead.
Of course, none of that compares to the completely S Pen-less Galaxy Z Fold 7. Samsung’s latest big-screen foldable is stunning, slimming down both its weight and bulk to achieve a foldable not too much bulkier than the S25 Ultra. Unfortunately, hitting that 8.9mm chassis meant, among other things, removing the digitizer from both sides of the phone’s foldable display. Samsung saved 0.6mm as a direct result, but also left plenty of Galaxy Z Fold fans feeling frustrated along the way.
Samsung hasn’t ruled out the S Pen’s return to foldables, but it’s going to take a serious amount of fan outcry — not to mention a technical leap forward — to get there. It’s clear the company thinks a slimmer, more pocket-friendly foldable is a path towards appealing to a larger market that has, to date, largely shunned Android’s collection of $2,000 mini PCs. But if it comes at the cost of frustrating or angering your already-devoted user base, a group of people that pride themselves on the road warrior mindset, well, I’m not sure you’re gaining more than you’re actually losing.
And don’t think you can just wait a single generation for an S Pen-ready Galaxy Z Fold 8 — we’ve already heard reports suggesting it’s not in the cards for next year’s launch.
An early image of the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, via evleaks.
Even the Galaxy Tab S11 series seems to pack some disappointing news if you’re judging by our earliest leaked renders. A thumbnail image of the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra doesn’t just show a smaller notch with just a single front-facing camera — it also seems to hint towards another Galaxy device launching without a Bluetooth-capable stylus.
While the past several generations of Galaxy Tab S-series models all used back-mounted magnetic charging pads for the S Pen, this tablet doesn’t seem to have a spot to dock the stylus. It’s possible the company has moved it to the side of the device, similar to Apple’s implementation on certain iPad iterations, but it’s just as likely that — in an attempt to seek parity across S Pen-supported products — Samsung is ditching Bluetooth stylus support from its next tablet lineup. If this is true, the vast majority of S Pen tools would still be supported, but anything removed from the Galaxy S25 Ultra earlier this year would also be missing on the company’s next-gen slates.
The S Pen is in stasis, and it’s up to Samsung to change that
That is, unfortunately, a lot of smoke surrounding Samsung’s stylus, and where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. While I don’t think anything here suggests a product lineup completely free of the S Pen — and, especially on tablets, I really don’t think that reality is really a possibility — it does demonstrate that, within Samsung, the S Pen doesn’t hold the same level of reverence that it perhaps once did during the Note’s heyday.
After more than a decade of relevance, the S Pen seems to exist in a level of stasis. With the move to Bluetooth now in the rearview mirror, I wouldn’t necessarily expect additional features to disappear over time, nor would I expect something like Samsung’s Ultra-series of flagships to lose its digitizer in the same fashion as the Galaxy Z Fold 7. But simultaneously, I can’t imagine a world where Samsung expands what the S Pen can actually do for users, nor would I expect to see it arrive on next-gen devices like the company’s forthcoming tri-fold.
Right now, the S Pen simply is what it is, for better or worse. For most fans, I’d bet that’s probably enough, and that’s the same bet Samsung seems to be making. After all, there’s a reason this company feels it can make these changes while surviving any potential public outcry. And early Galaxy Z Fold 7 sales numbers sure seem to imply most customers won’t actually miss their stylus.
But if Samsung wanted to maintain the base of enthusiasts it built throughout the 2010s, it could do plenty more. Bring back Bluetooth-capable S Pens, even if they come at an additional surcharge. Continue working towards a future foldable that includes a digitizer and that sleek sub-9mm chassis, no matter how difficult of a feat it may be. Get back to making the S Pen feel like an absolutely essential piece of the experience, not something simply here because the previous model had it. Surely, in this age of Galaxy AI, Samsung can think of a few new software tricks to keep this tool feeling as exciting as it once did.
My word of advice to S Pen fanatics is this: stay loud. For all its strengths, Samsung is a company that can get easily distracted by the next big fad in technology. Right now, that appears to be a focus on thinner, lighter devices that simply don’t mesh with the size constraints needed for a stylus. So, push for the S Pen’s inclusion in as many devices you can, and demand new tools that keep it a relevant part of the company’s lineup. Otherwise, this might not just be a regression of the S Pen’s importance — it might be the start of a slow, steady crawl to its eventual demise.
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Shown here is an annotated composite image of the interiors of the 33 tubes NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has used to collect samples as of July 24, 2025, the 1,574th Martian day (or sol) of the mission.
At this point, Perseverance has collected 27 rock cores, two samples of regolith (broken Mars rock and dust), and one atmospheric sample. The composite also includes images of the three witness tube interiors.
Atop each image in white text is the name given to the sample by the rover science team.
Ten of the samples depicted here – including one atmospheric sample and one witness tube – were deposited in January 2023 at the rover’s sample depot at a location dubbed “Three Forks” within Jezero Crater. The other 23 samples collected thus far remain aboard the rover. Visit this page for details on each sample.
The images of the sample tube interiors were collected by the rover’s Sampling and Caching System Camera (known as CacheCam). Larger image NASA ID: PIA26643
https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26643 Date Created:2025-07-24
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Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻
The groundbreaking discovery at A Cibdá de Armea marked the first trilobite fossil ever found in an ancient Roman settlement, offering unprecedented insights into ancient beliefs about magic.
In a new study published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, the 450-million-year-old fossil showcases that the Romans believed fossils carried supernatural powers that could protect them from unknown forces.
At 1.6 inches, the trilobite fossil resembled an armored beetle, which explains its significance in Roman culture.
In a series of significant firsts, study authors reported that this rare specimen was the 11th known trilobite found in an archaeological context, the first from Roman times, and the third in the global archaeological record collected by people over a thousand years ago.
A 450-million-year-old piece of Roman jewelry
The trilobite fossil was discovered in 2021 at the Roman site of A Cibdá of Armea in Spain while archaeologists excavated a series of Roman courtyard houses. In a large open room that they speculated might have been a communal space for keeping livestock, they found this ancient fossil turned amulet in a dump.
Archaeologists recovered 4,000 objects including ceramic remains and cooking wares—casseroles, dishes, pots, and jars. But they found nothing as significant as the rare fossil turned amulet.
Though the fossil itself was remarkable, what made it extraordinary, according to Ancient Origins, is that humans modified it. Researchers identified seven “artificially worn facets” on the fossil’s underside. It was deliberately worn, in other words.
As study authors wrote, fossils have held special significance as ritual objects, ornaments, and jewelry throughout time. In some cases, they’ve even been imbued with magical powers.
In Greek and Roman times, vertebrate fossils such as large bones and teeth were considered the remains of giants, mythic heroes, cyclopes, or dragons. However, until now, an example of cultural practice had never been found in Roman archaeological contexts.
What was it used for?
As the fossil ended up here, somehow, in a province in Spain, archaeologists understand that it clearly traveled great distances along Roman trade routes, indicating that this trilobite in particular held real value. It must have been as rare and precious an object back then as it is now.
Belonging to the genus Colpocoryphe, a group that lived during the Ordovician age, finding a physical example of this prehistoric creature was already rare, as few exist, let alone one that had been integrated into the culture.
Though researchers could not confirm what it was used for, they propose that it might have simply been worn as jewelry. The facets might suggest it was mounted to a piece of leather or worn as an amulet.
However, as it was found in courtyard houses, perhaps it sat on a household shrine as an offering. It was located near an inscription MAXSIMVS, suggesting a possible role played in a ritual context in a high-status Roman residence, as per Ancient Origins.
But then, times evidently changed. The amulet was dumped to be found again and recognized as the true treasure it is.
Read the study in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.
