🦗 Tiny Hopping Robots

👋 Good morning! This week, we’re checking out MIT’s newest tiny robot that hops (and flips!) like a bug, how Nintendo is sidestepping a tariff headache, and why astronomers are scratching their heads about a black hole that just woke up.

Let’s dive in!

MIT’s newest tiny hopping robot now uses four insect-like wings for extra lift and steering, letting it land precise jumps and even pull off flips.

Nintendo’s Switch 2 launch is gets a lucky break, as Trump’s tariff pause gives the company breathing room to stockpile consoles and avoid potential price hikes.

Big Tech Backs New AI Startup. Alphabet and Nvidia have joined VC investors to back Safe Superintelligence (SSI), a new AI startup co-founded by OpenAI’s Ilya Sutskever. Just months since launching, SSI’s valuation has rocketed to $32 billion—a sign of Big Tech’s eagerness to support the next wave of cutting-edge AI ventures.

Google Skips AI Model Safety Report. Google’s newest AI model, Gemini 2.5 Pro, launched without its standard safety transparency report. Critics argue this decision breaks Google’s pledges to U.S. officials and international groups about responsible AI practices, raising concern over transparency.

Ex-OpenAI Employees Back Musk’s Nonprofit Fight. A dozen former OpenAI staffers are siding with Elon Musk in his legal battle to keep OpenAI a nonprofit, claiming a profit-driven model “fundamentally violates” the original mission. Musk, a co-founder who left OpenAI earlier, argues the AI lab has drifted from its commitment to serving humanity first. With former insiders publicly joining Musk, the tension around how AI research should balance profit and public good is heating up.

X Faces EU Probe Over Data Misuse for AI. Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) is under investigation by European regulators for possibly using EU citizens’ data without consent to train its AI chatbot, Grok. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, Europe’s lead watchdog for tech firms, opened the probe into how user content is being harnessed for AI. If violations of EU privacy laws are found, X could face heavy fines, highlighting growing concerns around AI training and data privacy.

84% of Gen Z employees admit to streaming TV or movies at work, and about half want to stay remote so they can keep binge-watching during the workday.

The Power of Saying No. Learning to say “no” at work can actually help your career. Experts say setting boundaries—like turning down extra tasks when overloaded—is key to self-management and growth. Done right, it builds trust and prevents burnout.

High-Paying Remote Jobs Suddenly Scarce. Landing a high-paying remote job just got tougher. New data from Ladders reveals the share of remote positions paying over $100K dropped significantly—from 10.6% late last year to just 7.4% in early 2025. Companies are reining in remote flexibility amid economic jitters and tariff concerns. For ambitious job-seekers hoping to score six-figure salaries from home, competition will be steeper as employers shift hiring back toward traditional office roles.

Baby boomers overtake millennials as the top home-buying generation at 42% of home sales, often buying with cash while younger buyers retreat from the market.

Therapists Stage Hunger Strike for Better Pay. A group of Kaiser Permanente therapists in Los Angeles launched a five-day hunger strike to demand better wages and benefits. It’s the latest escalation in a months-long labor standoff, highlighting the fight for equity in mental healthcare roles.

Inflation Eases, but Tariffs Threaten Stability. March brought relief on inflation, with U.S. wholesale prices declining for the first time in months. However, this good news might not last long. Economists warn that the intensifying trade war between the U.S. and China could quickly reverse these gains. Recent tariff hikes could soon drive costs back up, meaning young adults should remain cautious—any recent price stability may be temporary if trade tensions continue to escalate.

Pandemic habits persist: ~60% of U.S. households bought groceries online last month, only slightly down from the peak, proving that online shopping is here to stay.

Bungie, the studio behind Halo and Destiny, is reviving its classic Marathon franchise as a modern sci-fi shooter. It launches September 23 with cross-play on PC and consoles. An alpha test goes live later this month for early fans.

Heavy Drinking Could Cut 13 Years Off Your Life. A sobering new study finds that heavy drinking—defined as eight or more drinks per week—could reduce your lifespan by up to 13 years. Researchers found significant evidence of brain damage, cognitive decline, and accelerated aging among regular heavy drinkers, compared to non-drinkers. For young adults, the findings are clear: moderation now could be the key to a significantly longer and healthier life down the road.

For decades, a supermassive black hole about 300 million light-years away quietly minded its own business. Now, seemingly overnight, it’s lighting up the cosmos with the longest and most powerful X-ray bursts astronomers have ever recorded. This once-sleepy giant—nicknamed “Ansky”—has suddenly entered a feeding frenzy, gulping down matter and erupting in flares known as quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs).

These X-ray outbursts aren’t random; they’re recurring roughly every 4.5 days, each burst releasing about a hundred times more energy than previous examples. Back in 2019, astronomers first spotted signs of Ansky stirring, marking the first-ever observation of a supermassive black hole waking up in real time. Strangely, there’s no evidence that Ansky tore apart a star—the usual cause behind such cosmic fireworks.

Baffled by Ansky’s sudden behavior, scientists speculate that a smaller object orbiting the black hole might be disturbing its surroundings, generating shock waves in its disk. For now, Ansky’s mysterious outbursts are defying easy explanations.

Witnessing this black hole’s wake-up call is as thrilling as it is puzzling. It’s a rare opportunity to watch a cosmic transformation unfold, reminding us that the universe still holds surprises capable of challenging even our best theories. Astronomers are eager to keep watching, knowing each new burst could unravel another clue about this cosmic mystery.

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When Alaska and Hawaii became states, choosing a new U.S. flag involved a nationwide contest attracting over 1,500 design submissions—proving even national symbols sometimes come from crowdsourcing.

In 2024, a student from India’s NIT Patna built the world’s smallest vacuum cleaner, measuring only 0.65 centimeters—about the width of a shoelace.