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For nearly three decades he has created mesmerizing planetarium shows at the American Museum of Natural History. But other galaxies await.

Generative A.I. chatbots are going down conspiratorial rabbit holes and endorsing wild, mystical belief systems. For some people, conversations with the technology can deeply distort reality.

Sam Altman has been a blogger far longer than he's been in the AI business. 

Now the CEO of OpenAI, Altman began his blog — titled simply, if concerningly, "Sam Altman" — in 2013. He was in year 3 of working at the startup accelerator YCombinator at the time, and would soon be promoted to president. The first page of posts contains no references to AI. Instead we get musings on B2B startup tools, basic dinner party conversation openers, and UFOs (Altman was a skeptic). 

Then there was this sudden insight: "The most successful founders do not set out to create companies," Altman wrote. "They are on a mission to create something closer to a religion." Fast-forward to Altman's latest 2025 blog post, "The Gentle Singularity" — and, well, it's hard not to say mission accomplished.

"We are past the event horizon; the takeoff has started," is how Altman opens, and the tone only gets more messianic from there. "Humanity is close to building digital superintelligence." Can I get a hallelujah?

To be clear, the science does not suggest humanity is close to building digital superintelligence, a.k.a. Artificial General Intelligence. The evidence says we have built models that can be very useful in crunching giant amounts of information in some ways, wildly wrong in others. AI hallucinations appear to be baked into the models, increasingly so with AI chatbots, and they're doing damage in the real world.

There are no advances in reasoning, as was made plain in a paper also published this week: AI models sometimes don't see the answer when you tell them the answer.  

SEE ALSO: 'The illusion of thinking': Apple research finds AI models collapse and give up with hard puzzles

Don't tell that to Altman. He's off on a trip to the future to rival that of Ray Kurzweil, the offbeat Silicon Valley guru who first proposed we're accelerating to a technological singularity. Kurzweil set his all-change event many decades down the line. Altman is willing to risk looking wrong as soon as next year: "2026 will likely see the arrival of systems that can figure out novel insights. 2027 may see the arrival of robots that can do tasks in the real world … It’s hard to even imagine what we will have discovered by 2035; maybe we will go from solving high-energy physics one year to beginning space colonization the next year."

The "likely", "may," and "maybe" there are doing a lot of lifting. Altman may have "something closer to religion" in his AGI assumptions, but cannot cast reason aside completely. Indeed, shorn of the excitable sci-fi language, he's not always claiming that much (don't we already have "robots that can do tasks in the real world"?). As for his most outlandish claims, Altman has learned to preface them with a word salad that could mean anything. Take this doozy: "In some big sense, ChatGPT is already more powerful than any human who has ever lived." Can I get a citation needed? 

Did Sam Altman just invite an AI environmental audit?

Altman's latest blog isn't all future-focused speculation. Buried within is the OpenAI CEO's first ever statement on ChatGPT's energy and water usage — and as with his needless drama over a Scarlett Johansson-like voice , opening that Pandora's Box may not go the way Altman thinks. 

Since ChatGPT exploded in popularity in 2023, OpenAI — along with main AI rivals Google and Microsoft — have stonewalled researchers looking for details on their data center usage. "We don't even know how big models like GPT are," Sasha Luccioni, climate lead at open-source AI platform HuggingFace, told me last year. "Nothing is divulged, everything is a company secret."

SEE ALSO: How much is AI hurting the planet? Big tech won't tell us.

Altman finally divulged, kinda. In the middle of a blog post, in parentheses, with the preface "people are often curious about how much energy a ChatGPT query uses," the OpenAI CEO offers two stats: "the average query uses about 0.34 watt-hours ... and about 0.000085 gallons of water."

There's no more data offered to confirm these stats; Altman doesn't even specify which model of ChatGPT. OpenAI hasn't responded to multiple follow-up requests from multiple news outlets. Altman has an obvious interest in downplaying the amount of energy and water OpenAI requires, and he's already doing it here with a little sleight-of-hand. It isn't the average query that concerns researchers like Luccioni; it's the enormous amount of energy and water required to train the models in the first place.

But now he's shown himself to be responsive to the "often curious," Altman has less of a reason to stonewall. Why not release all the data so others can replicate his numbers, you know, like scientists do? Meanwhile, battles over data center energy and water usage are brewing across the US. Luccioni has started an AI Energy Leaderboard that shows how wildly open source AI models vary.

This is serious stuff, because companies don't like to spend more on energy usage than they need to, and because there's buy-in. Meta and (to a lesser extent) Microsoft and Google are already on the board. Can OpenAI afford not to be?

In the end, the answer depends on whether Altman is building a company or more of a religion.

Materialists, Celine Song's highly anticipated follow-up to her critically heralded debut feature Past Lives, may be too clever for its own good. 

On paper, Materialists is perfection. It's a love triangle romantic comedy, headlined by three movie stars with which the Internet is absolutely obsessed: Chris Evans, Dakota Johnson, and Pedro Pascal. 

SEE ALSO: Please stop killing Pedro Pascal!

The plot feels like something out of a Golden Age Hollywood movie. A cynical career girl (Johnson) in New York City plays matchmaker to the rich and shallow. But when she meets a suave, handsome, and outlandishly wealthy man of her own (Pascal), will she choose him? Or will her heart lead her to the struggling artist (Evans) with no savings, no prospects, and only annoying roommates and a cater-waiter gig to his name?

Such a humorous heroine role used to go to the likes of Jane Russell (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), Lauren Bacall (How to Marry a Millionaire), or Katharine Hepburn (The Philadelphia Story). In the '90s revitalization of rom-coms, you might have seen Meg Ryan or Julia Roberts in such a part. Though she has done romantic dramas (Fifty Shades of Grey) and comedies (How to Be Single), casting Dakota Johnson now in such a role is a spiky choice. 

It's not that Johnson doesn't have the range to play the hard-nosed career girl who might, at her core, be a hopeless romantic. However, her public persona is one of a snarky cynic, who refuses to take anything Hollywood too seriously. And this attitude has been embraced by Materialists' beguiling promotional campaign, which flaunts her and co-stars Evans and Pascal's chaotic chemistry. Yet her attempt at earnest romanticism in the movie itself hits shallow at best because of this persona — and similar problems afflict her co-stars as well. 

While the actors in these lead roles might be performing them well, their personas are so big beyond the movie that they overshadow what Song is attempting to do with Materialists. Let's break it down.

Dakota Johnson is not believable as a girl who has ever been broke.  Credit: A24

As Lucy M., Johnson is the kind of sleek sophisticated Manhattanite that Sex and the City fans aspire to be. Like Carrie Bradshaw, Lucy can wax poetically with a broad smile to sell the concept of perfect love and great sex to her hungry clientele. But she's not a true believer like Carrie. When she speaks with her coworkers, it's all about numbers: height, salary, and BMI. 

When she lectures coolly on matters of matchmaking, it's as if she's talking about interlocking puzzle pieces that just need to fit. Talk of actual love is shunted to the side as inconvenient, which is reflective of Lucy's background. Nine years before, she was an aspiring actress with no rich parents to supplement her ambitions. Like many a romantic heroine (reaching back to Jane Austen), Lucy doesn't want to end up poor. To her, being poor guarantees being unhappy, because she's been both. So a future with John (Evans), who is still pursuing his dream of acting all these years after they broke up, seems a foolish move. 

In a telling flashback, Johnson throws herself into a public argument over money, but her desperation feels like a performance. The sight of her wide eyes drinking in the lavish gifts of her millionaire boyfriend is funny, but likewise it also feels false because of what we know of Johnson herself. Her persona is one of no-bullshit, fueled by the glimmering privilege of being born into a wealthy and very famous Hollywood family. Her sophisticated, surly attitude toward movie press for years has bolstered this persona, along with her pushback on daytime TV's former queen of nice, Ellen DeGeneres. Here, this persona works against her. 

In this movie, though she wears less chic clothing than a movie star might on a nighttime talk show, she is very recognizable as sleek and meticulously groomed Dakota Johnson, queen of fuck-you money and its accompanying attitude. So even if she dons an off-the-rack sundress, it just doesn't feel real with a haircut that costs more than John's rent. 

Casting Chris Evans as a struggling actor challenges suspension of disbelief to its breaking point.  Credit: A24

It might have helped if Johnson had the kind of chemistry in the film that she and her co-stars share on their promotional tour, which has been full of cheeky videos of reciting lines from famous romances and challenging each other to trivia or light-hearted questions. However, Lucy has such a devoted distance to the idea of love that even when she's falling, it's hard to feel it from her. 

This is further frustrating, because both of her options are dazzling. John, played by Evans, is a pretty familiar figure in New York City. A struggling actor who's taking survival jobs in waitering gigs, he has a mischievous smile and a worldweary stare. Evans uses this to express the willpower and sheer exhaustion of daring to be a dreamer in a city that has no patience for the poor. 

Choosing John is meant to seem like a risk, because he can't promise Lucy financial security. It's a cliché that most couples fight about money, but it's a cliché for a reason. And yet it's hard to think of choosing John as a leap of faith when Song cast one of the world's biggest movie stars to play the struggling actor. It's impossible to look at Chris Evans' face, even bulked down from his MCU days and covered by an inviting sheen of scruffy facial hair, and not think that John's gonna make it. Even if Evans convincingly plays the role of working-class actor, such glossy optimism fights the realistic tone of what Song is doing with this movie. 

Pedro Pascal is perhaps too charming for the will-they-won't-they to work.  Credit: A24

Pascal plays Harry, a hedge fund manager who takes Lucy to astonishingly expensive restaurants, and then his jaw-droppingly luxurious apartment. (With a $12 million price tag!)  He's a gentleman. He's tall, dark, handsome, and generous, or as Lucy puts it “a unicorn.” The catch is that while he is a rational choice for what Lucy says she wants, she fears that neither of them are really in love with each other as much as they think they could be good partners. To choose Harry would be a business decision.  

What's fascinating about Materialists is that the casting of Pascal might seem intended to cover up some sort of horrible secret that Harry is hiding. (For evidence of this, just see how fans of The Last of Us will excuse all of Joel's crimes because of just how much they fawn over Pascal). That to choose him would be, White Lotus-style, a kind of complicity. Thankfully, Song doesn't take such an easy out in structuring her conflict. Harry is not a bad guy. He just might not be the right guy. But to be perfectly frank, when the whole world is deeply, deeply obsessed with Pedro Pascal, it is a wild choice to cast him as the guy we're supposed to root against when it comes to getting the girl. 

Don't mistake me, I deeply admire what Song is doing with this movie. She sets up a traditional rom-com in scenario and characters, but then rejects the buzzy optimism and whimsy of standard Hollywood romantic comedies to create something cuttingly modern. 

The tone of this comedy is not broad. The banter is not bouncy. Instead, Song commits to an earnest indie understanding of love and relationships. Her characters are not necessarily looking for love as much as they are fleeing from loneliness. Desperation mixes with hope, cynicism with rationale. New York City is not a heaven of designer shoes and an endless supply of eligible bachelors. As John shows, it is a place of bustling bodegas, grimy street corners, hole-in-the-wall theaters, and embarrassing squabbles that interrupt Times Square traffic.

Through all the film's conversations about money, the undercurrent is about worth. What do we think we are worth, and what will we risk to be with someone who really sees that? In that, Materialists is a deeply romantic film. Rather than opening with a typically glossy Manhattan rom-com montage, Materialists opens with a strange scene, where a caveman and cavewoman exchange gifts and bind themselves together with a ring made of a small flower.

This suggests that marriage has always been about what we can offer each other in a relationship. Song bolsters the sincerity over Hollywood romanticism by choosing a color palette that's less vivid than those of the '90s rom-com heyday. Likewise, a subplot about one of Lucy's clients going on a truly heinous date risks derailing the film's potential feel-good energy. There's a sense that Song is making a romance comedy for cynics. And in an online dating scene that seems increasingly bleak, with people lying on their profiles or gaming the system by choosing sexual inclinations that don't actually appeal to them or even dating AI in lieu of other humans, perhaps we've all become cynics. 

SEE ALSO: Is dating an AI chatbot considered cheating?

Others may be able to watch Materialists and divorce themselves from the immense and immensely charming personas of the cast. For me, I struggled to feel the movie as it truly is, as opposed to the movie the marketing campaign with its flashy stars had me expecting it to be. I suspect years from now, I'll rewatch this movie and think more kindly of it. For now, I admire that it's a big swing, with big stars, who might be, despite their incredible charm and sincere performances, its biggest flaw. For as grounded and real as Materialists aims to be, it's hard to overlook its big, shining stars to see that gritty authenticity. 

In the end, Materialists feels like it's trying to check all the boxes of a rom-com, much like Lucy's clients aim to check the boxes of what they think they want. But Song wants to give us what we need. And as much as I wish she pulled that off, I was left cold. 

Materialists is now in theaters.

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Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple MacBook Air 13.3" (2017) 1.8GHz i5 8GB RAM 128GB SSD Silver (Refurbished) $199.97
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How to Train Your Dragon, the beloved tale of unconventional Viking teen Hiccup, adorably misunderstood dragon Toothless, and the remote Isle of Berk, has been given the live action treatment — 15 years after the first film hit cinemas. A longtime rewatch favourite, Dean Dublois and Chris Sanders' adaptation of Cressida Cowell's novels earned both personal household praise and multiple Oscars. And now, among the wave of live action adaptations flying out of Disney, from Lilo and Stitch to The Lion King, Dreamworks is entering the arena.

SEE ALSO: 'Lilo and Stitch' review: If you have to watch a Disney remake, make it this one

How does the live action How to Train Your Dragon fare in comparison to the original? With Dublois back behind the wheel here, it's almost impossible to separate the two, with shot-for-shot sequences, Gerard Butler mightily rendering his voiced role in person, and John Powell returning with that treasured score. Though not reinventing the wheel, the film manages to recreate the magic of the original through impeccable visual effects, faithful cinematography, and intricate production design. 

Fans, if you've missed the Isle of Berk, it's time to revisit.

How to Train Your Dragon is almost shot-for-shot identical to the original Whatcha doooin? Credit: Universal Pictures

If you're going into How to Train Your Dragon expecting a highly different film from the original, it's adamantly not that. Dublois and production designer Dominic Watkins have made some subtle tweaks here — the design of the formidable Red Death dragon; the intricate, rustic detail of the Viking village and its massive longhouse (the animated Berk is more polished); and some of Dublois' dialogue — but for the most part, the film intentionally goes shot-for-shot, line-for-line with the original film. How to Train Your Dragon wouldn't be the first live action adaptation to do this, with Disney knowing very well where to anchor their money-shot IP (Ariel's iconic hair flick in The Little Mermaid will not be changed, thank you). However, the similarity might polarise viewers, whether you're hoping to see such replication or seeking something more.

Arguably the most famous scene from the franchise, Toothless and Hiccup genuinely connecting for the first time through a hand-to-snoot boop, is faithfully recreated down to the very last detail — and it's simply beautiful to watch in live action (though it was frustratingly included in the trailer). Wearing the pressure of such iconic moments with grace, The Black Phone's Mason Thames is well cast as beloved protagonist Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, nailing the awkward physicality, empathy, and wise-cracking nervousness of Berk's least Viking-like Viking.

The crew. Credit: Universal Pictures

Alongside Thames, The Last of Us' Nico Parker finds her own kickass interpretation of dragon-fighting ace Astrid Hofferson (originally voiced by America Ferrera), consistently frustrated by Hiccup's privilege and casually crushing dragon teeth with her double-handed axe. Nick Frost takes up the mantle of Craig Ferguson-voiced blacksmith Gobber the Belch, bringing his own signature comedy stylings to the role. As for our banter-laden group of hopeful Viking dragonslayers, Julian Dennison, Gabriel Howell, Bronwyn James, and Harry Trevaldwyn give fun, snappy performances as the not-so-battle-ready teens of Berk.

But if you can find an actor having more fun in this adaptation than Gerard Butler, I'll eat my Viking helmet.

No one seems to be having a better time in How to Train Your Dragon than Gerard Butler "Let's send these devils back to Hell!" Credit: Universal Pictures

Decked out in enormous Viking garb by costume designer Lindsay Pugh (including one of those myth-busted two-horned helmets), Butler seems to relish every scene he's in as Berk's mighty chieftain, Stoick the Vast, a role he voiced for all three How to Train Your Dragon movies. 

In full Viking "This is Sparta" mode without the blood spatter, Butler roars through Stoick's familiar lines and grandiose "when I was a boy…" speeches while being magnificently magnified through Bill Pope's tightly framed cinematography. When Butler's Stoick gets awkward, it's hilarious; when he goes into battle mode, it's impressive as hell, roaring lines like, "Let's send these devils back to Hell!" with all the gusto we expect. Butler thrives in the visual splendour of the live arena, surrounded by some impressive action sequences both within Gobber's dragon-fighting arena and out on the battlefield.

And it's this visual challenge of How to Train Your Dragon that sees the live action soar.

How to Train Your Dragon boasts spectacular visual effects, bringing Toothless to life  Every scale. Credit: Universal Pictures

Probably the element of How to Train Your Dragon fans will be most keen to see is the rendering of the various dragons themselves, including the world's cutest Night Fury, Toothless. Using rideable puppetry and visual effects from Framestore, How to Train Your Dragon crafts impeccable versions of the franchise's mythical beasts. Framestore — who've worked on a string of the Disney live action films including The Little Mermaid and Snow White, as well as plenty of MCU films alongside the likes of Wicked, Gladiator II, Paddington — really showcases its skills in this project, particularly through the animation of Toothless. 

Essentially, Toothless is magnificent in live action. Every scale glimmers, every muscle moves, and the franchise's beloved dragon's signature expressiveness shines through every scene. Supported by a heartfelt performance from Thames, who is essentially working with a puppet, the Hiccup-Toothless friendship of all friendships is lovingly rendered.

How to Train Your Dragon sees Dublois sticking like glue to his original film, which exposes the franchise's timelessness in a way. If you've dreamed of seeing a version of Toothless living, breathing, and gobbling fish in a real world (on screen), the live action adaptation is a treat. 

How to Train Your Dragon hits cinemas in the UK June 9 and in the U.S. June 13.

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Opens in a new window Credit: Koofr Koofr Cloud Storage: Lifetime Subscription (1TB) $119.97
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Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire TV 32-inch 2-Series $129.99 at Amazon
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SEE ALSO: Snag a 65-inch Toshiba C350 Fire TV for its lowest price yet at Amazon

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Climate.gov may soon shut down, putting the end to an important U.S. government climate and weather resource used by countless people every year. The Guardian reports that the website's entire content production team was let go at the end of May, becoming some of the latest workers impacted by the Trump administration's widespread layoffs of federal employees.

Run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Climate.gov publishes scientific data on the Earth's climate, including maps, educational material, and articles aimed at informing the general public. According to the website, Climate.gov's mission is to "provide science and information for a climate-smart nation." 

Sadly, this flow of climate information is likely to soon become a trickle at most, with Climate.gov's editorial team of 10 having reportedly all been dismissed by May 31. 

SEE ALSO: How do we navigate climate disinformation online?

The cuts began shortly after President Donald Trump's inauguration in February, with three of Climate.gov's editorial team members dismissed in the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) mass purge of probationary employees. The remaining seven were subsequently axed in recent weeks, though all 10 remain on Climate.gov's now outdated list of staff at time of writing.

"[The current U.S. administration] think that climate change isn't real, and they don't want anybody talking about it," Climate.gov's former program manager Rebecca Lindsey told NPR. Lindsay was one of the three workers who were dismissed in February.

Trump has actively hindered efforts to combat climate change for years, withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement and scrapping the Clean Power Plan during his first term as president in 2017. This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed reports that it is working to abolish all restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants that use fossil fuels. The EPA further revealed that it intends to weaken regulations which limit power plants' emissions of toxic air pollutants such as mercury.

The NOAA is one of the many government agencies struggling under extensive staffing cuts implemented by Elon Musk's DOGE this year. Approximately 1,000 former NOAA workers have reportedly been axed since Trump took office, making up 10 percent of the NOAA's workforce. This includes over 150 critical roles which have been left empty as of May.

NPR reports that Climate.gov will cease publishing new content on July 1, though it remains unclear what will happen to the content currently available. The website could be completely shuttered, left to rot, or even reappropriated to host less scientific articles that are more in line with Trump's views on climate change. Whatever happens, it seems clear that climate education and action are not high priorities for the Trump administration.

What if one day, when you opened the front door of your apartment, you found that you'd been completely walled in?

That's the premise for Netflix's upcoming mystery/thriller Brick, which sees a strange black wall enveloping an apartment block and trapping the residents inside.

Writer/director Philip Koch's movie looks like a twisty, claustrophobic ride.

Brick is streaming on Netflix July 10.

The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe.

With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it.

So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Friday, June 13, 2025:

AcrossHouse and Doogie Howser, for short

• The answer is MDs.

Dessert wine

• The answer is Port.

Mugful after a sledding excursion

• The answer is Cocoa.

Desert whine?

• The answer is I'm hot.

"Like, yesterday!"

• The answer is ASAP.

DownChocolate-and-coffee drink

• The answer is Mocha.

Sag

• The answer is Droop.

Three-point percentage, e.g.

• The answer is Stat.

Poofy toy dogs, familiarly

• The answer is Poms.

Org. that employs Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy novels

• The answer is CIA.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Featured Video For You The Wordle Strategy used by the New York Times' Head of Games

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Mini Crossword.

Scientists have scored a pristine view of a pair of exotic worlds orbiting a star more than 300 light-years away — one with sand-like clouds and another surrounded in space by moon-making material. 

The discoveries come from YSES-1, a star system in the deep southern sky. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a collaboration of NASA and its European and Canadian counterparts, a team of astronomers saw so-called "silicate clouds" directly for the first time on an exoplanet, a world far beyond our own solar system. The team's detection of a dusty disk around the sibling planet is also rare, perhaps just the third time scientists have seen one so clearly. 

Webb usually observes exoplanets through indirect methods, such as transmission spectroscopy, a technique for studying a planet's atmosphere by analyzing how starlight filters through it. What distinguishes this new research is that the two worlds — YSES-1b and YSES-1c — were directly imaged, meaning the telescope captured light from the planets themselves. 

Sitting far from their host star, these young planets glow from the leftover heat of their formation. Thanks to their temperature, size, and distance, the result is a clean picture of the exoplanets in thermal infrared, allowing scientists to get much more data. 

"What's really cool about this system is that unlike most planets, we can actually take a picture of them!" said Evert Nasedkin in a post on the social media platform Bluesky. You can see the image further down in this story.

SEE ALSO: A tiny star gave birth to an absolute giant. Scientists are puzzled.

The idea for this groundbreaking project began long before Webb was even open for business, said Kielan Hoch, lead author of the research recently published in the journal Nature. 

Scientists hypothesized the telescope could get both worlds in a single shot, "essentially giving us two for the price of one," Hoch said in a statement. 

What's really cool about this system is that unlike most planets, we can actually take a picture of them! We used the NIRSpec and MIRI instruments on JWST to observe nearly the full spectra of each of these exoplanets.

[image or embed]

— Evert Nasedkin (@evertnasedkin.bsky.social) June 10, 2025 at 1:15 PM

These two gas giant planets weigh five to 15 times the mass of Jupiter and orbit far from their host, a star similar to the sun. What's different is that it's only about 16.7 million years old, a mere whippersnapper compared to our middle-aged, 4.6 billion year-old sun. The planets are also in extremely distant orbits. YSES-1b, the innermost of the two, is still perhaps four times farther from its star than Pluto is from the sun.  

But given only a handful of known exoplanets can be directly imaged, the study has offered scientists a unique opportunity to see an early stage of a developing star system. From these observations of the YSES-1 system — the letters in its name stand for Young Suns Exoplanet Survey — astronomers can gain insight into how planets and moons form and evolve. 

SEE ALSO: Webb discovers a distant moon has an intriguing similarity to Earth

Few distant worlds meet the criteria for direct imaging because planets are often millions of times fainter than the stars they circle. And if they are orbiting close by, their own light usually gets swamped.  

The James Webb Space telescope captures a direct image of exoplanets YSES-1b and YSES-1c with its Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument. Credit: NASA/ ESA / CSA / Hoch et al. / Nature

But scientists want these images because there is so much to learn from them. Molecules within a planet's atmosphere absorb certain colors of light, so when astronomers study a planet's spectrum, they can look for what's missing from the rainbow to determine which gases — like water, methane, and carbon dioxide — are present in the planet's air. For the YSES-1 system, scientists not only saw molecules in the direct imaging but detected cloud particles and a dust disk. 

On YSES-1c, rather than water vapor, the clouds are made of hot, ultra-fine rock grains. While Earth's clouds are often white and pillowy, these are probably hazy and dark, filling the sky with something akin to a glass powder. You can think of these silicate clouds sort of like the plumes of mineral ash that vent out of volcanoes. 

YSES-1b is even "weirder," said Nasedkin, one of the coauthors. Around it is a so-called circumplanetary dust disk that could serve as a birthplace for moons, similar to those seen around Jupiter. Scientists used computer models to figure out that the dust is hot — about 400 to 600 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Because this particular disk is much older than two previously found around other unrelated exoplanets, what is creating or sustaining it is a mystery. The original disk of planet-building material around the star is long gone, so the researchers have ruled that out as the source. 

"It's possible that we're seeing the dust emitted by collisions of moons and other small, rocky bodies left over from the planet's formation!" Nasedkin said.

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TL;DR: Live stream Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (Game 4) in the 2025 NBA Finals for free on YouTube. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The 2025 NBA Finals continue to surprise and entertain, with the Pacers taking a 2-1 lead after the first game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The pressure is now all on the Thunder. The pre-Finals favorites need to win Game 4, otherwise the Pacers will be one step away from lifting the trophy.

If you want to watch Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (Game 4) in the 2025 NBA Finals for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (Game 4)?

Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (Game 4) starts at 8:30 p.m. ET on June 13. This game takes place at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

How to watch Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (Game 4) for free

Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (Game 4) in the 2025 NBA Finals is available to live stream for free on YouTube.

This content is geo-restricted to India, but anyone can access this free live stream with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in India, meaning you can live stream the 2025 NBA Finals from anywhere in the world.

Live stream the NBA for free by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in India

4. Visit YouTube

5. Watch Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (Game 4) for free

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The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but they do tend to offer money-back guarantees or free trials. By leveraging these offers, you can watch NBA live streams without actually spending anything. This clearly isn't a long-term solution, but it does mean you can watch select games from the NBA Finals before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to free live streams from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for YouTube?

ExpressVPN is the best service for accessing free live streams on platforms like YouTube, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including India

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A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $139 and includes an extra four months for free — 61% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month subscription for just $12.95 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (Game 4) for free with ExpressVPN.

Ice cream makers have had their moment in recent years. TikTokkers have taken a liking to these machines — and who can blame them? Ice cream is just plain yum — making the ice cream maker an on-trend appliance for cool kitchens.

Indeed, ice cream makers are having their moment in the sun (well, not quite the sun, because that would melt the ice cream, of course). And that's definitely a good thing. Because who doesn’t want a constant supply of the tasty frozen treat?

But there are things to know about making your own ice cream. It isn’t like rushing up to the ice cream van and ordering a 99 with a flake. Using an ice cream maker isn't quite that simple. Especially if you’ve never owned one before. Allow us to get you started with some info on ice cream makers, plus a round-up of the best models.

How does an ice cream maker work?

It’s easy. In most case you simply add the mixture into a bowl (cream, milk, sugar, and any flavouring), which the machine then stirs with a rotating paddle. The machine will then drop the temperature, freezing the mix. Some premium-level machines have a built-in freezer, others have a bowl that you need to pop in the freezer beforehand. The mix will also expand during the process. The amount of ice cream you’ll get depends on the bowl capacity. Other models, such as those by Ninja, have a different method but the principle is the same: Put your mix in the bowl and let the machine do the work.

How long does it take to make ice cream?

As you’ll see below, different ice cream makers will work with different timescales — somewhere between 20 and 50 minutes. It’s worth noting that pre-freezing a bowl can take around eight hours or more. Up to 24 hours in some cases, in fact. So, if you live in a household with kids who are likely to start demanding ice cream at any given time, it might be worth keeping that bowl in the freezer permanently, so it’s always ready.

What other features do ice cream makes have?

On more expensive models you’ll find literally cool features, such as built-in freezing or settings to control the consistency of your ice cream (or other frozen dessert). One feature that’s always welcome — and found in cheaper models — is a chute in the lid to add ingredients, whether it’s flavouring or nuts, while the ice cream is being made.

What else can ice cream makers make?

Ice cream makers don't only make ice cream. Certain models will make ice cream variations, such as sorbet and gelato, or frozen yoghurt. What’s not to like? The Ninja model below offers an impressive ten different varieties of frozen dessert, so these machines can be very versatile.

What is the best ice cream maker?

There are plenty of top-quality models on offer from well-known brands like Cuisinart and Sage. We have checked out customer reviews, features, and specifications to put together a very chill list. Whether you're a total beginner looking to whip something up, or a professional ice cream maker-in-the-making, there’s something for you here.

These are the best ice cream makers in 2025.

Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections?

The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for June 13 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Outlook

• Green: Found at Ben & Jerry's

• Blue: Popular in the '90s

• Purple: They share the first word

Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Perspective

• Green: Seen at an ice cream shop

• Blue: Hit songs of 1998

• Purple: Hot ___

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections #733 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Perspective: ANGLE, BENT, LENS, POINT OF VIEW

• Seen at an ice cream shop: CONE, CUP, LITTLE SPOON, SCOOP

• Hit songs of 1998: CLOSING TIME, IRIS, ONE WEEK, TOO CLOSE

• Hot ___: DOG, POTATO, ROD, WATER BOTTLE

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for June 13

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

If you're reading this, you're looking for a little help playing Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game.

Strands requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferrined pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for June 13 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for June 13 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Scattering Petals

The words are garden-related.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words are types of colorful plants.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Flower Girls

Featured Video For You Strands 101: How to win NYT’s latest word game NYT Strands word list for June 13

• Daisy

• Violet

• Azalea

• Lily

• Flower Girls

• Petunia

• Rose

• Poppy

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Strands.

Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: Hints and answers for June 13 Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for June 13, 2025 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Part of a ship.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no recurring letters.

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter B.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

BILGE.

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for June 13

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Wordle.