Coming to a street near you? The U.S. is eyeing Britain’s surveillance playbook. Facial recognition systems scan every face in public and cross-check it against databases to spot fugitives in real time.
Zapped back to life: After years of crippling rheumatoid arthritis, Lynn Milam got her life back thanks to a lima bean–size nerve stimulator implanted in her neck. It zaps her vagus nerve once a day, dialing down the immune system’s overreaction. The FDA just approved it, meaning thousands of drug-resistant patients could see real relief, and maybe hug their kids again. Love this.
20%
How much worse doctors get at spotting abnormalities on their own after using AI during colonoscopies. They’ve become over-reliant on the system’s little green box that flags suspicious areas, and when it’s gone, they start missing things. Think of it like GPS: Once you’ve had it, paper maps suddenly feel impossible.
🔎 Fine-tune your Mac: Spotlight in macOS 26 can get too broad. Go to System Settings > Spotlight > Results from Apps. Anything here could appear. For example, search “contract,” and it might pull documents and dictionary definitions. Uncheck the apps you know you won’t need.
Per-app languages on Android: If you’re bilingual, you don’t have to stick to one across your phone. Go to Settings > System (or General management) > Languages > App languages. Pick an app and set your preference. You can also long-press the app icon, open App info and change it there. FYI: Not every app supports this.
🧬 Pill against aging: Get this, Retro Biosciences, a startup with $180M from Sam Altman, is testing a pill that could fight Alzheimer’s by reviving your body’s recycling system. The first human gets it this year. If it works, they’re thinking 10 more good years tacked onto life.
🖱️ Focus on one window in Windows 11: Too many apps cluttering your screen? Try Title bar window shake. Left-click the title bar of the window you want, shake your mouse, and everything else minimizes. Shake again and they come back. If it’s not on by default, go to Settings > System > Multitasking > Title bar window shake.
🎮 Mute console beeps: You can silence that loud beep your PS5 makes when turning it on. Go to Settings > System > Beep and Light > Mute Beep Sound. On Xbox, go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio > Power chime > Off. Now you can game at night without waking the house.
Find your mouse pointer on Mac: If the cursor keeps disappearing, go to System Settings > Accessibility > Display > Pointer. Drag the Pointer size slider to make it larger, and pick new colors for the outline or fill. Bonus: Turn on Shake mouse pointer to locate. Next time you lose it, a quick shake makes the pointer balloon for a second. Amazing.
💻 Get detailed system info on Windows: Before installing drivers, you might need your specs. In the search bar, type “cmd,” right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. Then type “systeminfo.” After a few seconds, you’ll see a report with your Windows version, build number, BIOS, memory and if your PC is 64 or 32 bit.
🧬 Cancer vaccine: How about some great news? University of Florida scientists made an mRNA vaccine that cranks up the immune system like a rave DJ, and boom, tumors in mice shrank or disappeared. Pair it with immunotherapy drugs, and it’s even stronger. This is a step toward a universal cancer vaccine. Human trials are next. I hate cancer.
🔥 Laptop running hot? It happens when you’ve got lots of apps open or are doing something resource-heavy. Besides the noisy fans, your system might slow itself down to stay cool. Quick: Get a cooling pad to improve airflow and keep things running smoother. Here’s a good one on sale. You’re welcome.
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Turn off Windows 11 notifications: Some app alerts get annoying fast. Go to Settings > System > Notifications > Notifications from apps and other senders, and toggle off the ones you don’t want. To silence them all, go back to Settings > System > Notifications, and turn it off completely.
1,500 years
That’s how long ago engineers in Tajikistan built a hidden aqueduct system. Ancient designers used ceramic pipes and waterproof mortar to serve a fortress city long before flush toilets were a thing. And yes, it still impresses modern-day scientists. Click through the photos, and you’ll see why.
$14.5 billion
Biggest crypto theft ever. In 2020, a hacker cracked one of the world’s largest Bitcoin mining pools using a laughably weak 32-bit security system you could brute-force with a gaming PC. They drained 127,000 Bitcoins (worth $3.5B then, $14.5B now) from over 5,000 wallets and then just left the stash untouched for five years.
GPT-5 eats its siblings: OpenAI says GPT-5 is so good they’re deprecating every older model. That means GPT‑4o, GPT‑4.1 and GPT‑4.5 will be gobbled up. ChatGPT defaults to GPT‑5 via a unified “auto‑switching system” sometimes. Comes with “personalities,” can solve real-world problems, and yes, it’s free.
Brighten up your Mac screen: If your display keeps dimming on its own, turn off the auto settings. Go to System Settings > Displays and disable Automatically adjust brightness. Then go to System Settings > Battery > Options and switch off Slightly dim the display on battery.
Over 1.2 million kilometers
How far one 1985 Toyota Tercel has driven in the past 40 years. The car’s still in mint condition, and if you don’t believe owner Andy, he’s got a photo of the odometer rolling over at 999,999 (it only goes up to six digits). His secret? Regular oil changes. (That’s about 745,000 miles if you’re like me and never got the metric system.)
🚫 Stop Chrome from running in the background: To shut that down, go to Settings > System and toggle off Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed. While you’re there, turn on Use graphics acceleration when available. Your little laptop will run a bit smoother.
Your laptop will thank you: Windows 11 swapped out Power saver for a new Energy saver mode. Go to Settings > System > Power & Battery > Energy saver. Turn on Always use energy saver to dim the screen, pause app syncing and disable fancy effects. Or set it to kick in automatically at a battery level, like 20%.