TECH NEWS

Why cats prefer silver vine to catnip and other May highlights

https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/pyrenees1-1152x648-1778337693.jpg

the best of the rest

Prehistoric mining in the Pyrenees, a new species of tiny blue octopus, slapstick acoustics, and more.

Malachite fragments recovered during excavation of a cave in the Pyrenees. Credit: Maria D. Guillén / IPHES-CERCA

It’s a regrettable reality that there is never enough time to cover all the interesting scientific stories we come across. So every month, we highlight a handful of the best stories that nearly slipped through the cracks. May’s list includes the discovery of a possible prehistoric mining site in the Pyrenees; a new species of tiny blue octopus; why cats seem to prefer silver vine to catnip; and why political polarization might behave like a phase transition, among other noteworthy stories.

Prehistoric mining in the Pyrenees

High in the eastern Pyrenees is a prehistoric cave, excavated between 2021 and 2023. Based on analysis of artifacts uncovered at the site, a team of...

Copyright of this story solely belongs to arstechnica.com. To see the full text click HERE

Read more

https://images.ft.com/v3/image/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fcms-image-bucket-productionv3-ap-northeast-1-a7d2.s3.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com%2Fimages%2F8%2F7%2F6%2F4%2F13304678-5-eng-GB%2F3b79d6d875...

Sources: NTT Data is in advanced talks to build a data center for Anthropic in Osaka of up to 500 MW, among Japan's largest, potentially costing $6.3B

X: @finkd, @valsai, @finkd, @mattprd, @timjayas, @matthewberman, @alexandr_wang, @kimmonismus, @theo, @matthewberman, @imjustnewatai, @tobi, @alexandr_wang, @matthewberman, @jackk, @valsai, @alexandr_wang, @bonegpt, @answeror, @chrisgpt, @shaunmmaguire, @firstadopter, @ananth7e, @cherry_mx_reds, @bhavani_00007, @theo, @ccatalini, @yuchenj_uw, @finkd, @zephyr_z9, @finkd, @pegasusfund, @ren_hongyu, @a16z, @alexmichaelio, @hosseeb, @sullyomarr, @synthwavedd, @rohanpaul_ai,
https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/kktAaf1YhcQ

Q&A with Mark Zuckerberg and Alexandr Wang on the Muse app, Muse Wonder, the risks of committing $100B+ to AI, rebooting Meta's AI team, agentic commerce, more

X: @finkd, @valsai, @a16z, @finkd, @afinetheorem, @mattprd, @timjayas, @matthewberman, @alexandr_wang, @kimmonismus, @theo, @matthewberman, @imjustnewatai, @tobi, @alexandr_wang, @matthewberman, @jackk, @valsai, @alexandr_wang, @bonegpt, @answeror, @chrisgpt, @shaunmmaguire, @firstadopter, @ananth7e, @cherry_mx_reds, @bhavani_00007, @theo, @ccatalini, @yuchenj_uw, @finkd, @zephyr_z9, @finkd, @pegasusfund, @ren_hongyu, @alexmichaelio, @hosseeb, @sullyomarr, @synthwavedd, @rohanpaul_