Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, only the third confirmed visitor from outside our solar system, is baffling scientists with 12 anomalies as it nears Earth. For example, it’s moving in the opposite direction of most planets, yet almost perfectly aligned with their orbital plane. And instead of a tail pointing away from the Sun, it shoots a jet toward it. Moreover, it has a nickel-rich gas plume with almost no iron, unlike any known comet. Its light also behaves in a very unusual way, scattering in the opposite pattern of most comets, which makes it look strangely dark when observed.
Most strikingly, its jets (i.e., streams of gas and dust shooting out from the object) stay perfectly straight and aligned over a million kilometers, even though the object spins every 16 hours – a behavior so precise that some scientists wonder if it’s artificial. NASA insists it’s a comet and poses no threat. But Avi Loeb warns ignoring these anomalies could mean missing a historic discovery.
A Washington state resident is hospitalized with H5N5 avian influenza, a bird flu strain never before seen in humans. The patient, an older adult with underlying conditions, owns a backyard flock exposed to wild birds, likely the source of infection. Officials stress the public risk is low and confirm no human-to-human transmission, though experts warn the virus’s evolution is unpredictable. This marks the first U.S. human bird flu case in nine months and highlights concerns about pandemic potential.
A massive WhatsApp vulnerability exposed 3.5 billion phone numbers worldwide by exploiting its contact discovery feature, which lacked rate limits. Researchers from the University of Vienna confirmed they could query 100 million numbers per hour, pulling not only numbers but also profile photos (57 %) and “about” texts (29 %). Meta admitted it ignored warnings dating back to 2017 and only fixed the flaw in October 2025 by adding stricter anti-scraping measures. Experts warn this could have been the largest data leak in history, eclipsing Facebook’s 2021 breach, and call it a wake-up call for apps relying on phone numbers as identity.
