Contrary to what you might expect in an era of inflation fatigue and tariff anxiety, Halloween 2025 is shaping up to be the biggest spending season in the holiday’s retail history. Americans are expected to shell out a record $13.1 billion this year—up nearly 13% from last year’s $11.6 billion and surpassing the previous 2023…
In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at the U.K.’s first space launch license, growing mini-organs instead of transplanting them, nuclear reactors on the Moon and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here. Skyrora CEO Volodymyr Levykin Sportsfile via Getty Images Glasgow, Scotland-based company Skyrora, which is…
The search for alien life traditionally focuses on planets in the “Goldilocks zone” — the orbital band where surface water can exist. But new research suggests life might thrive far from starlight in a so-called “radiolytic habitable zone,” where penetrating cosmic rays break buried water molecules (a process called radiolysis) into hydrogen, oxygen and energy-rich…