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I've fallen down the Anno 117: Pax Romana rabbit hole this year, despite the negative buzz around it. Steam reviews and the Reddit consensus hold that 117 is empty, dull, and generally just less than its predecessor, Anno 1800 . I can sort of see why. Quite a few elements seem like they're waiting for future add-ons to come alive and wake them up. But I've enjoyed myself thoroughly, so when I saw the "mostly negative" reviews for Anno 117 's first big DLC, Prophecies of Ash, I figured I'd give it a try, despite the haters. I'm glad I did. An inaugural bit of DLC can't fix every problem. But it solves some pretty big ones, and throws a welcome wrench into the usual flow of city building.

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London janglers the Tubs are about two months away from releasing their new album Hard Life . This is good news. Right now, the Tubs are among the most dependably tuneful bands on the indie rock landscape. Hopefully, you've already heard the very good lead single " Who's Gonna Love You Now ." Today, they follow it with "Stoop To Me," a new song that might be even better. It's basically muscular power-pop with Celtic folk instrumentation, and that combination turns out to be extremely cool. Here's what frontman Owen Williams says about it:

The post The Tubs – “Stoop To Me” appeared first on Stereogum .

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Bitcoin Magazine

Winklevoss Twins Donated $10 Million From Bitcoin Sale to Trump Super PAC

Crypto entrepreneurs Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss donated over $10 million after liquidating Bitcoin to American super PAC MAGA Inc., which supports President Donald Trump.

A Tuesday filing shows each twin — the founders of the public crypto exchange, Gemini — donated over $5 million each.

The donation comes about one month after the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission asked a judge to vacate the agency’s $5 million penalty against Gemini.

The twins back in 2024 announced that they had donated 30.94 Bitcoin, valued at over $2 million at the time, to President Trump’s campaign, claiming it would “put an end to the Biden Administration’s war on crypto.”

During the Biden Administration, regulators cracked down hard on crypto exchanges — including Gemini — but since President Trump took office, a number of lawsuits have been scrapped.

MAGA Inc. has raised over $400 million in fresh cash ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The Winklevoss twins are Bitcoin OGs

The Winklevoss Twins — who claimed they played a part in the creation of Facebook — founded crypto exchange Gemini in 2014 after being early Bitcoin backers.

Crypto industry observers have long speculated that the twins are two of the biggest Bitcoin holders in the space.

The twins have long praised President Trump’s pro-Bitcoin and pro-business stance, claiming it’s crucial for the future of the crypto industry in the country.

Tyler in particular emphasized the need for a political shift to prevent further harm to the industry and to restore an environment conducive to innovation and economic growth.

“President Donald J. Trump is the pro-Bitcoin, pro-crypto, and pro-business choice,” he said back in 2024. “This is not even remotely open for debate. Anyone who tells you otherwise is severely misinformed, delusional, or not telling the truth.”

Back in May, Gemini shares jumped over 20% in after-hours trading after the Winklevoss twins announced a $100 million Bitcoin-funded investment in the company alongside Q1 earnings showing 42% year-over-year revenue growth.

The quarter’s results included a narrowed net loss of $109 million and a sharp rise in services and credit card revenue, though trading volumes had fallen from a year earlier following Bitcoin’s crash from its October peak.

The rally followed months of turmoil for Gemini, including layoffs, executive departures, shareholder lawsuits, and a stock price that had dropped more than 89% from its IPO high, partly offset by a CFTC derivatives license granted in April.

This post Winklevoss Twins Donated $10 Million From Bitcoin Sale to Trump Super PAC first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo .

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Astronauts have grown a common crystal in space — but this extraterrestrial version is exhibiting a very uncommon behavior. Under a microscope, the crystal looks more like a tiny futuristic sculpture than something that formed naturally. The pyramid-like assembly curls in on itself in stair-stepped layers, seeming almost too orderly to be real. But according to scientists, the striking shape is what happens when gravity stops calling the shots.

The image , shared on July 18 by NASA astronaut Don Pettit , and accompanying video were captured aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and show potassium chloride crystals growing in microgravity — the near-weightless environment experienced in orbit.

Microgravity isn't quite zero gravity; astronauts experience a gravitational pull roughly a million times weaker than on Earth's surface, Anne Wilson , a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Butler University, told Live Science. That reduction in gravity's tug has profound impacts on the human body , and, as the new image shows, completely changes how liquids and crystals behave as well.

"[Other] forces start to become far more pronounced than gravity forces," Wilson said, pointing to molecular attraction and polarity as two influences that suddenly take over once gravity fades into the background.

Those conditions enable potassium chloride — a common salt used as a sodium substitute in foods and sports drinks — to crystallize in ways that are nearly impossible to reproduce in a terrestrial lab.

On Earth, growing crystals eventually get heavy enough to sag, break or settle at the bottom of their container. But in microgravity, they keep growing outward from wherever they started.

Potassium chloride naturally forms cube-shaped crystals, Wilson said. In microgravity, those crystals grow mainly from their edges and corners instead of across their faces, leaving the center hollow and creating the striking pyramid-like structures seen in the image.

In microgravity, crystals experience "hopper growth," where the outer edges and corners grow at faster rates than the flat faces, creating a step-like appearance. This timelapse records their growth inside a thin water film. Look closely, and you will see the patterns emerge! pic.twitter.com/iSlqJvke1G June 6, 2026

Scientists call this pattern hopper growth , and it isn't unique to potassium chloride (ordinary table salt forms the same way). As new corners emerge during growth, the crystal can change direction entirely, producing the elegant scrolling pattern visible in the new image.

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While the crystal is visually stunning, the science behind it could prove just as valuable. Materials grown without gravity's interference often form with fewer defects, giving researchers a rare look at what a truly "ideal" structure looks like. This insight could help refine manufacturing processes for semiconductors and other advanced materials back on Earth.

For Wilson, images like this serve another purpose: inspiring curiosity.

"I love seeing videos of how things behave in space," she said. "Who would think that something as simple as potassium chloride could still be super cool?"

ISS astronauts spend a significant amount of their time conducting science experiments that would be near-impossible on Earth. Recently, astronauts used the space station’s newly upgraded Cold Atom Laboratory to create and study an elusive fifth state of matter called the Bose-Einstein condensate. And last year, researchers demonstrated how moss spores exposed to space for nine months on the outside of the ISS continued to grow after being returned to Earth.

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The MobLand team is officially heading for the Scottish Highlands, and they're bringing Hercule Poirot with them. Paramount+ has snagged the new drama series Laird from the hit Tom Hardy crime drama's co-creator and showrunner, Jez Butterworth , alongside his The Agency co-creator John-Henry Butterworth and Georgia Lee . They once again have a buzzy lead to work with in Kenneth Branagh , who will also join the Butterworths as an executive producer on the project. BAFTA-winning director Joe Wright , known for directing Gary Oldman 's Oscar-winning performance in Darkest Hour , is also attached to helm the first episode and executive produce.