Steam offers two free games for a limited window; grab them before deadlines
April 17, 2026, 4:03 AM EDT. Two free games are up for grabs on Steam for a limited window. Uncanny Tales: Cold Road, a psychological horror adventure, is now free (normally €2.99) and will stay free through April 20, 19:00 local time. Stickman Killing Zombie, an arcade action title with stick-figure visuals, is free until April 19, 19:00. Claiming them adds permanent licenses to your library. Separately, Epic Games Store continues its freebies with The Stone of Madness, free until April 23, 17:00, followed by DOOMBLADE, a 2D Metroidvania. Dates may shift. In short: grab the Steam titles while you can; Epic Games also has limited-time freebies to chase.
Artemis II astronauts recount fire scare and constant alarms during lunar mission
April 17, 2026, 3:02 AM EDT. Artemis-II crew describe a mission punctuated by repeated alarms that disrupted sleep aboard the Orion spacecraft during their April 2026 lunar voyage. Four astronauts-Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen and Reid Wiseman-say many warnings were later deemed nuisance alerts, yet they pressed on with guards and checks that left the crew uneasy. The standout moment: a fire warning that triggered immediate inspections of every corner, a reminder that a real blaze would threaten life-support and limited escape options in a closed cabin. NASA notes the sensors are designed to err on the side of caution. The account highlights the psychological toll of false alerts on deep-space travel and the strain of constant vigilance.
Pedro Duque on Artemis II: 'Surely many people are sighing with relief right now'
April 17, 2026, 2:41 AM EDT. Former Spanish astronaut Pedro Duque weighed in on Artemis II, saying that at this moment there is likely relief among many observers. The remark, attributed in interviews, reflects the tense atmosphere around the crewed lunar mission. Artemis II aims to carry astronauts around the Moon, a milestone in NASA's program. Duque, whose background spans high-stakes spaceflight, framed the moment as cautious optimism rather than triumph. The comment underscores public interest and the complexity of launch campaigns, test phases, and safety reviews. Timelines for future steps remain fluid, but the mood around Artemis II appears steadier than during earlier tests.
SpaceX to launch Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars on Falcon Heavy in 2028
April 17, 2026, 1:59 AM EDT. SpaceX will launch the Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars on a Falcon Heavy no earlier than late 2028, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The mission, led by ESA with NASA support under the ROSA project, aims to drill up to two meters beneath the Martian surface at Oxia Planum to search for signs of past or present life. NASA will provide launch services, braking engines for the lander, and hardware such as radioisotope heater units and a mass spectrometer for the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer. This partnership expands NASA-ESA collaboration after earlier delays tied to the Russia-Ukraine war. If successful, Rosalind Franklin could reshape understanding of life beyond Earth and advance deep subsurface exploration on Mars.
Artemis 2 commander defends lunar toilet after vent-line clog
April 17, 2026, 1:13 AM EDT. NASA's Artemis 2 crew defended the spacecraft's lunar toilet after weeks of scrutiny. Commander Reid Wiseman said, 'That was a wonderful toilet. The toilet worked great.' The crew said a vent line blockage briefly prevented venting urine, limiting toilet use. The issue pointed to the wastewater line rather than the loo itself, and the Integrity capsule was still able to expel some waste. Ground teams are weighing a chemical reaction in the wastewater-potentially involving additives to curb biofilms-as the possible root cause. The four astronauts-Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen-launched April 1, orbited the Moon, and returned aboard Integrity on April 10.
Artemis 2 commander defends lunar loo after vent-line clog
April 17, 2026, 1:12 AM EDT. Artemis 2 mission commander Reid Wiseman defended the spacecraft's toilet on Thursday, saying it worked well despite a clog in the vent line that limited venting. The issue blocked urine from flowing to the hull of the Orion capsule named Integrity and disrupted waste disposal for portions of the mission. NASA and crew emphasized the problem was not with the toilet itself, but with a blockage in the vent line, possibly tied to a chemical reaction in the wastewater. Engineers will inspect Integrity to determine root cause. Wiseman praised the system, calling it a major upgrade from Apollo-era procedures and thanking the engineers who built the gear.
Artemis II crew recalls 'otherworldly' Moon mission, unity after record lunar distance
April 17, 2026, 12:59 AM EDT. Six days after returning to Earth, NASA's Artemis II four-astronaut crew addressed their first joint briefing at Johnson Space Center. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen recalled the near 10-day voyage that looped around the Moon, reaching a record 252,756 miles (406,771 km) from Earth on the far side. They spoke of unity and emotional moments, including Koch's tears after hearing she had made a difference and Wiseman's description of witnessing a solar eclipse. Re-entry proved physically intense; officials are assessing the heat shield performance amid signs of 'char loss'. The crew praised the Integrity capsule, noted a recurring toilet issue, and conceded a lunar landing would have been possible only with a lander.
Missouri launches first Show-Me Science competition as hundreds participate
April 17, 2026, 12:42 AM EDT. Nearly 200 students from 58 Missouri schools gathered at St. Charles Community College in Cottleville for Missouri's first Show-Me Science competition. The two-day event showcased projects from sixth through 12th grade across a broad range of sciences, with aims to protect the environment and curb ongoing epidemics. Aaliyah Kim, a 12th-grader, described a project on phosphate removal from water using biochar bundled with iron oxide and magnesium chloride. Participants noted that doing science builds practical skills, even for non-STEM-focused students. Top performers earned prizes and will advance to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix. Organizers say the next Missouri competition will be held in April 2027.
PRAGMATA hits nearly 300 FPS in 4K with Path Tracing on NVIDIA RTX 50 GPUs
April 17, 2026, 12:27 AM EDT. PRAGMATA, Capcom's action-adventure, ships with a high-end showpiece for PC: Path Tracing powered by NVIDIA's RTX 50 architecture. The collaboration aims for cinema-quality lighting while staying playable. Early tests describe nearly 300 FPS at 4K when leveraging DLSS 4, NVIDIA's upscaling and AI-assisted rendering. Path Tracing simulates light bouncing across surfaces to produce realistic shadows and reflections, a step beyond traditional ray tracing. The approach requires heavy compute, so DLSS 4 handles most of the heavy lifting to keep frame rates high. Capcom and NVIDIA positioned PRAGMATA as a showcase, not just a visual upgrade. The game demonstrates how future rigs with RTX 50 GPUs could balance ultra-high fidelity with smoother gameplay.
Canada's Hansen reflects on Artemis II lunar mission
April 17, 2026, 12:25 AM EDT. Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen became the first non-American to travel beyond low Earth orbit as he reflected on the historic Artemis II mission. The four-person crew-Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Hansen-spent 10 days circling the Moon and returned to Earth on April 10. Hansen, 50, said the voyage left him with a powerful sense of connection to all humanity. Back on Earth, the crew received a jubilant welcome in Houston and spoke with Prime Minister Mark Carney. The mission underscored Canada's role in international spaceflight and highlighted the emotional impact on the crew and audiences worldwide. Scientists, engineers and officials praised the collaboration that enabled the milestone.
OpenProtein.AI launches no-code platform to accelerate protein design with AI foundation models
April 17, 2026, 12:24 AM EDT. MIT-based startup OpenProtein.AI has built a no-code platform that gives non-expert scientists access to foundation models and tools for protein design, structure and function prediction, and model training. The platform serves pharma, biotech and academia, with free access for researchers. Co-founders Tristan Bepler and Tim Lu say the aim is to accelerate development cycles and enable designers to craft proteins with specific traits, while exploring non-protein modalities. Bepler, who joined MIT's Computational and Systems Biology program in 2014, helped develop one of the first protein language models-designed to connect sequence to function. "We can skip the structure step and go straight from sequence to function," he says. Lu notes AI-biology work was accelerating, with OpenProtein.AI supplying tools to push the field forward.
