Disney+ is working on a ‘Daredevil’ series

Daredevil fans who were disappointed when Netflix axed the popular show after three seasons now have something to look forward to. Disney+ is moving forward with its own series about the blind lawyer-turned-superhero Matt Murdock, reportedVariety. The streaming service has signed co-writers Matt Corman and Chris Ord to write and executive produce the series. Corman and Ord served as co-showrunners for the NBC military drama The Brave, and the duo also created the spy drama Covert Affairs.

Daredevil is only the latest of a large number of MCU titles that have been revived on Disney+ as shows, starting with last year’s WandaVision. The streamer has since released six other Marvel shows, including Hawkeye, Moonknight and Loki, with many more to follow this year. Meanwhile, the raft of Netflix shows based on Marvel characters all left the streaming platform’s library for good earlier this year.

The Daredevil Disney+ show is still in the very early stages — Variety notes that Marvel has yet to announce anything formally. Charlie Cox, who played the lead character in the Netflix series, returned to his old role in this year’s Spider-Man:No Way Home and Vincent D’Onofrio reprised his Daredevil role of Kingpin in Disney’s Hawkeye. Both actors seemed optimistic about a Disney+ revival of the series, but there’s no telling if they’ll return to the new series.

In an interview with Marvel News Desk, D’Onofrio shed some light on the Netflix show’s sudden cancellation, which shocked its many fans. The actor said the show’s departure in 2018 likely had to do with Marvel paving the way for Disney’s nascent streaming service. “You know, at the same time the group #SaveDaredevil started to rise, we started to learn the reasons why that happened and so we understood what Marvel was doing because Disney+ coming out.”

Facebook is still struggling to remove videos of the Buffalo mass shooting

Facebook is still struggling to contain the video of last weekend’s horrific mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. Now, not only are clips of the shooting accessible on the platform, reposted clips of the attack are sometimes appearing alongside Facebook…

The Voyager 1 space probe appears to be confused about its location

Voyager 1 — one of two space probes NASA launched in 1977 to study Jupiter, Saturn and their respective moons — is sending confusing data back to Earth, according to the space agency. The spacecraft’s control system regularly sends telemetry…

波音 Starliner 的 OFT-2 任務終於順利升空

波音 Starliner 太空艙「重考」的 OFT-2 任務，稍早於美東時間早上 6:54 升空，開始總長為七天的測試。OFT-2 是無人測試任務，預計一天後與國際太空站對接，送達約 245kg 的各式補給。除了試驗自動對接系統外，Starliner 上還有個裝滿探測器的假人，模擬太空人的真實感受。…

Elon Musk was accused of sexual misconduct by a SpaceX flight attendant: report

SpaceX paid $250,000 to settle a sexual misconduct claim against Elon Musk after a flight attendant on the company’s corporate jet accused the CEO of exposing himself to her mid-flight, Insider reports.

According to Insider, the incident happened in 2016 and the company settled with the unnamed flight attendant in 2018, according to a friend of the flight attendant who was told contemporaneously about the incident but is not bound by any non-disclosure agreements with the company. Musk allegedly asked for a “full body massage” and offered to buy the flight attendant a horse if she would “do more.” Insider also notes that the flight attendant was encouraged pay out of her own pocket for professional massage training so that she could better serve Musk during flights.

It was during a massage amid a flight to London when Musk allegedly exposed himself and “propositioned” her. “He touched her thigh and told her he would buy her a horse,” the friend said in describing the incident. “And he basically tried to bribe her to perform some sort of sexual favor.”

The flight attendant reportedly refused Musk’s advances, and later felt like she was being “punished” with fewer shifts at SpaceX. She settled with Musk in 2018 “after a session with a mediator that Musk personally attended,” Insider says.

According to the report, Musk responded to questions by saying there was “a lot more to this story,” but didn’t elaborate. “If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light,” he told the publication.

We’ve reached out to SpaceX for comment.

Update 5/20/22 1:06am ET: Musk has since taken to Twitter to respond to the allegations, calling them “utterly untrue” and referring to the friend of the unnamed SpaceX flight attendant a “liar.” This would not be the first time Musk has made potentially defamatory statements against his perceived enemies on the site. Notably, Musk’s tweets do not include any denial that SpaceX paid the former employee $250,000 to settle the alleged misconduct claim, or that she is currently under what Insider described as “restrictive non-disclosure and non-disparagement clauses that bar the attendant from ever discussing the severance payment or disclosing any information of any kind about Musk and his businesses.”

In a separate tweet, Musk states that the “attacks against me should be viewed through a political lens” — though it’s unclear if this is meant to refer to Insider, the whistleblower, or both. 

Watch Boeing launch a critical Starliner test flight to the ISS

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will once against make an attempt to reach the International Space Station in a critical test flight that will determine whether it’s finally ready for manned missions. NASA and the private space company have scheduled the launch for today, May 19th, with an instantaneous launch window at 6:54PM Eastern Time. The Starliner will launch on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, and you can watch the coverage for the event in the video below or through the NASA Live website starting at 6PM ET.

During its first test flight back in December 2019, Starliner made it into orbit but failed to reach the ISS. An automation system incorrectly assessed the timing of the flight and prevented the spacecraft’s thrusters from firing when needed. NASA and the company investigated what had happened, and reports came out a few months later that Boeing didn’t conduct launch-to-docking simulations on the spacecraft before its failed launch. 

Boeing made its first Orbital Flight Test-2 launch attempt in August 2021, but it had to scrap its plans while the capsule was already on top of a rocket due to an issue with its propulsion system valves. Engineers managed to repair nine valves while the spacecraft was still ready for takeoff, but Boeing ultimately decided to conduct a “deeper-level troubleshooting” at its facility at the Kennedy Space Center. NASA had to give SpaceX more crewed flights in order to cover for Boeing’s delays.

Now that its valve issues have been resolved — apparently, the interaction between oxidizer and water formed nitric acid and other corrosive agents that made the valves sticky — Starliner’s launch is a go. The capsule must achieve its goal this time if Boeing wants to catch up with SpaceX, which has been ferrying astronauts to the ISS since 2020. If no further issues arise, Starliner will reach the ISS with over 800 pounds of cargo in 24 hours. It will remain docked with the orbiting lab for five to 10 days before making its return journey back to Earth and landing in the western United States.

‘Blade Runner’ composer and electronic music pioneer Vangelis dies at 79

The music world just lost one of its more influential figures. Deadlinereports Vangelis, the composer behind the scores for Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire, has died in France at the age of 79. He broke ground in music by blending synthesizers with jazz, orchestral work and other styles normally seen at odds with each other. He helped the movie business break away from its dependence on classical or pop soundtracks, and joined artists like Brian Eno and Jean-Michel Jarre in defining both electronic music as a whole as well as sub-genres such as ambient and new-age.

Vangelis is synonymous with sci-fi thanks to his iconic Blade Runner soundtrack, but he was also a proponent of space exploration who produced multiple albums in tribute to major missions. He helped score Carl Sagan’s 1980 Cosmos TV series, wrote Mythodea to celebrate NASA’s Mars Odyssey mission in 2001 and produced a tribute to the Rosetta comet probe in 2016. His last full album, 2021’s Juno to Jupiter, honored its namesake spacecraft right as it was shedding more light on the gas giant. He received NASA’s Public Service Medal in 2003.

The musician was born in Greece in 1943 as Evangelos Odessey Papathanassiou. He started his music career in pop and soundtracks in the mid-1960s, but it was his 1970s forays into electronic music that helped develop his signature style. Cosmos, Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner cemented his reputation, while high-profile projects like 1492: Conquest of Paradise and Alexander drew further attention.

Vangelis leaves a strong legacy. On top of his role in Hollywood, you can hear his influence in electronic artists like Robert Rich and Steve Roach. Even modern performers outside of his core genre, such as Armin van Buuren and Run the Jewels’ El-P, cite him as a hero. He’ll be missed, but you may hear echoes of his sound for decades to come.

Mercedes-AMG unveils concept for its first sports EV

Mercedes-Benz offered a glimpse today into what its all-electric future will look like. The Germany automaker released a concept for the Vision AMG, a sports EV that will be launched under its high-performance brand AMG. The low-lying, four-door coupe has a long wheelbase, silver paint and teal accents, bearing an intentional resemblance to the Formula 1 cars driven by the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. Most strikingly, the side windows and rear glass of the Vision AMG are painted the same silver as the body of the car. Due to the hexagonal pattern of the design, drivers will still be able to see the road.

The Vision will be AMG’s first sports EV, joining the subsidiary’s other all-electric efforts, the EQE and the EQS. Other than that, there’s still very little we know about what the Vision AMG will offer — the automaker didn’t reveal any performance details for the car in the press release. It did say the Vision AMG would be equipped with an Axial Flux Motor by YASA, which has partnered with Mercedes to develop electric motors for their EV lineup that are more compact and lightweight than traditional electric motors.

The automaker also didn’t reveal any details on pricing, but the goal is for the production version to be out in 2025. Last December, Mercedes-Benz upped its initial EV investment to a staggering $63.6 billion, which it’s planning to spend between 2022 and 2026. Just this week, the automaker announced it was partnering with battery materials company Sila Nanotechnologies to create a more energy-dense, silicon-anode battery for EVS. The company estimates that silicon-anode batteries offer 20 to 40 percent more capacity than the traditional lithium-ion found in most of today’s electric cars. 

The Vision AMG will be one of the three dedicated EV platforms that Mercedes plans on launching in 2025, in addition to the MB.EA platform for medium and large vehicles and the Van.EA for light commercial vehicles. The automaker has stated its goal is to switch to an all-electric lineup by 2030. Mercedes-AMG also released a promotional video (also with virtually no technical details) for the Vision AMG, which you can watch below.