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Morning Edition May 20th, 2026 at 12:20am GMT

The Ars Bulletin

Keeping you up to date with the latest crawl

The US space enterprise is desperately waiting for Starship—will it finally deliver?

Top story from arstechnica.com

The US space enterprise is eagerly awaiting the development of SpaceX's Starship, a next-generation spacecraft designed to take humans to the moon, Mars, and other destinations in the solar system. However, the project has faced numerous delays and setbacks, raising concerns about its ability to meet its ambitious timeline. Despite these challenges, SpaceX remains committed to completing the Starship program, which is seen as a crucial step towards establishing a human presence in space.

Two AI-based science assistants succeed with drug-retargeting tasks

Two AI-based science assistants have successfully demonstrated their ability to retarget existing drugs for new uses. The assistants, which utilize large language models, were able to identify potential new applications for existing medications. This approach could potentially accelerate the development of new treatments for various diseases.

RFK Jr. forced to withdraw charter that opened CDC panel to anti-vaccine quacks

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been forced to withdraw a charter that would have opened a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) panel to anti-vaccine quacks. The move comes after criticism from public health experts and others who expressed concerns about the potential impact on vaccine policy and public health.

Gemini 3.5 Flash might be fast enough for gen AI to make sense

Gemini 3.5 Flash, a new AI model from Google, has shown promise in processing and understanding general AI tasks. Initial tests suggest that the model's speed and performance may be sufficient to handle complex AI tasks, although further evaluation is needed to confirm its capabilities.

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