Art

Fast Metals is treating waste with more waste to extract critical minerals

• Fast Metals extracts critical minerals from aluminium's toxic red mud waste
• Process uses another refinery waste stream, raised $4.3M pre-seed funding
• Deal with Metalox to process one tonne of waste weekly this year

Fast Metals, a startup co-founded by Sumedh Gostu, has developed a chemical process to extract valuable critical minerals from red mud, the caustic waste left over from aluminium refining. More than 3 billion tonnes of this material sit in ponds and mounds worldwide, largely untouched until now because…

Thousands in Spain return home but new heatwave raises wildfire fears

• Spain lifts evacuation orders for tens of thousands as fires stabilise
• New heatwave in Spain and France threatens to reignite wildfires
• Burgohondo fire is now Spain's largest ever recorded wildfire

Spanish authorities have allowed thousands of people evacuated because of wildfires in the Toledo, Madrid, Ávila and Castellón areas to return home, as some blazes stabilise. However, both Spain and France are bracing for a fourth heatwave of the summer, with fire officials warning that higher temperatures, low…

Serve refreshments and spot demons in Night Plane, a PSX-style horror job sim about being a flight attendant in 1999

• Night Plane is a PS1-style horror job sim releasing later this year
• Players act as a 1999 flight attendant amid demonic passengers
• Made by Liquid Static Studio and Snapping Turtle, published by New Tales

Rock Paper Shotgun has previewed Night Plane, a PS1-style horror job simulation in which players work as a flight attendant on a plane full of sinister passengers in the year 1999. It joins a growing trend of horror-themed workplace simulation games, but distinguishes itself with its retro aesthetic…

Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Is Sending This 22-Year-Old Epic Soaring on Streaming

• Nolan's "The Odyssey" has revived interest in Greek mythology films.
• 2004's "Troy" is surging on streaming, now number two on AMC+.
• "The Odyssey" holds 94% critic and 97% audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes.

Christopher Nolan's new film "The Odyssey," which opened worldwide on 17 July 2026, has triggered a wider surge of interest in Greek mythology on screen, boosting the streaming performance of the 22-year-old epic "Troy". Nolan's film has drawn strong reviews and audience approval, and early "historical accuracy" casting…

4 Rock Songs From 1999 That Every 90s Kid Still Knows by Heart Today

This American Songwriter feature revisits four rock songs released in 1999 that the outlet argues have stayed lodged in the memories of anyone who grew up in the 90s, marking the tail end of that decade's musical era. It offers brief background on each track's origins, writers and…

Fox, iSpot Aim to Deliver Faster Data Tying Ads to Business ‘Outcomes’ (EXCLUSIVE)

• Fox and iSpot expand partnership to measure ad "outcomes", not just reach
• Deal delivers business-impact data faster, to all Fox clients
• Builds on a measurement relationship between the firms dating to 2015

Fox and iSpot are expanding their measurement partnership to give advertisers faster data on whether their TV and streaming commercials drive real business "outcomes", such as movie ticket purchases or car showroom visits, rather than just tracking viewer reach. The move reflects growing pressure from advertisers, particularly in…

After rewriting SQLite in Rust, Turso turns its sights on Postgres

• Turso is building a Postgres-compatible database atop its Rust-based SQLite rewrite
• Shared virtual machine core could eventually support MySQL, Redis and other frontends
• Founders liken the approach to "the LLVM of databases"

Turso, the cloud database company that rewrote SQLite from scratch in Rust, has begun a new project to build a Postgres-compatible database on the same technical foundation. The move builds on the virtual machine architecture underpinning Turso's SQLite reimplementation, which the company believes can be extended beyond one…

Matt Reeves confirms a key collaborator will return for The Batman 2

• Michael Giacchino will score The Batman Part II.
• Reeves confirmed the returning collaborator online.
• The sequel is due in October 2027.

Matt Reeves has confirmed that composer Michael Giacchino will return to score The Batman Part II. His involvement maintains creative continuity with the 2022 film, whose music became a prominent part of its darker interpretation of the character. Reeves confirmed the news in a social-media post marking the…

Xbox outage reignites debate over future of physical games

• Xbox outage blocked offline access to disc-based games this week
• Microsoft exec confirms discs undergo licensing checks despite offline claims
• Incident fuels backlash against Sony's reported plan to drop discs

An Xbox network outage this week left many players unable to access disc-based games offline, reigniting industry-wide debate over the future of physical media just as Sony is reported to be planning to phase out disc-based releases. The disruption was notable because Microsoft has long assured customers that…