Technologies

The Spring Equinox Is Coming Soon: When and What You Need to Know

After a long, cold winter, the vernal equinox heralds the arrival of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. But have you heard the myth about balancing an egg on its end?

Despite the long winter, I can feel how close spring is. Here in California, blossoms are blossoming, trees are budding and the orange poppies are starting to pop. The vernal equinox is coming soon, signaling the astronomical start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

Though equinoxes might not get the same attention as solstices, they’re a lovely way to observe the seasons shifting. Let’s get to know the vernal equinox, what it is and why it happens.

What is the spring equinox?

You’ve no doubt noticed the lengthening of daylight as winter winds down (especially with daylight saving coming this weekend). The vernal equinox marks the tipping point into longer days.

The word «equinox» comes from the Latin words for equal and night. Daylight and night are roughly equal during the equinox. We experience two each year — the vernal equinox in the spring and the autumnal equinox in the fall. The word «vernal» traces to Latin and references spring.

The Earth spins on an axis (think of it like a line running from pole to pole) with a 23.5-degree tilt. Some parts of the planet get more direct sunlight than others. That’s how we get our seasons, and how it can be summer in the Northern Hemisphere while it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

«The spring equinox is when the Northern Hemisphere transitions from being pointed away from the sun (during winter) to being pointed toward the sun (during summer),» says Emily Rice, associate professor of astrophysics at the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York. «The tilt is lined up with Earth’s orbit for just a moment.» That’s when we get nearly equal amounts of daylight and night.

When does the vernal equinox happen?

The spring equinox has a specific time, occurring at 10:46 a.m. ET/7:46 a.m. PT, on Friday, March 20.

How are equinoxes different from solstices?

Solstices are the extremes of days and nights. The summer solstice is the longest day, and the winter solstice is the shortest. In 2026, the summer solstice for the Northern Hemisphere occurs on June 21, and the winter solstice happens on Dec. 21.

Solstices get more love than equinoxes.

«The extremes are easier to mark and to visualize than the inflection points, which are more subtle changes, so the solstices get all the attention,» says Rice. All of them are related to Earth’s tilt and the sun, so think of solstices and equinoxes as siblings that each have their own seasonal connection.

What the equinox looks like from space

It can be challenging to visualize the Earth’s tilt and what happens during an equinox from down on the ground, so NASA put together a video showing the Earth as seen by a satellite.

It tracks our planet through its seasons. Watch how night and daylight shift over time.

How to celebrate the spring equinox

Perhaps you’ve heard that the only day you can balance a raw egg on its end is on the equinox. This legend might be accompanied by some vague discussion points about Earth’s gravity and alignment, and the sun.

One of Rice’s annual equinox duties is debunking the egg-balancing myth.

«Astronomers are usually on the internet telling people that no, they can’t actually balance an egg on its end only on an equinox,» she said. You can go ahead and try it, but be sure to also test it out on a day that’s not the equinox. I pulled it off on Feb. 27, in case you’re wondering.

An equinox is a subtle phenomenon. There are no showy celestial events to mark the day. Don’t let that deter you. The vernal equinox is what you make of it.

«Considering that the Earth’s orbit doesn’t have a beginning or an end, a year could really be started any time, and the equinox is more astronomically meaningful than Jan. 1,» says Rice.

You can come up with your own way to celebrate the occasion. Tell your friends and co-workers it’s the start of astronomical spring. Plant some seeds. Clean your house. Spend time outside. Make plans for spring break. And take a moment to toast the sun, the Earth’s tilt and our place in space that brings us the vernal equinox.

Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal

Technologies

Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis after glitch allowed some vehicles to ‘drive into standing water’

Waymo issued a voluntary recall of about 3,800 of its robotaxis to fix software issues that could allow them to drive into flooded roadways.

Waymo is recalling about 3,800 robotaxis in the U.S. to fix software issues that could allow them to “drive onto a flooded roadway,” according to a letter on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website.
The voluntary recall is for Waymo vehicles that use the company’s fifth and sixth generation automated driving systems (or ADS), the U.S. auto safety regulator said in the letter posted Tuesday.
Waymo autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, were seen on camera driving onto a flooded street and stalling, requiring other drivers to navigate around them. It’s the latest example of a safety-related issue for the Alphabet-owned AV unit that’s rapidly bolstering its fleet of vehicles and entering new U.S. markets.
Waymo has drawn criticism for its vehicles failing to yield to school buses in Austin, and for the performance of its vehicles during widespread power outages in San Francisco in December, when robotaxis halted in traffic, causing gridlock.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it’s “identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways,” and opted to file a “voluntary software recall” with the NHTSA.
“Waymo provides over half a million trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments across the U.S., and safety is our primary priority,” the company said.
Waymo added that it’s working on “additional software safeguards” and has put “mitigations” in place, limiting where its robotaxis operate during extreme weather, so that they avoid “areas where flash flooding might occur” in periods of intense rain.
WATCH: Waymo launches new autonomous system in Chinese-made vehicle

Technologies

Qualcomm tumbles 13% as semiconductor stocks retreat from historic AI-fueled surge

Semiconductor equities reversed sharply after a broad AI-driven advance, with Qualcomm suffering its worst day since 2020 amid inflation concerns and rising oil prices.

Semiconductor stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, reversing course after an extensive rally that had expanded the artificial intelligence investment theme well past Nvidia and driven the industry to unprecedented levels.

Qualcomm plunged 13% and was on track for its steepest single-day decline since 2020. Intel shed 8%, while On Semiconductor and Skyworks Solutions each lost more than 6%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF, which benchmarks the overall sector, fell 5%.

The sell-off came after a key gauge of consumer prices came in above forecasts, and as conflict in Iran pushed crude oil higher—prompting investors to shift away from riskier assets.

The preceding advance had widened the AI opportunity set beyond longtime industry leader Nvidia, which for much of the past several years had largely carried the market to new peaks on its own.

Explosive appetite for central processing units, along with the graphics processing units that power large language models, has sent chipmakers to all-time highs.

Market participants are wagering that the shift from AI model training to autonomous agents will lift demand for additional AI hardware. Among the beneficiaries are memory chip producers, which are raising prices as supply remains tight.

Micron Technology slid 6%, and Sandisk cratered 8%. Sandisk’s stock has surged more than six times over since January.