Technologies

‘A historic moment’: NASA Perseverance rover collects first ever Mars rock sample

The rock core could be destined for Earth, eventually, but mailing it home will be a whole other ordeal.

NASA’s Perseverance rover, currently rolling around a dried out lakebed on the surface of Mars, has completed the first, critical step in a decade-long mission to return pieces of Mars to Earth. On the 190th day of its mission «Percy,» as the rover is affectionately known, overcame earlier sampling problems and snatched a core of rock, slightly thicker than a pencil, from Mars’ surface.

On Sept. 1, the space agency announced data had arrived from the Mars rover indicating it had successfully obtained a core from a briefcase-sized rock known as «Rochette.» But the team wanted to be «extra certain» that was the case. To be sure, the rover would need to take a few photographs of the drill device with one of its cameras.

The first images beamed back to Earth appeared to show rock had been successfully snatched. However, after an operation to vibrate the drill bit, a second round of images were taken. The sun, however, was not playing nicely with Percy. The lighting conditions were too poor to confirm exactly what was in the tube — and the team wanted to be doubly sure.

On Saturday, they got their wish.

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Adam Steltzner, NASA chief engineer on the mission, tweeted his congratulations on Sep. 4. «We got it,» he wrote.

«For all of NASA science, this is truly a historic moment,» said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science.

The early images show a rust-red sediment that could be iron-rich minerals, according to Steven Ruff, a planetary geologist at Arizona State University and creator of YouTube channel Mars Guy. Percy’s landing site in Jezero Crater was once home to a great body of water and its two sampling attempts are already revealing some of the geologic history of Mars. «Both of those rock targets that they’ve interrogated look different than really anything that we’ve seen anywhere else on Mars,» Ruff says.

The successful collection is part 1 of the most elaborate and complex mail run of all time.

Getting the Martian rock core in the sampling tube is like placing a letter in an envelope. The next step is for Perseverance to process, seal and stamp that envelope and get it ready to send. Perseverance has 43 of these envelopes and can collect dozens of diverse rock samples. On Monday, NASA announced the rover had stored the sample in its interior, locked away in an airtight titanium tube. (I’m sure this will become a trivia question in the future so, for reference, the very first sample was stored in tube number 266)

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Percy intends to leave these titanium tube-letters scattered across the surface of Mars for a mail carrier to collect at a later date. The key issue here is: The mail carrier hasn’t even been built yet.

NASA and the European Space Agency plan to send a Martian lander and sample collection rover to the surface of Mars in 2026. The rover (our mail carrier in this extended metaphor) will roll out, gather up Percy’s tubes and place them in its mailvan — a rocket bound for Earth. Sometime in early 2030, Percy’s mail will finally reach its intended recipient, provided everything goes according to plan.

Should the mail make it home, it would be the first time humans have returned materials from another planet.

Technologies

Prices Set by Algorithms: New Yorkers Now See Warnings About Stores Using Personal Data to Set Costs

This new law, already subject to lawsuits, lets shoppers know when companies are quietly raising online prices for certain types of customers.

Online shoppers in New York are now seeing a new warning on product pages thanks to consumer protection legislation that took effect in early November. Particularly noticeable during Black Friday sales were messages that told shoppers: «This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data.»

This piece of legislation requires companies (with exceptions for rideshare apps) to show buyers when they use surveillance pricing to set online prices, potentially raising costs for some people while lowering them for others.

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So what data are these companies collecting to shift prices? Well, unlike surge pricing, this type of algorithm pricing calculates data related to the individual person or device. That could include the type of device (Android versus iPhone, etc.), your account’s browsing history, recent purchases made from that browser and — most importantly — your location.

In other words, reported examples have shown that items like eggs will increase in cost for wealthy neighborhoods while staying at lower standard costs for less prosperous zones. But it can get far more complicated than that: Some pricing algorithms study millions of online purchases to predict buyer patterns.

A representative for the New York Senate didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Is surveillance pricing legal?

So far, yes. What laws like this New York legislation do is enforce transparency about what may be affecting prices, instead of banning it. And even that was too much for business groups, which immediately sued to block the law in federal court, alleging that it violates the businesses’ First Amendment rights.

It’s not clear whether companies are complying with the law as directed, or what it fully entails, either. The bill requires «clear and conspicuous disclosure» near the price, but some companies appear to be putting the information in a harder-to-spot area behind an information icon at the bottom of a pop-up.

Efforts to control pricing via algorithm

New York isn’t the only state to tackle surveillance pricing. Other states and cities are entertaining similar legislation, as well as complete bans on the practice. But it’s an uphill battle due to the many details and strong pushback from, well, every industry that sells products online.

The most recent example was from September, when California’s congress went through its proposed ban on surveillance pricing and cut out nearly everything. In its current state, the California law would only apply to grocery prices, which is still not a common online purchase. Colorado, Illinois and other states are also working on their own versions of related laws.

The question of whether shoppers would appreciate transparency laws, or whether they’d be less likely to purchase products if they knew the price was based on their personal data, is tough to answer (what if the algorithms are giving you a lower price than other nearby shoppers?). But the privacy question has a more far-reaching impact: Once shoppers see how much of their personal data is being harvested for pricing, they may start to wonder what else it’s being used for.

Technologies

Spotify Wrapped Is Live, Try the Buzzy New Party Game

Wrapped Party and your listening age are the big new features of the music streamer’s yearly wrapper.

Music streaming service Spotify has unveiled new features in its 2025 Wrapped listener recap, including a party game and the most popular albums, at an event in New York City.

Spotify Wrapped is one of the biggest events in the year’s music calendar, and 2025 promises to be even bigger, thanks in part to the new game. Wrapped Party is Spotify’s first multiplayer game included in Wrapped, allowing you to compete against up to nine friends with questions based on your listening habits.

Also read: Best Music Streaming Services

Matthew Luhks, Spotify’s senior director of global marketing, said the new game is the Wrapped feature he’s most excited about.

«I think Wrapped Party is amazing, and it’s something we’ve been talking about for years. Wrapped is usually a solo experience, and now you can play Wrapped with your friends and your family,» Luhks said at the event.

Wrapped Party is one of almost a dozen new features for the company’s viral wrap-up, which also includes your Listening Age (giving this writer an age of 100!) and Top Artist Sprint, which shows your favorite artist listens «racing» over twelve months. This year is also the first time that the recap highlights a user’s most popular albums.

Read more: Spotify Says I Have the Music Taste of a 79-Year-Old: Is That Bad?

Meanwhile, the new Clubs feature assigns you, Harry Potter sorting hat-style, to one of six fan clubs based on your listening and designates you a role such as «Archivist.»

As with every year, the company also revealed its most popular content across all categories for 2025. After six years in a row, it was no surprise that Joe Rogan had the platform’s most popular podcast, but the biggest upset was when Bad Bunny pipped Taylor Swift for most popular global artist. However, Swift was the most popular artist in the US for 2025.

Other popular categories included:

Global top song: Die With A Smile by Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
Global top album: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS by Bad Bunny
Top Audiobook in Premium: Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

To access Spotify Wrapped, look for the Wrapped feed on the Home tab. To find Wrapped Party, just search for it in Spotify or access it at the end of your personalized wrap.

In 2025, almost every streaming service has its own yearly stats roundup, including YouTube’s new Recap feature, but Spotify Wrapped is still arguably the most famous.

Spotify is the most popular music streaming service, with over 100 million tracks, and it currently costs $12 a month for Premium (including audiobooks). The company is rumored to be planning a price increase in early 2026, however.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 4, #437

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Dec. 4, No. 437.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. Movie buffs, you might do well. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Fire it in there.

Green group hint: Signal callers.

Blue group hint: Ohio teams.

Purple group hint: Enjoy the show.