News June 23, 2025
The Largest Camera Ever Built Releases Its First Images of the Cosmos
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a new telescope that has been built in Chile to study the universe. It is expected to reveal 20 billion galaxies, 17 billion stars in the Milky Way, and millions of other objects within the solar system. The observatory will take 10-year survey of the night sky, which will provide a tremendous amount of data that will transform our understanding of the cosmos. The telescope is equipped with an 8.4-meter primary mirror and a 3,200-megapixel digital camera, making it one of the largest in the world. It will take about 1,000 images every night, photographing the entire Southern Hemisphere sky in extraordinary detail every three to four days. The observatory is expected to reveal secrets about the workings of the cosmos, including asteroids from other solar systems, supermassive black holes, and high-energy blasts with no known source.
India Is Using AI and Satellites to Map Urban Heat Vulnerability Down to the Building Level
Zubaida starts her day at 8 am by sorting plastics, glass, and chemicals with her bare hands to collect items she can sell. With waste-segregation centers shut down in this part of East Delhi, she and other waste pickers work outside by a dusty road through the hottest hours of the day under the blazing sun without any fan or shade. She is constantly exposed to intense high temperatures.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert for Delhi on June 11, warning of a high risk of heat illness and heat stroke due to the extreme heat wave season in northern India. Temperatures that week pushed beyond 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit), with the real-feel temperature spiking at an alarming 54 degrees Celsius. Prolonged exposure to such high heat can raise a person’s body temperature to dangerous levels, potentially fatal.
Despite this inferno, Delhi’s large, informal workforce continues to work. Street vendors, rickshaw pullers, and waste pickers have reported dizziness, infections, breathing difficulties, and persistent fatigue during recent heat waves. “We cannot stop,” says Zubaida. “We earn each day to eat each day. If we miss a day, we miss a meal.”
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has developed annual citywide heat action plans for 2025, which are designed to help cities prepare for, respond to, and recover from extreme heat. However, these plans are not working as they are often plagued by generalization and lack detailed mapping of heat-prone areas or vulnerable populations. This has led nonprofits and research organizations to suggest using geographic information systems (GIS) that combine satellite imagery with local data to provide cities with a granular, building-by-building views of their heat.
Places like Ahmedabad and Tamil Nadu have seen falls in heat-related illnesses and deaths since introducing their plans. However, most HAPs are still missing major gaps when it comes to their implementation, coordination, and funding. A 2023 study found that 95% of HAPs do not have detailed mapping of heat-prone areas or vulnerable populations. Without this kind of granular data, it becomes difficult to allocate resources where they are needed most.
What is still missing is a hyperlocal targeted response to risk, says Radhika Khosla, associate professor at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford. She explains that heat risk is really the intersection of three things: the hazard—where temperature and humidity are highest within different city regions; exposure—which communities are most exposed to heat; and their vulnerability—factors like socioeconomic status, health conditions, levels of outdoor work, access to electricity, and the conditions of the built environment. Right now, most plans aren’t collecting and analyzing this sort of data, Khosla says. “Often where the actions are taken may not be where the most vulnerable are.”
The Best Sex Toys (2025), Tested and Reviewed
Other sex toys we like:
- Lovense Osci 3 Rabbit vibrator for $99: This vibrator offers dual stimulation and is full of features worth exploring.
- Crave Wink+ Bullet vibrator for $79: This bullet vibrator is made of gorgeous body-safe, nickel-free stainless steel and offers four vibration intensities and one pattern mode. It’s also 100% waterproof and can deliver up to five hours of playtime.
- Dame Hug Cock ring for $75: This cock ring is made of surgical steel, borosilicate glass, or silicone and is designed to stimulate the penis and scrotum when rolling solo, as well as the clitoris during penetration with a partner.
- What’s Your Sex Toy Made Of?: We reference different materials for sex toys throughout this guide, but there are certain materials that are safer than others. Nonporous materials like surgical steel, borosilicate glass, and silicone are best, while food-grade silicone is a good option. Platinum-cured silicones are safer than standard (peroxide-cured) silicones because the chemicals used to make them are more completely consumed during the process, leaving nothing behind to leach into your body.
NYT Strands hints, answers for June 23
Strands is a word search game that requires players to find words in a grid of letters. The twist is that words can be made by connecting letters horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, and they can also change direction. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There’s always a theme linking every solution, along with a special word or phrase called the “spangram” that summarizes the day’s theme and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically. The game is designed to take a little longer to play than other games like Wordle and Connections, and it provides an opaque hint without providing the word list. Players can use the hint to help them solve the puzzle, but they must still figure out the correct words themselves.
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for June 23, 2025
Connections is a popular New York Times word game that requires players to find common threads between words. The game features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories, such as book titles, software, country names, etc. Players must group four words that share something in common, and if they get all four correct, those words are removed from the board. If a player gets any one word wrong, it counts as a mistake and players can have up to four mistakes before the game ends.
Today’s Connections features categories such as kinds of jeans, fiction categories, words in Hemingway titles, and types of drinkware. The solution to today’s Connections is:
- Kinds of jeans: BOYFRIEND, FLARE, MOM, SKINNY
- Fiction categories: HISTORICAL, LITERARY, SPECULATIVE, YOUNG ADULT
- Words in Hemingway titles: BELL, FAREWELL, OLD MAN, SUN
- Types of drinkware: COCKTAIL, COLLINS, OLD FASHIONED, SHOT