pivotal

As Europe ramps up its efforts in launching commercial rockets into space, Elche-based startup PLD Space wants to put Spain on the map. The company plans to launch the first private reusable rocket from Western Europe. Named after a famous breed of bull in Spain’s bullfighting tradition, the Miura 1 rocket is set for its maiden voyage later this year, although the launch date hasn’t been specified. Miura 1 was unveiled on March 11, touted by Spain’s Prime Minister as an important development…

SpaceX plans to fire up all 33 engines powering its massive Starship launch system ahead of its first orbital launch, a key milestone in the company's efforts to reach the moon and Mars. The so-called static fire is scheduled for Thursday, Gwynne Shotwell, the company's president and chief operating officer, said Wednesday at an industry conference in Washington. That would pave the way for the rocket's orbital launch within “the next month or so,” she said.The announcement comes about two weeks after the company,…

After a dramatic end to 2022, this year will be critical for the future of cryptocurrency After a dramatic end to 2022, this year will be critical for the future of cryptocurrency. Companies and investors are picking up after FTX’s collapse, as they brace themselves for more scrutiny and regulations. Cryptocurrencies have been touted as the future of finance. Now they are in crisis. Bitcoin is floundering after a sharp sell-off. And, of course, there’s the fallout from the catastrophic collapse of the…

Having been exiled from the DCU in almost record time after Black Adam escaped 15 years in development hell only to disappoint, it’s worth pointing out that Dwayne Johnson has secured more success in one of Hollywood’s most cursed genres than he has its most consistently lucrative. The actor and producer’s history with comic book adaptations does not make for encouraging reading, but if we ignore the fact he played a major part in the awful Doom, his console-based ventures have fared substantially better. Rampage ranks…

White Noise was adapted for the screen by Noah Baumbach from the 1985 book by Don DeLillo — one of America’s greatest living novelists — and hits Netflix Dec. 30. In a career spanning over fifty years, this post-modernist has dissected cultural pre-occupations through era-defining literature including Libra (1988), which centered on the Kennedy assassination, as well as Underworld (1997) — a Pulitzer Prize finalist for fiction which many consider to be his masterpiece.  With a narrative that centers on Jack Gladney…

The picture of Deadpool 3 is beginning to get clearer and clearer as pre-production continues to gather pace, with Hugh Jackman recently dishing all sorts of juicy details on his long-awaited and long-thought-impossible introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We know that Logan will remain unsullied, which is just as well because tampering with a classic is about the only way Shawn Levy’s threequel could piss people off. Jackman also teased that alternate timelines and multiversal shenanigans were in play, and the…

The way animals disperse seeds throughout landscapes is known to be an important element in promoting growth of forested areas, and a new study over an extended timeframe has shed valuable new light on this process. Scientists have studied a forest in Panama over a 100-year period to build a long-term picture of its regeneration, and found a heightened focus on plant-animal interactions may be our best course of action.Forests play a critical role in the globe’s carbon cycle, absorbing more than 7 billion metric tonnes of…

Warning: The article contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star Angela Bassett is explaining a bit more context about why she was against a certain pivotal scene taking place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel. By now, it’s well-known that Chadwick Boseman’s King T’Challa has passed away in Wakanda Forever due to the actor’s sudden and tragic real-life death from a secret battle with colon cancer back in 2020. However, T’Challa’s death is not the only tragic and…

Image via Marvel Warning: This article contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. It was pretty much universally agreed upon that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever would be a major kick in the MCU’s Phase 4 butt. Now a new Thunderbolts rumor points to the possibility that said kick could have major implications for Phase 5 and even include a vibranium war storyline going forward. The subject of vibranium was front and center in Wakanda Forever after learning that Wakanda isn’t the only advanced…

Via Lucasfilm Star Wars fans are pondering whether or not it would have made a difference if another Jedi had battled Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith. The discussion arose in the r/StarWars subreddit when Redditor bruhchow posted a still photo of Mace Windu holding his lightsaber over a defeated Darth Sidious as Anakin looked on. The Redditor posed the question, “How would this scene have ended if Obi-Wan/Yoda had been there instead of Mace Windu?” Nerdhistorian held that Mace Windu was the best Jedi…