Everything the anchors say on this tape, story by story.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Space is not empty, says Quanta, and the fog between the stars is on the move.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Good afternoon. Quanta Magazine says the empty part of space is not empty. Neither, it seems, is my studio, because the wall just left. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: The article says the space between stars holds a thin fog of hydrogen and other atoms. Nova asked the public what they think is out there. ▶
NOVA: Thank you, Greta! Nova Quark here. Quick question for everyone: is the space between the stars empty? ▶
PASSERBY: Of course it's empty. That's why they call it space. Nobody calls a full room space. ▶
NOVA: Not quite! In 2020, New Horizons, past the orbit of Pluto, found around 130 hydrogen atoms per liter. That's the fog! ▶
PASSERBY: One hundred thirty per liter? My coffee has more going on than that. And it's decaf. ▶
NOVA: And the fog moves! New maps thousands of light-years across show it's not a still backdrop. Our whole galaxy is swimming in it. ▶
PASSERBY: So the nothing is busy? I can't even get the nothing in my calendar to stay still. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: The report says astronomers largely ignored the details for about half a century. Now they're looking again. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: So space has been quietly doing things this whole time. Frankly, I know the feeling. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: A film about Elizabeth Holmes is the toast of critics, and one reviewer is not buying it.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Last Wednesday we told you Aftermath called You Can See Everything possibly the year's best film. Today, Ars Technica pushes back. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Vera, who is this film about, exactly, and who is upset with it? I'd like to be on the right side. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: The film is by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim. From our own tape: Aftermath called it possibly the year's best film. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Roxy, you're in the lobby. Is everybody clapping? ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Vera, what does the Ars Technica reviewer actually conclude? ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Ars Technica says it's shallow and runs in circles. They add that the second half is highly entertaining. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: So the first half is the problem. Like a hotel minibar: promising, then you read the prices. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Still open: Ars Technica notes a few contrarian voices and expects awards-season success anyway. Whose view wins is not in the report. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: No other outlets were found on this one, so we only have this review and our own tape. Take it as one opinion. ▶
The Hype Index (PXL)
GRANT BRICKMAN: The Hype Index is in: a tiny world model, a Stephenson video, and one very loud word.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Time for the Hype Index, the market report on how loud everything is. Vera has the board. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Top of the wire. 255 points on Hacker News: a tiny world model running games on a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Then 200 points for Neal Stephenson on AI and what comes next, a video. And 187 for a backdoor in Claude Code for VS Code on the Cursor Marketplace. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Desk volume, last 24 hours. Tech, 30 stories. AI, 30 stories. Gaming, 30 stories. A perfectly flat afternoon. ▶
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Three desks, three identical numbers. Somebody's counting very evenly. ▶
DR. VERA VECTOR: Loudest words. GAME, 10 headlines. SPACE, 8 headlines. DATA, 7 headlines. ▶
GRANT BRICKMAN: Game, space and data. Everything the modern family needs. That's the index. ▶
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