Kids collect five bags of litter left on banks of river Teme

This is Optimizer, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday from Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song that dissects and discusses the latest gizmos and potions that swear they’re going to change your life. Opt in for Optimizer here. Influencer after influencer says the same thing about Grüns. The gummy vitamins are delightful, chockful of whole organic…

Science is supposed to be fact-based and objective, but new research shows the way it is being used is definitely not. The Northwestern University study found that partisan use of scientific data in policymaking has increased in the past 25 years and confirms a widening gap between Democrats and Republicans. Researchers found Democrats cite science…

The AI talent wars show no signs of slowing, with companies making headlines weekly for their latest high-profile hires. This includes engineers they are poaching from each other or acqui-hiring but also, increasingly, senior executives that can support them as they scale up. Less than 10 days after Slack CEO Denise Dresser became OpenAI’s chief…

Klipsch debuted the HP-1 headphones at CES 2026, and this model is the company’s closed-back, wireless ANC headphones within its Atlas lineup. The HP-1 feature coaxial drivers, wood finishes, and USB-C audio support. The company hasn’t announced all of the specifics, but the headphones are expected to arrive on the market this summer. Aside from…

Mate Rimac, the founder of Croatian electric vehicle maker Rimac Group, started working on electric robotaxis seven years ago. Now part of his vision is coming to fruition through a strategic partnership between Uber, Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai, and his own robotaxi startup Verne. The three companies announced plans Thursday to launch a commercial…