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Defector

Barry Petchesky

Science

Let Pluto Rest In Dwarf Planet Peace

Giri Nathan

Qinwen Zheng of China returns a shot to Ekaterina Alexandrova during the Credit One Charleston Open at Credit One Stadium on April 04, 2025 in Charleston, South Carolina. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Tennis

How Much Good Can A Green Clay Tennis Court Do?

The Earth sets over the Moon, with Orion in the foreground.

This Phone Video From Artemis Is So Damn Cool

It’s Time For The Scariest Part Of Artemis

Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region. In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks. Central peaks form in complex craters when the lunar surface, liquefied on impact, splashes upwards during the crater’s formation.

Why We Fly

What Would You Do Behind The Moon?

Artemis Took A Picture Of Us

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - APRIL 01: (EDITOR'S NOTE: Getty Images provides access to this publicly distributed image for editorial purposes and is not the copyright owner. Additional permissions may be required and are the sole responsibility of the end user.) In this handout image provided by NASA, NASA's Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist onboard launches on the Artemis II mission, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA's Artemis II mission will take Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back aboard their Orion spacecraft. The quartet launched at 6:35 p.m. EDT, from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. (Photo by Aubrey Gemignani/NASA/Getty Images)

Artemis Boldly Goes Where No Toilet Has Gone Before

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

A grainy black-and-white 1981 photo showing something that looks like an ape striding out of the woods.

What Did The Migrating Bigfoot Family Know About This Ohio Meteor Explosion?

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

Artist impression of what Prototaxites would have look like in life

Creaturefector

Who The Hell Was This?

A statue representing an iceman named Oetzi, discovered on 1991 in the Italian Schnal Valley glacier, is displayed at the Archaeological Museu of Bolzano

Let The Record Show That Ötzi Fucked

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - JANUARY 17: NASA's Artemis II is rolled from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on January 17, 2026 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA’s integrated SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission are being rolled to Launch Pad 39B ahead of the 10-day mission in February 2026, which will take the crew around the Moon and back to Earth. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

I Am Not Immune To The Charms Of A Really Big Moon Rocket

A self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci in which he looks displeased, perhaps making the face he would make if he learned that scientists were trying to grind up some ancient hair to unlock a supervision gene

Arts And Culture

Leonardo da Vinci’s Legacy Won’t Be Found In His DNA

Patrick Redford

LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 13: A view of dense fog over Interstate Highway 580 (I-580) and wind turbines in Livermore, California, United States on December 13, 2025. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Climate

What Is The Tule Fog, And Will It Ever Go Away?

The Phoenix Mercury logo and the planet Mercury.

This Is So Stupid

The Phoenix Mercury’s New Logos Vs. The Planet Mercury: An Exhausting Showdown

IN SPACE - MAY 23: In this handout image provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, the International Space Station and the docked space shuttle Endeavour orbit Earth during Endeavour's final sortie on May 23, 2011 in Space. Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli captured the first-ever images of an orbiter docked to the International Space Station from the viewpoint of a departing vessel as he returned to Earth in a Soyuz capsule. (Photo by Paolo Nespoli - ESA/NASA via Getty Images)

One Small Step For A Moss, One Giant Leap For Mosskind

a photo of RFK Jr. where he looks like a broken Chuck-E-Cheeze animatronic

Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism, No Matter What The CDC Website Now Says

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - OCTOBER 26: Tom Brady looks on from the field during warmups prior to an NFL football game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on October 26, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)