SpaceX has agreed to acquire coding startup Cursor in a $60 billion all-stock deal, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The acquisition deepens the Elon Musk-led company’s push into artificial intelligence software and developer tools just days after its record-breaking Nasdaq debut.

The deal brings San Francisco-based Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, under the SpaceX umbrella as thje company looks to strengthen its position against rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic in the fast-growing AI coding market.

SpaceX announced the massive deal in a post on X, saying: “SpaceX has exercised the option to acquire @cursor_ai in an all-stock transaction with the goal of building the world’s most useful AI models.”

SpaceX has exercised the option to acquire @cursor_ai in an all-stock transaction with the goal of building the world’s most useful AI models.

For the past few months, SpaceXAI has been jointly training a model with Cursor, which will be released in Cursor and Grok Build soon.… https://t.co/X5mepgXgjJ

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 16, 2026

The company added that it has been jointly training a model with Cursor over the past several months and plans to release it in both Cursor and Grok Build, xAI’s coding agent, in the near future.

Code meets compute

The acquisition comes after an agreement between the two companies in April that gave SpaceX the right to acquire Cursor at a predetermined valuation. According to SpaceX’s SEC filing, the companies also entered into a compute partnership under which SpaceX would provide GPU cluster capacity and collaborate on improving existing models, including Grok, while potentially developing new AI products together.

In the filing, SpaceX described software development as a strategically important AI use case because it generates structured, verifiable data and frequent user feedback. The company said Cursor’s coding workflows provide valuable developer interaction data, including coding prompts, iteration cycles and software architecture decisions that could help improve model training and inference.

Cursor has emerged as one of the fastest-growing AI software companies since its founding in 2022. Reports suggest that the company has reached roughly $2.6 billion in annualized business-to-business revenue and has recently been discussing a funding round that would have valued it at $50 billion.

The startup’s coding assistant is widely used by developers to generate, edit, and review software code. Cursor counts major companies such as Stripe, Adobe and Nvidia among its users, while Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has described it as his “favourite enterprise AI service.”

Data powers expansion

SpaceX said the acquisition will help advance its broader AI strategy by integrating its models more directly into developer workflows and expanding distribution through high-engagement software products.

“We look forward to working closely with the Cursor team to advance our frontier AI capabilities,” SpaceX said in its announcement.

Cursor also welcomed the deal, posting on X: “We’re excited to join forces with @SpaceX to advance the frontier of useful AI. Expect significant improvements to Cursor soon.”

We're excited to join forces with @SpaceX to advance the frontier of useful AI. Expect significant improvements to Cursor soon. https://t.co/62IMr2sgEy

— Cursor (@cursor_ai) June 16, 2026

The acquisition follows SpaceX’s blockbuster stock market debut last week. Reuters reported that the company’s valuation climbed above $2 trillion after the listing. The company’s shares surged further Tuesday, briefly pushing SpaceX past Amazon by market value.

SpaceX expects the transaction to close during the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. Once completed, the deal would give the company direct control of one of the industry’s most prominent AI coding platforms while expanding access to developer data that it believes can strengthen future versions of Grok and other AI models.

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Science is usually associated with reason, evidence, and discovery. Yet some of the world’s most significant scientific and medical sites have accumulated ghost stories, conspiracy theories, and paranormal legends of their own. In many cases, the lore emerged from tragedy, isolation, or misunderstood research rather than anything supernatural.

These seven sites sit at a rather eerie intersection of science and folklore.

1. CERN, Switzerland-France

Home to the Large Hadron Collider, CERN is one of the world’s leading centers for particle physics research. Yet despite its scientific credentials, the facility has become a recurring subject of internet conspiracy theories.

Rumors linking CERN to portals, alternate dimensions, and occult activity gained momentum in 2016 after a prank video filmed on the organization’s grounds appeared to show a ritual human sacrifice near the laboratory’s Shiva statue. CERN later clarified that the video was an unauthorized spoof and that no one was harmed.

The incident added fuel to years of speculation surrounding the collider’s experiments, making CERN one of the few modern research facilities to develop a paranormal reputation despite a lack of evidence supporting the claims.

2. Waverly Hills Sanatorium, United States

Opened in Kentucky in 1910, Waverly Hills Sanatorium was built to treat tuberculosis patients during one of the deadliest public health crises of the early twentieth century.

The facility became known for its advanced treatment methods and later for its so-called “body chute,” a tunnel reportedly used to transport the deceased away from patients. Decades after the hospital closed, stories of apparitions, shadow figures, and unexplained voices transformed it into one of America’s most famous haunted locations.

Whether the stories are true or not, the real history is grim enough. Thousands of patients passed through the sanatorium before antibiotics dramatically reduced tuberculosis deaths.

3. Poveglia Island, Italy

Located in the Venetian Lagoon, Poveglia served as a quarantine station during plague outbreaks beginning in the eighteenth century.

Ships arriving in Venice with suspected infections were isolated there, and over time, the island became associated with disease, death, and mass burials. Later, parts of the island housed a psychiatric facility before being abandoned.

Today, Poveglia is frequently described as one of the world’s most haunted islands. Local legends speak of restless spirits, mysterious voices, and supernatural activity, although many claims are impossible to verify. What is certain is that the island’s history reflects centuries of public-health efforts during some of Europe’s deadliest epidemics.

4. Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, United States

Completed in the nineteenth century, the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was originally designed according to the Kirkbride Plan, an influential architectural approach to psychiatric treatment.

At its peak, the institution housed thousands of patients, far beyond its intended capacity. Reports of overcrowding, poor conditions, and controversial treatments became part of its history.

Today, the massive complex attracts paranormal investigators who report apparitions, voices, and other unexplained phenomena. While the ghost stories dominate popular culture, the site also provides a window into the evolving history of mental-health care and institutional medicine.

5. Pennhurst State School and Hospital, United States

Pennhurst was established in Pennsylvania to care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Over time, however, investigations revealed severe overcrowding and troubling conditions within the institution.

After its closure, the abandoned buildings became the focus of ghost stories and paranormal television programs. Reports of strange sounds, apparitions, and unexplained encounters continue to attract visitors.

Its haunted reputation is inseparable from its documented history. For many historians, Pennhurst serves as a reminder of how society once approached disability care and how those systems often failed the people they were intended to help.

6. Beelitz-Heilstätten, Germany

This vast hospital complex near Berlin opened in the late nineteenth century as a tuberculosis treatment center and later served wounded soldiers during both World Wars.

The sprawling campus, surrounded by forests and gradually reclaimed by nature, has become one of Europe’s most recognizable abandoned medical facilities. Its decaying corridors and operating rooms have inspired countless urban legends, ghost stories, and paranormal investigations.

Today, parts of the site have been restored and opened to visitors, but its eerie appearance continues to fuel speculation about what may still linger within its walls.

7. Duga Radar (“The Russian Woodpecker”), Ukraine

Hidden within the forests near Chornobyl stands one of the largest radar structures ever built. Known as Duga, the Soviet-era installation formed part of an over-the-horizon early-warning system designed to detect incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles during the Cold War. The enormous antenna array, stretching hundreds of meters long and rising roughly 150 meters high, transmitted a distinctive repetitive signal that was picked up by radio operators around the world between 1976 and 1989.

The mysterious tapping noise earned the system the nickname “The Russian Woodpecker.” Because Soviet authorities never publicly explained the signal, speculation flourished. Amateur radio operators and conspiracy theorists suggested everything from weather control and mind-control experiments to secret military technologies. 

While the radar’s true purpose later became known, the abandoned structure’s location near Chornobyl, its colossal scale, and decades of secrecy continue to fuel an aura of mystery around one of the Cold War’s most imposing engineering projects.

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Natural disasters are usually remembered for the destruction they leave behind. But some disasters do more than destroy cities, villages, or coastlines. They change the direction of history.

Across centuries, earthquakes, floods, eruptions, and storms have weakened empires, stopped invasions, changed belief systems, and forced societies to rethink how they build and survive.

Here are five of the deadliest natural disasters that changed human civilization.

1. The Minoan eruption

Wikimedia Commons

Around 1600 B.C., a massive volcanic eruption struck Thera, now known as Santorini in Greece.

The eruption was one of the most powerful volcanic events of the ancient world. It sent ash into the sky, buried settlements, and triggered tsunamis across the Aegean Sea. One of the societies most affected was the Minoan civilization, based on Crete.

The Minoans were among the most advanced people in the ancient Mediterranean. They had large palaces, strong trade routes, and a powerful seafaring culture. But the eruption disrupted their economy and weakened their influence.

The disaster did not destroy the Minoans in one moment. However, it likely accelerated their decline and helped shift power toward the Mycenaeans. Some scholars have also linked the event to later stories about Atlantis, the lost island civilization described by Plato.

2. The typhoons that stopped the Mongols

In the 13th century, the Mongol Empire was one of the most powerful forces in the world. After conquering large parts of Asia and Europe, the Mongols turned toward Japan.

They launched two major invasions, first in 1274 and again in 1281. Both campaigns involved large naval fleets carrying troops across the sea.

But both invasions were struck by massive typhoons. The storms destroyed many Mongol ships and scattered the invading forces before they could take control.

In Japan, these storms became known as kamikaze, or “divine winds.” They helped preserve Japan’s independence and stopped Mongol expansion further east.

The storms also became an important part of Japanese memory, reinforcing the belief that the country was protected by divine forces.

3. The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake

The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake remains the deadliest earthquake in recorded history.

It struck China during the Ming Dynasty and killed an estimated 830,000 people. The death toll was so high partly because many people lived in cave dwellings carved into soft loess soil. When the earthquake hit, these homes collapsed almost instantly.

The disaster destroyed villages, farmland, roads, and local administrative systems. Entire communities were wiped out.

The earthquake showed that the impact of a disaster depends not only on nature’s force but also on how people live. It pushed later discussions around safer buildings, better settlement planning, and disaster response.

4. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake

Wikimedia Commons

On November 1, 1755, a massive earthquake struck Lisbon, Portugal. It happened on All Saints’ Day, when many people were inside churches.

The earthquake was followed by a tsunami and fires that destroyed much of the city. Tens of thousands were killed, with some estimates reaching up to 100,000.

But the disaster did not only reshape Lisbon. It changed European thinking.

At the time, many people saw disasters mainly as acts of divine punishment. Lisbon’s destruction forced philosophers, scientists, and leaders to ask new questions. Could earthquakes be studied? Could cities be built to survive them?

The event influenced Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire and helped push early ideas in seismology. Lisbon was later rebuilt with stronger planning and more resilient design.

5. The 1931 China floods

Wikimedia Commons

The 1931 China floods are among the deadliest natural disasters in human history.

They were caused by heavy snowmelt, extreme rainfall, and overflowing rivers, including the Yangtze and Huai. Vast areas of China were submerged.

The disaster killed an estimated 1 million to 4 million people through drowning, famine, disease, and the collapse of basic services. Crops were destroyed, communities were displaced, and cities and villages remained underwater for long periods.

The floods forced China to rethink flood-control policies, river management, urban planning, and agriculture. They showed how deadly extreme weather can be when it meets densely populated areas and weak infrastructure.

Conclusion

History shows that natural disasters are never just moments of destruction. Their impact depends on how societies prepare, respond, rebuild, and learn from what went wrong.

In many cases, the real legacy of a disaster is not the damage it causes, but the changes it forces into the future.

A possible agreement to end the war between the United States and Iran was announced late Sunday by U.S. President Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The deal includes stopping military actions, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and eventually lifting U.S. restrictions on Iranian ports. Still, Iran’s nuclear program, a key issue, has not been settled and will be discussed in future talks.

The agreement is expected to be officially signed in Switzerland on Friday. News of the deal quickly affected global markets, sending oil prices down and Asian stock markets higher.

Ceasefire framework signals end to active fighting

The U.S. president announced the agreement on his Truth Social platform at about 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, saying, “The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete.” His statement came after Sharif spoke, as Pakistan has helped mediate the talks.

Although all the details have not yet been shared, Sharif said the agreement includes “the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon.”

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council later confirmed that military operations would stop for good starting Monday night. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said negotiators will use a 60-day ceasefire to work toward a broader agreement that could include easing sanctions and other long-term measures.

This announcement follows months of fighting that have killed thousands, mostly in Iran and Lebanon. After U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, Tehran struck Israel and Gulf countries with U.S. bases. Iran also blocked shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. responded by restricting Iranian ports.

A major result of the agreement is the planned reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which is a key route for global oil and gas shipments. Trump said the waterway will reopen on Friday and that he has ordered the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports to end.

“Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” Trump wrote.

Nuclear dispute remains the biggest challenge

Even with this diplomatic progress, negotiators have delayed decisions about Iran’s nuclear activities.

According to Iranian officials, discussions during the ceasefire period will focus on sanctions relief and the future of Tehran’s nuclear program. Sources indicate that the issue remains among the most difficult issues facing both sides.

The dispute goes back years. During Trump’s first term, the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated under President Obama. After that, Iran increased its uranium enrichment and built up more than 400 kilograms (about 900 pounds) of uranium close to weapons-grade.

Former Biden administration State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller criticized the framework, saying: “We have no assurances the nuclear program will ever be addressed, but Iran has shown the world it can take the global economy hostage and get something from the U.S. in return.”

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham welcomed the ceasefire but stressed that future nuclear talks will be watched closely. “Under our law, any nuclear deal with Iran will be sent to Congress for review and a vote,” he said. “Congratulations to all on getting us to this point.”

As negotiators prepare for formal talks in Switzerland, the focus is now on whether the ceasefire will last and if both sides can agree on Iran’s nuclear future.

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The time has come to reconsider an outdated understanding of human evolution: it was not a single breakthrough that propelled Homo sapiens into the “human age,” but rather a gradual, nonlinear process. So, archaeology must too accept its similar predicament.

The conundrum is straightforward: at a certain point in time, Homo sapiens expanded, left Africa, and migrated around the globe. Other hominins disappeared, with the exception of the remnants of Neanderthals found in our DNA. But the questions remain: how and why did this happen?

This brings us to the “Human Revolution” theory, which posits that a major cognitive shift approximately 50,000 years ago triggered the significant migration out of Africa.

However, according to Huw S. Groucutt in his study, Groucutt reviewed fossil, genetic, and archaeological data to provide a more realistic perspective on evolution. He argues that change occurs over time and that advancements arise in various places, resembling a mosaic rather than a linear progression, as reported by Phys.

In his study, Groucutt reviewed fossil, genetic, and archaeological data to provide a more realistic perspective on evolution. He argues that change occurs over time and that advancements arise in various places, resembling a mosaic rather than a linear progression, as reported by Phys.org.

As Groucutt states, “The revolution makes a good, simple story.”

A messier and truer portrait of human evolution

Groucutt asserts that archaeological data demonstrate that this so-called “revolutionary” cognitive shift occurred gradually. Breakthroughs in technology—such as jewelry, bone and stone tools, pigments, and organized hearths—happened much earlier than previously assumed, appearing in one region to disappear in another. These shifts seem to have emerged across humanity at different times, suggesting what we know already: change takes time.

The genetic evidence and fossils support a similar narrative. Earlier theories pointed to a single “key event” that transformed the human brain practically overnight. However, the study argues that populations were mixing, separating, and evolving once again, over time, contributing to the development of the brain.

Groucutt notes a significant issue in paleoethology relates to the dating of sites, as the techniques used can yield vastly different results. He believes the primary challenge lies in the connections researchers establish between fossils, artifacts, and the actual layers of sediment, as noted by Archaeology News.

Referencing a maxilla fragment found in Misliya Cave, Israel, one study dated it between 180,000 and 190,000 years ago. However, depending on the analysis method, that timeframe could vary from 70,000 to 185,000 years. Such vast discrepancies appear in nearly every category. Did modern human features develop 300,000 years ago or 50,000 years ago? Maintaining a linear perspective on these developments limits the ability to study human evolution. Time to broaden our scope.

Change is nonlinear

Groucutt argues that this tendency to focus on a single perspective can hinder a comprehensive understanding. Instead, it is essential to consider the entire picture, with all its complexities.

“This is not to say that broad and gradual genetic changes influencing cognition were not important, but there is currently no evidence for a sudden ‘eureka moment’ of cognitive modernity,” he emphasizes.

While the question of “why” often leads us to seek a dramatic turning point, the evidence shows that our brains developed, our anatomy evolved, and our customs and tools emerged over time. Phys even described this process as “fluid and experimental.”

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Early in the 11th century, a young Benedictine monk named Eilmer jumped from the 150-foot tower of his abbey in the small English town of Malmesbury, wearing a pair of crude wings he’d fashioned from willow wood and cloth. Eilmer managed to glide a good 600 feet, passing over the city wall before crash-landing in a small valley near the river Avon. The fall broke both his legs, crippling him. Malmesbury Abbey still boasts a stained-glass window in honor of Brother Eilmer.

This legendary experiment in medieval aviation comes to us via 12th-century historian William of Malmesbury in an account written circa 1125, although William neglected to provide future historians with an exact date for the feat. But William does mention another key episode in Eilmer's life when the monk was "advanced in years": Eilmer witnessed Halley's comet in 1066, commenting, "It is long since I saw you." Some historians have interpreted this to mean that Eilmer saw Halley's comet on an earlier fly-by in 989, when he would have been a young boy.

Assuming Eilmer was at least 5 years old in 989, he would have been born no later than 984. This would make Eilmer in his 80s in 1066, with his attempt at flight—which occurred when he was "in his first youth"—likely falling between 1000 and 1010. However, it's an estimate that is based on a lot of assumptions, according to James Aitcheson of the University of Leicester, who argues in a paper published in the journal Notes and Queries that Eilmer may have seen a different comet altogether in his youth—the comet of 1018. If so, he would have been born much later, and the date of his flight would have occurred between the 1020s and 1040s.

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Students at a local high school in Rome had long known of the mysterious underground passages that lay beneath the ground, but finally, a protest stirred the school, authorities were informed, and they discovered an ancient Roman villa.

Cavour Scientific High School is located about a five-minute walk from the Colosseum, and it sits on the site of the recently identified Roman villa. Built in the 19th century as a missionary complex, the school embodies layers of history for which Rome is known.

For years, students quietly shared stories about the rooms, artwork, and passages beneath the gymnasium. As time went on, these tales grew more elaborate, leading the school administration to take them less seriously, according to Popular Mechanics.

The situation escalated when the students staged a protest during COVID. Locking themselves into school, these restless teenagers roamed the premises unsupervised. They explored the underground passageways beneath the gymnasium, seeking to prove the validity of their claims. A curious teacher, Claudia Marino, heard the fervor in their accounts and took a group of adventurous students through an iron door.

They found themselves in an old boiler room, and as they ventured deeper into this unused chamber, they encountered ancient Roman walls. Continuing through a narrow passage, they stumbled upon an intact domus, or villa.

Archaeologists from the Special Superintendency of Rome began excavations a few years later in September 2025.

A family villa in an ancient affluent neighborhood

The ancient residence first came to light in 1895 when Via degli Annibaldi was constructed. At that time, archaeologists uncovered sections of the building as well as a water pipe inscribed with the family name, Umbrius. However, further excavation did not take place, and the ancient villa faded into obscurity.

Graffiti from the 1940s and 1950s, however, indicates that students had long left their mark on someone else’s house, but the secret held among the youth never seeped into adult consciousness until the Romans took to the streets.

Once the protests signaled the villa’s existence, archaeologists were eager to investigate because the school is positioned in an exclusive neighborhood in Rome where ancient prominent figures lived: Cicero, Pompey, Octavian, Emperor Augustus, and more, according to Archaeology News.

Excavation officially began in January 2026, with an announcement made on May 28 confirming that the students had discovered a mid-Imperial domus, which was subsequently named Domus Liceo Cavour. Dating to the mid-second century CE, it indeed belonged to the Umbrius family, originally from south-central Italy.

Future employment for students

Archaeologists left the site with 48 crates of artifacts, including wall paintings, decorative elements, and a notable mosaic of large, irregularly shaped tiles—designs that were popular in the second century CE.

The villa’s exceptional preservation prompted the Italian Ministry of Culture to describe the paintings as “spectacular” and in need of full excavation, according to Popular Mechanics. It is likely that the grounds extend into the school’s courtyard, so further exploration is planned.

The project aims to open the site to visitors, with students serving as tour guides—a thoughtful conclusion that honors those who discovered and appreciated this piece of history.

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