James Frey's Blog, page 7
June 5, 2025
ispace moonrise
ispace will make its second attempt at an uncrewed moon landing Thursday.
A private space exploration company based in Japan, ispace, wants to see people living on the moon by 2040. They have plans to eventually build a city on the lunar surface that would house a thousand people and welcome thousands more for tourist visits.
But first, they need to land a probe on the Moon’s surface successfully. In April 2023, their first attempt fell short of that goal after they lost communication with their first lander during the mission’s final moments.
On Thursday at 3:17 p.m. ET, ispace will make its second attempt at an uncrewed moon landing with its lunar lander called Resilience.
June 4, 2025
NEXT TO HEAVEN – New Canaan Library w/ Gina Gershon
from Bedford and New Canaan Magazine
Author James Frey in Conversation with Gina Gershon
With biting wit and unflinching precision, James Frey takes readers on a satirical thrill ride through the dark heart of privilege in his latest novel, Next to Heaven. Fans of The White Lotus and Big Little Lies will be captivated by the twists and turns of a narrative that exposes the treachery behind the American Dream. Elm Street Books will be on site for book sales and signing.
Date: June 16
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Cost: Free
BUSTLE Most Anticipated 2025 Books – NEXT TO HEAVEN
by Bustle Editors
buy at Bookshop.orgOut June 17. Frey’s first adult novel in seven years follows four glamorous, miserable, and ultra-wealthy couples — a group whose glossy surfaces begin to crack when a swingers party ends in murder. With coke-fueled monologues, a surplus of extramarital sex scenes, and plenty of suburban ennui, Next to Heaven delivers a deliriously over-the-top portrait of decadence on the brink. — S.L.
June 2, 2025
Killing Death
Research led by Dr. Carina Kern, LinkGevity
Illustration of a healthy cell (left) alongside a cell that has been affected by necrosis (right). (Credit: LinkGevity)LONDON — What if the secret to staying young wasn’t another costly cream or trendy supplement, but tamping down a messy kind of cell death that has flown under the radar? A new study argues that necrosis — the uncontrolled “bursting” of damaged cells — may be a major upstream driver of everything from cancer and heart attacks to kidney disease and even aging itself.
Your body constantly kills off old, damaged, or infected cells in a highly controlled process called apoptosis. Everything is carefully orchestrated to clear away cellular debris without damaging surrounding tissue.
Unlike this orderly process, necrosis is essentially cellular chaos: ruptured membranes spill enzymes, DNA fragments, and inflammatory signals onto nearby tissue. These spilled contents act like alarm bells that attract immune cells and trigger more inflammation.
May 28, 2025
Dark Skies Tonight
These dark sky sanctuaries, reserves, parks, and trails invite you to immerse yourself in the wonders of our night skies. Here’s where to go.
By Amy Brecount White
Travelers are increasingly lifting their eyes to nighttime skies in search of impressive celestial phenomena and, perhaps, more. “Looking up at the night sky is sort of what makes us human,” says Ruskin Hartley, the executive director of DarkSky International, a nonprofit group based in Tucson, Arizona. “We have done it for millennia. Every single culture has told their first stories in the stars overhead, and they found meaning in the stars. Today, the vast majority of people are robbed of that.”
On a clear night last November, I spent over two hours in a dome atop nearly 7,000-foot-tall Kitt Peak, an hour outside of Tucson, peering through one of their 20-plus telescopes. The moonless night along with the high and dry climate enabled our guide to share bright and clear highlights, including the Andromeda galaxy, the ringed planet Saturn with several of its moons, and a globular cluster. Outside the dome, we simply marveled at the stunning clarity of our galaxy home, the Milky Way.
May 27, 2025
Deadlink
There have never been so many satellites orbiting Earth as there are today, thanks in part to the launch of mega constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink internet service – and now we are learning just how the sun’s activity can affect them
An artist’s impression of a Starlink satellite in orbit – La Nacion/ZUMA Press/AlamyEruptions from the sun are shortening the lives of satellites in Earth orbit, particularly large constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink – which could be both beneficial and a cause for concern.
The sun goes through an 11-year cycle of activity, peaking with a period known as solar maximum, which most recently occurred in late 2024. During these periods, increased eruptions from the sun can create geomagnetic storms that heat our planet’s atmosphere, causing it to swell outwards in size and increasing drag on satellites.
May 22, 2025
Inviso-lenses
Research led by Tian Xue, University of Science and Technology of China
Hand gestures captured on infrared imager device. (Image by Maximillian cabinet on Shutterstock)HEFEI, China — Scientists have solved two major limitations of human vision in one breakthrough: our inability to see in darkness and our blindness to infrared light. Newly developed contact lenses convert invisible infrared radiation into visible colors, effectively giving wearers both enhanced night vision and access to an entirely new color spectrum.
Published in the journal Cell, the study describes how researchers created these soft, transparent contact lenses embedded with microscopic particles that convert infrared radiation into visible light. Unlike traditional night-vision goggles that produces grainy green images, these lenses create sharp, colorful visuals that work seamlessly alongside normal eyesight in any lighting condition.
May 16, 2025
Robot Turtle, Cool!
Daniela Rus, the director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, is developing robots that take more cues from nature than science fiction
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Everyone is obsessed with humanoid robots right now, but the director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory thinks tomorrow’s intelligent physical machines could be something radically different.
Think soft and squishy robots, says Daniela Rus. Picture flexible robots, or even edible ones.
Her research group has built a robot out of sausage casing (and a small magnet) that could theoretically be eaten and then perform small-scale non-invasive surgeries, Rus said. Another project is a robotic sea turtle named Crush, designed to help monitor sea life, which uses silicone flippers to maneuver around delicate coral reefs.
Rus was a pioneer of this approach, known as “soft robotics.” Now creative new uses of artificial intelligence are pushing her work to a new level.
“I really wanted to broaden our view of what a robot is,” Rus said. “So if you have a mechanism that’s made out of paper and that moves, is that a robot or not? If you have an origami flower that you attach to a motor, is that a robot or not? To me, it’s a robot.”
May 2, 2025
F†ck Digits
There’s life beyond the infinite scroll. We put together a toolkit of habits, routines and products to help you live more intentionally.
Going analog isn’t just about nostalgia. It’s about resistance.In 2006, a UX designer named Aza Raskin invented a concept called “infinite scroll.” The feature provided an alternative to internet pagination — anytime users reached the end of a feed, timeline or results page, they could just flick the screen down for more. And like magic, more always arrived.
Raskin knew exactly what he’d built: “If you don’t give your brain time to catch up with your impulses, you just keep scrolling,” he explained in a BBC interview. “It’s as if [you’re] taking behavioral cocaine…sprinkling it all over your interface. That’s the thing that keeps you coming back and back and back.”
Did we know what we were walking into? Say you took a time machine back to the early 2010s. The iPad, the first commercially profitable tablet, had just arrived. Smartphones were adding a litany of features, steadily transforming from a situation-specific tool into an all-day ecosystem. Most of us felt lucky to have these things — and the original versions certainly weren’t cheap.
May 1, 2025
Project Blue Pope
Steve Bassett reveals how the Vatican’s widely claimed UFO secrets might come to light
8UFO campaigner Steve Bassett said the Catholic Church has knowledge of UFOsCredit: STEVE BASSETTTHE Vatican should finally reveal the truth about alleged links between UFOs and the church, a top UFO lobbyist has urged.
Steve Bassett, executive director of the Paradigm Research Group, said the “truth is coming” – but it might not be the next Pope who releases any bombshell files.
Bassett says he believes it is clear the Catholic Church knows about UFOs – and likely has documented evidence hidden in their archives.
He insists “extraordinary” information sits locked away in the Vatican Library – collected from millions of confessions reporting strange sightings or close encounters.
It comes after Pentagon whistleblower David Grusch claimed Italy had uncovered a UFO during Mussolini’s reign in 1933.
Following the death of Pope Francis, Bassett revealed whether the next Cardinal could finally fling open the doors to the Vatican’s UFO files.
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