Well, howdy there, internet people. It's Dana again. And today you're at Research Road.

This is a weekly series where we go through science and tech news with a bit of dry humor.

Then we do a dive into a science topic and we close out by answering some questions from y'all.

Today is the 29th of July, 2025. And on this date in 1954, the Fellowship of the Ring was

published.

Today is National Lipstick Day.

So, starting off with tech news.

Google is updating its Android earthquake alerts after it failed to perform as expected in Turkey. North Korea demanded

that the U.S. accept they are a nuclear state. An AI chatbot that is supposed to function as a

therapist was reported to have encouraged their patient to harm themselves. Expect this to become national

news and feed the debate over responsible AI usage.

Ukraine is using fishing nets to stop small Russian drones.

Researchers are working on vaccine floss. Yes, you'd floss and then poof. You're vaccinated. I think that's cooler than a needle, but it's still early on in this tech.

And now on to space.

If you're a sky watcher, two different meteor showers will reach their peak on the night of July 29th going into July 30th.

Don't forget to turn your phone off and let your eyes adjust to the dark.

Interstellar Object 3-Eye Atlas has gone viral over claims that it's a piece of alien tech, and some people are suggesting it might be hostile.

It's worth noting that the overwhelming majority of researchers do not share that view.

Some refer to the claims about it being alien tech as

insulting or nonsense. In something weird enough to belong in oddities, tentative research suggests

Earth and the Milky Way might be suspended in a void and that suspension is skewing our observations of the universe.

Astronomers from the University of Montreal found a new exoplanet about 35 light years from Earth.

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