Another week, another crisis—The U.S. is reportedly launching cyberattacks on assets tied to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, including a group of hackers believed to spy on ships passing through the Gulf of Oman and on computer-controlled rocket and missile launchers, in retaliation for a series of allegedly Iranian attacks on tankers passing through the region. According to a Sunday report in the New York Times, this is all part of a plan to prevent an escalation of tensions in part by deploying cyberweapons.
Elsewhere, Gizmodo’s reporters covered the researchers who “lost” 17,000 wallets in hundreds of cities around the globe to see who would return them, a bizarre narwhal-beluga hybrid, why it’s so goddamn rainy this year, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s underwhelming first attempt at LGBTQ+ representation. We also took at a look at the mysterious Khyber crystals of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Google’s abandonment of tablet manufacturing, and which extinct animal would make the best pet. (There’s a raptor on the list, but… Probably not the raptor you’re thinking of.)
All this and more below, in this week’s best of Gizmodo:
https://gizmodo.com/researchers-lost-17-000-wallets-in-hundreds-of-cities-t-1835666685
https://gizmodo.com/odd-skull-in-museum-finally-confirmed-as-a-narhwal-belu-1835686759
https://gizmodo.com/an-ambitious-search-for-aliens-came-up-short-so-astrob-1835658888
https://gizmodo.com/exploration-of-lost-city-in-honduras-uncovers-trove-o-1835700985
https://gizmodo.com/why-is-it-raining-so-much-this-year-1835624963
https://gizmodo.com/trumps-replacement-to-obamas-clean-power-plan-is-just-a-1835657411
https://gizmodo.com/the-gay-character-in-avengers-endgame-was-not-supposed-1835665347
https://gizmodo.com/why-we-will-always-love-the-humble-heroism-of-captain-p-1835528332
https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-galaxy-s-edge-gets-even-more-intriguing-than-1835387796
https://gizmodo.com/the-mystery-of-star-wars-legend-willrow-hood-has-finall-1835693713
https://gizmodo.com/swamp-thing-fucks-and-we-deserve-to-see-it-1835628791
https://gizmodo.com/five-massive-screw-ups-that-wouldnt-have-happened-if-we-1828746184
https://gizmodo.com/the-best-fan-to-get-you-through-the-sweaty-summer-1835498642
https://gizmodo.com/here-are-the-5-biggest-questions-about-the-galaxy-note-1835651803
https://gizmodo.com/seriously-walmarts-64-tablet-is-kinda-good-1835523432
https://gizmodo.com/after-nearly-perfecting-it-google-is-abandoning-the-ta-1835705705
https://gizmodo.com/am-i-wrong-for-wanting-a-better-screen-on-a-1-500-smar-1835592576
https://gizmodo.com/an-appreciation-of-the-postal-mailbox-and-how-its-lates-1835494005
https://gizmodo.com/what-hong-kongs-protestors-can-teach-us-about-the-futur-1835715794
https://gizmodo.com/which-extinct-animal-would-have-made-the-best-pet-1835524787
