Science news — August 15, 2026

5 publications

1. ScienceAstronomy

   Aug 15, 2026, 22:52 UTC

   Dave Filoni Confirms No Progress on 'The Hunt for Ben Solo'

   Lucasfilm co-boss Dave Filoni has dashed fans' hopes for a Kylo Ren standalone film, 'The Hunt for Ben Solo'. Despite the project's popularity among fans, Disney and Lucasfilm have not reconsidered its development.

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2. ScienceRoboticsPrivacyPublic Health

   Aug 15, 2026, 20:31 UTC

   Google Allows Users to Remove AI-Generated Media Watermarks

   Google has introduced a new setting in its AI tools, Gemini and Flow, allowing users to remove the visible watermark from AI-generated images, videos, and music. The option will be available for the Nano Banana, Omni, and Lyria models. While the visible watermark can be removed, Google will maintain invisible identification systems like SynthID and C2PA metadata to track AI-generated content. This change aims to balance creative control and safety.

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3. ScienceSoftwareRobotics

   Aug 15, 2026, 19:40 UTC

   Anthropic Adds Watermark to Claude-Generated Texts

   Anthropic, the AI lab behind the language model Claude, has implemented an invisible watermark on texts generated by the model. The company has clarified that this technology is designed to protect intellectual property and will not be noticeable to readers. The move has sparked some user backlash, but Anthropic maintains that the watermark is necessary and indistinguishable from regular text.

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4. ScienceTradeFintech

   Aug 15, 2026, 16:48 UTC

   Anthropic's Q2 Revenue Surges to Over $11.5B

   Anthropic's preliminary Q2 2026 revenue surged more than 14x year-over-year to over $11.5B, marking a significant acceleration in AI demand. The company also reported positive adjusted operating income ahead of a potential mega-IPO. Anthropic expects revenue to reach $200B by 2028.

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5. SciencePublic Health

   Aug 15, 2026, 15:15 UTC

   AI Predicts Sun's Active Regions Hours Before Visible

   NASA's COFFIES team has developed an AI model that predicts the emergence of active regions on the Sun up to 12 hours before they appear. These regions, which can cause solar flares and coronal mass ejections, are currently tracked by space weather forecasters once they become visible as sunspots. The new AI model uses a sliding-window transformer architecture to analyze data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and predict active regions' approximate locations before they become visible. This could improve space weather forecasting and protect astronauts and technology from solar storms.

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