The EU changed the design of billions of everyday drink containers by requiring their plastic caps to stay attached — loose caps were turning up in nature two to three times more often than the bottles themselves

A small design tweak required by Brussels legislation reveals how plastic pollution's smallest pieces pose the biggest environmental challenge.

By Daniel Moran · Sep 11, 2026

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Water World

Why did a Southwestern desert river that had usually run dry below the U.S.-Mexico border for decades briefly reach the sea again in 2014, and what did biologists find growing in the wetted corridor by season's end?

On March 23, 2014, engineers opened the gates of Morelos Dam on the Arizona–Mexico border and released 105,392 acre-feet of Colorado River water into a channel that had been dry for most of five decades. Within weeks, cottonwood and willow seedlings anchored in the wet silt, and by mid-May a thin ribbon of river reached the Sea of Cortez for the first time in a generation.

By Space War Editorial Team · Sep 9, 2026

Launch Pad

Norway, 5 September 2026: Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum reached orbit from Andøya, described as the first privately developed European rocket to do so and the first successful orbital launch from Western European soil

Europe's commercial space ambitions finally broke through the atmosphere—and it happened north of the Arctic Circle.

By Space War Editorial Team · Sep 9, 2026

SpaceWar

Ten wolves in the first winter, 27 by April 2023: Isle Royale's relocated population grew after 19 animals were brought to the Lake Superior island, and modelling now gives better than an 80% chance it persists 20 years

A controversial rewilding experiment on a remote Lake Superior island appears to be working, with wolves breeding successfully and population models now projecting long-term survival.

By Space War Editorial Team · Sep 9, 2026

Space Scopes

Roman is named for Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief of astronomy, who helped build the Great Observatories program from Hubble to Spitzer

The bus-sized infrared observatory that launched on August 30, 2026 is named for the astronomer who, in 1959, became NASA's first chief of astronomy and spent two decades assembling the plans that became Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, and Compton.

By Space War Editorial Team · Sep 9, 2026

Flora And Fauna

In New Mexico's Carlsbad Cavern, hundreds of thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats spiral out each summer evening and eat about three tons of insects, mostly moths and beetles, while Texas colonies intercept corn earworm moths above cotton country

Every summer evening, hundreds of thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats spiral out of Carlsbad Cavern and climb thousands of feet into the desert sky to intercept corn earworm moths bound for cotton and sorghum fields across the southern Plains — a functioning pest-control system that saves farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

By Space War Editorial Team · Sep 8, 2026

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Military space programs, satellite security, strategic competition, defense policy, great-power moves, and the evolving role of space in modern military operations.

Superpowers

Walker's World: Putin's gamble

By Space War Editorial Team

Superpowers

Walker's World: France's next leader?

By Space War Editorial Team

Trade Wars

Workers unite to form Canada's largest union

By Space War Editorial Team

Trade Wars

WTO wades in on Australia-China wine spat

By Space War Editorial Team

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Nukewars

Nuclear strategy, proliferation risks, deterrence policy, missile programs, arms control, and the geopolitical tensions shaping the nuclear age.

Nukewars

How did a 586-square-mile stretch of southeastern Washington sealed off in 1943 to make plutonium end up sheltering one of the last large blocks of shrub-steppe left in the Columbia Basin?

By Space War Editorial Team

Nukewars

Nobody talks about why the most competent person in the family often ends up the loneliest, and it isn't jealousy or distance, it's that competence quietly disqualifies you from being checked on

By Space War Editorial Team

Nukewars

In 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard pulled a Wilson six-iron head he had smuggled aboard, clipped it to a lunar sample scoop handle, and hit two golf balls one-handed in a pressurised suit that would not let him bend at the waist

By Space War Editorial Team

Nukewars

Tardigrades pulled from Antarctic moss can survive a decade without water, temperatures near absolute zero, and a 10-day exposure to the open vacuum of space in 2007, curling into a dehydrated husk they call a tun until conditions improve

By Space War Editorial Team

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War Report

Defense operations, military technology, cyber conflict, terrorism, naval power, UAV systems, and the front-line developments defining modern warfare.

Floating Steel

Days after the Great Kantō Earthquake of September 1923, aerial photos showed Yokosuka Naval Arsenal wrecked and the battlecruiser Amagi sitting damaged on the building berth

By Space War Editorial Team

MILTECH

How did a Cold War nation design fighter jets to launch from 800-metre roads, hide beneath forest canopies, and return to the air within ten minutes?

By Space War Editorial Team

War Report

Western allies seize arms shipment bound for Yemen's rebels: Pentagon

By Space War Editorial Team

War Report

Yemen: Secession drive becomes violent

By Space War Editorial Team

About SpaceWar

Conflict, strategy, and defense technology.

SpaceWar is an independent publication covering military space, nuclear strategy, great-power competition, defense technology, and the security forces shaping modern conflict. The site pairs a deep archive with current reporting on the governments, companies, policy shifts, and technical breakthroughs shaping defense, deterrence, and global security. We employ modern AI technologies to support our editorial workflows; every published piece is editorially directed and reviewed.

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The EU changed the design of billions of everyday drink containers by requiring their plastic caps to stay attached — loose caps were turning up in nature two to three times more often than the bottles themselves

Why did a Southwestern desert river that had usually run dry below the U.S.-Mexico border for decades briefly reach the sea again in 2014, and what did biologists find growing in the wetted corridor by season's end?

Norway, 5 September 2026: Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum reached orbit from Andøya, described as the first privately developed European rocket to do so and the first successful orbital launch from Western European soil

Ten wolves in the first winter, 27 by April 2023: Isle Royale's relocated population grew after 19 animals were brought to the Lake Superior island, and modelling now gives better than an 80% chance it persists 20 years

Roman is named for Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's first chief of astronomy, who helped build the Great Observatories program from Hubble to Spitzer

In New Mexico's Carlsbad Cavern, hundreds of thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats spiral out each summer evening and eat about three tons of insects, mostly moths and beetles, while Texas colonies intercept corn earworm moths above cotton country

Walker's World: Putin's gamble

Walker's World: France's next leader?

Workers unite to form Canada's largest union

WTO wades in on Australia-China wine spat

How did a 586-square-mile stretch of southeastern Washington sealed off in 1943 to make plutonium end up sheltering one of the last large blocks of shrub-steppe left in the Columbia Basin?

Nobody talks about why the most competent person in the family often ends up the loneliest, and it isn't jealousy or distance, it's that competence quietly disqualifies you from being checked on

In 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard pulled a Wilson six-iron head he had smuggled aboard, clipped it to a lunar sample scoop handle, and hit two golf balls one-handed in a pressurised suit that would not let him bend at the waist

Tardigrades pulled from Antarctic moss can survive a decade without water, temperatures near absolute zero, and a 10-day exposure to the open vacuum of space in 2007, curling into a dehydrated husk they call a tun until conditions improve

Days after the Great Kantō Earthquake of September 1923, aerial photos showed Yokosuka Naval Arsenal wrecked and the battlecruiser Amagi sitting damaged on the building berth

How did a Cold War nation design fighter jets to launch from 800-metre roads, hide beneath forest canopies, and return to the air within ten minutes?

Western allies seize arms shipment bound for Yemen's rebels: Pentagon

Yemen: Secession drive becomes violent

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