Jamaal Bowman's Big Day

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized four menthol-flavored e-cigarette products, marking the first time a non-tobacco flavored vape product has been allowed to be marketed in the US. However, the decision has quickly drawn criticism from public health groups over concerns about the appeal of flavored vape products to young people.The newly authorized menthol-flavored products consist of two nonrefillable pods and two disposable e-cigarettes, all manufactured by American company NJOY. In order to get the sign-off from the FDA, these products went through the agency’s specific tobacco product pathway, which evaluates how they’re made, the risks and benefits to the population, and how they might affect tobacco product use.“We are a data driven agency and will continue to follow the science to inform our review of premarket tobacco applications,” said Dr Matthew Farrelly, director of the Office of Science in the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, in a statement.So far, such reviews have been conducted on more than 26 million new tobacco product applications – only 27 vaping products or devices out of those have made the cut, with the four flavored ones from NJOY being the latest to make the cut.“Based upon our rigorous scientific review, in this instance, the strength of evidence of benefits to adult smokers from completely switching to a less harmful product was sufficient to outweigh the risks to youth,” stated Farrelly.But that’s not been enough to hold off criticism of the authorization from healthcare providers and anti-tobacco groups, who are concerned about what the move might mean for youths.Despite first being created as an alternative to regular cigarettes, vaping has taken off with young people, with e-cigarettes having been the most commonly used tobacco product among middle and high school student for 10 years running.“Menthol is one of the most popular e-cigarette flavors among youth and has been shown to increase tobacco product initiation among children by masking the harshness of nicotine. These products have no place on the market,” said Dr Benjamin Hoffman, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a statement.“These products will inevitably end up in the backpacks of middle schoolers. Once that happens, the FDA will have an obligation to immediately reverse this deeply unwise decision.”The FDA has said that it “remains concerned” about the risks of young people using e-cigarettes, particularly when it comes to the appeal of flavored products, and notes that the decision only authorizes the menthol products for marketing – it doesn’t mean they’re safe or FDA approved.“Like previously authorized products, the FDA has placed stringent marketing restrictions on the new products in an effort to prevent youth access and exposure,” the agency stated. “The agency may suspend or withdraw authorization if the agency determines that continued marketing is no longer appropriate for the protection of the public health, including if there is a notable increase in use of the products among youth.”

NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Mike Barratt were supposed to go on a spacewalk on Monday, June 24 – but a fault led to the expected 6-and-a-half-hour walk being cut down to just 31 minutes. There was a water leak from the service and cooling umbilical unit on Dyson’s spacesuit that was described on the live stream by Dyson as spreading water  "everywhere" in the airlock.The pair had already switched to the internal power of the suits – so technically the spacewalk had begun – and had opened the hatch to the Quest airlock. Then they became aware of the water issue.“The crew members were not in any danger as result of the leak. Dyson and Barratt set their suits to battery power at 8:46 a.m. EDT and opened the International Space Station’s Quest airlock hatch to the vacuum of space before reporting the water issue,” a NASA blog post about the event reads. “The spacewalk lasted a total of 31 minutes, when the crew suits repressurized the crew lock section of the airlock at 9:17 a.m.”Spacewalking comes with risks – NASA estimates that around one-fifth of extravehicular activity ends up having either serious incidents or close calls. If we need to remember water-leak ones, we could think of ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano almost drowning in space. In that case, water was accumulating in the inside of his suit and helmet, slowly making its way across his face to his nose and mouth.Nothing as dangerous and dramatic happened in this case. Dyson and Barratt were going to remove a faulty electronics box from a communication antenna in the starboard truss of the International Space Station. They were also going to collect samples to see if microorganisms can survive in the vacuum of space around the station.The microbe collecting is an ongoing series of investigations inside and outside the space station to understand how microbes are adapting to the space environment. Some recent studies have shown that some have mutated in such a way that they are no longer similar to their Earthly counterparts. The spacewalk has not been rescheduled and it might push the next spacewalk, planned for July 2, forward as well.

An AMD Ryzen 9 9950X benchmark has just leaked, which suggests the new CPU will be 45% faster than the current AMD flagship, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, in some applications. The benchmark is AIDA64, which is a heavily multi-threaded CPU test, and while it's not the most representative gauge of gaming performance, it still points to some significant performance gains, especially when you consider that the 9950X and 7950X both have 16 cores. It's too early to tell if the 9950X will truly become a new best gaming CPU contender right now, but this benchmark leak certainly suggests the new AMD chip will stand a good chance when it arrives next month. Continue reading AMD’s new gaming CPU is 45% faster than its predecessor says leak MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Ryzen 7 7800X3D review, Best gaming CPU, Radeon RX 7800 XT review

Stellar Blade is one of the biggest new IP success stories of this year. Currently a PS5 exclusive, the single-player action game is one that PC players have been wanting to get their hands on for some time, and developer Shift Up feels the same way. Continue reading Stellar Blade PC port held up by a “contractual relationship” MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Stellar Blade PC, Best soulslike games, Best RPG games

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For the first time in the franchise's history, Assassin's Creed Shadows has introduced two new characters as the protagonist, giving players a double whammy when it comes to gameplay mechanics and combat abilities. With gameplay split between Japanese history's first Black Samurai, Yasuke, and the more traditionally known shinobi, Naoe, Ubisoft has gone all in on making sure both of these warriors come packed with different skill sets, from inside the ring to the lofty reaches of rooftops.

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