Good morning, it's Monday, Aug. 31. A new telescope aims to study dark matter and dark energy. First time reading? Join over 4.7 million insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.

Also in today's Digest: the US deal to secure Venezuelan oil (Need To Know), this year's PGA Tour winner (Sports, Ent., & Cult.), a mutiny in Niger (Pol. & World Affairs), and much more. 

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 Need To Know 

Roman Telescope Launches

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope successfully launched yesterday, the latest in NASA’s line of “great observatories” designed to study wide swaths of the universe. The five- to 10-year mission will probe questions around dark matter and dark energy, identify tens of thousands of exoplanets, and more. 

Equipped with a 300-megapixel infrared camera and an 8-foot mirror, Roman has the precision of the Hubble telescope but a field of view 100 times larger and can scan 1,000 times faster (how it works). It complements the James Webb Space Telescope, which has a narrower window but can zoom in and capture exquisite details. Roughly 1.4 terabytes of data will be streamed back to Earth per day, with the first images expected early next year. Watch yesterday’s launch here.   

Nancy Roman, nicknamed the “Mother of Hubble,” was NASA’s first chief of astronomy and first female executive. Learn more about her fascinating life and impact.

Venezuelan Oil Deal

President Donald Trump said Friday the United States had reached a deal to secure access to more than one-fifth of Venezuela’s untapped oil reserves. Hurdles remain, including tens of billions of dollars of investment required to make the fields operational. 

The deal involved the US partnering with Alejandro Betancourt López, whose family controls Venezuela’s second-largest private oil company (he is also the subject of a Swiss arrest warrant). The US government will have a 100-year contract in 17 oil fields, facilitating access to more than 65 billion barrels of oil. Some fields have not been operational for years, however, and investment is needed to treat and transport the crude. Venezuela is meanwhile considering withdrawing from OPEC (free w/email), which would give the country more independence in setting prices. 

Separately, Chevron is reportedly nearing a deal to expand production in Venezuela. Details of the company’s investment could be announced as soon as this week.

Iceland Rejects EU

Icelandic voters rejected a proposal Saturday to restart negotiations on joining the European Union. The result ends a process that has been stalled since 2013. 

Around 83% of eligible voters cast ballots, marking the country’s highest turnout since 2009 (see a breakdown of results). Opponents prevailed with 52.8% of the final tally, fearing a loss of control over the country's fishing industry, responsible for around 40% of its exports. The capital, Reykjavik, was the only area where a majority voted in favor of restarting EU talks; supporters suggested EU membership could support economic stability by lowering inflation and interest rates.

Separately, neighbor Norway’s palace announced it will hold King Harald V’s funeral Sept. 9. In his first speech since his father’s death Friday, King Haakon VIII reaffirmed his commitment to the country’s 121-year-old constitutional monarchy (which countries have constitutional monarchies?).

 In The Know 

Science & Technology

> OpenAI cutting AI coding tool Cursor’s access to its models after Elon Musk’s SpaceX acquired the startup earlier this month; Nov. 12 is planned shut-off date (More) 

> El Niño events have become roughly 40% stronger than preindustrial levels, a new study of corals in the Galápagos Islands shows (More) | How El Niño causes extreme weather (More, w/video)

> Scientists capture first molecular-level snapshots of water reorganizing during a chemical reaction; discovery could lead to improvements in solar panels, fuel cells, and batteries (More) 

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close down (S&P 500 -0.3%, Dow -0.0%, Nasdaq -0.5%) after new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh suggests interest rates could be raised in September to combat inflation (More) 

> Elon Musk's SpaceX to begin casting turbine blades and vanes in-house, potentially accelerating new natural gas plants for data centers coming online by 18 months (More)

> Anthropic sued by Sony and Warner Chappell music groups, alleging intellectual property theft (More)

Politics & World Affairs

> The US and Iran exchange strikes in first publicly disclosed military strikes in weeks (More) | Niger's military, with help from locally stationed Russian forces, fends off a nearly daylong mutiny in the country's capital (More) 

> An estimated 85 Americans are among more than 3,000 people missing from last week's flash flooding at the Nepal-Tibet border (More) | Learn about the pilgrimage that brought tourists to Mount Kailash (More, free w/email)

> Google Maps renames Lake Ontario to Lake America for US users following US government update; see how the map shows up in different parts of the world (More) 

Which US airports are the best for on-time departures?

How to make Dolly Parton's take on a dirty martini. 

See M. Night Shyamalan's first YouTube video. 

The new cure for career burnout: physical comedy and a red nose.

Fed up with fast fashion? Follow the woman growing a dress. 

Watch a weekslong time-lapse of coral polyps growing.

Mischievous marmots are tormenting California hikers.  

Make these tweaks to take better photos with your phone. 

Snoop Dogg is offering $10K per month for a sweet gig. 

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Clickbait: A small college town in Georgia reported an alien abduction.

One more: Having all the world's money would be a logistics nightmare. (w/video)

Historybook: Actor Richard Gere born (1949); Boxing legend Rocky Marciano dies (1969); Princess Diana dies in car crash in Paris (1997); 953 die in bridge stampede in Iraq (2005); Baseball great Tom Seaver dies (2020).

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