Last month, the Department of Justice released over 3 million documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. While the dumps shed light on Epstein’s own social circle and activities, they also provide a rare window into the inner workings of a federal investigation, including how tech companies like Google respond to government requests for information.

WIRED found several grand jury subpoenas addressed to Google in the DOJ’s most recent release, along with files that appear to be Google data produced about specific users and letters on Google letterhead responding to specific subpoena requests.

Google declined to comment on the specific documents included in the dumps, but spokesperson Katelin Jabbari said in a written statement that the company’s “processes for handling law enforcement requests are designed to protect users’ privacy while meeting our legal obligations. We review all legal demands for legal validity, and we push back against those that are overbroad, including objecting to some entirely.”

The documents show how much the government will sometimes attempt to obtain without a judge’s sign-off, how Google pushes back against requests that it says are beyond what’s required by law, and what types of information the company has turned over about its users.

Secret by Design

Subpoenas are normally shrouded in secrecy. A 2019 letter signed by the then US attorney for the Southern District of New York and addressed to Google’s legal department prohibited the company by law from revealing the letter’s existence to Epstein coconspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, the subject of the subpoena, for 180 days from the date of the order. The letter also instructed Google to alert prosecutors if it planned to tell Maxwell about the existence of the order after the 180 days were up, “in case the investigation remains ongoing and the order needs to be renewed.”

Even when not required by law, prosecutors requested Google’s silence. A 2018 letter instructing Google to preserve all emails (including those in draft and trash folders) and Google Drive content associated with four gmail accounts also requested that Google not disclose the existence of the letter to anyone, including the people who owned the accounts. The letter also requested that Google notify federal prosecutors if the company intended to make a disclosure, so the prosecutors could “obtain a non-disclosure order if necessary.”

JBL makes a mean Bluetooth speaker, and the brand’s Flip series has been my all-time favorite for multiple generations. The JBL Flip 7 is its best yet, with good sound, a travel-ready size, and subtle but effective upgrades over the previous two models in both sound and features. I love this speaker and its nearly indestructible design, and now it’s finally getting some good sales. Right now, you’ll find it for $50 off its $150 retail price, the lowest we’ve seen it yet.

I used the Flip 5 as my go-to audio companion at home and on the road for years. The Flip 7 is better, providing even clearer and more powerful sound to enhance everything from barbecue jams to dialog as I watch movies from my PC in the hot tub (what can I say, I like to multi-task!). The Flip’s design works great for the hot tub since it’s fully dunkable, and offers convenient controls for my slippery hands when I need to adjust the volume or pause the fun.

The Flip 7 offers some cool new features, including a new detachable loop that breaks away with the press of a button (just make sure you don’t lose it), upgraded IP68 dust and water resistance, and a new shockproof casing tested for three-foot drops. The Flip line has always been pretty drop-friendly, and I can personally attest to dropping this thing a lot with no ill effects.

JBL has also begun to add Auracast to its new speaker line, a future-looking feature that uses a new Bluetooth protocol for latency-free transmission of an infinite number of devices. Auracast is still new, but it’s an extremely promising technology, and currently lets you connect the Flip 7 with other JBL Auracast speakers in tandem. The only downside is that JBL has done away with its older PartyBoost feature, so you can only group the Flip 7 with newer speakers like the Charge 6 and Clip 5.

As far as sound quality goes, this is a more refined Flip, with minor upgrades to instrumental definition, noticeable in instruments like brass, strings, and vocals. It’s not a big change over the Flip 6, but it’s good to see improvement, and the speaker has lost some of the more aggressive touch that sometimes led to minor distortion in older models. Like virtually any Bluetooth speaker, it will still distort if you push it too hard, but I clocked it at over 75 dB in my review without any audible issues.

You’ll also get a bit more battery life this time around, going from 12 hours in previous models to 14 (depending on volume), so you can take it off the grid for a bit longer. You can even push that up to 16 hours with its new Playtime Boost mode, though that cuts out some bass.

It all adds up to a sweet little package. It’s my first recommendation when anyone asks me about a great portable speaker, offering the perfect compromise between size, sound, and durability. While it’s been bouncing up and down in price lately, now’s a great time to catch it at the lowest price we’ve seen yet.

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There is a corner of Antarctica that looks like something out of a David Cronenberg movie. It’s located in the dry valleys of McMurdo, an immense frozen desert where, periodically, a jet of crimson liquid suddenly gushes from the dazzling white of the Taylor Glacier. They’re called the Blood Falls, and since their discovery in 1911 by geologist Thomas Griffith Taylor, they’ve fueled a century of scientific speculation.

Recently, a series of observations conducted since 2018 have clarified several mysteries, such as the nature of their reddish color and what keeps them liquid at almost –20 degrees Celsius. New research published this week in the journal Antarctic Science adds the final piece to the puzzle, clarifying what phenomena drive the falls to gush from underground.

The Science Behind the Blood Falls

At the time of their discovery, Taylor attributed the color to the presence of red microalgae. More than a century later, scientists have determined that the red is due to iron particles trapped in nanospheres along with other elements such as silicon, calcium, aluminum, and sodium. These were likely produced by ancient bacteria trapped underground in the area: Once in contact with air, the iron oxidizes, giving the mixture its characteristic rust color.

As for the presence of liquid water, it is actually a hypersaline brine, formed about 2 million years ago when the waters of the Antarctic Ocean receded from the valleys. The very high salinity of this brine prevents the water from freezing, thus allowing it to gush out periodically.

The New Discovery

With the temperature puzzle solved, the question remained as to what physically drove the fluid to erupt. The answer came from cross-referencing GPS data, thermal sensors, and high-resolution images collected in 2018 during an eruption. The analysis demonstrated that the Blood Falls are the result of pressure variations affecting the brine deposits beneath the glacier.

As Taylor Glacier slides downstream, the overlying ice mass compresses the subglacial channels, building up tremendous pressure. When the strain becomes unbearable, the ice gives way: Pressurized brine seeps into the crevices and is shot out in short bursts. Curiously, this release acts as a hydraulic brake, temporarily slowing the glacier’s march. With this discovery, the mysteries of the Blood Falls should finally have been solved, at least for now. The impact of global warming on this complex system in the coming decades remains unknown.

This story originally appeared on WIRED Italia and has been translated from Italian.