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Mexico City Is Sinking. A Powerful NASA Satellite Just Exposed How Fast

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Mexico City Is Sinking. A Powerful NASA Satellite Just Exposed How Fast


Mexico City is one of the fastest sinking cities in the world. Now, a powerful satellite from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) confirms the accelerated advance of this silent threat that puts nearly 20 million people at risk.

The satellite designed by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), known as NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar), was able to capture with unprecedented precision the magnitude and evolution of this phenomenon in different areas of the Mexican capital. The analysis is based on preliminary measurements taken from space between October 2025 and January of this year, during the dry season in Mexico City.

Their findings were captured in a map that shows how the subsurface of the metropolis is shifting. In the map, NASA identified areas with subsidence greater than 2 centimeters per month (marked in dark blue). The agency specifies that the areas marked in yellow and red could correspond to background signals (or noise) that are expected to diminish as the satellite instrument collects more data.

The image also highlights the location of Benito Juarez International Airport, located near Lake Nabor Carrillo, which operates in the middle of an area with accelerated subsidence. “Images like this confirm that the NISAR measurements are in line with expectations,” said Craig Ferguson, deputy director of the project.

Mexico City sits atop the clay and lake bed of ancient Lake Texcoco. NASA explains that this process is a consequence of intense groundwater pumping and the increasing weight associated with urban development. Both factors have caused the compaction of the ancient lake soil for more than a century.

The phenomenon was first documented in 1925 by engineer Roberto Gayol. Between the 1900s and 2000s, some areas experienced a drop of nearly 35 centimeters per year, causing damage to infrastructure such as the Metro, one of the largest mass transit systems in the Americas.

A study conducted in 2024 by Dario Solano-Rojas, a remote-sensing specialist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, found that subsidence is not uniform. After analyzing changes in the city’s elevation between 2011 and 2020, the researcher and his team concluded that subsidence rates are highly variable: While some areas register up to 50 centimeters per year, in others the phenomenon is almost imperceptible.

This creates “differential subsidence,” where the ground sinks unevenly not only across square kilometers or city blocks, but even on a meter scale. When a street, railway, or building sinks differently at one end compared to the other, its stability is compromised.



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A Library Dedicated Solely to the Epstein Files Is Opening in New York

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May 6, 2026

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A Library Dedicated Solely to the Epstein Files Is Opening in New York


I’m looking at Volume 1,536 of the Epstein files, page 311. It’s an early 2016 email thread between Jeffrey Epstein and a woman whose name is redacted by the Department of Justice.

In the thread, Epstein asks the unidentified woman for a “naughty selfie” and later sends her a camera. In late February, he replies with a different ask: “Do you have any friends that might want to work for me?…I will give you money if you find someone willing to travel, 22-25, educated. Personable.”

The exchange carries extra resonance when you consider that Epstein is accused of sex trafficking minors, with the Department of Justice estimating that he had more than 1,200 potential victims. But I just happen to flip to it randomly during my recent visit to the newly opened Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room.

Photograph: Anna Maria Lopez/Courtesy of BPI Group

Tucked away in a nondescript gallery in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood, the reading room is a massive library of all 3.5 million pages of Epstein-related records released by the Department of Justice earlier this year, compiled into more than 3,700 individual volumes. From May 8 to 21, the reading room will be open to the public by appointment only.

The library—essentially, the Epstein files in analog—is intended to represent the staggering scale of Epstein’s crimes, as well as the impunity with which he carried them out. More than 17,000 pounds of evidence is on display at the library, says David Garrett, the main organizer of the exhibit at the Institute for Primary Facts, a nonprofit intended to promote transparency and accountability in the US government.

“The evidence in this room is evidence of one of the most horrific crimes in American history,” Garrett says. “When people come through this room, I hope they realize that in America, we have the rule of law, and if they stand up they can take action and demand accountability for the crimes that were committed.”

Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, is now synonymous with systemic corruption and abuse, particularly in light of his ties to President Donald Trump. The installation features a detailed timeline of Epstein’s relationship with Trump, from their purported initial meeting in Palm Beach in 1987 to Epstein’s 1993 attendance at Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples to the end of Epstein’s membership at Mar-a-Lago in 2007, when Trump allegedly witnessed him behaving inappropriately toward the teenage daughter of another member. The shelves are organized around an exhibit in support of Epstein’s survivors, with candles laid out on the ground to represent the more than 1,200 victims. In response to a request for comment, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump has “been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein,” claiming that he “has done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone.”



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Police wrongly identified solicitor Fahad Ansari as Hamas member during Schedule 7 phone seizure | Computer Weekly

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May 6, 2026

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Police wrongly identified solicitor Fahad Ansari as Hamas member during Schedule 7 phone seizure | Computer Weekly


A solicitor who had his mobile phone containing legally privileged material seized and downloaded by police was wrongly described in a police risk assessment as being a member of Hamas.

Fahad Ansari, who specialises in national security cases, argues that police unlawfully stopped and questioned him because they wrongly “equated” him acting as a lawyer for Hamas with being a member of the proscribed organisation.

The case is believed to be the first targeted use of Schedule 7 powers, which allow police to stop and question people and seize their electronic devices without the need for suspicion, against a practising solicitor.

The Court of Appeal ordered an immediate stay on Tuesday to a judicial review brought by Ansari while it considers whether police should be required by law to disclose details of their case against him.

Ansari, an Irish solicitor who represents Hamas in a legal appeal to have its proscribed status overturned in the UK, was stopped and questioned by police after returning home with his family from Ireland to Holyhead in August 2025.

Police risk assessment stated ‘Hamas’ 

A police officer who completed a risk assessment made a handwritten note under the heading “membership of a known group” stating “Hamas”.

According to a legal submission from Ansari’s barrister for a judicial review originally due to be held today, the police officer was “essentially” equating Ansari, who is not a member of Hamas, with his client.

The police officer confirmed in a witness statement that his note was inaccurate. “What I had intended to write was that Mr Ansari worked as a solicitor for Hamas, and not that he was a member of the group,” he said.

Ansari not questioned in earlier stop

It emerged that Ansari was stopped previously in 2024 under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, before he represented Hamas, in what appeared to be a random stop.

He identified himself as a solicitor and was not asked any questions about Hamas or Palestine. He did not have his mobile phone seized, downloaded or copied, unlike his later Schedule 7 stop , barrister Hugh Southey KC, wrote in a skeleton argument.

He said the significant difference between the two Schedule 7 stops was that Ansari had made an application on behalf of Hamas before the second stop.

The chief constable of North Wales Police has made contradictory statements about the reasons for stopping Ansari for the second time in 2025.

In January 2026 she stated that “there was an underlying reason or reason for the stop: it was not random”. The chief constable now states that she has “not confirmed” that the stop was a “targeted stop”.

It appears that the chief constable has approached litigation heard in open court in a “confused, contradictory and less than candid manor”, Southey wrote.

Legally privileged material

The phone seized by North Wales Police, contained legally privileged material, including communications with clients, their families, witnesses and experts, documents, financial information, and internet research related to clients.

A police officer subsequently prepared a list of keywords, including names of UK proscribed organisations and keywords based on research the officer had conducted into Ansari, to allow an independent counsel to “sift and review” data on Ansari’s phone.

Ansari argues that the safeguards, including using an independent counsel to assess the contents of the phone, were inadequate to protect legally privileged material, and that he has no way of knowing whether such material was accessed by investigators.

The Chief Constable wrote to Ansari in March this year stating that the police had completed their examination of Ansari’s work phone. Ansari has sought confirmation whether police officers had inadvertently seen privileged material from the phone.

Lack of rights

The consequence of the approach taken by the Chief Constable of North Wales Police is that Ansari would be entitled to greater safeguards if he were investigated for having committed an actual offence, and where there had already been a judicial warrant, Southey wrote in the skeleton argument.

Ansari said that Court of Appeal had recognised that his argument for greater disclosure from the police had merit.

“Previously, the High Court allowed the police to rely on secret evidence. In situations like this, it’s normally expected that at least a summary of the allegations is shared to allow a semblance of a fair hearing,” he wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

The police’s apparent lack of distinction between being a member of Hamas and being a legal representative of Hamas raised “serious concerns,” and would deter lawyers from representing proscribed groups, he added.

“This is not Belfast in the 1980s when such messages were delivered by bullets, but the intention feels uncomfortably similar: represent clients and face consequences,” he said.

Phantom Parrot

A document leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013, raised concerns that information collected from phones during Schedule 7 searches was being covertly collected at UK borders under GCHQ’s “Phantom Parrot” programme.

Ansari said that North Wales Police had declined to say whether information from his phone had been shared with any other organisations.



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I’ve Tried Every Digital Notebook. These Are the Best Ones

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May 6, 2026

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I’ve Tried Every Digital Notebook. These Are the Best Ones


Comparing Our Favorite Digital Notebooks

Our Favorite Smart Pens

Neo Smartpen M1+ for $129: Skip the tablet and write directly on paper with a smart pen instead. The Neo Smartpen M1+ is the thinnest and lightest of all the pens I tried, which makes it feel a bit more like your standard pen. Importantly, it’s comfortable to hold and use. You should be able to find whatever size and style of notebook you need as well as planners. The Neo Studio app (iOS, Android) is nice, with an easy-to-navigate notebook system and the ability to search for pages by page number or date. You can change the color of the ink and thickness of the lines right on the page as you go, or you can switch them up later and edit the colors of what you’ve written. —Medea Giodiano

Moleskine Smart Writing Set for $251: Moleskine has garnered a devoted following for its classic notebooks and journals, but it has also moved into smart territory. The Smart Writing Set gets you a notebook and pen bundle, so this is the best option for most people starting out. Write in the notebook, and it’ll appear in the companion app! But you can buy the pen on its own, as well as the smart notebooks and planners in various sizes. The Moleskine Notes 2.0 app (iOS, Android) was easy to use once I settled into it. An older version of the app is available for download, but the 2.0 version is more streamlined. A pop-up let me know that 2.0 is still a work in progress and I might need to switch back to the older version if my device is having trouble, but my iPhone 11 didn’t have any issues. I tested the $149 2018 version of the Smart Writing Set, which is no longer available, but we plan to test the latest version soon. —Medea Giordano

Honorable Mentions

The 3rd Gen Kindle Scribe (left) and the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft.

Photograph: Nena Farrell

Kindle Scribe Colorsoft ($630) and Kindle Scribe (3rd Gen) ($500): The new versions of the Kindle Scribe are still solid all-around devices that have a good mix of e-reader and digital notebook features, but I still prefer the older model. While the new Scribe Colorsoft is a nice option if you want color, I think both are too expensive for what they are. The price comes from all the AI features packed into the device, but I don’t think any reader or digital notetaker was asking for more of those. Our picks above are a better price for similar features, though the Scribe does have the most impressive battery life of any digital notebook device I’ve tried (and that’s still true for the older model that I recommend above, too, so you don’t need the newest model for the best battery life).

Montblanc Digital Paper for $935: Yes, that Montblanc, the one with the famous pens, now has a digital notebook of its own. It’s no surprise that I’d call its digital pen one of the best. It’s got a super-lightweight feel while sporting three different buttons, two of which you can customize. (There’s no eraser, but I’ll give it up for that end of the pen to instead be a home button). I really like this device overall, but it’s pricey for what you get—aside from the customizable pen buttons, there’s not much to differentiate it from my top picks.

Neo Smartpen Dimo for $59: This is the cheapest smart pen option and uses replaceable batteries. It isn’t compatible with Google Calendar, iCal, or Outlook like our other picks.

ReMarkable 2 for $569 (with Marker Plus and Book Folio): This is the older ReMarkable digital notebook from 2020, and it’s still a great device with a great range of accessories (while they’re still available, that is). It feels similar to real paper with its matte screen, and works on the same platform as ReMarkable’s newer tablets. But the performance isn’t as snappy as newer models, and ReMarkable is no longer making it after launching the ReMarkable Paper Pure. I do really like using it with a Keyboard Folio as an e-paper tablet, though.

Rocketbook Fusion Plus for $30: If you really prefer the paper experience and don’t want something you need to charge, then Rocketbook is for you. Rocketbook makes several reusable notebooks, planners, and accessories like index cards and sticky notes. I like the Rocketbook Fusion Plus since it comes with a ton of different template styles, from your classic monthly and weekly pages to project management layouts and meeting notes, making it feel closer to the variety a digital notebook can offer you. Take notes with an erasable Pilot Frixion Pen (one comes with whichever item you buy), scan photos of the pages into the Rocketbook app, and erase the whole thing with the damp microfiber cloth (also included). The app is designed to keep everything organized and easily send things off to Google Drive, Slack, Trello, OneNote, and a handful of other options.

Supernote A6 X2 Nomad for $394 (with Standard Pen): This is a smaller version of the Supernote A5 X2 Manta, measuring almost 6 inches on one side and 7.5 inches on the other. Supernote designed it with travel in mind, but I find it to be a great size for a daily digital to-do list or writing down quick notes from a meeting. It’s too small for anything major, but if you’re looking for something compact, this is a good option with Supernote’s software (and with the same fantastic pens!). Like the Manta above, this model rose in price due to the tariffs, though it only went up $30.

FAQs

Do You Need a Digital Note-Taking Device?

The short answer is no. These devices are expensive, usually costing several hundred dollars when a simple notebook and pen costs a few bucks. But if you like the physical act of writing but need to have digital copies, they’re worth considering.

Pros:

  • Digital notebooks are thin and light but hold hundreds of notes.
  • You can transcribe your notes into text files, making them easier to read and manipulate.
  • Depending on the device, you can export files as PDFs, Google Docs, Evernote files, and more.
  • Instantly digitizes your art too.

Cons:

  • Expensive.
  • Need to be charged.
  • Have a learning curve.
  • Most smart pens need to be paired with an accompanying notebook. The upcoming Nuwa Pen promises smart notes on any paper.

E Ink notebooks are easier on the eyes and feel closer to paper than a glass-screened tablet. But in some cases, you might spend less getting an iPad and an Apple Pencil (and a keyboard if you also want to type sometimes). You can also do more on them thanks to the thousands of apps in the App Store. An iPad is pretty intuitive if you’re familiar with the Apple ecosystem (though both ReMarkable and Supernote’s ecosystems are also very intuitive). Former WIRED reviewer Jaina Grey recommended using her 11-inch iPad Pro with the GoodNotes and Notability apps for her writing, but there are other models that should work fine, including our top pick, the 2025 iPad. Check out our guide to the Best iPads for more advice on which to buy.

I also have an iPad, and I’ll say the upside of a digital notebook is that the battery tends to last longer, especially if you’re the type to use it for a day or two and then forget about it for a few days. My trusty Kindle Scribe usually manages to have plenty of battery available for whenever I feel the note-taking itch, even if it’s been a week or two since I last touched it.

Why Are Digital Notebooks So Expensive?

Just because these devices look like paper doesn’t mean they’re as cheap to make as a sheet of paper. Like any tablet or smartphone, these devices are packed with features, a special ecosystem, and the E Ink technology is no small feat to perfect, along with a sensation similar to writing on paper. It’s an impressive piece of technology.

Prices haven’t gotten cheaper for this category in the wake of tariffs’ causing technology prices to rise. ReMarkable recently raised the price of our top pick, the ReMarkable Paper Pro. Another favorite of ours from Supernote has gone up a little less than $50, and Kobo also slightly raised its prices, though the $10 increase is pretty minor compared to other increases we’ve seen. We’ll continue to monitor prices and flag if more price changes are to come.

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