Between the Netflix live-action series and a slew of new movies, One Piece is gearing up for a busy few years. But that doesn’t mean the long-running anime is getting left behind. One Piece is currently in the middle of airing its 22nd season, known as the Elbaph Arc, on Crunchyroll. Right now, it’s only available with subtitles, but we have good news for anyone who’s partial to the English dub.
Starting on October 20 at 9 a.m. PT, Crunchyroll will release one English-dubbed episode of the Elbaph Arc per week. It kicks off with episode 1,156, “The Long-sought Elbaph! The Big Reunion Banquet,” and continues every Friday thereafter. This marks a new approach for Crunchyroll’s One Piece dubs; previously, the streamer dropped dubbed episodes in several small multi-episode batches rather than releasing them weekly.
The Straw Hats set their course to Elbaph!
📢 The English dub of the Elbaph Arc in ONE PIECE sets sail on Crunchyroll beginning this October 20th, followed by a new weekly dubbed episode drop every Tuesday at 9am PT!#ONEPIECE #ELBAPH pic.twitter.com/zbOvhGO2fJ
— Toei Animation (@ToeiAnimation) August 24, 2026
The One Piece: Heroines special, which premiered its subtitled version on Crunchyroll on July 5, will also get some new dubbed versions this fall. The English, Spanish, and Portuguese dubs of One Piece: Heroines will release on October 13 at 9 a.m. PT.
According to a press release, in the Elbaph Arc, “…the Straw Hat Crew set their course for a legendary destination. Joined by the mighty Giant Warrior Pirates, they finally reach Elbaph, the long-awaited Land of Giants. New encounters with Giants, and long hoped for reunions unfold. A colossal new chapter begins as the crew heads into an adventure unlike anything before, all in the pursuit of the ultimate treasure, the ‘One Piece!’”
One Piece, based on the manga of the same name by Eiichiro Oda, released its first episode in 1999. In the nearly three decades since then, the anime has had an episode nearly every week, racking up 1,175 episodes to date. However, in 2025, Toei Animation announced that the series would reduce its frankly absurd production schedule to just 26 episodes per year, starting with the Elbaph Arc.
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Writer-director Jacob Chase has already achieved the near-impossible: he made the sixth film in the Insidious series feel fresh, scary, and nearly as good as the 2010 original. Though Insidious: Out of the Further didn’t top the box office on its opening weekend (Spider-Man: Brand New Day is still cleaning up at number one), it’s still on its way to becoming a hit, and Chase—who’s spent the press cycle sharing fun anecdotes about the haunted maze he used to run and his early-career brush with the Snyderverse—has his next horror tale already set.
It’s called Sleepover, and if that title makes you think of 1,000 genre cliches, remember—this is the guy who got people excited about a part-six franchise installment. Even with just the title and no plot details to go on, it seems like he’s probably got a fun, unexpected angle on the material. (He already did a pillow fort in Out of the Further, though.)
According to a press release, Sleepover has snagged October 8, 2027, for its release date, so that fits right in with Chase’s Halloween expertise.
Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Atomic Monster are producing, and Chase co-wrote the screenplay with Bryce McGuire, based on McGuire’s story. McGuire wrote and directed 2024’s Night Swim, which is perhaps now better known by its viral nickname, “Pooltergeist.”
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is vowing to (somewhat) crack down on AI data center buildout if he wins his bid for Senate.
The Republican candidate just unveiled a four-point plan he is calling the “Texas First Data Center Plan.” The proposal, in vague terms, includes authoring legislation to prohibit data centers from using Chinese tech and holding data center companies “criminally liable” for empowering AI chatbots that have been determined to undermine the safety of children.
Paxton is running against State Rep. James Talarico for a once-reliably Republican seat representing Texas in the U.S. Senate. But Paxton is facing a tough run, not just because Talarico is polling rather well, but also due to his own scandal-plagued past. The data center platform could be a way for Paxton to gain back some of the support he may have lost to Talarico, considering the trajectory of public sentiment and Talarico’s own longer-standing promise to crack down on data centers. Talarico—whose platform includes voting to repeal Texas’ data center sales tax exemption, requiring data centers to reuse a fixed amount of water, and granting local communities the power to veto data center projects—called Paxton’s plan “a sad attempt to reverse course,” per Fox News.
The public has grown dramatically anti-AI and data centers in just the past few months alone, and the criticism is coming from all sides of the political spectrum. Many public figures, including but not limited to the Pope, have raised concerns about the unprecedented speed at which the technology is developing, and the toll it’s taking on things like the economy, global warfare, and the mental health of its frequent users. The public is also unhappy about the impact data centers are having on local communities, most of them rural, who have been plagued by rising utility bills, water shortages, and above-average air and noise pollution.
That fast-accelerating pace is felt particularly intensely in Texas, a state that is only second to Virginia in the number of data centers it hosts, per Data Center Map. Major companies have also made the state home to their most ambitious, flagship AI infrastructure projects, from OpenAI’s Stargate in Abilene to SpaceX’s Terafab in Austin, meant to produce chips to be used in space to power owner Elon Musk’s dreams of a massive orbital data center colony.
As part of his four-point plan, Paxton is also vowing to co-sponsor the DATA Act, proposed by Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and aiming to loosen federal regulation to incentivize data centers to build their own off-grid power supplies, and promises to “fiercely advocate” for Governor Greg Abbott’s own data center regulations.
In a TV appearance on Sunday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the rising anti-AI data center sentiment was justified, saying that the AI companies “basically dug their own grave for the problem that’s been caused for them, and that’s why they got the backlash they deserve.” Earlier this month, Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the state’s power grid operator to audit data center projects that want to connect to the grid.
But the heavily MAGA-aligned Republican politicians are likely to face problems in their AI messaging. The public is souring on data centers, and with the midterm elections looming in November, the politicians would do well to curry public favor. Artificial intelligence is becoming such a determining electoral issue that NBC News has introduced it into its public polling.
But the politicians’ allegiance to Trump also matters, and not only is the President still staunchly in favor of the AI industry and its unprecedented data center buildout, but he also takes any opposition to heart. The administration has repeatedly worked to reduce obstacles standing in the way of the AI industry. Just last month, the Environmental Protection Agency said that power plants would not be subject to some environmental pollution restrictions if they are not connected to the public grid.
That support was once again voiced on Sunday. In an interview with his former fixer Michael Cohen, Trump claimed that data centers don’t take power from the grid because they’re building “the most beautiful, you’ve never seen power plants like this,” and that any community that refuses a data center would be “making a mistake” because they create “tremendous amounts of jobs and money.”
An 8-year-old’s recent summer lake swim has led to a heartbreaking tragedy.
Last week, the Louisiana Department of Health reported that a resident, subsequently identified as Lillian Smart by her family, had contracted a rare infection of Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba that attacks the brains of those infected. Sadly, on Sunday, the family reported that Smart had succumbed to the highly fatal illness over the weekend. It’s only the fourth case of N. fowleri ever documented in the state, according to health officials.
“The injuries to her brain were too severe for her little body to recover from. Everyone did everything they could to keep her here,” her family wrote in a Facebook post to a group started to provide updates on her condition.
N. fowleri is a shapeshifting amoeba that lives in soil and warm freshwater. It typically only eats bacteria and isn’t dangerous to people when it’s swallowed from drinking water containing the amoeba. However, when the amoeba enters the body through the nose, it can sometimes migrate to the brain. From there, it will attack and kill brain cells, triggering a massive bout of inflammation. This infection is formally called primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM.
According to the Louisiana Department of Health, symptoms of PAM typically start with “severe headache, fever, nausea and vomiting and progress to stiff neck, seizures, and coma that can lead to death.” People usually feel sick about five days after exposure, but it can take up to 12 days. And though doctors can try to treat PAM with an aggressive cocktail of drugs and other interventions, the infection remains nearly always fatal.
People often catch PAM from swimming in warm freshwater sources, such as lakes during the summertime, and that appears to be what happened to Smart in this case. Health officials say she likely acquired the infection while swimming in Lake Claiborne, located in northern Louisiana.
Thankfully, N. fowleri infections are incredibly rare. There have been only around 180 cases recorded in the U.S. between 1937 through 2025, according to the Louisiana Department of Health, with three cases prior to Smart reported in the state itself.
However, research has suggested that the global incidence of this infection is increasing in warmer parts of the world. And at least some scientists argue that climate change is and will continue to make N. fowleri a bigger problem over time. A study earlier this year revealed that the amoeba was commonly found in many recreational hot water springs across the western half of the country.
Louisiana officials have issued an advisory to health care providers in the area about the case. And though the odds of catching N. fowleri are low, the department adds that people swimming in warm freshwater sources should always assume there is a risk and take steps to further lower it. Namely, you should try to limit any water that goes up the nose while swimming, such as by pinching your nose shut or wearing nose clips when jumping in. People should also always use distilled, sterilized, or boiled and cooled tap water for nasal irrigation, since that’s another potential route of infection.
Tesla’s purpose-built robotaxi finally appears to have a launch date.
Elon Musk’s EV company posted a teaser on X over the weekend for an “Exclusive Access” Cybercab event taking place Sept. 3 in Austin.
The Musk-focused news site Teslarati also posted an invitation to what Tesla is calling the “Cybercab Launch Event.” The invite says guests will get the opportunity to “experience the future of full autonomy.” Electrek reports that the event is invite-only but will be livestreamed. The outlet also reports that Cybercab rides will soon become available through Tesla’s existing Robotaxi app in Austin.
The event comes as Tesla has been laying the groundwork to expand its year-old Robotaxi service. In February, the company posted a photo of what it said was the first production Cybercab to roll off the line at its Gigafactory in Texas.
The Cybercab is a two-seat, “purpose-built fully autonomous vehicle.” Since it is meant to be fully driverless, it has no steering wheel or pedals.
Amazon-owned Zoox also operates a purpose-built robotaxi that has no driving controls.
The lack of traditional controls makes the Cybercab an unusually light EV. Recent regulatory filings with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), first reported by Car and Driver, revealed that the Cybercab has a curb weight of just 3,113 pounds. For context, that makes it roughly 700 pounds lighter than the lightest Model 3. The filings also show that it runs on a single front-mounted 219-horsepower permanent magnet motor and a 48 kWh battery pack for an unadjusted 418-mile range.
The Verge reports that, after EPA testing adjustments, the Cybercab’s real-world range will likely be closer to 290 to 300 miles. The outlet also reports that its 165 watt-hours-per-mile(Wh/mi) rating would make it one of the most efficient EVs ever certified.
When Tesla first launched its Robotaxi service in Austin in June 2025, Musk told investors the company planned to quickly expand into California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida. “We’ll probably have autonomous ride-hailing in about half the population of the US by the end of the year,” Musk said in a July earnings call last year. More than a year later, Tesla says Robotaxi rides are currently available in Texas and Florida.
Additionally, Electrek estimates that Tesla only has somewhere between 20 and 30 unsupervised vehicles operating at any given time.
For comparison, Waymo operates at 3,000 autonomous vehicles across more than 11 cities and completes more than 500,000 paid rides a week.
Still, there are signs Tesla is preparing to expand its operations.
Last week, the Nevada Transportation Authority approved permits allowing Tesla, Waymo and Uber partner Aviari to operate commercial robotaxi services in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located.
Tesla’s permit allows it to deploy up to 5,000 fully autonomous vehicles during its first 12 months.
On top of that, Bloomberg reported in June that Tesla filed plans with the city of Austin to expand an existing service center with a “robocar” wash and charging stations. The company has also submitted plans for a Cybercab car wash in Las Vegas.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump Administration is looking to dramatically expand the private space industry within the next few years, directing federal agencies to develop new launch and re-entry infrastructure to accommodate a massive surge in launch activity.
President Donald Trump signed a new memo to enable at least 1,000 rocket launches and reentries per year by 2030, up from 178 rocket launches in 2025. The memo is the first update to the National Space Transportation Policy since 2013, and aims to launch “the golden age of space transportation” on U.S. soil.
The updated policy focuses on increasing launch infrastructure in the U.S., directing federal agencies to incentivize the co-development of new launch and re-entry sites with private sector partners. It calls on agencies to identify federal land as potential locations of additional launch facilities or the improvement of existing ones.
The policy also seeks to expedite the permitting process needed for commercial space activity, as well as environmental reviews. The Trump administration had previously proposed a plan to allow the Federal Aviation Administration to waive environmental review requirements for commercial rocket launches and reentries in order to speed up licensing.
The White House also seems to favor the private sector, calling on federal agencies to “refrain from conducting United States Government space transportation activities that preclude, discourage, or compete with United States commercial space transportation activities.”
The memo also calls on NASA to explore commercial robotic access to Mars, as well as commercial spacecraft to send humans to the Red Planet.
The commercial rocket business has already experienced rapid growth in the last 13 years, which is mostly dominated by industry giant SpaceX.
In 2013, only 19 rockets launched from U.S. soil. That number continues to increase, with SpaceX driving up the launch cadence by more than 800%, according to Space.com. In the past few years alone, SpaceX has scaled up from 25 orbital launches in 2020 to a record-breaking 165 in 2025.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said his company is seeking to launch more than 30 Starship rockets per day, for a total of nearly 11,000 annual launches, by 2030.
The new policy “meets this moment of explosive growth and positions America to lead the next era of space,” White House science and technology adviser Michael Kratsios said, according to Reuters. It calls for “commercial-first approach enabling Americans on the Moon by 2028 and initial Moon Base elements by 2030, and rapid, resilient launch capabilities for national security,” he added.