For several years, NASA has been partnering with SpaceX, using their reusable rockets to put new astronauts in space, including the Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon spacecraft. This continued when NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 crew launched into space and entered the International Space Station (ISS) on Feb. 14, following NASA’s “routine two-week quarantine.”

On Feb. 17, 2026, SUNY Geneseo announced it would be partnering with the University of Rochester’s Simon Business School. This is a move aimed to expand academic opportunity and reduce both the cost and time required to earn advanced degrees.

On Feb. 19, actor Eric Dane passed away from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) after announcing his diagnosis about a year ago. People Magazine released a statement from his family, saying, "He spent his final days surrounded by dear friends, his devoted wife, and his two beautiful daughters, Billie and Georgia, who were the center of his world."

SUNY Geneseo has announced a partnership with Eastman Kodak Pharmaceutical Company, marked by a generous donation of 625,000 dollars to The Geneseo Foundation from Eastman Kodak, as per SUNY Geneseo’s news center on the college’s official website.

After months of American interventionism in the Caribbean that have resulted in U.S. control of Venezuelan oil following the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro, Cuba’s oil access is now under tight control. With the U.S. government preventing oil from reaching the island nation, The New York Times has identified this as “the United States’ first effective blockade since the Cuban Missile Crisis.”

This past Friday, Feb. 13, SUNY Geneseo hosted its fourth annual Douglass Day celebration in the Milne Library Multipurpose Room. Douglass Day, honoring Frederick Douglass, has been officially celebrated in Geneseo since 2023.

Last month, Cassiopea andromeda, more commonly known as the upside-down jellyfish, were found to have similar sleep patterns to humans—but they do not have brains. Like humans, Cassiopea andromeda were shown to operate according to circadian rhythm, and have an increasing need to rest the longer they are awake. As Bec Crew explains in Australian Geographic, Cassiopea andromeda is “a one-of-a-kind creature that prefers to float arms-up, with its bell resting on the sea floor,” making it unique from other jellyfish.

In fall 2024, TFN reported that a French shipping company named Vela had raised 40 million euros (about 47.5 million USD) to begin designing a low-carbon cargo ship. According to CNN, this ship, the Neoliner Origin, could now launch in 2027. Vela was founded in 2022 with a goal of drastically reducing emissions from shipping.

After decades of being on the endangered species list, wood storks have finally recovered enough to be removed from the list, according to The Current. The Federal Register states the birds will officially be removed from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife on Mar. 12, 2026. 

Shortly after 9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12, gunshots disrupted the campus of South Carolina State University, fired in a student housing building, and leaving two deceased, NBC News reported. The two people fatally shot were not students at the university. 

Geneseo First Response, commonly referred to as GFR, is SUNY Geneseo’s student volunteer emergency response service. As documented on their official page on SUNY Geneseo’s website, they serve as the primary emergency medical service (EMS) agency for the campus and work as a part of an integrated emergency response system on campus, alongside University Police and Geneseo’s Department of Student Health and Counseling.

Measles is making a return to the United States with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirming 733 cases in 2026 as of Feb. 5. This is a jarring number when compared to the total number of confirmed cases in 2025, which was reported to be 2,276. 

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, according to Fulbright Online, creates valuable academic and professional opportunities for students in higher education and for professional scholars. SUNY Geneseo’s news center has detailed that the college “has once again been named a Top Producer of both Fulbright US student and Fulbright US Scholar awards.” This is Geneseo’s eighth time receiving this honor. 

The vaquita porpoise is known as “the world’s smallest cetacean,” according to the Save the Vaquita website. Unfortunately, the vaquita population has reached dangerously low numbers—with less than 20 of the porpoises in the wild, as detailed by VaquitaCPR.

SUNY Geneseo has committed to living up to its name as a public honors college by responding to its students' high motivations to succeed, and making sure it has the proper resources for them to do so.

Last week, the world was forced to mourn the loss of one of the most legendary women to ever grace the screens. On Jan. 30, 2026, famous actress Catherine O’Hara passed away at 71 years old.

Strike activity has broken out in cities across the country two weeks in a row on Jan. 23 and Jan. 30 in response to sweeping escalations in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations.

In an effort to accelerate and encourage deep-sea mining and exploration, President Donald Trump has moved to grant a record number of permits to companies searching for critical minerals, as reported by Reuters.

In the Mexican state of Oaxaca in the municipality of San Pablo Huitzo, just northwest of the state capital of Oaxaca de Juárez, archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have uncovered a 1,400-year-old tomb of the Zapotec civilization of southern Mexico, according to Live Science.