The cause of the deadly Nov. 4 crash of a UPS cargo airplane in Louisville, Kentucky, has still not been confirmed, but some aviation experts have pointed to the fact that the plane was over three decades old. And while passenger planes are constantly being updated with new iterations from Boeing and Airbus, using an antiquated plane isn’t all that rare for cargo aviation.

‘Behind the times’
The jet that crashed was a McDonnell Douglas MD-11F manufactured in 1991, according to the Aviation Safety Network. This model has been a “workhorse in the cargo industry for years,” but it had “gained a reputation as an aircraft that was behind the times,” said USA Today. The MD-11 started as a passenger jet, but that ended more than a decade ago because of “high fuel and maintenance costs.” But it has remained a common model for cargo companies.

McDonnell Douglas “built only 200 aircraft between 1998 and 2000” before discontinuing the MD-11 and merging with Boeing, said the Louisville Courier Journal. The MD-11s are “not as fuel-efficient. They require more maintenance,” said John Cox, the founder of aviation consultancy Safety Operating Systems, to USA Today. 

Following the crash, UPS decided to temporarily take the MD-11 out of service. This was done “out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety,” the company said in a statement. 

Aging fleets
While some might be surprised to learn that a 34-year-old plane was still flying, this is “not so unusual in the world of air cargo,” said CNN. Planes often have a “much longer lifespan than the average flyer realizes,” and older models are typically “retired due to fuel economy, rather than wear-and-tear on the aircraft itself.” This is especially true if a plane isn’t in the air as much, and cargo planes generally “fly about 30% less than passenger jets.”

Even though the MD-11 has a “poor safety record” and “reputation for difficult landing behavior,” UPS has “only retired about 30% of its historic total of MD-11Fs,” said Simple Flying. But the company announced in 2023 that it had “begun a planned retirement of aging MD-11 freighters as part of a plan to renew the fleet with more fuel-efficient aircraft,” said supply chain site FreightWaves.

The expansion of the universe may be slowing down, rather than accelerating, according to a new study. If confirmed, this would have “profound implications for the fate of the universe,” said The Guardian. The findings challenge the Nobel Prize-winning theory of dark energy and suggest that “rather than expanding forever” the universe could end in a “reverse Big Bang scenario,” or Big Crunch. 

What’s happening? 
In the 1990s, astronomers first estimated the expansion of the universe by studying exploding stars known as type 1a supernovas. The distant supernovas were dimmer than expected, leading scientists to conclude that the expansion had sped up and was continuing to accelerate. 

But these new findings from a team at Yonsei University in South Korea suggest that this force, dark energy, “may not be driving galaxies apart at an accelerating rate any more,” said Space.com. By estimating the ages of 300 host galaxies, the researchers concluded that there were variations in the properties of stars in the early universe that meant they produced, on average, fainter supernovas. 

Who said what? 
There was a “key assumption” that “turned out to be incorrect,” said Young-Wook Lee, one of the study’s authors. It’s like “doing up a shirt with the first button fastened incorrectly.” 

This is “definitely interesting” and “very provocative,” but it “may well be wrong,” said Carlos Frenk, a cosmologist at the U.K.’s Durham University. The “influential” Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, consortium reached a conclusion similar to the researchers earlier this year, so a “fierce debate is opening up in cosmology” over dark energy and the “probable fate” of the universe, said The Guardian. 

What does all this mean? 
If the findings are confirmed, it could “open an entirely new chapter” in the quest to “understand the past and future of the universe,” said Phys.org. It could “revolutionize” our understanding of the universe and “offer clues about how our cosmos will end,” said Space.com. If dark energy has “lost the battle against gravity,” the next step could be the “contraction of space” and the end of the universe in a Big Crunch.

Fire Brigade personnel inspect damage from an explosion near the Red Fort Metro Station in New Delhi, India. The cause of the blast, which killed at least eight people and injured 20, remains unknown. A vehicle with three people reportedly stopped at a red light before exploding.
Sanjeev Verma / Hindustan Times / Getty Images

This month’s new releases run the gamut. There’s a dive into history, the return of “Stranger Things,” and a new show from TV legend Vince Gilligan.

‘Pluribus’
This series is a little different from Vince Gilligan’s other shows like “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.” It’s a sci-fi mystery rather than a gritty crime drama. Most of the plot of “Pluribus” was “kept intentionally vague in marketing,” but the series is set in Albuquerque and stars Rhea Seehorn as Carol, a “miserable woman investigating a strange contagion that has turned the population of the city (and the world) unrelentingly happy,” said Wilson Chapman at IndieWire. (out now, Apple TV)

‘Death by Lightning’
This Netflix historical drama spotlights James Garfield (Michael Shannon), the American president assassinated just 199 days into his first term. “That tragedy set the table for one of U.S. history’s great ‘what ifs,’” said David Smith at The Guardian. Matthew Macfadyen also stars as the assassin, Charles Guiteau, who brings about Garfield’s untimely demise. (out now, Netflix)

‘Stranger Things’
It’s hard to believe that “Stranger Things” is returning for its fifth and final season. This last go-round is leading toward the final battle with humanoid monster Vecna, the main antagonist. And the feature-length series finale will screen in theaters on Dec. 31 — a first for Netflix. (Nov. 26, Netflix)