Crosswire — October 17, 2026

DAILY BRIEFING TECH Tesla Finally Unveils the Roadster, and It's Mostly a Stunt Show What changed: After nine years of delays, Tesla showed the second-generation Roadster. The event ran under 30 minutes and was built around spectacle rather than product details. The demo: Vertical ramp: The car drove up a vertical ramp using a SpaceX-supplied underbody suction module, claimed to produce up to 2 g of downforce. Flight: It then detached, rotated midair, and landed using compressed-gas thrusters. "Kickflip": It also jumped over other Teslas without a ramp, doing a 360° barrel roll. How it works: The thrust system uses 600 L of ultra-high-pressure tanks holding about 250 kg of air, fed to 10 nozzles. Tesla says the car refills the tanks itself. Acceleration: Tesla claimed 0–100 km/h in 0.81 s on the demo run. That figure is company-reported from a controlled event, not independently tested. Three configurations: | Trim | Seats | Key hardware | 0–100 km/h | Notes | |---|---|---|---|---| | Performance | 2 | Active aero + suction | The money: No price and no firm delivery date were given. The $5,000 deposit is billed as "fully refundable," but a further $45,000 is due within 10 days or the reservation is cancelled. In practice, this is a $50,000 commitment for a car with no price, and Tesla gets to hold that cash. Why skepticism is warranted: The 2017 reveal promised production in 2020. That slipped to 2024, and this unveiling was itself postponed four times in 2026. Musk now says production starts in 2028. The SpaceX thruster package was first floated in 2018. Today is the first time it has been shown working, but only on a closed course. Nothing shown addresses the hard questions: road certification of a gas-thruster vehicle, safety, tank refill time, or real-world range. The most extreme trim is explicitly not street-legal. Why it matters: This is brand theater at a moment when Tesla's core business depends on cheaper volume models and autonomy. The Roadster is a halo product and a deposit-collection exercise, not a revenue driver. Watch: Pricing disclosure and any independent testing of the acceleration claims. Whether regulators comment on thruster-equipped road cars. Whether 2028 holds. History says it won't. --- MEDICINE Clinical Pushback on the Testosterone Boom What happened: Eric Kilpatrick, a professor of clinical biochemistry, warned men against taking testosterone without a confirmed medical need. His target is the influencer and commercial-clinic pipeline that promotes testosterone testing and treatment for ordinary fatigue or low mood. The core points: True deficiency is rare. It affects roughly 2% of men aged 40–79, which matches large European cohort data. Diagnosis takes work. It needs repeat blood tests and ruling out other causes, including obesity, sleep disorders and depression. Each of these can suppress testosterone on its own and should be treated first. The risks are real: Unnecessary use suppresses the body's own hormone production and can cause infertility. It can raise the risk of blood clots, heart problems and mood disturbances. Kidney problems are also cited. This is consistent with the large 2023 TRAVERSE trial, which found no overall rise in major cardiac events in genuinely hypogonadal men but higher rates of pulmonary embolism, acute kidney injury and atrial fibrillation. Why it matters: The direct-to-consumer "optimization" market is expanding faster than the evidence base. The fertility risk is the most underappreciated, especially for younger men using testosterone recreationally or for vague symptoms. Watch: Whether regulators tighten rules on telehealth testosterone prescribing and influencer marketing, which has been a growing pressure point in the UK and US.