Awe-inspiring science reporting, technology news, and DIY projects. Skunks to space robots, primates

[ad_1] Urban commuters who like to bike, or ride a motorcycle, through all kinds of weather and want a backpack with a special-ops, seemingly-bombproof type feel to it could consider a rigid new pack made by a company called Black Ember. The black material on their new Citadel Minimal backpack is a heavy-duty polyester fabric coated on both sides with polyurethane. The exterior has what company co-founder Chris Gadway calls a “dead face matte finish,” giving the bag’s exterior a stealthy, non-reflective appearance. To help keep the water out, Black Ember used a bonding technique to connect the materials where the zippers meet the main body of the pack. That process involves sandwiching the layers together, along with a type of film, and feeding it into a rolling heat press. “And then it’s a matter of time, pressure, and temperature,” Gadway says. That bonding melds the pieces, which are laser-cut for accuracy, firmly together. Also bonded to the bag a...

[ad_1] In 1992, the discovery of a small object unlocked a big secret: that the solar system was far more vast than we’d ever imagined. Before, we’d only confirmed the existence of lonely, strange, cold Pluto, in a region of space called the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt is a grouping of icy objects located in an area just outside the orbit of Neptune—like a colder, more watery asteroid belt. Up until 1992, it had been strictly theoretical because no one had observed anything beyond Pluto. The discovery of 1992 QB1 marked only the second time an object in the Kuiper Belt had been found. In the next few years, discoveries of these small, cold worlds snowballed—80+ were found between 1992 and 1999, and hundreds are known today. With the outer solar system surveys at Mauna Kea and La Palma observatories in the 1990s, we finally began to unlock the “third zone” of the solar system as something more than theoretical. Now, as our understanding of the outer s...

[ad_1] I know it may be hard to convince you, but let me try: Don’t kill the next spider you see in your home. Why? Because spiders are an important part of nature and our indoor ecosystem—as well as being fellow organisms in their own right. People like to think of their dwellings as safely insulated from the outside world, but many types of spiders can be found inside. Some are accidentally trapped, while others are short-term visitors. Some species even enjoy the great indoors, where they happily live out their lives and make more spiders. These arachnids are usually secretive, and almost all you meet are neither aggressive nor dangerous. And they may be providing services like eating pests—some even eat other spiders. Both build webs where they lie in wait for prey to get caught. Cellar spiders sometimes leave their webs to hunt other spiders on their turf, mimicking prey to catch their cousins for dinner. Although they are generalist predators, apt to eat anything...

[ad_1] I typically only reboot my router when my internet starts moving at a crawling pace. The simple act of turning it off, waiting ten seconds, then turning it back on is often enough effort to fix whatever flaw is flummoxing your internet connection. Now, however, the FBI and several high-profile internet security organizations are recommending you reboot in an effort to disable a potentially harmful piece of malware called VPNFilter. Take a minute to do that now, then come back and get the rest of the info about the potential problem. We’ll wait. What is it? VPNFilter sets out to do the types of things that many pieces of malicious code aim to accomplish. It can intercept, reroute, or track your data, and even harm your hardware by dishing out harmful code. Unlike a typical virus that you pick up from clicking on a sketchy email attachment or visiting a particularly grimy file sharing site, VPNFilter attacks your network at the router or any network-attached storage (like har...

[ad_1] A ny middle-schooler groks the fundamentals of photosynthesis: Fueled by sunlight, plants turn carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen, which they use to grow stems, roots, leaves, and other tasty bits. As CO 2 levels continue to rise—we’re on track to double pre-Industrial levels in the next few decades—it might sound like we’re in for a vegetational boom. But any greenery growth spurt will come with a downside. CO 2 -charged sprouts contain more starches and sugars, and fewer minerals and proteins. You can try to avoid junk food, but our plants are getting junkier too. See, plants also require proteins in order to grow, which they synthesize using elements they draw from the soil, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. In the course of sucking up those molecules, greens also take in nutritious minerals like zinc and iron. Plants often absorb more than they need, storing the excess in their cells. Then humans get to eat them. Agronomists, ho...

[ad_1] I n the late tenth century, the pagans and Christians of Iceland were gathering at Þingvellir (pronounced Thingvellir), a region in the Western part of the country surrounded by lava fields, to debate whether the entire nation ought to convert to Christianity. Then a volcano erupted. According to legend, a pagan stood and declared that the gods were angry and Iceland should reject Christianity. But then the prominent chieftain Snorri Goði (pronounced gothi) stood and asked the room, “Then what were the gods arguing about when the lava we are now standing on burned?” This account, passed on by Scandinavian literature expert Sian Grønlie of Oxford University, is typical of Iceland in that era: pagans dealing with the rise of Christianity as the latter’s all-encompassing explanation for the world replaced local rites and customs. All the while, the nation’s volcanoes were as active as ever, with each eruption described as a miracle or just anot...

[ad_1] This summer, Alex Clements will once again make his way from the densely-wooded state of Kentucky to the flat desert landscape outside of Bend, Oregon. There, for about a week, he and his colleagues at Mesoloft will launch cremated human remains far above the Earth—at the behest of the deceased and their families. Since it was founded in 2014, Mesoloft, one of a growing number of deathcare startups in the United States, has sent hundreds of pounds of human ashes miles above the Earth. While it may sound like an unusual memorial practice, unusual is increasingly the name of the game when it comes to death. “There’s seismic shifts in the industry,” says Clements, a mechanical engineer and Mesoloft’s head of operations. “I think people are tired of being put in a wooden box in the ground.” A few decades ago, for example, cremation was totally taboo—at least for Americans. In 1980, fewer than 10 percent of Americans chose cremation. But...

[ad_1] A baby makes home an exciting place, but new parents need an occasional break from that postpartum party for things such as, oh, eating and sleeping. These nursery essentials will help turn a babe’s room into a haven that provides both the little one and their tired caregivers a little peace. 1. No-touch night light Nursery navigation is tricky after dark, but the Hatch Baby Rest lamp lets you control the intensity and color of its light with an app. Little ones won’t mistake a red glow for morning. 2. Baby's first sleep tracker The Nanit baby monitor observes your little one’s slumber, and uses an AI-driven app to alert you of environ­mental variables such as room temperature and humidity that can affect dream time. 3. Robo-swing Movement calms babies, so the ­mamaRoo4 chair uses two motors to mimic motions captured from recording real moms. There’s rocking, swinging, and quick bounces. 4. Eye-exercise equipment The high-contrast patterns o...

[ad_1] Plastic is all around us: in oceans, food, landfills, and pretty much any other place you can think of, up to and including the Arctic. But while most plastics follow a predictable cycle—breaking down into smaller and smaller bits and doing damage at every point—in terms of chemical composition, not all plastics are created equal. A new UK study demonstrates that some plastic consumer products, from takeout containers to children’s toys, are made from black plastic e-waste, meaning they’re contaminated with the dangerous heavy metals and other compounds that help make the electronic gear pervading the lives of people around the globe. Black plastics (that is, literally plastics that are black) are colored with carbon black, which is in many cases produced by burning petroleum byproducts. They’re also not recyclable by regular means: the recycling process we send most of our plastics through works by using near-infrared light radiation to break down t...

[ad_1] ↑ Dinah Bazer, ovarian cancer survivor and ice skating coach In May 2010, doctors diagnosed me with ovarian cancer. As I went through surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy, I kept a tight hold on myself. I figured I’d celebrate when it was over and move on with my life. But once the treatment succeeded, I didn’t feel at all like celebrating. Instead, I was struck with fear when I realized this thing could come back. I thought about it all the time—it was ruining my life. At my two-year checkup, my nurse practitioner told me about a study to relieve cancer patients with this anxiety. It involved taking psilocybin, the hallucinogenic that certain mushrooms produce, while under psychotherapy treatment. I jumped at the chance. I took my dose in a beautiful room with a comfortable sofa, artwork on the walls, and instrumental music playing in the background. It was very relaxing. Two therapists stayed with me to monitor my mood and help me visualize my emotions...

[ad_1] T his is one flying insect you don’t want to swat. It doesn’t bite, sting, or spread disease and someday it could be a life- and climate-saver. In time, it could survey crops, detect wildfires, poke around in disaster rubble searching for survivors and sniff out gas leaks, especially global warming-fueling methane, a powerful greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide. Introducing...RoboFly! It’s the first robotic flying insect that lifts off without being tethered to a power source on the ground, weighs just a bit more than a toothpick, and takes off using tiny beating wings — not propellers, as drones do — driven by a laser beam. A minuscule onboard circuit turns the laser energy into electricity, which causes its wings to flap. Right now, RoboFly can only take off and land — but cutting the cord is just the beginning. “Before now, the concept of wireless insect-sized flying robots was...

[ad_1] Forget highlight reels of 360-degree dunks and half-court shots, these videos of NBA players moving in sync could be the best predictor of who will win the 2018 championship. In the mesmerizing clips, players cheer on their teammates, call out plays, jump to defend a shot, and bend down to tie their shoes—all in perfect unison. In the most popular video, five teammates on the Phoenix Suns turn and run up the court at the exact same moment, looking more like a coordinated dance routine than a game of hoops. But aside from their whimsical appeal, do these parallel movements signify anything about the teams’ performance? Experts say the synchronized actions are no coincidence. They’re the result of deliberate training meant to foster trust and cooperation. “Sports teams definitely do incorporate some synchronistic rituals” to help them prepare for games, says Scott Wiltermuth, an associate professor at the University of Southern California’s Marsh...

[ad_1] Sure, you love your friends and family—but that doesn't mean you need to hear absolutely everything they post on social media. Just a few too-chatty contacts can hog all of your attention on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Luckily, all three of these social networks, as well as instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, offer tools for muting certain contacts—or at least dialing down the number of their posts you see. They won't know you're ignoring their latest updates, but your social feed will feel much quieter. Instagram Instagram recently added an option to mute any of your contacts. Under this setting, you won't see their posts...but they won't realize that. Muting sidesteps the awkwardness of a full unfriending, and leaves the door open so you can still reach out to your frenemy. At the moment, this ability is limited to the apps (for Android and iOS), not the Instagram website. So if you're online, you'll need to take the more serious steps of un...

[ad_1] It’s no secret dinosaurs possessed their own fair share of dirty habits—most bodies can get pretty gross, no matter the species. But dandruff? Nobody really saw that coming. A new study published in Nature Communications illustrates the discovery of some 125 million-year-old dinosaur dandruff fossils. The findings aren’t just a quick excuse for making a bad Head and Shoulders quip, but also actually explain a mechanism by which dinosaurs did something nearly universal: shed skin. “Probably nobody much thought about how dinosaurs shed their skin before,” says Mike Benton, a professor of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Bristol and a coauthor of the new study. The new findings “tell us that dinosaurs were like birds, shedding their skin in small flakes.” The findings stem from the analysis of feathers from the Cretaceous period in China, from three different dinosaur species ( Microraptor , Beipiaosaurus , and Sinornithosaurus ...

[ad_1] It’s natural to want to scratch at the itch of identity—and these days you can, for about $99. Mail a little tube full of spit, or a cheek swab, to a laboratory, and they’ll tell you about who you are on a genetic level. Companies like Living DNA, AncestryDNA, and 23andMe offer this service: a chance to learn more about your ethnicity and ancestry. But in a time of the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal, other data breaches, and the GDPR, it’s also natural to wonder: What happens when I share my genetic information—a biological sample—with companies? Here’s the short answer: With the three companies we spoke with, none of them will share your genetic data with others for research purposes unless you explicitly opt in, and even then, that data will be de-identified—meaning any outside organization that sees it, in any form, won’t know it came from you. And in all cases, if you are an existing customer, you can contact the...

[ad_1] Environment Faster isn’t always better. The White House’s April call to streamline and make the review process more friendly to industry could change how the standards are set. [ad_2] Written By Jennifer Lu

[ad_1] Capturing stunning images of launches might not be rocket science, but it does take skill. Professional photographers don’t just point and shoot. They also set up some of their cameras far away from the actual launch site and take pictures remotely. Bill Ingalls, a veteran NASA photographer, had set up six remote cameras to capture images of the May 22 launch of a SpaceX rocket carrying two spacecraft for the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission, a joint project between NASA and Germany. Five of his cameras performed beautifully, capturing images like this: One did not. "I had six remotes, two outside the launch pad safety perimeter and four inside," Ingalls said in a NASA post . "Unfortunately, the launch started a grass fire that toasted one of the cameras outside the perimeter." Even though this camera was the furthest away, at a quarter mile from the launchpad, the fire ignited by the launch destroyed it swiftly, before fir...

[ad_1] Apple first announced that it was moving iMessage into its iCloud storage system back at its WWDC event in 2017. It sounds like a simple thing: All of your messages now sync to iCloud and sync across any device you enable, including iPhones, Macs, Apple Watches, and iPads. Before, this new feature, keeping track of conversations across devices was a wreck. Saving a conversation would fill up your device storage—especially if you had pictures and videos attached—and things didn’t sync so you could have various versions of the same conversations on different devices. Today, however, iOS 11.4 is rolling out to iPhone users and Apple included the Messages in iCloud update is included in that release. The feature appeared in the initial iOS 11 beta, but didn’t make the final release. It showed up again in the iOS 11.3 beta, and now it’s finally rolling out to customers. Now, iCloud will store the entirety of an iMessage conversation, so you can search bac...

[ad_1] Leftover salad and the pear you forgot about inthe back of the fridge don’t belong in a landfill. Instead, toss organic waste into a backyard compost pile to transform that refuse into nutrient-rich ­fertilizer for your lawn and garden. Inside the mound, a community of worms, bacteria, and other microorganisms breaks down the natural junk. Here’s what you’ll need to get started making your own brown gold. 1. Sort it out Start in the kitchen by separating the organic stuff. The Full Circle Breeze Bin holds more than a half-gallon of waste, and biodegradable liner bags facilitate transfer to a bigger heap. Vents ­encourage airflow to reduce ­fruit-fly-luring smells. 2. Bring it outside Eventually, put the crud from your kitchen bin into one chamber of the Hotfrog Tumbling Composter. That will be your active pile, where the decomposition happens; the other side stores finished mulch. Spin the drums to give the debris the oxygen it needs. 3. Stir it u...

[ad_1] H ave you ever clicked on a link like “What does your favorite animal say about you?” wondering what your love of hedgehogs reveals about your psyche? Or filled out a personality assessment to gain new understanding into whether you’re an introverted or extroverted “type”? People love turning to these kinds of personality quizzes and tests on the hunt for deep insights into themselves. People tend to believe they have a “true” and revealing self hidden somewhere deep within, so it’s natural that assessments claiming to unveil it will be appealing. As psychologists, we noticed something striking about assessments that claim to uncover people’s “true type.” Many of the questions are poorly constructed—their wording can be ambiguous and they often contain forced choices between options that are not opposites. This can be true of BuzzFeed-type quizzes as well as more seemingly sober assessments. On the other hand...