Posts

Click to enter the gallery

Researchers say that the American healthcare system could make the outbreak much worse. In fact, “We don’t really have a system,” says Lynn Blewett, a professor of health policy and management at the University of Minnesota who studies access to care. The term “system” implies a unified plan, she says, and the patchwork of public and private care providers and millions of uninsured people that currently characterize American medicine isn’t that....

Feel free to tackle this one in the comments section. Submit your science and technology questions to fyi@popsci.com.

Those heart rate figures are what aerospace experts would expect to see for experienced, physically fit astronauts enduring the stresses of the launch. All three had flown to space before, during the Gemini program, and during that first launch, all three of their beating hearts had hit higher numbers. On the Apollo 11 blastoff, “Neil Armstong’s rate was a little higher than everybody else’s, because he’s in charge of everything—you expect his adrenaline to be up,” reflects Dr....

With all of that out of the way, it made my reviewing life a lot easier. I could specifically focus on the HomePod as a music device with some smarts. Here’s how it went. What is it? Think of the HomePod like Siri’s lake house. When the digital assistant isn’t trapped inside the grind of your phone, it can spread out into roomier digs in the form of this $350 connected speaker....

No connection, no problem Once upon a time, a Chromebook without an internet connection instantly turned into an expensive paperweight. But not any more. A number of web apps are now adding offline capabilities, so you can keep working (or gaming) away where the Wi-Fi signal just won’t reach. Google is, of course, at the fore of this movement. You can enable offline support in Google Drive by clicking the cog icon, then Settings, and checking the Offline box....

Looking for the complete list of 100 winners? Find it here. Grand Award Winner Wildland Firefighter Respirator by TDA Research: A lightweight, field-rechargeable respirator for forest firefighters Forest fire fighters need a lightweight wearable respirator to protect them from inhaling smoke. The Wildland Firefighter Respirator, by TDA Research, uses a hip-mounted pump to pull air through a HEPA filter, channeling it to a secure but loose-fitting half-mask (a helpful feature for people who haven’t had the chance to shave while in the field)....

“Alexa, open Choose Your Own Adventure” “Hey Google, play Mystery Sounds” Can you correctly guess a series of mystery sounds coming from your speaker, taken out of context? Some are animals, some aren’t, and the challenge gets progressively harder as you go further. You can ask for help, but this affects your score at the end. It’s fun to play for short time periods, both on your own and in a group....

New for 2023, the performance-oriented track weapon that is the Z06 bridges the gap between the street-going base model Corvette and the race-oriented C8.R. Its sole goal is to absolutely lay waste to just about anything in its path—on the track or otherwise. At the core of its ruthlessness is a high-revving, naturally-aspirated 5.5-liter V8 engine that produces an astounding 670 horsepower at 8,400 RPM, and 460 pound-feet of torque....

One of the most striking features of Sandy is its source of energy. Most tropical cyclones get their energy from convection of warm tropical air up through the core of the storm to the upper atmosphere, as the storm moves across the warm waters of the Atlantic or Caribbean. Most storms are at their strongest when they are out to sea over warm water and lose energy once they come ashore....

Storm surge by definition is the atypical rise of water generated by a storm that is not attributable to astronomical tides (the combined effect of storm surge and water level rise caused by the tide is known as “storm tide”). Surge is mostly attributable to the storm’s cyclonically rotating winds driving water toward the shore rather than by air pressure (that’s a common misconception), though pressure does play a small contributing role....

The EU seemingly agreed with the report’s conclusions. In the press release announcing the results of the “dialogue,” the EU’s Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, said in a statement: “Opting for an online subscriptions can be very handy for consumers as it is often a very straightforward process, but the reverse action of unsubscribing should be just as easy. Consumers must be able to exercise their rights [to unsubscribe] without any pressure from platforms....

Don’t freak out. For starters, none of the strains of enterobacter that they found are going to make astronauts sick. But scientific proof that these strains of the bacteria can thrive up there helps us better understand how to keep the ISS and other spacefaring vessels safe for humans. “Understanding how microbial life grows in a closed environment like the ISS will help us be better prepared for the health concerns that come with space travel,” wrote study first author Nitin Singh in a statement provided to Popular Science by the JPL....

It’s a tidy story of nature’s resilience. But as biologists are now learning, reintroducing top predators to ecosystems where they’ve been absent for generations can affect other species in unexpected, and perhaps unwelcome ways. Take the Iberian pear, a small, heat- and cold-resistant tree found only in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco—a hotspot of plant biodiversity. The species grows up to 32 feet high and sports round, marble-sized fruit that are so hard when unripe, shepherds used them as slingshot projectiles....

Made by Chinese UAV manufacturer Ehang, the Ehang 184 (numbered “184” for 1 passenger, eight rotors, and four wings) is a 1.5-meter, 200kg, all-electric drone that can carry a 100kg person for 23 minutes at speeds of 100 kph. As a fully automated UAV with redundant fly-by-wire and networked, encrypted sensors, Ehang 184 allows non-pilots to fly in small, personal aircraft without having to go through extensive pilot training or the high cost of a private jet/helicopter....

The truth is, though, that the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP—the 180-antenna array that became fully operational last year when the defense-systems contractor BAE finished installing transmitters—is nothing more sinister than a research station. And now, 15 years after construction on the station began, HAARP’s managers are seeing what the fully powered system can do; most recently, they’ve begun zapping the moon with the hope of determining the composition of its soil....

Of course, some leaders still hold on to the constantly debunked idea that climate change isn’t happening. But businesses, even fossil fuel ones, are changing their tune ever so slightly. “Although some politicians continue to traffic in climate denial, corporations are too smart for that because they realize it will alienate most of their consumers,” says Edward Maibach, director of George Mason’s Center for Climate Change Communication. Climate change denial now comes in a variety of embellished, truthful-sounding opinions—but in reality, they’re just as mythical as the idea that climate change is a hoax....

The study identified a cycle that occurred during SWS in 11 participants, who were all healthy people between the ages of 20 and 33. Animal research in the 1970s found that “slow waves” of neuronal activity sweep across the brain during SWS. Then, blood volume decreases and cerebrospinal fluid sweeps in to fill the new space. Cerebrospinal fluid is known to play an important role in flushing out toxic waste that can cause neurodegeneration, and the researchers think that these waves of it are an important part of the brain’s “wash-rinse” cycle....