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In honor of these majestic, sometimes terrible creatures, here are eight reasons to be awed by jellies: Click here to enter the gallery

Cult strategy games like Perimeter and Maelstrom previously hinted at the fun to be had toying with levels’ topography. Fracture fully exploits the concept’s potential, turning combat environments into virtual sandboxes. Need cover? Raise earthen mounds with your laser-like entrencher. Shield generator preventing forward progress? Summon a column of crystallized lava to crush its battery against the ceiling. Fishbowl-headed adversaries charging your position? Dig a crater and pick them off at your leisure, or hurl grenades that generate whirling vacuums of explosive energy....

Samuel Kronick, an MIT student, designed the legs and wrote the software so that the house can move. “Leg systems require a software algorithm to calculate the position of each articulated element based on the desired location of the foot,” says Kronick. “This process is called inverse kinematics (IK). IK algorithms are fairly well-developed for rotary joint systems, like servo-based hexapod walkers, but since we came up with the tetrahedral legs, I had to write my own IK system....

For example, if you don’t need a voltage-regulated external power source, omit the barrel power connector, voltage regulator, and two electrolytic capacitors. Or, if you prefer SIP inline female headers, replace the male headers with your interface preference. The Freeduino is an easy-to-build, flexible, and customizable Arduino clone. As a demonstration of this flexibility, by adding two non-standard components to the stock Freeduino Bare Bones Board kit you can create an AVR ATmega168 prototype programmer that’ll never bend another microcontroller pin....

The picture itself is a very appealing, but relatively generic, image of a serene landscape behind a small island at sunset. At first glance, it’s total wallpaper bait. The problem, however, likely stems from a problem with the image’s color space. It shouldn’t mess with your phone just to look at it, but the trouble begins once you set it as a background. Unless you’re heavily into digital imaging, design, printing, cording, or photography, you probably don’t think much about color spaces....

Unlike other forms of marketing communication, video is most effective when it comes to grabbing someone’s attention, thanks to visual cues. But to make your video content more compelling, voiceovers and audio accompaniment are essential. It increases your content’s appeal and helps you communicate your message better. But not everyone has the capacity to record high-quality voiceovers. If you want narration for your content without having to hire a voice actor, SpeechNow can help....

Adobe’s arsenal for finding fakes includes several tools that leverage artificial intelligence. Recently, the company announced some research in conjunction with UC Berkeley that’s designed to detect changes made to a face using a feature built into Photoshop called Face Aware Liquify. There’s still a long way to go before you can point a piece of software at a photo and get a foolproof answer about its authenticity, but projects like this may be essential as we encounter more and more of the convincing, but fraudulent, videos knowns as deepfakes....

This well-designed and minimal air quality monitor tests for VOCs, PM2.5, humidity, temperature, and CO2. VOCs are chemicals that turn to vapor or gas easily. For example, formaldehyde in paints and varnishes can turn to vapor at a certain temperature, and breathing formaldehyde is harmful to humans. PM2.5 is extremely fine dust, which can also have adverse effects on human health. The Awair monitor connects to the Awair app, which gives detailed info on the contents of your air as well as tips to improve your air quality....

At least, that’s the argument of Eli Dourado, an economist and technologist at the libertarian Mercatus Center. Using data pulled from the FAA’s own database of wildlife strikes, he created the chart above and posted it on Twitter earlier today. Since 1990, the FAA recorded 198 airplane-and-turtle collisions, and exactly zero drone-and-airplane collisions. Even when the FAA warned about an increase in drone and airplane “encounters” earlier this year, the encounters were limited to drone sightings, not actual collisions....

Back in 2018, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi first announced his intention to create a “superapp” of sorts that would integrate scooters, EVs, bikes and even one day, flying taxis. And slowly but surely, the company has been executing deals that could realize this vision (although it has had to abandon some of its ventures in its continued path towards profitability). In early March, the company rolled out an explore tab in the Uber app that allows users to get an overview for popular restaurants, cultural institutions, nightlife, and other things to do in their city....

The revelations come from director Alex Gibney, who found evidence of the program while conducting research for Zero Days, a documentary about the tensions between Iran and Western countries prior to the nuclear deal negotiated last spring, and which entered into effect earlier this year. Zero Days was first shown today at the Berlin Film Festival. Several media outlets received advance materials from the film, including information from the trove of data that former NSA contractor Edward Snowden took with him when he fled the country....

“I’ve got three kids; I’ve got a wife,” McConaughey says at the height of the ill-fated interview. “What have you got, besides two ferns?” Galifianakis doesn’t have a comeback—the ferns are his greatest friends and possessions. They represent his dream of leaving public-access TV to host a late-night talk show that people will love him for. But to win the contract from a Murdoch-esque Will Ferrell, he has to travel the country to film 10 more celebrities, including Paul Rudd, Tiffany Haddish, Peter Dinklage, and Chance the Rapper....

This toasty temperature trumps Antarctica’s previous record of 63.5 degrees F, recorded in March 2015, and follows in the tracks of the hottest January ever recorded globally, which hit northeastern Europe the hardest. “The reading is impressive as it’s only five years since the previous record was set and this is almost one degree centigrade higher,” James Renwick, a climate scientist at Victoria University of Wellington, told The Guardian. “It’s a sign of the warming that has been happening there that’s much faster than the global average....

Apple started by focusing on the user experience of using the iPhone. Coming to iOS 10, users will be able to raise their phone simply to wake up the screen of the device. iMessage Users of iMessage will see updates to the app in iOS 10. Previews for media links (via video sites and Apple Music) and large preview of emoji will make its way to the new iMessage. Keywords in your message will let you know which words can be turned into emoji....

What’s new in the Apple TV 4K (2022)? Crack open the Apple TV 4K (2022) case and you’ll find the A15 Bionic processor from last year’s iPhone 13. It’s a big step up in overall power and performance when compared to the previous model’s A12 Bionic. At the same time, you’ll notice the entire thing is smaller and a lot lighter (just 208g for the Wi-Fi-only model). Modern Apple TVs have never taken up much space....

To determine the new ratio, the researchers looked at the available literature about microbe population numbers as they relate to the “reference man.” The reference man is between 20 and 30 years old, weighs about 154 pounds (70 kg) and is about 5’7″ (170 cm). The researchers combed through the original bacteria calculations and found that one of the larger overestimations was for microbes found in the colon. Known to house one of the largest populations of bacteria, the gut is indeed full of microbes....

DISPATCHES FROM THE ARCTIC This series explores the science and implications of global warming in the North Atlantic Arctic. This is the final installment from Boulder-based writer Susan Moran. This optimistic, even celebratory, outlook on the expected impacts of global warming on the High North–which is warming faster than any place on Earth–runs counter to what most scientists and environmentalists say is unfolding there. But then again, under the thawing ice lies bounty that could fill mouths, and pockets, around the globe....

Use Wikipedia’s special pages Wikipedia built its reputation on allowing users to maintain its vast hoard of information, but it also has special pages that, for the most part, are full of automatically generated content that can’t be edited. These can serve up a random article for you, show you pages with recent changes, or give you pages on topics related to your current location. You can also see the most linked-to pages across the whole of Wikipedia, and much more....

Best overall: Herschel Little America Laptop BackpackBest for elementary schoolers: Simple Modern Kids Backpack for SchoolBest for middle schoolers: JanSport SuperBreak One BackpackBest college backpack: Mancro Laptop BackpackBest sling backpack: KAVU Original Rope SlingBest budget: Trailmaker Classic 17-Inch Backpack How we chose the best backpacks for school We have a few parents here on the PopSci Gear team. If you’re a fellow parent, you know that “kid-tough” is a synonym for “really, really strong....