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For its size, VELOCIRoACH is easily the fastest robot in the world–it can cover 26 of its own body lengths in the span of a second. It does so by employing legs much like those of the actual cockroach that act like springs as they hit the ground 15 times per second. At any given time three legs are touching the ground giving the robot very good stability. And, like the real thing, the cardboard cockroach can skitter right over obstacles by bouncing its front end upward and pulling itself over....

The actual pulsar is just 12 miles across (see the labelled image below), but the stream of particles it’s emitting extends over 4 trillion miles into space. The pulsar’s enormous power comes from the fact that it is unimaginably dense: a thimble-full of neutron star has about the same mass as six billion people. (That’s because it formed after a giant star exploded 10,000 years ago, in a supernova that ripped apart atoms and sent everything lighter than the nucleus flying off into space....

And while she may not be an expert at walking yet, she’s a pro at rolling over. And if you need a few more baby bear videos to get you through the day, Toronto Zoo has a pair of baby giant pandas that they document with YouTube videos as well.

“While asteroid 7482 is passing by the Earth at about 5 times the Earth-Moon distance, its orbit is extremely well-determined, and it does not pose any impact risk to the Earth over the next century,” Amy Mainzer, a professor of asteroid surveys at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Lab, wrote in an email on Tuesday. But the big chonky space rock—at 1.1-kilometers wide, it’s about the size of the Golden Gate Bridge—will be close enough for some folks to see briefly with small telescopes....

This grim story was illuminated by a ray of hope this week, in the form of a new paper published in the journal Scientific Reports. After years of attempts, Smithsonian Institution researchers in Hawaii have figured out how to cryogenically preserve coral larvae. That means it’s possible to save the genetic diversity of existing coral, perhaps for centuries. The preserved coral larvae can help reseed dead or injured reefs and, as coral research continues to work on the problem of reef death, may someday launch a reef renaissance....

During the 2009 to 2010 H1N1 flu pandemic, the federal government was lauded for the steps it took to tackle false information about both the disease and the vaccine. Theoretically, the successful strategies they used could be helping the current administration and other government agencies hone their responses, says George Dehner, a Wichita State University disease historian who studies the flu. But, he says, “the current response doesn’t seem to build upon what we’ve learned from these challenges....

The spectrum covers everything from radio waves and microwaves, to the light that reaches our eyes, to X-rays and gamma rays. And humans have mastered the art of sending and receiving almost all of them. There is an exception, however. Between the beams of visible light and the blips of radio static, there lies a dead zone where our technology isn’t effective. It’s called the terahertz gap. For decades now, no one’s succeeded in building a consumer device that can transmit terahertz waves....

Delta-8 THC is very similar to delta-9 THC, the primary active ingredient of marijuana, in terms of both chemical structure—three rings of carbon, a long tail, some hangers-on—and psychological effects. They differ mostly in how they’re produced. Delta-9 is in the raw marijuana plant. But delta-8 comes by way of hemp, a variety of cannabis plant bred without psychoactive THC and used to manufacture fiber, biofuel, and bioplastics. In 2018, with the support of senator Mitch McConnell, Congress attached a provision to the annual Farm Bill that opened up hemp farming, which was previously limited based on its similarity to “hot” cannabis....

Most software doesn’t work that way anymore. From large bundles like Adobe Creative Suite to simple to-do list apps, online subscriptions have become increasingly common. Subscribing means you’ll always have the most recent version of an app, and usually some kind of cloud or syncing support. On the other hand, you’ll have to keep paying, and the software’s owners can bump up the price at any time. These increases can add up quickly: $5 more per month is $60 a year....

Apparently not. Police departments soon urged people to stop calling 911 as the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and others swiftly reported that there was no seismic activity in the area. So what was it? The USGS is pretty sure that it was a sonic boom, a thunder-like clap of sound caused when a vessel travels faster than the speed of sound. A local ABC station initially reported that the sonic boom may have been attributable to military exercises in the area: But Gizmodo’s Katie Knibbs reports that McGwire Air Force Base and NORAD have denied having supersonic jets in the area....

Let’s get one thing out of the way first: If you’ve eaten any type of bird, you’ve eaten dinosaur. Modern birds are the last living therapods—the same group of animals that includes Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor—so they’re not simply “descended from” dinosaurs, they are dinosaurs. So yes, chicken (a dinosaur) tastes like chicken. Crocodilians (like alligators), which share a common ancestor with dinosaurs, also kind of taste like chicken. And that’s a good starting point when you’re thinking about what Stegosaurus or Compsagnathus might’ve tasted like....

Reviewing some basic principles of electricity we can also see why we fry the pencil. According to Ohm’s Law, which is valid for most simple electric circuits, V = IR where V is the voltage applied across the circuit, R is the resistance of the circuit and I is the resulting current. Because the graphite has a low resistance and high conductivity, it is going to draw a large current through the circuit, and this large current will heat up the graphite rapidly due to frictional heating as the charges migrate through the circuit....

On Wednesday, September 22, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as a single booster dose. Booster shots are intended for people 65 years and older and for people between 18 and 64 who are at high risk of severe COVID-19, such as the immunocompromised. This authorization only applies to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and not to Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. A CDC panel also recommended boosters for the same groups, but voted against advising a third dose for healthcare workers and others in workplaces with a high risk of contracting COVID....

In all areas of personal health, we see prominent media reports that directly oppose well-established knowledge in the field, or that make it sound as if scientifically unresolved questions have been resolved. The media, for instance, have variously supported and shot down the notion that vitamin D supplements can protect against cancer, and that taking daily and low doses of aspirin extends life by protecting against heart attacks. Some reports have argued that frequent consumption of even modest amounts of alcohol leads to serious health risks, while others have reported that daily moderate alcohol consumption can be a healthy substitute for exercise....

While VR headsets get all the glory, the PC’s behind them do all the heavy lifting. Even solutions like Samsung’s Gear VR and Google Cardboard that don’t need to be attached to a powerful computer require that you insert your smartphone. While the current situation works, Google is looking to change what we’ve come to know about VR helmets. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal (which followed on the heels of a Finacial Times report suggesting an upgraded Google Cardboard), Google plans on releasing a virtual reality headset that would contain all the required components within the unit....

Kymco will begin European deliveries of its iOnex electric battery-swapping scooter lineup in Italy this summer. The Italian market has the right mix of residents familiar with riding two-wheelers and congested cities that likely make it a good place to launch an expansion. Italian urbanites often do not have the ability to charge their electric vehicles in a garage or driveway overnight, which makes swapping batteries all the more appealing....

The types of injuries stood out to Khurana, the director of Emergency Musculoskeletal Radiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and she told the doctor treating the patient that she was concerned the injuries were caused by intimate partner violence. But the doctor dismissed the concern, and Khurana didn’t pursue it further. The case stuck with her, though, and not long after, Khurana attended a presentation from a nurse practitioner who talked about how often clinicians miss the signs of intimate partner violence....

Ocean X PRIZE Launches As ocean water absorbs carbon dioxide, it becomes more acidic and incompatible with life. But pH sensors that can affordably, accurately, and wirelessly measure that change on a global scale don’t yet exist. This year, the X PRIZE Foundation will announce a competition meant to kick-start the invention of those instruments. —Taylor Kubota Mental Disorders Better Defined For the first time in 12 years, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) will update The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which guides how psychiatrists and psychologists diagnose patients....