Posts

Here’s how it works. First, the radar identifies and tracks the flying drone. Then, once the drone is within camera range, the electro-optical camera follows the drone, keeping it in focus at all times. Finally, the jamming device attacks it: Three antennas send out a radio frequency signal to the targeted drone, trying to cut it off from its original controller. In seconds, the jammed drone stops in the air and then crashes to the ground....

The results of the study weren’t necessarily surprising, says Karen Basen-Engquist, director of the Center for Energy Balance in Cancer Prevention and Survivorship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. “We know that there are cancers that are linked to obesity; we know that obesity rates have been increasing. In some ways, we’ve been waiting for data to show that.” But the data, she says, were still striking....

It’s kind of a gamer’s wet dream of what a portable Android gaming device could be; it looks more than anything else like an Xbox controller with a folding screen on top of it. That screen is a 5-inch, 720p touchscreen with a 294ppi density–that’s a “retina” display, I suppose–but what’s weirder is what’s inside. Nvidia says the device can stream 4K movies to a TV via HDMI, that it can stream games from your gaming PC if you’re using a high-end Nvidia card, that it can multitask with the entire library of Android games and apps, that eventually you’ll be able to stream games to your TV when you’re at home, and that it has a 10-hour battery life and that its speakers are vastly superior to any other portable gaming system on the market....

But if you’ve been looking closely at the pictures, you could be forgiven for thinking that the far side of the moon is red. That’s how it looks on the unprocessed images—and it’s different from other pictures of the moon, in which it appears grey. So what is going on? Cameras on spacecraft often don’t see colors in the same way as the human eye. For example, the red, green, and blue components are usually recorded separately....

The drone in question is called the Chaparral, which Elroy took the wraps off of earlier this year. Here’s what to know about how it works, and how FedEx is thinking of using it. The Chaparral isn’t small: It measures about 27 feet across, 19 feet long, and weighs some 1,900 pounds. The wing can be rotated so that the drone takes up less space in storage or transport. If you stood next to the tail, you’d find that it is taller than you, unless you stand about 7 feet in height....

The airliner, which has not yet flown, is called Overture. The 201-foot craft aims to travel at Mach 1.7 and carry as many as 80 people. The new design brings some changes from what the company has previously revealed. The most notable shift is that the aircraft now has four engines under its wings; a previous iteration showed three, with an engine in the tail. Two torpedo-shaped, cylindrical engines now hang under each wing, angled slightly downwards....

In quantum physics, there’s a law known as the conservation of parity, which is based on the notion that nature adheres to the ideal of symmetry. In a mirror-image of our world, it posits, the laws of physics would function the same way—despite everything being flipped. Since the early 1900s, experimental evidence suggested that this was true: To the pull of gravity or the draw of the electromagnetic force, the difference between left and right hardly mattered....

The born and bred Mauritian, who is a software engineer by day, knew that they could not wait for a government-run clean up. After all, the Japanese carrier ship MV Wakashio had been stuck sitting on their reefs since July 25. Sauvage and his team worked through Thursday night, using plastic bottles, sugarcane leaves, and recycled construction materials to construct DIY oil booms, floating barriers that can help collect and contain spilt fuel....

But there are also times where there’s simply too much earbud buildup, causing you to feel tempted to go ahead and take matters into your own hands. In that case, don’t go in there blindly. It’s better to have something like the Smart Visual Ear Cleaner in tow, which gives you a full and clear view of what’s inside your ear as you clean. This bundle comes with an ear cleaner, a USB cable, and 6 ear spoons, making for the ultimate ear cleaning kit....

Doctors interviewed 30 African-American females, ranging in age from 15 to 19, and found that half of those who weren’t sexually active hadn’t ever heard of ECP. Almost all of the young women who were sexually active were aware of ECP, but didn’t know simple facts about the pill, like how long after intercourse it’s effective. (Up to five days, but it’s more effective if you take it sooner.) Some thought that ECP prevented pregnancy better than oral contraceptives, and others had a negative view of people who took the emergency pill....

Rehren and a team of archaeologists have been studying Egyptian jewelry first uncovered from a grave in 1911–specifically, a set of beads from around 3,200 B.C. (The markings on ceramics and other finds at the site indicate the general time period.) The beads don’t look like much more than decaying chunks of metal (which they are), but they were ceremoniously strung together on a necklace and wrapped around the deceased inside the tomb....

Because of its many different configurations, it’s best to think of the Vector Hawk like the core design of a LEGO set than a single version of a plane. The four-pound drone can be configured as either fixed-wing (like a normal plane), as a quadcopter (like a traditional drone), and/or as a tilt-rotor for vertical takeoff and landing but horizontal plane-like flight. Depending on the configuration, the Hawk can fly for somewhere between 45 and 150 minutes, and at speeds from hovering as a quadcopter to up to 80 mph when fixed-wing....

As highlighted on Tuesday by New Scientist, Koko was co-founded roughly seven years ago by MIT graduate Rob Morris, whose official website bills the service as a novel approach to making online mental health support “accessible to everyone.” One of its main services allowing clients like social network platforms to install keyword flagging software that can then connect users to psychology resources, including human chat portals. Koko is touted as particularly useful for younger users of social media....

The first remnants of Australotitan cooperensis were found in 2006 near Eromanga in southwest Queensland, Australia, by Robyn Mackenzie, a paleontologist at the Eromanga Natural History museum, on her own property. She and her husband nicknamed the then-unknown dinosaur “Cooper,” after Cooper Creek near the discovery site. They then called in collaborators to complete the excavation. The team unearthed thousands of pounds of bones. But just digging up the fossils wasn’t enough....

Ever resourceful, PopSci DIY-ers are already doing what they do best. Instructables.com member TimAnderson created a gas mask using instructions in a December 1942 Popular Science Article. How awesome is that? Click through the gallery to see how he did it. We encourage you (though-we-take-no-responsibility-for-injuries-etc.) all to try this at home.

“It never occured to me that they would do anything but sit in their silk retreat at night,” Rößler, who studies jumping spiders at the University of Konstanz in Germany, wrote to PopSci in an email. “Finding them hanging that exposed was really fascinating.” The vulnerable position gave Rößler a rare, unobstructed glimpse of the creatures during their inactive phase. This week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, her team released recordings of the species Evarcha arcuata that suggest jumping spiders have an REM sleep-like state....

First, how it’s supposed to work: The theoretical mechanism of action is pretty easy to grok if you know something about chemistry. The “active ingredient” in the candy is geraniol, a monoterpene alcohol found in rose oil, citronella and geraniums. It is used in perfumes and in artificial flavors such as raspberry, peach and lime. Those who read my BeerSci column will remember me talking about terpenes, as they pertain to hops and cannabis active ingredients....

In a new study, a team of Columbia University undergraduate and graduate researchers led by ecologist Krista McGuire looked at the impact of pee on the urban soil microbiome. They found evidence that the nitrogen content and low pH of the urine can make city soil both harder and less absorbent of rainwater, while making the soil microbiome less diverse. The project was born out of McGuire’s observations with colleagues during other research on green infrastructure in NYC....

Apple AirPods Pro 2, $199 (Was $249) Just released in September, the AirPods Pro 2 earbuds have noticeably improved active noise cancellation and instantly apparent audio quality upgrades—richer bass and more extended highs, plus personalized improvements to Spatial Audio. All this is accompanied by longer playtime (six hours per charge), with a larger-capacity battery case. Apple AirPods (2nd generation), $89 (Was $159) If you don’t need all the active noise cancellation/Dolby Atmos bells & whistles, just quality and convenience, the standard AirPods 2 pair seamlessly with iOS/macOS devices and give you access to Siri with five hours of listening per charge....

A shower caddy will quickly become an essential daily item if you’re using a communal bathroom. It’s the easiest way to bring your shampoo, conditioner, and other toiletries to and from the shared washroom and shower. This one is particularly convenient for showering because you can drain the water out after you finish and avoid leaving a puddle on the floor when you bring it back to your room. Here’s another item you probably aren’t accustomed to using daily, but will become a staple....