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Marie Dacke, a zoologist at Sweden’s Lund University, studies the way animals navigate. In a study online this week in Current Biology, she and a team of researchers looked into the surprisingly sophisticated navigational habits of the dung beetle, finding that they too have their eyes on the skies. Here’s how it works: Dung beetles like to maintain straight lines as they run. As they’re going about their beetle business, when a pile of droppings catches their eye, they roll it into a ball and, walking backward, push it somewhere safe to eat....

“Here’s your Southern California ­issue,” she says, pacing the trailhead that leads to a quarry below. “You’ve got earthquakes that push up the mountains. That traps the rain, but then erosion brings [the mountains] back down.” In other words, the quakes build them up and the rains wash them away. Jones points to what looks like a healthy bush in the ravine. It’s actually a willow tree, nearly up to its leafy crown in 6 feet of dirt....

Yet, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly issued warnings about the dangers of consuming raw dough. Specific statements have included: “The bottom line for you and your kids is don’t eat raw dough,” “Don’t give your kids raw dough or baking mixes that contain flour to play with” and “Don’t make homemade cookie dough ice cream.” In fact, the commissioner of the FDA tweeted a rhyme on the topic on Dec....

The key to wireless power is resonance. Think of a wineglass that shatters when an opera singer hits just the right note. When the voice matches the glass’s resonant frequency–the tone you hear when you tap the glass–the glass efficiently absorbs the singer’s energy and cracks. Using magnetic induction and two identical copper coils that resonate at the same frequency, the MIT scientists successfully powered a 60-watt lightbulb from a power source seven feet away....

Musk mentioned the plan at the StartmeupHK Festival in Hong Kong this week. Berger writes: With NASA’s plans to take us to Mars coming under fire lately, Musk could end up being our best chance to actually get there. At the same time, SpaceX is still trying to improve the reliability of its Falcon 9 rockets after an explosion last year and several near-misses of vertical landings at sea, and the company has only just begun showing test results for its passenger vessel, the Dragon 2 or “Crew Dragon....

These inexpensive and ingenious gloves are a great way to bond with your cat. Slip them over your hands, adjust the fit around your wrists with the velcro tab, and pet your furry pal. The 259 silicone nubs on the palms of the glove gently lift hair from your pet’s body as you stroke them, and are much gentler than hard bristles. If your cat is afraid of brushes, this might just do the trick....

The first step in the new deal is to reduce emissions of new cars by 55 percent of 2021 levels by 2030, with vans requiring a 50 percent cut in that time. This is higher than the existing target set by the EU in 2018 of 37.5 percent reductions by 2030 The EU additionally aims to require car companies to cut emissions from their cars by 100 percent by 2035, effectively banning gas and diesel engines....

This story originally featured on The Conversation Multiple strong and damaging earthquakes in southern Puerto Rico starting around Dec. 28, 2019 have killed at least one person, caused many serious injuries and collapsed numerous buildings, including a multistory school in the town of Guánica that luckily was empty at the time. These quakes are the most damaging to strike Puerto Rico since 1918, and the island has been under a state of emergency since Jan....

“What we know from the field of neuroscience is that the brain is still developing through adolescence and into even the twenties,” says first study author Elizabeth Walshe, a postdoctoral fellow who studies injury prevention at the University of Pennsylvania. Although inexperience contributes to the higher crash rate, she says, her team found there was more to it. “Even when you look at completely new drivers who just got their license [at] age 17 versus age 20, the 17-year-olds still had a higher crash risk,” she says....

Quantum computers can in theory perform certain operations and complete different tasks far faster than traditional computers, but they are still a long way from reaching their full potential. While a traditional computer uses binary bits—which can be a zero or a one—to perform all its calculations, quantum computers use qubits that can be a zero, a one, or both at the same time. As hard to wrap your head around as that sounds, things get even more complicated when you consider that qubits can be entangled, rotated, and manipulated in other quantum ways to carry additional information....

Google TV is coming. Fundamentally different from, say, Apple TV, Google TV wants to insinuate itself into your existing media setup. It wants to work with your DVR, your cable subscription, your Netflix subscription, and your home network. It might be found built into your TV or Blu-ray player (Sony will make some of that integrated hardware), but the very first device about which we’ve got concrete information is a set-top box....

Extreme times call for extreme measures. PopSci editors are helping to flatten the curve by bringing their nerdy gym regimens home. And sharing them with you, of course. Read on for a few of our custom workouts. If you do hot yoga, try this … A long-time mat rat, DIY Assistant Editor Sandra Gutierrez has practiced Bikram Yoga—now controversial because of its infamous creator—for more than six years, and now makes due with YouTube videos in her tiny Brooklyn apartment....

As detailed in a paper published last month in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces researchers have discovered they can make a sensor out of chewing gum and carbon nanotubes. To create the sensor, the team had a researcher chew Doublemint gum for 30 minutes (science is so hard sometimes). That chewed gum was then soaked in ethanol to clean it, and imbued with carbon nanotubes, tiny flexible pieces of carbon that can conduct electricity....

The act of building this hand-cranked 3D puzzle requires popping out the pieces from laser-cut wooden sheets and carefully assembling them. It’s a great way to understand how simple machines function, and to witness the laws of mechanics in action. Teens ages 14 and up can spend hours transforming the 233 components into a living sculpture that’s about 10 inches in height and looks great on a bookshelf or desk....

The researchers collaborated with scientists at Caltech and UC Irvine to design metallic microlattice, a mesh lighter than styrofoam, for aerospace structural components. The material is so light, it can sit atop a dandelion without crushing it. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t strong. The material can handle a strain exceeding 50 percent in compression tests and still resume to its original shape and 98 percent of its height once the load is removed....

Here are three other devices to help you feel the absence of your other half a little less. For couples that enjoy a nice pre-bedtime chat, this Bluetooth pillow features Night Owl speakers and a cutout to let you sleep on your side. It’s a leisurely way to feel like you’re snuggled up next to your significant other during a hands-free call. It’s also completely wireless and lasts up to eight hours on a battery charge so you can chat the late hours away....

We found some of the most unique, fun, and durable outdoor games for all ages. From classics to entirely new ideas, you’ll find something here that is guaranteed to liven up your yard. Simple, sturdy, and always a crowd-pleaser, the classic game of cornhole is a mainstay of backyard parties and pre-game tailgates for a reason. It doesn’t require much set up, and the rules are as basic as can be....

LittleBigPlanet, up until now, has been difficult to shoehorn into a genre. The first entry was, mostly, a platformer: Your little anthropomorphic sack character jumped its way through surreal, exotic, imaginative locales, solving puzzles to move forward. LBP 2 was another step ahead, and spun not as a “platform game” but as a “platform for games.” (I’d think that was too-clever PR if the game wasn’t so fun.) Its level-creation tools became not just a fun bonus, but the real enduring value of the game itself....

“1. A wireless controller for a video game console, comprising: a main body including a measurement unit including a control circuit including a first amplification circuit, a control IC, a second amplification circuit, an ADC, a display circuit, and a plurality of pins for setting, a top recess, a display, two first measurement devices adapted to contact the fingers as the hand holding the main body for measuring pulse and body temperature of a user playing a video game on the video game console, and a rotation counter for counting the number of rotations of the main body;a control unit mounted in the recess;a band including two second measurement devices for measuring blood pressure and pulse of the user respectively by wrapping the band around the wrist; anda cable interconnecting the main body and the band,wherein the first measurement devices converts the measured pulse and body temperature into first signals which are sent to the first amplification circuit for amplification, and the amplified first signals are sent to the control IC;the second measurement devices convert the measured blood pressure and pulse into second signals which are sent to the second amplification circuit for amplification, the amplified second signals are sent to the ADC for converting into digital signals, and the digital signals are sent to the control IC;the rotation counter sends the count to the control;the control IC sends the received first signals, the second signals, the digital signals, and the count to the display circuit for processing into corresponding data representing blood pressure, pulse, and body temperature values; andthe blood pressure, the pulse, and the body temperature values are sent to the display for display....

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