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One option for making your computer-bound life a tiny bit easier is a custom shortcut keyboard made with an Arduino-compatible microcontroller board like the Pro Micro. This little board is capable of emulating a human interface device, or HID, based on sensor inputs or button presses, so you can use it to replicate the function of a keyboard or mouse. Not all microcontroller boards can do this, but those that can will let you copy and paste text or start and stop your favorite background music without moving your hand all over your desk....

I was initially surprised at how hard it was to find someone, but digging into the data helped clarify the reasoning behind these replies. From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health problems have skyrocketed, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting alarmingly elevated numbers of anxiety, depression, trauma and stress-related disorders, substance abuse, and thoughts of suicide. By early April 2020, Americans were suffering emotionally, financially, and physically, reporting myriad disruptions to their daily lives....

Why do fleas appear in the fall? Fleas go through four life stages. First, there’s the egg—one female can lay a hundred to several thousand over the course of her life. These 0.02-inch-long ovals can stay alive for up to a year, but they really thrive in the hot summer months. So as we get into the dog days of August, the ova start to hatch into larvae. These baby fleas have an appetite, and they can eat any organic material, including their fellow eggs (if they don’t hatch fast enough)....

It doesn’t have to be a moon map, either—the following steps work with pretty much any image, whether it’s a historical photo, a map of your favorite city, or even your most glamorous selfie. Crank that creativity dial up to 11. Right now at Popular Science, though, we’re focused on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission that put two men on the moon. Sticking with that theme, I tracked down a high-resolution map of the far side of the moon and spent some time figuring out how to add a bit of lunar flair to an otherwise bland office wall....

Sometimes annoying news is inescapable, but most social media platforms and news services provide tools and settings you can use to filter a large chunk of it out. To set it up, open Twitter on the web and go to More, Settings & Privacy, Privacy & Safety, and then Mute & Block. Once you’re there, go to Mute words and click on the plus sign in the upper right corner of the menu....

As Messenger crested a ridge, he came face-to-face with the bear, an encounter that surprised both of them. The grizzly was threatened by Messenger’s presence and tried to intimidate him with a few bluff charges, then attacked, swiping at his back and face and clamping its large jaws around his leg, barely missing his femoral artery—a bite that would’ve been fatal. Miraculously, Messenger survived to tell the tale and went on to work as a wilderness guide and search and rescue volunteer....

It’s important that you choose at least one method for getting your pics and vids off your phone—otherwise, if it gets lost, stolen, or badly damaged, your precious digital memories will be gone forever. Even if you use that space, moving your photos and videos to a Windows or macOS computer can be a useful alternative if you want to store a file in a particular place. We’re going to focus on manually transferring files without WiFi, so you’ll need a USB cable that fits your Android phone at one end and your PC or Mac at the other (USB-C is now the most common connection port on all these devices)....

When iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 hit devices last week, it expanded Hide My Email, a feature that allows you to create countless burner accounts that all forward to your iCloud inbox. That means apps won’t have your personal address, but you’ll still see what they send you and can deactivate individual burners at any time. To be clear, the ability to shroud your email address has been part of Sign in with Apple since iOS 13, but the company has expanded its reach for the 15th version of its mobile operating system....

Phones aren’t in the same category as power tools or toxic chemicals when it comes to managing risk, but taking a few simple precautions can ensure that using your handset won’t cause you any harm. If you have an iPhone, you can automatically reply to incoming messages while you’re driving so that people know that you’ll get back to them later. Head to Settings, choose Do Not Disturb, then tap Auto-Reply To to pick the contacts who will get a text back, and Auto-Reply to compose the actual message....

These are questions at the heart of a new study from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research and the Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station in France. Scientists reviewed existing studies that examine humans’ relationship with nature, and found that, overall, we have been interacting less with nature over the past few decades. They also revealed that humans worldwide live farther away from undeveloped land and live increasingly in urban areas, which have lost tree cover over time....

To the delight of genealogy buffs like me, scientists recently announced in the journal Nature that they can trace European ancestry to within 192 miles by analyzing tiny inherited markers in DNA. That means someday we’ll need look no further than our own genes to locate our motherlands. The study, and another much like it in a recent issue of Current Biology, harnessed the stream of human genetic data now being gathered by pharmaceutical companies....

Coastal North Carolina had quite the night on Thursday as the core of Hurricane Florence crept toward the coast at just 5 MPH. Sustained winds of more than 80 MPH with occasional gusts over 100 MPH were reported from the Outer Banks to Wilmington as the storm made landfall. The forecast track of the storm takes it over northern South Carolina as a tropical storm through the day on Sunday before its remnants finally lift out of the area and toward the Northeast early next week....

To put in perspective: if this carrier is put into operation, it would give China the type of large strike carrier capability currently possessed only by the U.S. Navy. Of course, this model could be totally unofficial. But there are a few factors that make us consider this seriously. For one, it wouldn’t be the first time a Chinese military project made an impromptu debut as a model at arms shows and military exhibitions....

In a speech at a think tank in Tel Aviv on February 1, Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced plans to defend the country with a “laser wall.” “This will allow us, in the medium- to long-term, to surround Israel with a laser wall that will defend us from missiles, rockets, UAVs and other threats that will essentially take away the strongest card our enemies have against us,” Bennett said, according to the Jerusalem Post....

Here’s how Elbit describes the vessel: Or, in other words, the commander of another ship can send out a Seagull roboat or two to scan an area for danger and then clear it. Up to two Seagulls can be controlled at a time, which is useful but hardly the most impressive feat of aquatic remote-control. In late 2014, the U.S. Navy controlled 13 boats at once with a single command console....

“This vehicle is going to the moon.” Bezos told the event’s attendees, revealing a massive piece of spaceflight architecture. But whether the company can make good on those declarations in the next five years remains to be seen. Bezos began with an extended intro on the increased energy needs for civilization here on Earth, describing those trends as “unsustainable,” something he’s previously espoused. “We will run out of energy on Earth,” he said....

The best way to catch up on all the Apple stuff is to check out the latest episode of our podcast. You can check it out in the player embedded above, subscribe on iTunes, add us on Stitcher, or follow us on SoundCloud. There’s also a full rundown here of all the new announcements about iOS 12, MacOS Mojave, WatchOS 5, and more. Even if you’re not an Apple fan, this new stuff will probably affect your smartphone and laptop usage in the next 12 months, so go check it out....

This week, however, streetwear company Supreme “dropped” its upcoming branded burner phone, and it felt a little like old times. On paper, the phone has stats that are one step up from something you’d get out of a claw machine at the arcade. The Verge suspects that it’s a rebranded Zoey 2.4 phone, which means it has a 2.4-inch screen and 128 MB of storage built-in. But, like just about every Supreme product, the real appeal is in the hype....

According to the official news release, DuckDuckGo for Mac’s built-in safeguards include the ability to block trackers before they even load, reportedly resulting in around 60 percent less data usage than Chrome. Other features include prerequisite pop-up blockers and DuckDuckGo’s popular “Fire Button” shortcut, which can instantly clear your existing browser data. Another major addition to “version 0.30” is Duck Player, an adorably named portal that guards users from cookies and targeted ad tracking while they stream YouTube content....

Stats Time: 2 hours (including 1 hour of waiting time)Cost: $40 (Chemicals are difficult to acquire in small doses, so you’ll be able to make many storm glasses.)Difficulty: moderate Materials 1 (50-100-milliliter) glass bottle50 milliliters of denatured alcohol (methylated spirit)2.5 grams of potassium nitrate2.5 grams of ammonium chloride25 milliliters of de-ionized water7 grams of camphor powder or crystals Tools Cheap water filterFunnelBeakersStirrerMeasuring cylinderGram scaleSmall containers for measured chemicals Instructions Set up your work area....