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But this time next year, we’ll almost certainly be much closer to that 45 million mark—some experts warn it could even be a particularly bad year, though it’s unclear which way the pendulum will actually swing. One reason for this is that we’ve had an entire year of being relatively unexposed to the influenza virus. It’s possible that this could make for lower immunity levels and therefore more infections, though one expert told USA Today that the lack of exposure shouldn’t matter....

You just peed, wash your hands. If you lived in a University of Denver undergraduate dorm, signs touting this rhyme might grace your hallways. In an attempt to encourage students to wash their hands more frequently, specifically after going to the bathroom, researchers at UD tried various types of messaging to get the idea across: gross, germ, and you-will-get-sick. Turns out UD students don’t seem to care too much about germs, and don’t really believe in the correlation between disease and hand-washing (or rather, the lack thereof)—at least, not enough to soap up after sitting on the toilet....

Now, a report published today in Nature gives new light to a long-standing puzzle as to when mammals evolved this vital trait. To help pin down the metabolic mystery, the group of paleontologists tapped a surprising piece of anatomy: the inner ear—the shape of which is influenced by an animal’s body temperature. The team examined the inner ears of fossilized and modern species, and estimated that warm-bloodedness, or endothermy, emerged in the group around 233 million years ago during the Late Triassic Period, before the first true mammals evolved....

Potts’s lead grows relentlessly to five body lengths as the rest of the field fans out behind him. He should dominate this Olympic-distance race—a 0.9-mile swim, 24.8-mile bike ride and 6.2-mile run—just as he dominated last year’s national championships and Pan American Games. He is, after all, the number-one-ranked triathlete in the U.S. Within minutes, he extends his lead to 30 lengths and swims for the shore alone. His coach, Mike Doane, paces along the river’s edge....

The moon causes the tides to change each day, but it also has a slight wobble in its orbit. As a result, the moon isn’t always a constant distance away from the Earth—and doesn’t have the exact same impact on sea level. For half of the 18.6 year-long cycle, high tides are higher and low tides are lower, and vice versa for the other half. The long term change in the tides isn’t all that dramatic compared to the daily difference in the tides, especially since it happens over such a long period of time....

To encourage those walking or rolling about their neighborhoods to maintain a buffer of space between themselves and other people, cities have increasingly taken the bold action of closing streets to through traffic, in what’s called “slow street” measures. Not only could these changes allow for socially-distanced exercise amid the pandemic, some of these closures may stick around into the future as officials try to curb America’s dependence on automobiles....

So, in order to celebrate the Space Shuttle program in all of its awesomeness, here are some of its greatest images from over the years.

Check out the previous roundups at popsci.com/toolmonger. And for all tools, all the time, head over to toolmonger.com.

Every year since 1988, Popular Science has highlighted the innovations that make living on Earth even a tiny bit better. And this year—our 35th—has been remarkable, thanks to the successful deployment of the JWST, which earned our highest honor as the Innovation of the Year. But it’s just one item out of the 100 stellar technological accomplishments our editors have selected to recognize. The list below represents months of research, testing, discussion, and debate....

A statement posted yesterday by the US Department of Transportation notes that the ban is far-reaching, as it “includes passenger and cargo flights, and scheduled as well as charter flights, effectively closing US air space to all Russian commercial air carriers and other Russian civil aircraft.” The decision follows similar actions taken by other countries, and is in response to the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine. On February 27, for example, Canada said it had closed its airspace to Russian aircraft, as have a large number of European nations, from Ireland and the United Kingdom, to France, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, and Luxembourg....

Fact: Ice was once a hot commodity By Eleanor Cummins In 2018, ice is everywhere. You can make it yourself by putting a tray of water into the freezer. Or you can find one of those special fridges with an in-unit ice machine and wait for the cold stuff to simply plop out into your cup. But ice used to be much, much harder to get your hands on—and in the era before A/C, it was desperately desired....

Martin Vuagnoux and Sylvain Pasini from the Security and Cryptography Laboratory at the Swiss Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) headed the experiment by testing 11 keyboards ranging from ones inbuilt on laptops to those wired to computers through USB or PS/2. They used a large radio antenna to fully or partially recover electromagnetic signals 20 to 30 feet away in an adjacent room—in one case it also worked 65 feet away from the keyboard....

Don’t judge a bone by its calcified cover. Seriously. Though your skeleton might look bare and bleached on the outside, in reality, it’s packed with diverse cells, tissues, and molecules you can only glimpse through magnified images. Researchers use microscopes and scanners to diagnose different bone conditions and develop treatments, but for the rest of humanity, they reveal painterly vistas of the stuff that makes up your core (literally). Here are six examples of the complex, underlying elements of vertebrate bones, curated from the National Institute of Health’s online gallery....

But researchers from NASA, MIT, and other institutions are working on a plane concept that looks radically different from, say, a Boeing 737. The craft takes the shape of a flying wing, similar to a NASA plane called the X-48, or the B-2 Spirit Bomber. Its construction, however, sets it apart even further. The wing is comprised of many small hollow components that bolt together, making it stiff and light....

PARTS (2) ZipZaps micro RC cars with different frequencies (RadioShack #600-0181; $4.87 or salvaged) (2) 3V rechargeable batteries (SparkFun Electronics #PRT-08818; $4.95) (2) 24mm coin cell holders (DigiKey #BH2430T-C-ND; $0.95) (1) Yellow SPST switch (DigiKey #401-1984-ND; $0.99) (1) Red SPST switch (DigiKey #401-1985-ND; $0.99) (1) SPST pushbutton (RadioShack #275-617; $2.69) Optional (1) Container (we used RadioShack #270-1803; $3.69) And if you want sound (2) Atmel ATtiny13 microcontroller ([SparkFun Electronics #COM-00211](http://www....

While the game was one of the most popular of its time, it pales in comparison to video games of today. But Jude Wilson, an art student at Sheffield Hallam University in England, took on the classic first-level as a side project and gave it a gorgeous modern update. Seen in this video, Wilson’s update is catching the attention of gamers whose childhood memories of the Nintendo 64 console are dominated by the game....

Consistent practice makes for a better golfer. Designed to help bring real-time metrics on club head speed and face angle at impact, the SLX MicroSim Golf MicroSimulator is here to help improve your golf swing from the comfort of your home. Its impressive reaction time—your movements are recorded to on-screen action in just 0.12 seconds—makes this simulator a fantastic sidekick for those quick rounds during your lunch hour. It works by seamlessly connecting to your iOS or Android device or PC through its dedicated SLX app....

B Centauri sits in the Centaurus constellation, some 325 light-years outside of our solar system. Its main star is more than three times hotter than our sun, and its two stars have a combined weight of roughly 6 to 10 suns. Until now, no planet has been found orbiting stars more than three times our sun’s mass. The new exoplanet, b Centauri b, is also a whopper—it probably has a similar gaseous composition to Jupiter, but it’s at least 10 times more massive....

FACT: Brussels sprouts tasted very different decades ago By: Sara Kiley Watson It seems like everyone these days has a new favorite side dish—brussel sprouts. Whether they’re fried up and dusted with parmesan or roasted with crumbles of bacon, these little cabbages seem hotter than ever. But, just a few years ago, these little leafy greens were hardly the apple of America’s eye. They tended to be more of a staple in Europe, and even then they tended to be served boiled....

But what’s ironic is that even though burglaries are rampant, only about 17 percent of American homes have a security system in place to prevent break-ins. Without one, the National Council for Home Safety and Security notes that your home is 300 percent more likely to be burglarized. You don’t even need an intricate security system to safeguard your home. Something like the Bosma Fingerprint Keypad for Aegis Smart Door Lock can work, and you can grab one for just $29....