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Doctors and researchers spend hours attempting to understand, troubleshoot, and treat maladies. Some diseases are harder to dissect and design medications for, while others are ignored for years. This year’s newly approved drugs, treatments, and health gadgets shine a light on a few of these oft-neglected conditions and bring renewed vigor to more-mundane ones. These innovations include the first-ever drug designed specifically to treat a type of depression common in new mothers, a far better form of toothpaste, and a gadget that makes checking and controlling your blood pressure easier than ever....

But what actually triggered the change in temperature? In our new paper, published in Science Advances, we show that its onset coincided exactly with the largest documented asteroid breakup in the asteroid belt during the past two billion years, caused by a collision with another asteroid or a comet. Even today, almost a third of all meteorites falling on Earth originate from the breakup of this 150 kilometer-wide asteroid between Jupiter and Mars....

The snap-together electrical components—think of them like high-tech Lego pieces—that littleBits specializes in allow all ages to assemble complex circuits and projects. The company’s Avengers Hero Inventor Kit lets kids assemble a gauntlet worthy of Iron Man or Ironheart. Then they can practice coding their superheroic wearable to do things like glow and play sounds in sequence. If your child prefers fantasy to science fiction, he can still learn to code....

I’m the proud parent of three houseplants with plans for more to come. You might even say that I’ve finally joined my millennial comrades in our faddish plant obsession. Though it’s not because I need an excuse to stay home or am using plants to fill the void in my heart. Having plants simply has a very calming effect, and they naturally brighten my living space, which is also my office....

Best overall: Generac GP3500iOMost sustainable: Jackery Explorer 2000 ProBest for home backup: Briggs & Stratton Q6500 QuietPower SeriesBest for RVs: Honda EU2200iBest dual-fuel: DuroMax XP13000HXBest budget: WEN 56203i Super Quiet How we picked the best inverter generators As a tech enthusiast and camping addict, I’ve looked at a wide range of mobile power products for the likes of Popular Science, Scientific American, The Daily Beast, and more. I’ve researched each of these selections extensively via a combination of first-hand trials, input from experts, and reviews from real-world consumers....

Best overall: Philips Hue White and Color Starter Kit Best white light: C by GE A19Best for outdoor: Cree Lighting PAR38 Outdoor Smart BulbBest for Siri: Yeelight A19 Smart BulbBest budget: Wyze Labs Smart Bulb How we selected the best smart light bulbs To find the best smart light bulbs, we first eliminated any models that would require more than a simple turn of the wrist to install, which means screwing, mounting, or multi-step installation....

But the problem with being a so-called midnight dad is that you just don’t have the time to dedicate to some open-world “experience” or some massive online multi-player slaughterhouse that requires you to coordinate with your buddies at set times for hours on end. You need something to satiate your game lust quickly, in and out. Something you can play at the end of the long day to unwind and work those thumbs out....

In 1984, marine geologists finally got a long-anticipated glimpse of our planet unseen. After crunching satellite data for 18 months, a geophysicist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, William Haxby, revealed a stunning new panorama of the seafloor. It was the first time anyone spied a worldwide picture of what lay beneath the ocean in such detail—volcanoes, underwater mountains, fracture zones, and trenches. “Haxby’s maps of the world’s seafloors reveal a terrain as diverse as any found on the seven continents,” journalist and science writer Marcia Bartusiak reported for that year’s February issue of Popular Science, capturing the scientific community’s palpable excitement....

There are a number of ways you can find or buy wooden pallets. Maybe you already have one left over from a furniture delivery, move, or some other project. If not, you can buy one at a home improvement store like Home Depot or Lowe’s. You can also find pallets for free or at a discount on websites and apps such as Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, and Craigslist, or by asking around at local construction sites....

The truth is that your skin works around the clock and already does a brilliant job at taking care of itself. That leaves you with a role that may seem small, but it’s crucial to keep your outer layers healthy and thriving. Your skin is highly resourceful Our skin is the largest organ in the body and it’s responsible for critical functions like regulating temperature and balancing fluids. But it doesn’t stop there: skin is also in charge of keeping the inner stuff—blood and flesh—in, and the outer stuff—bacteria and viruses—out....

Yes, there are in fact, roughly 50 mole rat species. Though most of them aren’t wrinkly and bald, the mole rat family do seem to share another common trait: immunity to pain. Now, that doesn’t mean you can stomp on their lil’ feet and not expect a yelp or two. It does mean that several mole rats have developed specific, strategic insensitivities to certain kinds of pain. Take the highveld mole rat....

The 150-kilowatt lasers DARPA is considering testing as part of its High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS) program are ten times smaller and lighter than even those of similar power today–which means some kind of technology leap is in the offing that DARPA thinks is realistic. The Agency has contracted General Atomics (makers of the Reaper and Predator drones) to have two laser weapons ready to go by 2014 so both the U....

The U.S. Postal Service unveiled some of the new stamps we’ll see in 2016, and several came from outer space. Or rather, the images that appear on them did. One series includes the planets of the solar system, shown in a variety of different wavelength spectrums (above). Notably absent from that collection is Pluto, everyone’s favorite dwarf planet. But that’s ok–Pluto is getting the star treatment with its own stamp as well as one for New Horizons, the spacecraft that visited the icy dwarf planet in July....

PHASE 1: While watching that month of episodes, record the general appearance, estimated age, enthusiasm level, and custom-shirt-having-ness of every called-down contestant to A) generate demographic breakdowns in an effort to build a predictive model, and B) figure out if the producers have some obvious bias against giant beards, which would mean I’d had to shave. PHASE 2: Make spreadsheets documenting the price of every single item and showcase for that month, plus what every contestant bid on them....

Although only 16 percent of Americans say they invested, traded, or used cryptocurrency, almost 90 percent have heard about it, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Advocates for cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (where people can make financial deals with one another without being moderated by a middleman or central authority like a bank) in general argue that these platforms are transparent and simultaneously anonymous—both good things. The key to this vision lies in a digital technology called the blockchain, which undergirds all cryptocurrencies....

Phoenix‘s primary camera is the Surface Stereo Imager (or SSI, the adorable Johnny 5-looking piece shown above). It’s actually a new and improved version of a similar camera used for the Mars Pathfinder mission. It consists of a housing mounted a little over six feet above the surface (simulating human height), containing two stereoscopic lenses (simulating, you guessed it, human eyes), which can each capture a 1024×1024 (one-megapixel) image on a monochrome CCD sensor....

Remember the Tesla Cyberquad? Sure you do! It was Tesla’s “one more thing” during the Cybertruck reveal, aside from breaking the truck’s supposedly unbreakable windows. Well, after two years of waiting, the Cyberquad is here. Kinda. On Thursday, Tesla and Radio Flyer announced a bite-sized version of the Cyberquad marketed as a ride-on toy for kids whose parents can’t wait for their own. Featuring a 36-volt battery, the mini Cyberquad can sprint around the block at up to 10 miles per hour—that can be limited to 5 mph at the flip of a switch....

“The coming decade will see the ability to advance and exploit science and technology as an increasingly important metric of global power and an essential driver of economic, political, and military competition,” reads a statement from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, outlining the portfolio. The Laboratory announced that £2 billion ($2.5 billion) will be spent between now and 2026, as part of a broader research and development initiative outlined in a 2021 strategic review....

Fact: Doctors used to smell and even taste urine to diagnose all sorts of diseases By Rachel Feltman Doctors often take urine samples to diagnose their patients. But before we had modern lab tests, physicians would have to visually examine, smell, and even taste their patients’ pee to analyze it. In this week’s episode, I get into the fascinating (and sometimes gross) details of uroscopy, or the clinical examination of urine....

But there may have been another cause: A global helium shortage. While the official issued statement doesn’t directly connect shortages in helium supplies to the retail shutterings, it does say though that limited helium supply was taken into account when considering the outcomes of the first quarter earnings. The party store is stocked with far more than helium, but filling balloons with the noble gas is among its core responsibilities....