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Created by Panic, an eclectic software company probably best known these days for publishing 2019’s Untitled Goose Game, the Playdate is a small, independent game console with small, independent ambitions. It is not a competitor for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, or your gaming PC. With a (mostly) finite set of games and intentionally limited tech, it does not offer the all-consuming “investment” of a platform for the latest and greatest....

Your poop might soon be pressed into service in the fight against COVID-19. When we flush the toilet, our effluvia are whisked out of sight and mind and in most cases wind up at a wastewater treatment plant. All this waste represents a golden (so to speak) opportunity to track the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Around the world, scientists are detecting remnants of the virus in municipal sewage....

In the past few years, mind-operated prosthetics have become much more sophisticated. But there’s still one piece missing: most of the prosthetics can’t send feedback to provide users with a sense of touch. Now a team led by researchers at Stanford University has created artificial skin that is filled with carbon nanotubes, which can translate different amounts of pressure to a digital signal direct to mice’s neurons, according to a study published today in Science....

Yesterday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that La Niña conditions have strengthened in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific with an increase in trade winds in recent weeks. The WMO predicts the continuation of the current La Niña pattern over the next six months, with a 70 percent chance in September to November 2022, but gradually decreasing to 55 percent in December to February 2022-2023. The current La Niña pattern began in September 2020....

All the user has to do is move a joystick to point it in the desired direction, and the robo-chair figures out what to do. Sensors on its feet detect the distance to nearby obstacles and determine their size. The chair will stabilize itself in the best position to hoist one of its front wheels, like a rider straddling a horse. It has four-wheel drive and five axes of motion, including the ability to deploy horizontal stabilizers and spin in a tight circle....

The Xbox 360, an under-appreciated media streamer in its own right, has had unified search for awhile. And it’s actually better than Roku’s; Roku requires you to use the Roku remote, which is kind of awful, to very slowly and painfully navigate to each letter on the on-screen keyboard. The Xbox lets you use the Kinect and just yell out loud in the direction of the TV that you want to watch eight episodes of The West Wing, right now....

Until now, Riyadh’s verdant past was confined to the pages of textbooks. Today, that history is coming alive. In 2006, the city sponsored an international competition to design a botanical garden as a gift to Saudi Arabia’s recently-anointed leader, King Abdullah. The winning design, a joint venture from British architecture and engineering firms Barton Willmore and Buro Happold, will explore the region’s plant life through the ages, taking visitors on a walk millions of years back in time....

For a limited time, the Deeper Connect Pico, a proven and powerful cybersecurity hardware device, is available at only $199.99 (reg. $248) when you use coupon code during our Deal Days Sale. This sale presents an alternative to Prime Day, delivering our best deals on a variety of popular products, including this one, but it will come to an end Oct. 12. Internet security is threatened on a constant basis, making it vital to take extra precautions toward protecting the privacy and functionality of your online life....

A few anonymous Facebook users—most likely students—created a fake profile for the dean of Roncalli High School, a Catholic prep school in Indianapolis, then sent out messages and images from the account to other students. The profile has since been pulled down, but the dean sued Facebook to find out who created it. Facebook refused to give the information up, but now a judge has ordered the social-networking site not to destroy data pertaining to the identities of the jokers....

For years, experts have said that Goop, the wellness and lifestyle brand founded by the actor and entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow, markets pseudoscience and overblown cures. And for years, despite the criticism, Goop has just kept growing. Now the company, which was valued at $250 million in 2018, seems poised to reach an even larger audience. Last week, Goop announced details of three new ventures: a distribution partnership with the cosmetics giant Sephora; a “wellness experience at sea” with Celebrity Cruises; and—to the chagrin of many science advocates—a six-part series on Netflix, the streaming service with more than 150 million subscribers....

During a vaginal birth, microbes from the mother’s birth canal populate the baby’s skin, mouth, and gut. But that microbiome isn’t passed on if the baby is born via C-section, as are more than 30 percent of the babies born in the United States. Babies born this way have a higher incidence of asthma, obesity, and diabetes, and researchers think their lack of inherited microbiome might play a role. Now a team of researchers has figured out a way to pass on the mother’s microbiome to C-section babies with the goal of improving the children’s long-term health, according to a study published today in Nature Medicine....

This affordable intelligent assistant is equipped with Siri to make your everyday tasks more seamless, whether you need the weather report for tomorrow or want to queue up your favorite morning news podcast. Equipped with voice recognition, the HomePod mini can also easily distinguish between family members to make a personalized experience for the whole household. The 360-degree audio technology makes any room feel surround-sound equipped, but with a small body that makes the HomePod mini both space-saving and portable....

In January, it re-launched and re-landed the same rocket booster, giving us this video. Now you can get a taste of what it feels like to be a rocket booster crashing toward your landing pad in a glorious and fiery (but controlled) landing. The company just posted this video from the January launch and landing: Happy Friday!

The danger of suppression There are three concepts to consider when it comes to emotional display in front of children: suppression, “uncontained” expression, and talking about emotions. Suppression of emotion is when you hide the outward signs of an emotion. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work very well—the act of suppressing your emotion actually increases your blood pressure and physiological arousal. Observers can pick up on your distress despite your efforts to hide it, making them feel stressed, too....

Washing your hands is one of the crucial ways we can all help limit the spread of COVID-19. Regularly and thoroughly washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer are key steps to reducing the risk. But with all this hand washing, it’s easy to get dry skin or for existing skin conditions to flare up. What’s happening to our skin?...

If you were born prior to 1957, you were born in an era when the measles virus was so prevalent that the Centers for Disease Control considers you to be immune—coming into contact with the disease during your childhood was simply inevitable. People born after 1975 came into a world where we had a highly effective live measles virus vaccine, which the vast majority of Americans received as children. But the intervening decade or so is something of a grey zone....

Private space company SpaceX plans to use its Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) to launch a spaceship (nicknamed the BFS) towards the moon, carrying a paying passenger on a trip around our closest satellite—a view that only 24 astronauts have ever seen in person. SpaceX supplemented its announcement with new concept art of the BFR/BFS system which seems to have been tweaked from its original design with the newest iteration featuring three fins and seven engines to help make the lunar trip....

Before we get into why you should invest in Jillian’s personalized fitness app, let’s talk about why you should be exercising on a regular basis. While it’s true that we all want to look our best by potentially losing weight and sculpting our muscles, working out can promote your well-being in so many other ways, perhaps some you may never have thought of. It can help to develop your patience, cultivate discipline, improve your mental health and even your sex life (or, reportedly, even be your sex life!...

SteelSeries Arctis 9!? What happened to Arctis 1-8? The “9” in SteelSeries Arctis 9 notes its station in the Arctis family, rather than the generation. SteelSeries actually sells seven different Arctis models, some of which feature multiple variants. Technically, Arctis 9 is the second-highest rung on the ladder, behind the much more expensive and feature-packed Arctis Pro. For reference, here’s an abridged list of the active headset designs from SteelSeries’ Arctis series as of fall 2021, listed from most to least expensive:...