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It’s not the kind of drone designed to drop packages in your yard. Instead, Bell sees it as a machine that could carry military gear, medical supplies, industrial components, and tools, or help a delivery company like Japan’s Yamato with logistics. This machine first flew late last year, but earlier this month conducted a flight that demonstrated its autonomous capabilities—executing maneuvers on its own like automatically converting to horizontal flight, then back to vertical flight, at the right times....

Standing for more than six hours a day can put a lot of pressure on your knees, ankles, and feet, resulting in muscle aches and pains. On the flip side, sitting down all day can also affect your leg and butt muscles. With the massager, you can benefit from a personalized compression therapy regime that loosens up tight spots and repairs the damage muscles incur. It uses air compression massage to increase your blood flow and decrease inflammation altogether....

RELATED: Rising temperatures are causing soil to dump more carbon dioxide into the air Source: UCS green travel report, 2008; European Commission Well-to-wheels report This article was originally published in the Spring 2019 Transportation issue of Popular Science.

Previous analyses haven’t agreed on whether online or in-store shopping is better. In fact, some studies have found that online shopping has a lower impact, because it saves the emissions associated with driving your car to the store (95 percent of Americans drive to go shopping). But this benefit can vary, or even disappear, depending on how fast we want that TP to arrive. And if you’re shopping in real life, factors like how you transport those items, how far you travel, and how much you buy at once all affect the carbon footprint of your purchase....

But now aeronautics experts at MIT have flown a radically different type of plane that is thrust through the air using just electricity and the movement of ions, a type of silent drive without moving parts out of science fiction. The researchers flew the airplane a total of ten times at an indoor track at MIT. It weighs a little over 5 pounds, has a wingspan of about 16 feet, and flew about 230 feet on its longest flight—roughly the twice the wingspan of a Boeing 737—before smacking into the gym’s wall....

How I Hacked An Electronic Voting MachineScientist Wants To Fly A Blimp Over Mountains To Search For BigfootWhy Can’t We Vote By Email Or Text? And don’t forget to check out our other favorite stories of the week: Archive Gallery: The Science Of ElectionsDid Your Team Win Monday Night Football? And 9 Other Weird Questions That Reveal How You’ll Vote TodayThank You, Bravo, For ‘Start-Ups: Silicon Valley’ [Review]Dear President Obama: Congratulations!...

For example, David Trone, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, tweeted on January 6, saying, “I am safe. We have been evacuated.” The tweet included three images of the eye-catching pieces of protective equipment. While they’ve been referred to as gas masks, they’re technically known as escape hoods. Sometimes also called escape respirators, these hoods serve a key purpose: to allow an untrained civilian to quickly and safely get away from an area that may have a chemical, biological, or even radiological or nuclear threat present....

The nations pledged to work together and establish a “funding mechanism” that could help preserve the Earth’s crucial rain forests. The three leaders also pledged to cooperate on sustainable management and conservation, the creation of economies that will ensure the health of both the landscape and people, and restoration of critical ecosystems. Throughout the world, these tropical rainforests are hotspots for biodiversity and help regulate Earth’s climate by serving as a carbon sink....

But the course to dry land doesn’t always run smoothly. At least one close relative of Tiktaalik decided to return to the life aquatic, researchers reported on July 20 in Nature. A smaller fossil excavated from the same area as Tiktaalik shares some features with its land-curious cousins, but it has a fin much better suited for swimming than crawling. The ancient lobe-finned fish, which the team named Qikiqtania wakei, sheds light on a mysterious chapter of vertebrate evolution....

Usually, when people think of chameleons they think of their extraordinary ability to change color, a skill that they get from crystal-like structures in their skin. But they also have pretty incredible tongues, capable of snagging their dinner from a distance. Anderson looked at 20 species of chameleon, luring each to display their skills in front of a high speed camera with a tasty cricket. Using the footage, he was able to determine how fast each chameleon’s tongue accelerated out of its mouth....

On the one hand, it is yet another screen-based device reaching for—and often clutching tightly—my preschool-age daughter’s attention. On the other hand, many of the smartwatch’s apps and activities are designed to either test her mind, get her on her feet—or both. The Tobi 2 Robot Smartwatch, complete with its lively robot who laughs and cries and demands to be played with—literally chiming in with activity and game ideas—accomplishes all of this....

The Sphere L22 mic has been making waves since it first made its debut back in 2016. It recently joined Universal Audio’s family of flagship mics that includes the Universal Audio SD-1, an affordable workhorse I’d recommend for content creators needing a reliable dynamic microphone. Thanks to UA, I tested the Sphere L22 at my home studio to see if this high-tech condenser mic is really a must-have and an affordable, sustainable solution for producers that want a vintage mic locker but only have the room and/or budget for a laptop....

A large-scale (also known as “Ready to Play”) replica of an old steam locomotive, this set is designed for easy set-up and quick play. But it’s a great way for more hardcore model train enthusiasts to share their love with the less experienced, while still providing all the little details you expect from a Lionel train. From the sturdy, Berkshire-style locomotive to the strong, fixed knuckle couplers, to the removable crates in the gondola car, it’s everything you could ask for in a train set for first timers....

Friends aged four and up can enjoy this set of 90 double-sided playing cards, which can be used for multiple games. Younger kids can match pictures of celestial objects, and older kids and adults can learn facts about space, like the escape velocity of the earth. The cards fit into a small tin that’s about 3.5 inches square and 2 inches deep, perfect for a quick science lesson on the go....

According to the company’s Director of Product Management, Esther Crawford, aside from the blue check marks, Twitter users will soon see gold checkmarks designating businesses and gray checkmarks for “government and multilateral accounts.” Crawford and Musk previously mentioned a $3 Apple device fee atop Blue’s existing $8 per month rate, but the fluctuation isn’t currently featured on Blue’s official webpage. The roughly 30 percent price hike stems from Musk’s criticism of the company’s longstanding, ubiquitous App Store profit cut across all in-app purchases, unofficially dubbed its “Apple Tax....

According to a Twitter spokesperson speaking with TechCrunch yesterday, “[t]his is part of an ongoing experiment in which we want to learn how providing more context about the frequency of an account’s Tweets can help people make more informed decisions about the accounts they choose to engage with.” In other words, the new feature could potentially help people weed out the accounts either dominating or contributing very little to their timelines....

Nuro is known for creating autonomous electric vehicles that can schlep stuff like groceries or pizza down the road; those vehicles have no room in them for humans. In January, the company unveiled the newest version of this self-driving delivery machine, which, like the company itself, is called Nuro. This latest iteration of bot can transport almost 500 pounds of goods, keeping them hot or cold as needed. It even sports an airbag on the outside of its front end, so that if ever accidentally bumps into anyone, hopefully the harm will be minimal....

Larger cameras can quickly overwhelm small, light tripods, but the Manfrotto MVH502A accommodates up to 15 pounds of equipment. That should cover your camera, microphone, a light, your external monitor, and larger battery packs with ease. The aluminum legs feature a center-spreader for additional stabilization, and can extend from 17 to 66 inches. The tripod has a high-performance head with variable fluidity and a counterbalance setting for smooth tilts and pans, giving your footage a slick, professional look without needing a Hollywood budget....

While that might make you feel old, The Pokemon Company is giving fans a few ways to indulge in childlike wonder once again. To celebrate two decades of Rattatas, Tail Whips, and comfy shorts, the company is streaming a 24-hour live event, which you can watch here. The stream will start at 10 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, February 27, and include developers talking about the game, as well as gameplay footage....

The spacewalk is scheduled for 7:50 AM Eastern Standard Time, but a livestream will begin on NASA’s site at 6:30 AM. Originally planned for October 21, the excursion had to be moved up to tomorrow due to an issue with one of the space station’s battery charge-discharge units (BCDU). BCDU’s regulate the amount of energy stored within batteries as the station’s solar arrays collect energy during periods of sunlight. During nighttime passes around the Earth, the ISS relies on these batteries for power....