Vomit comet #1 is projected for service in 2015 and will give astronaut wannabes a similar ride to Virgin’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital journey. That bird will piggyback on a specially designed jet carrier aircraft to 50,000 ft., detach, blast off at three times the speed of sound, let you experience a few minutes of weightlessness, then land you safely back home where a really, really, really big credit card bill will be waiting....
The clouds of Venus contain a few tantalizing anomalies—and the unanswered questions for why these anomalies exist leave open the possibility for life on the planet. Researchers have found, for instance, that the concentration of sulfur dioxide dramatically drops higher up in the atmosphere without a known explanation. To understand why this depletion occurs, Paul Rimmer, a postdoctoral researcher in astrochemistry at the University of Cambridge and co-author of the new study, examined the chemical makeup of the sulfuric acid droplets in the high clouds....
Step one: Look at these puppies We’re not pulling any punches here, folks. Our first story to clear away your mental cobwebs is an investigation into corgi mixes—specifically, why they look like corgis disguised as other dogs. Here are the genetics behind their incorgnito appearance (with plenty of adorable pictures, of course). Explore the soothing science of ASMR The internet-fueled phenomenon known as ASMR is a divisive topic. Some fanatics say the sounds (and sometimes even the sights) of ASMR send them into a trancelike state of inner peace, and many say ASMR videos give them shivers of pleasure....
During the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Conference earlier this week, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwelll said the company plans to increase its rocket production this year and the next, and move up the pace of launches. The announcement signals more rockets for the future. From Space News Business has been booming for SpaceX. The company carries supplies to and from the International Space Station, and launches commercial satellites into orbit. Geopolitics are also on SpaceX’s side....
In fact, spam began inoffensively enough with an email sent May 3, 1978 to about 400 users of Arpanet, (the government-run network that later became in the Internet) from a marketer at the (now defunct) computer company Digital Equipment Company. The first one wasn’t the scam- and virus-filled message familiar to today’s Internet users—just a friendly email inviting all to a showing of a new computer system. Today the stuff reaches nearly everyone’s email inbox....
What is the Spotify Car Thing? The Spotify Car Thing is a thin, light heads-up display that most closely resembles a dedicated GPS. The charcoal-colored box, matte finish, and large screen give the device a more premium look than the $90 price tag would suggest. The thin screen mounts to your dashboard, vent, or car’s CD player slot, offering a large touchscreen to pick streaming music in your car. It is not, however, a replacement for your car radio: The Car Thing works with Spotify and Spotify alone....
The proposed study, dubbed the Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE), will establish a two-pronged observatory—both on Earth and in orbit—to create one of the most powerful planet-seekers ever designed. HOEE plans to use the next-generation of powerful telescopes currently under construction, such as the Giant Magellan Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) in Chile’s Atacama Desert, along with a space-based instrument called a ‘starshade,’ an object that can be used to block the light of an extremely bright object....
An international team of astronomers looked at 107 pairs of binary stars that resemble our sun, and found 33 individual stars had chemical signatures that were different from their twin’s. While astronomers have known for a while that twin stars can be chemically different, the questions of why and how are still open. Binary stars are spawned from the same cloud of gas and dust, so their chemical compositions should be nearly identical....
“If 2019 had been a drought year, we probably would have had a very, very, very big disaster,” says Paulo Brando, an ecosystem scientist at the University of California, Irvine. The 2019 fires largely did not move into primary forest and were confined to areas near deforested patches, because those larger swaths of forest had moist understories that resist catching ablaze. But the study estimates that without deforestation, these potential burned areas could be reduced by 30 percent, and greenhouse gas emissions cut by 56 percent....
The beauty of Android lies in its customizability. Apps can hook into the operating system and add shortcuts that weren’t built-in, allowing you to streamline your device as much as possible. Here are four apps that help you do just that. Add shortcuts that go to a specific screen within an app The icons on your home screen give you quick access to your favorite apps, but most of those just take you to the main screen of whatever you open....
But from ubiquitous names like Jansport and Herschel to hardier brands to store your smelly gym clothes, there are a ton of options to sift through. Whether you’re using a backpack as your daily commuting companion, taking a laptop to the coffee shop, or venturing out into the woods, here are a couple of great buys. I love this little backpack because of how easily it conforms to my body—a good quality for a pack to have if you’re on a crowded subway....
When it comes to how your files and folders are laid out on screen, you’ll get plenty of choices, including a two-pane view. FreeCommander also comes geared up with tools for easily renaming multiple files at once, keeping two folders in sync, and spotting duplicate files. It’s possible that once you’ve got it set up, you might never look back. There are a lot of powerful features in TagSpaces, including accessible search and sorting tools....
Best overall: Peterson StroboStomp HDBest for stage performances: Boss TU3Best pedal: TC Electronic Polytune 3 MiniBest smart: Roadie 3 Automatic Guitar TunerBest clip-on: KLIQ UberTunerBest value: Snark ST-8 Clip-on Tuner How we picked the best guitar tuners Guitar tuners come in many different forms, and each has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. As an audio engineer, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist, I have decades of experience with guitars. When compiling this list, I aimed to choose the most versatile and user-friendly guitar tuners for every common musical situation....
Some of the best examples include Heated (on the climate crisis), NextDraft (the “most fascinating news” of the day), TLDR (bite-sized tech news), and Morning Brew (an insightful overview of what’s currently newsworthy). We also highly recommend you subscribe to the Popular Science newsletters, so you can get our best stories delivered directly to you. As well as reading newsletters, you can start your own. Plenty of platforms can help you get started for free, whether you want to do it just for fun or as a serious source of income....
Best overall: SaunaSpace Luminati Portable Infrared SaunaBest sauna kit: SereneLife Full Portable Sauna Best infrared: Radiant Saunas Harmony Deluxe Oversized Portable SaunaBest for stress: Sun Home Saunas Infrared Sauna BlanketBest for home: Clearlight Curve Sauna DomeBest small: HigherDose Infrared Sauna BlanketBest budget: Durasage Oversized Portable Steam Sauna How we chose the best portable saunas Portable saunas come in an array of styles, and we wanted to reflect this diversity while being mindful of price and durability....
Science gifts for kids can be fun and educational, and you will find loads of options are all that and then some. From build kits to robots to marble runs, there are some pretty amazing options. You can build on existing interests—if you heard that the child is interested in dinosaurs, a dinosaur fossil digging set would be a great choice. Or it’s a good bet that tactile science gifts that allow kids to mix and pour and get their hands dirty will be pretty fun....
But now, a team of astronomers has expanded that band into one of the most accurate 3D maps yet of Earth’s galactic neighborhood. Researchers had believed for more than a century that local dust clouds—the sort that give birth to baby stars—lie in a distant ring around the sun, far beyond the furthest planets. But the new perspective revealed a structure entirely different in both shape and scale. Rather, the clouds form a vast wave, the team announced Tuesday in a Nature publication, stretching straight along the local spiral arm while bending above and below the galaxy’s disk....
FACT: The first international vaccine campaign in history used young orphans as human refrigerators By Rachel Feltman There are stories you expect to be uncontroversially positive and stories you expect to be irredeemably negative. The Balmis Expedition defies such binary categorization. On the one hand, it’s the tale of the first international effort to get vaccines into arms all over the world—an instance of a monarch choosing to put resources toward improving public health and eradicating a horrific disease....
What is the Emergency Broadband Benefit? Those who qualify for the program (more on the qualification requirements below), are entitled to a $50 monthly reduction in the cost of their broadband access. That discount goes up to $75 monthly for people living on specific tribal land. The program also grants qualified individuals up to $100 as a one-time assistance to buy a laptop, desktop, or tablet computer in order to get connected....
