Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk was scheduled to speak immediately after Holz, and Al Gore was up right after that, so eager fans were filing into the auditorium during the Leap Motion presentation, as if it were a kind of opening act—some background music as everyone picked their sight lines for the main event. Holz, who shared the stage with his co-founder and best friend, Michael Buckwald, didn’t seem to notice....

Astronomers knew, instantly, the value of the rock they had just been granted. They got the word out quickly. In the following days, locals and scientists alike combed through hedges, fields, and driveways, collecting more than a pound of extraterrestrial fragments in all. Experts had good reason to be excited about this particular fireball, which, as it turns out, is far more ancient than Winchcombe’s 15th-century castle. This meteorite was a 4....

The SKA components’ two remote locations and their minimal amounts of radio interference will allow it to detect extremely faint signals generated by sources billions of light years away. Radio signals are emitted by a host of cosmic bodies, and generally sound like the white noise. Advanced radio telescopes such as the SKA can hear signals from hundreds of millions of lightyears away, which computers subsequently can use to analyze and form images....

Last year, the naming rights for a sea lily fetched $6,150 on eBay raising money for Nova Southeastern University’s Oceanographic Center. The naming process for the sea lily is still ongoing, so it doesn’t have an official name yet. The latest nameless animal to head to the virtual auction block is a newly-discovered moth. Proceeds from the online auction will benefit the Western National Parks Association (WNPA), a non-profit group that partners with the National Park Service to provide educational opportunities to visitors at 67 parks in the Western United States....

Those seeking help will be able to call or text 988 with any provider they have. Some larger companies, like Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile, adopted the shortcut within months of the FCC finalizing its plan in summer of 2020. July 16 is the deadline for every phone provider, including digital-only ones, to connect the three-digit code. The commission also allowed some buffer time for trained staff at more than 180 crisis centers around the country to gear up in case of an influx of messages....

This past week, protests against police brutality in cities across the country have brought more people outside their homes and closer together than they have been in months. For the first time since the start of strict social distancing and stay-at-home measures in mid-march, people gathered in the hundreds to thousands to march against racial inequality. So far, according to the AP, at least 4,400 people have been arrested nationwide....

As long as you haven’t previously tried out Apple Music, you can sample the Voice Plan for seven days for free: Open the Apple Music app on an iPhone running iOS 15.2 or later, and if you don’t see the offer to subscribe, tap your account icon (top right), then Manage Subscription. You can also say “Hey Siri, start my Apple Music Voice trial” to get going. What you’ll get with the Apple Music Voice Plan Apple also gives you access to tens of thousands of playlists based around moods, activities, and genres....

The compound comes from a grass called spinifex, which grows on sand dunes in western Australia, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Though Australian aboriginal communities have long used spinifex as an adhesive, the researchers recently figured out how to extract nanocellulose, a fibrous compound that makes up the cell walls in plants, from spinifex grasses. They found that, if they chop up the grass and combine it with sodium hydroxide to make a pulp-like mash, the material can then be forced through a small hole at high pressure to strip away the woody parts....

Not everyone is so morose–only 6 percent of French people think they’ll live to see the end of the world, and just 4 percent of Germans and Indonesians believe in the 2012 doomsday predicted (at least ostensibly) by the Mayan calendar. Check out GOOD Magazine’s full infographic on the poll’s results here.

Best for the perpetual student: MasterClass MasterClass subscribers get unlimited access to thorough video courses taught by masters in their chosen field(s). Courses are taught video prerecorded video instructions and include cooking taught by Gordon Ramsey, drumming taught by Ringo Starr, and writing taught by Roxane Gay. MasterClass offers new classes regularly, so this subscription will only get more valuable over time. Best for the cord-cutter: Sling TV Cord-cutters sometimes regret their decision to cancel cable service....

Apple Maps has traditionally gotten a bad rap in comparison with Google Maps. But in many respects, Apple’s in-house mapping system has grown to be just as good as its competition. Whether you’re using the app on iOS or macOS, we’ve rounded up some handy tricks for getting from A to B more easily. Because you shouldn’t be tapping your phone while driving, you can also make your reports via Siri....

That’s what I love about makerspaces. These facilities are popping up all around the country and provide people who love to make stuff the space, tools, and equipment to participate in crafts such as woodworking, metalworking, ceramics, electronics, sewing, and more. But most importantly, by signing up to one of these spaces you join a community of like-minded people you can learn and draw inspiration from. So no matter your needs or level of experience, you should consider joining your local makerspace as well....

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While they share a lot of the same basic features, the two apps differ in more than their interfaces. Google Fit provides a more basic steps-and-activity counter, and is available for Android and iOS. Apple Health gives you a more comprehensive, full-on health monitoring service, but only works on Apple devices. If you’ve never opened up these apps on your phone before, now’s your opportunity. Google Fit setup Fire up the Google Fit app—if it’s not already on your phone, you can download it for Android and iOS—and log in with your Google account....

The facade, a mixture of cement and titanium dioxide, captures nitrogen-oxide pollution and converts it into a harmless salt that easily rinses off the walls when it rains. Palazzo Italia also consumes 40 percent less energy than a conventional building of its size, and emits zero air pollution. “We wanted the building to be an osmotic organism,” says lead architect Michele Molè—like a tree that breathes in carbon dioxide and exhales oxygen....

Peter W. Singer and Allan Friedman’s brand new book is an impressively comprehensive guide to one of the least understood arenas of modern life. The book consists of some five dozen questions and answers about cybersecurity, divided into sections: How It All Works, Why It Matters, and What Can We Do? As I read through it, thinking about these questions I might want to ask the authors, all too often the question that occurred to me on one page was already answered on the next....

With officials urging us to limit unnecessary travel, many of us might be starting to feel a bit stir crazy. Being outside and in nature is important for dealing with stress and anxiety—the exact emotions in overdrive right now. But is it possible to safely head outdoors without putting your and others’ health at risk? The short answer is yes—we can technically walk, run, and bike alone or with our immediate household without violating social distancing rules....

The announcement was overshadowed, like every other development on display at the show, by Checkmate, a new single engine stealth fighter jet designed all but explicitly as a counterpart to the US-led F-35 that’s filling out the inventories of NATO countries. Nations do not win wars through stealth fighters alone, even if they are the flashiest pieces of equipment on a showroom floor. The cargo drones announced by Rostec exist in the shadow of the jet, yet they’re an essential part of how militaries will fight in the future....

This mobile makeshift laboratory has been rumbling about since last year. A team at Brookhaven’s Center for Multiscale Applied Sensing used the data that the truck collected last June in Manhattan to understand how sunshine impacted the air flow around skyscrapers, and how the skyscrapers themselves played a role in ventilation of pollutants and such from city streets. In an updated news release from July this year, Brookhaven said that the truck has traveled 1,700 miles from Upton, New York to Houston, Texas, which is the next sampling stop for the team....