But in the case of Google’s self-driving car (or Alphabet‘s, as it were), the driver isn’t assisted, but made redundant. This is a stark difference from even the next most advanced car with self-driving capability available to drivers today, Tesla’s Model S and Model X lines. Having a human in the driver’s seat has been the feature that makes self-driving cars seem sane, at least in 2016. But when the driver is separated from any control, the legality of the situation comes into question....

According to Proofpoint, a threat analysis firm, a Chinese hacking group, known as TA413, is targeting Tibetan nationals with the recently reported “Follina” exploit. The attack is embedded in a malicious Word document purporting to be sent by the “Women Empowerments Desk” of the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in Dharamshala, India. This is not the first time that Chinese hackers have targeted Tibetan groups: a 2019 report by Citizen Lab identified a number of instances going back over a decade....

Jonathan has lived through multiple human milestones, including the first photograph of a person (1838), the invention of the first incandescent lightbulb (1878), the Wright Brother’s first flight (1903), and more, according to Guinness World Records. No stranger to the spotlight, Jonathan has been featured on the back of St. Helena’s five-pence coin and is also on a postage stamp. He was officially named the oldest known living land animal and oldest chelonian ever recorded by Guinness World Records in February....

Working from home is often more complicated than it sounds. When your job consists mostly of typing away on your laptop and fending off a never-ending parade of Slack messages, it seems easy enough to do it from just about anywhere. But in reality, not every living space is set up to double as a workplace, especially when you consider the work-from-home internet speed requirements. Internet services typically require minimum connection requirements, whether you actually know about them or not....

Today, NASA announced which of these CubeSats will be on that first mission. A few, including BioSentinel and LunaH-Map, already had a spot on Exploration Mission-1, but now it’s official, and five other projects have gotten the green light as well: Near Earth Asteroid Scout (NEAScout) is a reconnaissance CubeSat that is set to visit an asteroid;Skyfire will map the lunar surface;Lunar IceCube will look for more water on the moon;CuSP is a “space weather station” that will be on the lookout for solar particles;Lunar Flashlight will look for locations where there is enough ice on the moon to be of use to future crewed missions....

For today’s most recent hearing in front of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Twitter and Facebook are on their own, since Google declined to attend. Wednesday’s proceedings include a pair of hearings. The first is a look into the way the companies deal with foreign and malicious actors and transparency in regards to elections and political influence. The second hearing is specifically for Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey to address issues of bias and free speech....

The main attacker in question is the mountain pine beetle, a shiny black insect no longer than one-third of an inch. Its diminutive size belies its power to fell entire forests. In late summer, adult beetles fly from the yellow- to red-needled trees they grew up eating, and seek out large-diameter (meaning older) live trees in which to lay their eggs. The beetles tunnel under the bark, often sending chemical signals that attract more beetles....

If you’ve got access to a Netflix or Spotify account—or any other subscription streaming service—you might be using a friend or relative’s login details rather than your own. Or maybe you’re the one doing the login lending. It’s common practice, but should you be doing it? Might you run into technical or even legal problems down the line? We’ve taken a detailed look at the major streaming services to help you figure out those answers....

Because of their colorful and unique display, rainbows have generated countless legends and myths throughout history. Among the most popular is the Irish folklore that leprechauns store their pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. But the truth is, rainbows can be seen only if you are in the right place at the right time. If you’ve ever seen one, consider yourself lucky. For the magical band of the colors to appear, the conditions must be just right....

Although the World Health Organization has labeled the latest monkeypox outbreak a global emergency, vaccination and treatment options continue to be scarce in the US. Many infected people have been left to their own devices—some for weeks—before they’ve been able to access medication that will improve their condition. Understanding how the virus spreads and how to prevent infection will be key as authorities work to close the gaps in their response....

This ability stems from the fact that birds can hear at far lower frequencies than humans can, down to about 0.1 Hertz. These kinds of waves emanate from the Earth itself–from the oceans really, but also up through the crust and the Earth’s topography and even in the atmosphere. USGS geologist John Hagstrum, who had taken up the mystery of homing pigeon navigation some years ago, was tipped off that sounds waves might be responsible for pigeons’ innate navigation abilities when he noticed that in European pigeon races the birds tended to go astray when the now-retired supersonic Concord jet airliner was in the vicinity....

The game draws inspiration from an odd text-messaging bug that happened a few weeks ago. Texts from last Valentine’s Day were delivered, en masse, more than six months late, thanks to a technical glitch stemming from a dormant server. It was the real-life version of the lie we’ve all told about how we totally replied to someone’s message but it “must not have sent.” So, we busted out the old lie detector and put together a list of texting habits that only truly evil people regularly exhibit....

When it comes to misplaced landers, “The protocol [is] basically ‘find it as fast as we can,’ but how fast that is depends on what information is available to us,” says Alfred McEwen, a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona and the principal investigator for NASA’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), a camera on the satellite that spotted Schiaparelli. These days, the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter, which HiRISE has hitched a ride on, lets scientists sniff out evidence of a missing lander before the trail goes cold....

1. Astronaut An Earth-bound human uses about 80 gallons of water each day, but an ISS resident stretches just one for drinking, showering, and hydrating food. Astronauts’ bodies produce plenty of sweat droplets and ­carbon dioxide, both of which get sucked into vents, destined for recycling. 2. Urine recovery system (toilet) When astronauts go number one, a slight vacuum in the toilet pulls urine into a low-​­pressure chamber, which forces the water to evaporate....

What to do about it The planet may have to feed a global population of 10 billion people by 2050. With that milestone looming, organizations like the U.N., the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Food Tank are working on ways to make food systems more efficient. Agriculture Problem: Agricultural loss particularly plagues industrialized nations, where farmers often need to overproduce in order to guarantee a steady supply to grocery stores. Solution: With better food labeling—for example, using a spoils-on date rather than a sell-by date—markets could keep their stock longer and ease demand on farmers....

Between the US and what is now Russia, the two nations have long been titans in the space industry, but today’s space race has a new challenger. Later this year, China will put the finishing touches on the Tiangong space station, (which translates to Heavenly Palace) the country’s first space outpost. The Chinese National Space Administration launched the first phase of the multi-module station more than a decade ago, and now the station’s construction will end with the addition of the laboratory cabin Mengtian, the third and final module needed to complete the compact T-shaped structure....

Ideally, we should try to avoid saying or doing things that will deliberately hurt somebody else’s feelings but that’s easier said than done. In the age of social media, access to bigger platforms and the ability to instantaneously share our every thought, make it almost inevitable to make someone mad. So, the least we can do is to learn how to offer a good apology. Psychologists, social anthropologists, and even marketing researchers have long been trying to crack the code for the perfect apology....

And although it may seem daunting, there are ways to make your pet’s life a little more comfortable during this pandemic. But while you’re bathing, trimming, and clipping your pet’s nails at home, understand that you’re not aiming to make your pooch look like a Westminster Kennel Club show finalist—here grooming is all about health, not style. Your main goal right now is to keep your pet as happy as possible, at least until things open up again and you can put your best friend in the skilled hands of professionals....

They’ll have the mobility to do what robots couldn’t at Fukushima, navigating a crisis that unfolds in an environment lousy with doors, stairs, shattered infrastructure, and countless other obstacles. Where previous humanoid bots could barely trundle over the lip of a carpet, these systems will have to climb ladders and slide into vehicles that they themselves drive. And while the ability to turn a doorknob is now cause for celebration even in top-tier robotics labs, these bots will open what doors they can and use power tools to hammer or saw through the ones they can’t....

Stats Time: 2 hoursCost: $35Difficulty: Medium Tools DremelBox cutterWire stripper Materials 11-by-11-inch plywood board1⁄4-by-21⁄2-inch machine screwAJC washer1⁄4-inch hex nutTwo Slurpee strawsAdhesive putty1-inch-thick foam insulation sheet7-inch record45 rpm adapter (ours came attached to the record)9 square inches of cellophaneBox of T-pinsSix 8-ounce Styrofoam cupsOld headphone cablePhonograph needle and cartridgeConductive wire gluePushpinLoud battery-powered speaker Instructions This article was originally published in the November/December 2016 issue of Popular Science, under the title “Build a Record Player Powered by Wind....