Thanks in part to a famous, fraudulent study claiming to link the MMR vaccine (that’s for measles, mumps, and rubella) to autism, parents across the country have been dissuaded from fully vaccinating their children. The measles virus infects nearly everyone it comes in contact with, so our main protection from it comes from herd immunity—you need upwards of 95 percent of a population to be vaccinated against it to avoid harboring pockets of the virus....

Climate change has played a prominent role in the shortages, according to scientists. The western United States is in the grips of a historic 23 year-long mega drought that has drastically lowered water levels in the Colorado River, which is shrinking. According to NOAA, as of October 2022, there have been more than a dozen weather or climate disaster events that have resulted $1 billion in losses in each instance....

For two months she endured pain, blurry vision, and sensitivity to light. When she made it to Manchester Royal Eye Hospital there was a large ring shape in her left eye and a hazy layer over her cornea, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine. While she tested with 20/20 vision in her right eye, her left eye was 20/200—legally blind, by US standards. Once she told doctors she routinely kept her contacts in while swimming and showering, they knew exactly what to test her for....

The world of human inquiry knows no borders. Infinite lines connect disparate disciplines. From physics to public health, these researchers are pioneering new fields on the fringes of existing science. Bots of a feather Simon Garnier, Swarm Lab Founder at New Jersey institute of Technology Army ants are pretty dumb on their own, but ­together they can form a protective brigade around their queen that can conform to any shape....

It’s the first time a team has had this kind of position–but there’s more to it “It’s a long time coming,” says Haylee Mercado, a University of South Carolina professor in the Department of Sport and Entertainment Management who focuses on sports franchises and sustainability. Mercado says that although this is the first time a professional sports team has appointed someone to a position like this, she’s not at all surprised....

Size really does matter Diameter 3,300 ft. Lights out: This debris could throw enough dust to block out the sun—globally. Impact energy 0.01 MT Chelyabinsk: Russia’s airborne explosion was 20–30 times more powerful than Hiroshima. Impact energy 1 MT Kaboom: Equals about 11,000 tons of TNT. The Eiffel Tower weighs around 10,000. 100 million Avg. years between impacts: The dino killer: These can obliterate nearly all life—but our odds look good....

Recently, though, I’ve seen two breakthrough strategy games under development that have conquered the console conundrum. First up is Tom Clancy’s EndWar, due before year’s end, a real-time strategy game of warfare on a grand scale, with you as fun-loving commander of fearsome forces. What makes it dramatically different is voice control. Fire up your Xbox 360 or PS3, slip on a headset and tell your troops where to go, who to attack, what to defend....

Trying to change your diet in the name of losing weight is, generally speaking, misguided at best, and can do your mind and body real harm. But that doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from eating differently. If, come New Years, you’re not feeling physically well or your relationship with food feels off, it’s not a bad idea to change the way you eat, says Blair Burnette, a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at the University of Minnesota....

Google is fantastic at tracking you—after all, if you’re signed into your account, it will know your Google searches, or your Google Maps activity, for example—but the company just announced a welcome new feature to help manage this issue: if you want it to, it will auto-delete some of the data it has collected on you. When the option rolls out to everyone—which Google says is happening in “the coming weeks”—you should definitely opt to have your information automatically purged....

Twelve black dots dance about this grid. They never actually move or vanish, but no matter how fast you twitch your eyes back and forth, you can’t seem to trap them all in your gaze at once. Ninio’s extinction illusion is a riff on the Hermann grid, a classic piece of visual trickery in which your eyes see illusory gray blobs at the intersections of a black-and-white lattice. We don’t know exactly why the Hermann grid happens, says Susana ­Martinez-​Conde, a neuroscientist at the State University of New York’s Downstate Medical Center....

PFAS are dangerous because consistent exposure to the chemical is associated with low infant birth rates, thyroid hormone disruption, and even cancer according to the EPA. Some research has even connected higher exposure to PFAS to worse COVID outcomes. PFAS have been evasive, found in everyday products like drinking water, and now, even amid growing calls for cleaner and safer beauty products, scientists have found them in makeup. A new study in the Environmental Science & Technology Letters found that some makeup wearers are being exposed and even ingesting potentially toxic levels of PFAS....

One option for patients in that group is a treatment called electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT. It’s colloquially known as shock therapy—but this isn’t the torture vividly portrayed in movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Today, ECT is performed under anesthesia, and the electric current is targeted and controlled. It’s a misconception that the procedure is scary and physically extreme, says Amy Aloysi, the director of the ECT service at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai....

With the right tools, services, and apps, you can get the most out of your inbox and extend its usefulness beyond those nagging messages from your boss or the annoying updates from your local gym. 1. Get Google Calendar warnings It’s all too easy to forget birthdays, meetings, anniversaries, and dental appointments you put in your calendar months ago. So why not set up email reminders? In Google Calendar on mobile, tap an event, then the Edit icon (the pen on the top right), and choose Add notification....

It’s late. Your shoulders are tired from carrying a pack, or your ass is tired from driving on rutted roads, and all you want is to find a camping spot and stay. But before you commit to the first place that suggests it could house a tent, there are a couple of questions you’ll want to ask yourself: Am I a late sleeper? Do I want to watch the sunrise?...

Trees create these time capsules when injuries trigger a rush of wound-sealing resin. The compound seeps slowly over bark, enveloping buggy bystanders in an effective glue trap. Most specimens form near lakes and rivers, where moist ground or water protects them as they congeal. Over many millennia, layers of sand and clay bury and fossilize them, forever capturing one small moment in history. Most Cretaceous earwigs were strong enough to escape the sticky snare of tropical conifers, making these specimens an unusual discovery....

As far as commitments go, New Year’s resolutions get a bad rap. Most of the bravado revelers wield on December 31 regarding self-improvement tends to fizzle somewhere between “Auld Lang Syne” and Groundhog’s Day. But when have the best laid-plans in history ever been made past midnight on a full stomach of champagne and pickled herring? This time, for 2019, consider planning ahead. Powered by Duracell, the most trusted battery brand, here are a dozen potent little life upgrades for the new year, from the kitchen to the commute to your inner-happy place....

How does the news know the weather? Is it going to rain today? We’ve talked about equipment, measurements, and pressure. But I realized that instead of answering questions with quick internet searches, it might be more fun to do some research ourselves. So we built our own weather station with three devices: a weathervane, a rain gauge, and a barometer. These projects use materials you probably already have at home, and they’re safe so that kids are able to help in the process....

So if you find yourself needing to crop some pictures on a Chromebook for example, you’ll still be able to work on your images and add some spit and polish to them—no downloading and no installation required. Adobe Photoshop Photoshop on the web is now available in beta form for Creative Cloud users, which means you’ll need a subscription starting at $10 a month to access the platform. The online version of Photoshop syncs seamlessly with Adobe’s cloud storage locker, so you’ll be able to work on your files from just about anywhere with an internet connection....

1. Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Firefox may be the best-known independent web browser. If you like its popular desktop version, you should try the smart and speedy app for your phone. It really excels at protecting you from the web trackers that want to follow you around the internet. Just like your computer, your phone offers a variety of options to help you navigate the internet. We collected seven feature-packed web browsers that protect your privacy, reduce your data use, boost your speed, and more....

For want-to-be motorcyclists, that means visits to their nearby dealers to throw a leg over the sexiest rides in the showroom. Love can be impetuous and impatient, so we’re here to try to provide a bit of guidance aimed at maximizing your fun and minimizing the risk that worries your mom. Get everything you need before the bike You can’t ride a motorcycle without the necessary skills, legal permission, safety gear and frame of mind....