The project builds from analysis done by open-source investigations outfit Bellingcat of craters between Russian and eastern Ukraine. The most accurate way to analyze a crater is to get artillery specialists standing in the crater itself, but that’s labor intensive, risky even on test ranges, where unexploded artillery shells in the crater might go off, and riskier still in active war zones. Withought being in the crater itself, it’s possible to still do some analysis of the blast, but it’s challenging to do each crater in turn....

And there are some really great suggestions for lower waste swaps like reusable straws, fabric face wipes, and items like diapers that can be thrown into a washing machine instead of simply disposed of. But swaps can be misleading—like the switch to using cloth bags over plastic bags, which has proven to be less sustainable than previously thought. Apart from the information gaps, going package-free can be a hefty investment for some households....

“Cardiovascular disease has been considered the leading cause of death worldwide for years now,” study author Darryl Leong, a cardiologist at McMaster University, told Popular Science in an email. But if the trends his team observed continue, he says, this could soon be untrue for adults in the 35-70 range. In some middle- and all high-income countries studied, cancer is now the most frequent cause of death for this age group....

Currently, nanotubes are used in common products such as bike parts and computer displays. But the potential applications are wide-ranging, and this is hardly the end of the technology. Scientists have suspected for a while that nanotubes could have these effects, and experts say the new finding isn’t exactly cause for alarm. There appears to be little risk to consumers, and one nanotech business representative pointed out to the LA Times that many factories already have guidelines in place to present overexposure....

Ad hominen attacks “I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me.”“Linnaeus and Cuvier have been my two gods… but they were mere schoolboys to old Aristotle.”“He who understand[s] baboon[s] would do more towards metaphysics than Locke.” Scientific scorchers “The sight of a feather in a peacock’s tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!” (More on Darwin’s skepticism of beauty here....

The project is led by Cui Kai, who’s part of the Key Laboratory of High Temperature Gas Dynamics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, though the plane is likely a biproduct of research from other Chinese hypersonic programs, too, including those with military ties. This reported breakthrough comes hot on the heels of other Chinese hypersonic successes, including China’s DF-17 HGV as well as various scramjet test flights and rocket-powered spaceplanes....

The institute’s scramjet lead scientist, Fan Xuejun, told the South China Morning Post that the factory in Hefei, Anhui Province, would make a wide range of hypersonic engines, and that the state-owned enterprise in charge of the operation will be eventually open up to private investors. So what is a scramjet? It’s an air-breathing jet engine that lets air flow through faster than the speed of sound. This allows the aircraft to reach hypersonic speeds (Mach 5+) that traditional ramjets, whose forward motion compresses the airflow to subsonic speeds, cannot....

China’s ability to safely launch and return its three taikonauts (the Chinese equivalent of “astronauts”) during this nearly three-day voyage will represent a significant step towards international prominence. It also sends a clear signal to regional space rivals Japan and India, and the rest of the world, that China is becoming a competitor not only on but also above this planet. A highlight of this mission will be its leader Zhai Zhigang’s 40-minute spacewalk tethered to the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft....

Apple had been banking on producing 90 million new iPhones from October to December of this year, according to Bloomberg, but the company told its manufacturing partners that the new total will be lower as the companies that make chip components—such as Broadcom and Texas Instruments—come up short in their supply deliveries. (Texas Instruments provides Apple with display parts and Broadcom supplies wireless components.) Different types of chips that perform a variety of functions are housed in the iPhone’s logic board, which interconnects the circuitry underlying the various components and helps them coordinate with one another....

As a result of rising global temperatures, the heat stress of livestock, which arises from combinations of air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed could increase. This added stress makes it difficult for animals like cows and pigs to control their own body temperature. If livestock is unable to dissipate heat effectively, their body temperature increases, which can reduce their productivity, thereby affecting the food supply. Of the predominant livestock industries in the US, the dairy industry is estimated to be the most vulnerable to economic losses from heat stress, says Amanda Stone, assistant professor and extension dairy specialist at Mississippi State University....

Nay, fine scientific foodies. For even if you don’t have a stove or oven at the office, you probably have a microwave, and let me tell you something: that’s all you need. I’ve spent many a lunch break learning to make fresh meals in microwaves, and I’ve come up with some quick office-friendly recipes that will nurture and delight you. Before you start Nobody likes a messy communal space, so make sure you cover your meal with a paper towel to minimize its risk of splattering all over the microwave as it cooks....

After several months, eight versions, and countless 3D-printed prototypes, the team produced a completely open-source device: Mycroft. Users speak commands to the physical interface, which then controls devices like smart locks or speakers, posts to social media, and performs dozens of other tasks. An Arduino board and Raspberry Pi 2 make up the bulk of the hardware, and the team plans to release its code. As developers add their own functions, Sipes hopes the AI will grow smarter over time—just like its prototypes did....

I don’t need to tell you how useful those networks were for fund-raising and organizing. Internet outreach brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in political donations, and Web video helped you distribute viral campaign spots. Reporters fawned over Web applications and online wikis that managed canvassers and phone banks. Certainly digital media was more important in this election than it had been in any other in the history of the country....

In a paper published in the Journal of the American Dental Association, UCLA researcher Dr. David Wong describes his research into the biological makeup of saliva and the various indicators of health that live there. Human saliva is made up of molecules, after all, and in those complex molecules doctors or dentists looking for the right things can find everything from proteins to DNA to RNA–or basically the entire genome and a slew of other supporting characters....

Featuring peppers sourced from local farms in Boulder, Colorado, this kit provides enough raw materials to whip up seven different sauces. You can keep it safe and simple or you can dive into the “Top Secret” branded booster packet stuffed with ghost peppers. With gloves, pH strips, and bottling funnels, the set up strikes the right balance between business and fun. Handcrafted in Portland, Oregon, this kit from Grow and Make is almost like Fresh Direct order....

Ferrari designers claim styling inspiration for the Portofino came from the Ferrari Daytona of the 1970s. (You may recall seeing the fake Daytona that was used for shooting the TV show Miami Vice in the 1980s.) The Portofino is Ferrari’s lovely interpretation of a cushy long-distance Grand Touring car, with the added feature of that hardtop convertible roof, providing true coupe styling when it’s up. Our test car’s lush green Verde Zeltweg finish gave this Italian sports car an entirely different vibe than commonplace red paint would lend....

China began constructing the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope this past summer. New drone footage released by China Central Television shows they are making rapid progress. The telescope is expected to be ready by September of next year. When it’s finished, the Five-hundred-meter-Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) dish’s diameter will surpass the current record holder, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, by 200 meters. It will be able to detect radio signals from planets billions of light-years away, potentially widening the search for alien life....

According to security experts and attendees at the annual gathering of world government leaders, scientists, and environmental activists, the app’s permissions requirements grant local authorities an alarming amount of access to users’ smartphone data. Emails, photos, and even the ability to pinpoint geographic locations are among the details available to Egypt’s ministry of communications and information technology, alongside gateways to phones’ cameras, microphones, and Bluetooth capabilities. [Read: COP27 climate goals: 1....

Specifically, the tests focus on first-person-vision flights, where a pilot steers the drone beyond their line of sight using video streamed from the drone itself to either a screen or headset. The FAA’s draft drone rules prohibit flights beyond line of sight, which limits drone use to where a pilot can be. The goal is to keep drones from crashing into other objects. The rules also in effect constrain how far drones can fly....

This post has been updated. No one wants to get sick. During pandemics—or even just normal flu season—that desire to avoid the ill and infirm shoots up, and we start taking extra precautions. But if you only do one thing to keep yourself from catching a virus, don’t let it be wearing a face mask. It’s not so much that face masks are completely ineffective. In theory, they do work to prevent sprays of virus-laden fluid from entering your nose and mouth, and they provide a great reminder not to touch your face, which is a common route of transmission....