You can find a variety of packing calculators and detailed explainers online to help you estimate just how many cardboard containers you’ll need, and the number is probably higher than you think. Even one professional packer living a minimalist lifestyle in a studio apartment might need 30 boxes of various sizes. At the other end of the spectrum, seven pack rats with limited organizational skills may require more than 300 to get the job done....

In a report published by the American Meteorological Society, researchers took a look at all the extreme weather events of last year, and attempted to see which were linked to climate change and which were just flukes of nature. In all, 32 groups of scientists from around the world looked into 28 different extreme weather events, from drought and heat waves to storms, snowfall and flooding. Among their findings, they found that heat waves in Asia and Australia were more likely due to climate change....

Because “Pizzas” stands for “Pluto,” and Pluto is no longer a planet. For 76 years people knew it as the smallest, most distant member of the nine-object club, but then, in 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) changed all that. An astronomer from the California Institute of Technology named Mike Brown had discovered a few odd objects out beyond all the known planets. One, Eris, appeared to be larger than Pluto (although we now know they’re almost exactly the same size)....

These vehicles are called “Recovery of Airbase Denied By Ordnance” or “RADBO,” and they are based on MRAPS, the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles that the Pentagon used for patrols in Iraq and Afghanistan. MRAPs are already built to ensure the survival of their passengers against explosives, with special v-shaped hulls directing the blast force away. There is enough of a surplus of MRAPs that NASA has some, and the military has offered many to police departments as overqualified crowd control vehicles....

According to a new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), valuing nature through economics severely undercuts the actual worth of biodiversity. When we prioritize economic and political benefits, we sell nature severely short—which leads to biodiversity loss. The report was approved by all 139 IPBES member nation representatives in Bonn, Germany, on Saturday. It follows another IPBES study showing that billions of people worldwide rely on 50,000 wild species for ecosystem services such as food and energy....

A new study of white-tailed deer in Iowa, published this week in bioRxiv, shows the animals can contract SARS-CoV-2 from humans, as well as from each other. Pennsylvania State University researchers and Iowa wildlife officials sample lymph nodes of roadkill and hunted deer to identify infections—while the paper has not yet been peer-reviewed, up to 80 percent of Iowan deer, sampled between April, 2020 and January, 2021, were infected. “It was effectively showing up in all parts of the state,” Suresh Kuchipudi, a Penn State veterinary microbiologist who co-led the study, told The New York Times....

It’s a sweet deal for Netflix, which normally offers its services through the internet and a DVD-by-mail program, but even more so for Microsoft, which has faced tough competition from other game stations. Even though it has sold more than 10 million Xbox 360 units in the U.S., the company has had to compete for living-room entertainment space with Sony’s PlayStation 3 which has a Blu-Ray high-definition DVD player built in....

There’s another key benefit to 5G—bandwidth. The technology can handle around a thousand times more data at once than 4G LTE. This means a lot more users can be on it simultaneously, so you shouldn’t lose signal if you’re in a packed sports stadium or at a music concert. This new platform is a substantial upgrade from 4G LTE, but because nothing since is perfect, 5G has its downsides, too....

It was a stressful time of year. Taxes and all, but also hurricane season was coming up and that meant getting everything sorted ahead of time. “So stressful I almost moved at this time a few years ago. Just didn’t see how I could keep doing it, year after year.” Genevieve was telling her colleague Toba in one of the private chat break rooms in their office interface. “It’s the physical stuff of getting the house ready, preparing go-bags and all, but also the insurance choices and the constant reassessment....

Global authorities are against the practice of virginity testing “In a global call to eliminate violence against women and girls everywhere, this medically unnecessary, and often times painful, humiliating and traumatic practice must end,” The World Health Organization (WHO) stated in 2018. Along with the United Nations (UN), the WHO recently took a stand against gynecological exams conducted with the purpose of determining whether a woman had participated in penetrative vaginal intercourse....

I love podcasts; you love podcasts; your grandma probably loves podcasts. Looking for some science you can enjoy while driving? Perhaps hoping to regurgitate something that sounds smart while sitting around with family during the holidays? Great. Read on. Flash Forward Half science, half fiction (which is why it also made our list of the best sci-fi podcasts): Every week, host Rose Eveleth picks a fictional future and has real experts explain how it might work....

Earth’s two most populous nations have major space launches slated for 2013: China will send a lander to the moon and India will propel an orbiter toward Mars. On the surface, their goals appear similar—cement a toehold in a frontier dominated by the U.S., Russia, and Europe—but the ways in which they will achieve them are very different. China wants to do everything that other nations have done in space, and more, including building its own space station and mounting a lunar sample-return mission....

It’s easy to get excited about a shiny new device. But this year, some of the most important advances in the gadget world didn’t arrive in thoughtfully designed, sustainably sourced packaging. In fact, several of the biggest steps forward enhance the networks and engineering infrastructure that underpin our increasingly connected world. But don’t worry, we included some unboxing-video-worthy gizmos too. All four major mobile carriers have flipped on their 5G networks within the past year....

La Niña occurs when super strong trade winds push warm water closer to Asia, bringing an upswing of cold water from deep below the ocean to the surface off the western side of the Americas, according to NOAA. Chilly waters push the jet stream northward, making for a warmer winter in the South and a cooler than normal one in the North. That could mean weather in the Americas could get just a little bit scary—including a boost in hurricane-favorable conditions that will last longer into the fall, a worsening of already dramatic droughts across the Southwest, and building the recipe for a cold and stormy winter in the Northern US, and possibly spurring tornado activity in other parts of the US come spring....

Enjoy some s(h)avings with Philips Norelco’s wet and dry 8900 shaver, which is 36 percent off right now, or $130. The shaving head moves in eight directions, lets you shave dry or with shaving gel, and comes with a beard styler attachment that has 5 length settings. Once you’re finished, place the shaver on the included SmartClean system stand, which lubricates, cleans, and charges your shaver. It comes with a travel case and a two-year warranty....

Now a team of researchers from Wake Forest University has created a 3D bioprinting tool that creates large synthetic bone, cartilage, and muscle tissue that is viable for weeks or months at a time when implanted in animals. With a bit more work, the researchers believe these 3D printed tissues could be transplanted into humans, according to a study published today in Nature Biotechology. The tool, called the Integrated Tissue-Organ Printing System, creates synthetic tissues out of a biodegradable polymer that contains living cells....

We know a few things about them already. The aesthetics of the four prototype roofing tiles are absolutely gorgeous. The tiles are designed to blend in seamlessly with a neighborhood—the solar cell embedded in each durable glass-encased tile is designed to be completely invisible from the street, which is something that sets this solar roof apart from other rooftop solar options. When it comes to photovoltaic (solar energy) technologies, “the aesthetics side of stuff often gets ignored,” says Robert Tenent, a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, who was not involved in the project....

_ Click to launch the photo gallery_ To give your furchild the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education that it deserves, peruse five nerdy dog toys we’re excited about in this gallery.

Now, if you’ve been living in Appleland for a while, you may be a little unsure how to perform even the most basic tasks on your new device. That’s OK. We’ve all been there. Screen recording is actually new to Android—that is, its stock version. It made its debut on Android 12 last October, but Samsung and Xiaomi users, for example, have been able to record their screens for years now....

But you don’t need to invest a ton of money or time to start stargazing, says Irene Pease, a physics professor at CUNY York College who serves on the Amateur Astronomers Association of NY Board of Directors. She always tells beginners to start with a simple pair of binoculars to get acquainted with the night sky. “The first step is to figure out what it is you like to look at,” she says....