Having Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes doesn’t mean you have to miss out on all the goodies, however. Popular Science spoke with diabetes experts who agree that you can treat yourself this season—as long as you do it in moderation. “It’s okay to indulge on the holidays. They’re special,” says Carolyn Maxwell, an endocrinologist at Stony Brook Medicine in New York. Read on for the diabetes do’s and don’ts of navigating merry feasts and festivities....

Every time I enjoy a cold hard cider, I feel nauseated. Not immediately—first comes the congestion. Then I feel woozy. Then, hours later, my stomach churns. Everyone I know has made some variation of a joke about me being a lightweight, none of them funny, but my cousin gets exactly the same reaction. So I Googled it. Every result I found made some anecdotal reference to having some kind of alcohol allergy or intolerance, and I’ll be honest, I jumped right on that explanation without much real proof....

But their happiness correlated more strongly with the gifts they gave. Receiving gifts also has a strong effect. A 1998 study led by Charles Areni, now of Macquarie University in Australia, asked 174 college students, half male and half female, to write down a memorable gift-related experience. The majority, about 71 percent, described receiving a gift. The results were even more pronounced along gender lines: Among females, 92 percent focused on getting versus giving....

But the extreme environment hasn’t stopped nearly two dozen countries from coming together to build the most ambitious astronomical tool on the planet. Getting 66 state-of-the-art antennas to operate in sync at a facility nearly as high as Everest’s base camp takes hundreds of engineers and other staff operating with military precision. Now fully functional after decades of construction and six years of upgrades, the institution is finally devoting much of its power to one of its main goals: watching for the heat glow of dust as it swirls around young stars....

Powered by a 1.3-liter, 88-horsepower gas engine and a 13-horsepower electric motor, the car averaged 38 miles per gallon even when I was ignoring its warnings. Mileage shot up to the low 50s when I engaged the car’s three gas-saving features, detailed on the next page. See Mike Spinelli’s video review of the 2010 Honda Insight: Eco Driver’s Ed Bad-Driver Override Press a green button on the dash to engage Econ mode, which adjusts the car’s systems to maximize fuel savings....

If you’ve never used a packing cube before, get ready to revolutionize how your suitcase is organized. Packing cubes prevent your suitcase from disintegrating into a chaotic mess by keeping items neatly folded and separated from each other. These smart little cubes come in a set of varying sizes and colors and are made out of nylon fabric with a mesh top panel so you can easily see what’s inside....

One of the greatest risks to artificial light is how it alters animal behavior, says lead study author Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel. “Many times the nighttime is the time to eat, pollinate, navigate, nest, or rest, and all those processes are disturbed by the artificial light,” says Sánchez de Miguel, an astrophysicist studying light pollution at the University of Exeter in the UK. These light sources can cause harm by “sometimes exposing the animals to predators, other times directly by messing up with their physiology,” he says....

While the odds of a collision remained low—never exceeding 1 in 1,000—the extraterrestrial game of chicken highlights the growing challenge of flying satellites through Earth’s ever-more-crowded orbital environment. Streets have stoplights. Airports have air traffic controllers. But space remains wide open, with European Space Agency (ESA) operators addressing Monday’s near miss the same way one might request a sick day—writing a polite email and hoping for a speedy response. As SpaceX and other companies build global internet networks using “mega constellations” of thousands of satellites, experts say only a better traffic control system can keep our space-based infrastructure from coming crashing down....

Soon, Facebook will no longer automatically recognize people’s faces in Memories, photos or videos uploaded to the app, or give suggestions for tagging who’s in a photo or video. It will also not be able to notify users if they appear in other photos or videos across the site. However, users can still manually tag friends in photos. This change also means that the Automatic Alt Text (AAT) technology that creates image descriptions for people who are blind or visually impaired will be turned off....

In partnership with EutelSat, a satellite company with a current fleet of 39 machines orbiting our planet, Zuckerberg says Facebook will work to bring broadband internet to large swaths of sub-Saharan Africa by 2016. The two companies will be using new hardware from Spacecom, specifically the AMOS-6 satellite, which is still under construction at the moment. When completed and launched (planned for 2016), the AMOS-6 will be able to transmit 36 high-throughput beams ranging from 26....

Here are a few road trip essentials you won’t want to leave behind. Unexpected sprains and cuts are an inconvenient pitfall of everyday life, and even more so if you plan on spending time outdoors. If you’re leaving town, a first-aid kit is a must-have for keeping everyone in your party protected, and it can make a big difference in limiting the progression of minor injuries. This kit contains a variety of 326 pieces to treat and soothe almost any common injury or ailment including cuts, headaches, sprains, burns, insect stings, and stomach aches....

If you’re planning on giving or receiving a massage, the Weleda Massage Oil is a good option. It contains arnica, which is used for a variety of purposes including relieving muscle pain after exercising. It will have a warming and calming effect on your muscles when you rub it onto your skin. If you’re looking for a cream you can apply and actually feel the relieving effects (rather than just hope it’s working), the T-Relief Extra Strength cream is a great option....

These images capture flocking birds and schooling fish suspended in smooth, synchronized swirls—twin phenomena of the sky and sea. But while they seem to have complex choreography from behind a lens, avian and aquatic dances follow just one simple rule: If your neighbor makes a move, you follow suit. In both cases, this rote locomotion results in a comforting cluster better able to protect the animals from predation. It also has the potential to produce infinite shapes in the water and air, providing us onlookers with endlessly satisfying displays....

A lot of the fun, however, rests on interpretation. A photographer might snap a creature in its habitat a certain way or capture an interaction with other members of its species because the scenario struck them as amusing. The viewers then get a second-hand look at the artist’s perspective. But they’ll never know what was running through the subject’s mind at that moment—not until biologists tap into animals’ self-awareness. While you wait for that Dr....

This is a no-nonsense set of tools that comes in a convenient tote. If your closets tend to get chaotic, this is a great way of keeping your tools from wandering off and getting lost. The tote has 7 exterior pockets, which is more than enough room for the tools included in this purchase. Your summer tomatoes will thank you; this set comes with everything you need for a little garden maintenance....

Most people who dye their hair have heard about Olaplex, a much-hyped salon treatment purported to make even the most damaged strands look sleek. The at-home version is slightly less miraculous, but it does provide a marked improvement in the look and feel of processed hair. It’s definitely a worthwhile gift for someone who grows their hair long while also coloring or styling it with frequency, which is a recipe for split ends and general mayhem....

Of course groundhogs—also known as woodchucks—don’t emerge at this time just to be furry weather predictors. So what’s the real reason? Research into groundhog biology shows they have other priorities in early February than mingling with the people of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. It’s Groundhog Day! Groundhog Day appears to have European roots. Early February is midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and throughout history this seasonal crossroads has been celebrated....

This feature expands on the cross-app messaging capability between Messenger and Instagram that Facebook introduced last year on this date, and will allow users to start group chats with Instagram and Messenger friends. Sateesh Kumar Srinivasan, director of product management for Messenger, said in a statement that people can still use delivery control to determine who goes in their “Chats List,” who goes to the “Message Request” folder, and who can’t message or call you....

Below the strings on the Moog, as on any electric guitar, are electromagnet pickups. As the metal string vibrates, it disrupts their magnetic field, yielding a signal that gets converted to sound. But the Moog’s pickups can actually change a string’s motion in three ways. In “sustain” mode, the magnetic field pulses in time with a string to hold a note indefinitely. Or it can vibrate the strings: Just press against the fretboard like pressing the keys of a synthesizer....

On the other side of the country, Seattle, Portland, and Spokane are also expected to see temperatures creeping above 100 degrees. The National Weather Service has already put out an alert to advise people from doing strenuous activities in the hottest hours of the day and to stay extra hydrated. The West Coast has already been battered by drought and wildfires, with the Dixie fire searing across California and gaining a spot as the second largest fire in the state’s history at 510,227 acres burned and 30 percent containment....