A portaledge is like a cot designed to hang off a cliff thousands of feet above the ground. Rock climbers sleep on them during multi-day climbs up big bluffs. They’re pretty fun once you get used to dangling. I help ensure that all our portaledges do what we advertise: secure you to the rock face. So, for quality assurance, we take one out of every 200 we make and totally destroy it....

THE SOLUTION Tom Gilbert, a geneticist at the University of Copenhagen, has found that leeches are a great way to track down rare creatures. He was inspired after a colleague monitoring rare tapirs in Malaysia was bitten by a terrestrial leech (a common annoyance in tropical rainforests) and wondered whether the blood inside it could be used for DNA analysis. Gilbert tested the idea by feeding 40 leeches goat blood. After he ground them into a paste, he found that every one contained goat DNA, even four months after its last meal....

With thousands of miles of power lines threading through grass, scrubland, and forest, the investor-owned utility faces a risk of its equipment sparking major blazes. It wouldn’t be the first time. PG&E has been blamed for several large wildfires, including the 2018 Camp Fire, which engulfed the community of Paradise and claimed 85 lives. And California’s electric utilities will only have more to worry about, as the state’s climate becomes hotter and drier, leading to more frequent and powerful fires....

If all goes well, the Artemis 1 flight is about a month away. It’s slated to launch in late August or early September, put itself into the moon’s orbit, then return to Earth. On top of being the first entry in NASA’s newest spaceflight program, it’s an important test of the long-awaited Space Launch System (SLS)—a heavy-lifter of a rocket comparable to the old Saturn V—and the Orion command module that will one day house astronauts....

One company, in particular, skincare brand Cocokind, has incorporated carbon emissions on their product labels as part of their marketing as a sustainably-minded company. ​​“We were calling ourselves ‘clean’ and ‘sustainable,’” founder Priscilla Tsai told Fast Company. “Those things are valid, but what they mean are obviously not regulated as they get thrown around more and more in the industry. We realized we can’t just use these words anymore, and we needed to be able to figure out, how do we measure this internally?...

He was being careful, and had come geared up with a bee veil to prevent the flying insects from stinging his face. But the wasps were more determined than he was prepared. They hovered as close as they could, and then, instead of stinging, squirted venom directly into his eyes. The burning sensation and the pain were immediate. Unable to see, Justin screamed for help as he slid down the tree with two legs wrapped around the trunk, and a bag of wasps hanging from one of his hands....

“We were getting very frequent dolphin detections right there in the Patuxent River,” says Bailey, a research professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. “Now, it was known that bottlenose dolphins can occur in the Chesapeake Bay, but it was thought that they were just very occasional visitors to the bay.” Yet their recordings showed that the dolphins were passing through the area much more often than expected....

This article was originally published in the March/April 2017 issue of Popular Science.

Start fresh with a new user profile Our personal computers have more shortcuts and automations than ever. What once took a few clicks and keystrokes now takes a single gesture, making it far too easy to check Facebook as soon as your attention starts to falter. So if you want to truly block out distractions, start with a clean slate—without any of your bookmarks, auto-filling passwords, and other automations. The easiest thing to do is create a new profile in your browser of choice....

Don’t buy what you already have If a useful item on your key ring still makes sense, ask yourself if your keychain is comfortable enough to hold and to maneuver. Keys bunched up in your fist isn’t exactly ergonomic, and a weight hanging off the end of a tool you’re trying to use can easily turn a simple fix frustrating. Look into quick-release keychains that’ll let you pop tools on and off as needed, so you can fix a problem and get on with your life....

Stats Time: 1 to 2 hours (plus a few more for drying)Material cost: $30 to $50Difficulty: Easy Materials 1 (6-foot-long) 1-by-10-inch) pine board¼-inch rope1 S-hookWood stain of any colorSpar urethane (for outdoor hangers) or polyurethane (for indoor ones) Tools Miter saw (or circular saw)Table sawCrosscut sledDrill5/16-inch drill bitOrbital sanderSanding discs (80-, 120-, and 220-grit)Measuring tapePencil(Optional) super glue Instructions Cut your shelves close to their final length. Using your miter saw or circular saw, cut your board to the approximate final length of your shelves, about an inch longer than the finished size will be....

It helps if you know a little bit about what you want before you start—like the specific activities that you’re going to want to track—but if you’d rather see what devices are out there first, that’s fine too. All of the fitness trackers on the market, and indeed your existing smartphone, will be able to track your steps and calorie burn for you, but after that don’t take anything for granted....

Yes, the Start Page (to use its Apple-given name) is utilitarian, and most of us only stay there briefly on our way to more interesting areas of the web, but a beautiful rest stop that serves your needs is far more enjoyable than one with blank white walls and seven disorganized convenience stores. In Safari, hit the plus button to open the Start Page. Scroll all the way to the bottom and hit Edit to bring up all available customization options—you’ll see a toggle switch for Background Image at the very end....

In these dark and confusing times, hygiene is undergoing something of a renaissance. Since COVID-19 made landfall in the U.S. this January, disinfecting sprays and wipes have flown off shelves, triggering shortages nationwide as concerned citizens scramble to sanitize the countless surfaces they touch. From subway poles to shopping carts and doorknobs, few objects have been spared. With hygiene heroes like hand-washing already on our side, this frenzied cleaning craze might seem like overkill....

And then, one does; she sits the frantic woman down and asks her to breathe, slowly and deeply. “In….. and out, in….and out,” the stranger models. “It looks like you’re having a panic attack,” she says reassuringly. “It feels scary now, but they usually don’t last more than five minutes. It will be over soon.” Such was one of the many scenarios played out at Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), an all-day course teaching volunteers how to recognize and respond to signs of crisis in strangers....

It’s a balmy 75 degrees outside, but as soon as you open the door of your parked car, an oppressive cloud of heat envelops you. Here’s how to keep your vehicle from getting so hot—even when you can’t find a shady parking spot—and how to cool it off as quickly as possible before you hop in. Those materials store the energy and radiate it back out in long, infrared wavelengths, which cannot easily pass through glass....

Is it that matcha, a fine powder made of ground green tea leaves, is a bit intimidating with its special bowl and whisk? That’s understandable. Keiko Kitazawa, a traditional Omotesenke-style Japanese tea ceremony instructor, says, “Producing matcha requires heart, dedication, the utmost care, and advanced methodologies.” It is closely linked with hospitality in Japanese culture, and this lives on today in the tea ceremony. But while you don’t need to devote Kitazawa’s same dedication to making a cup of matcha at home, you can still produce a rich and delicious matcha beverage—latte or otherwise—right in your own kitchen....

You’re already used to packing clothes, toiletries, and other essentials for a trip. Depending on how long you plan to be away from home, it may also be worth packing things you can use to cook. Your hotel room may already have some tools you can use to make a meal in a pinch, but if you bring extras—maybe an electric kettle—you can open up a whole new culinary world....

How to remove a Twitter follower on the mobile app Although this is the first time Twitter has offered a straightforward way to remove a follower without blocking them, the idea has been around for a while in the form of the “soft block.” This is still your best option on the app. You can also go to your profile page, click Followers, hit the three dots next to the follower you want to get rid of, and choose Remove this follower, but this approach will be tedious for anyone with more than a handful of followers....

I’ve run into this problem a few times, and the culprit is typically an issue with the cache or one of the settings, causing the program to crash or otherwise not work properly. The easiest fix is to wipe the cache and reset the application back to its default settings. Luckily, we know where all the right files are and a program that will do all of the hard work for you....