Rather than craft a laser gun composed of a single, highly powerful beam, Anthony’s creation combines eight parallel 5-watt lasers. A lens focuses the beams to produce a concentrated blast of photons—just as a shotgun’s choke does for pellets. Clearing time from his schedule at Southern Illinois University, the math-physics-chemistry triple major worked nearly nonstop for 48 hours, stripping wires, soldering parts, and smoothing out bugs, taking breaks only to eat and sleep....

The Planetary Deep Drill isn’t an ordinary drill like you might have in your house for hanging photos or building Ikea furniture. To assist in arguably one of the most important searches in human history, the Planetary Deep Drill contains a microscope, camera, and LED and UV lights. The UV light will help identify microbes and minerals that fluoresce, not unlike a black light used to identify organics at a crime scene....

China has seen at least eight other reports of exploding cell phones since 2002. Similar incidents in the U.S. and other countries have led to Lithium-ion battery recalls in the past. Manufacturers have pointed fingers at counterfeit batteries in nearly all past cases. “Counterfeit batteries place our customers at risk,” said Jason Howard, a manager for Mobile Devices-Energy Technologies at Motorola. “Furthermore, they hurt our brand.” Howard noted that any “explosion” is usually connected to the release of built-up pressure inside cell containers....

The Telegraph

Dubbed “GO#WEBBFUSCATOR,” the multistep attack first originates as a typical phishing email (Securonix’s sample pushed false satellite phone service plans) containing a file made to look like Microsoft Office document attachment. When downloaded, the program will subsequently run if a user has certain Word macros enabled, at which point it downloads an additional file—in this case, the Webb Telescope’s SMACS 0723 photo fronting a Base64 code. Once executed, the malware runs various tests to determine a computer’s weaknesses for the hackers to then further exploit....

A new study of the bacteria’s genome suggests that C. difficile is evolving into two species. And one of them is tailor-made to attack hospitals. “The study shows how the pathogen C. difficile is evolving in response to the Western sugary diet and common hospital disinfectants,” says Nitin Kumar, a senior bioinformatician at the Wellcome Sanger Institute who is one of the paper’s authors. Kumar and his colleagues collected a total of 906 different strains (or variants) of C....

The agency first warned about potential issues in a November bulletin, explaining their concerns that the frequencies utilized for this updated 5G service have the potential to impact an aircraft instrument called the radio altimeter. These sensors, which measure a plane’s height above the ground, are critical in guiding pilots during landings. On the other side of this issue, CTIA, the lobbying group representing the wireless industry, refuted some of those claims in an electronic filing sent to the FAA....

So if smartwatches and fitness trackers are critical to virtual healthcare, budget health trackers like the Amazfit Bip U Pro are critical to scalability. At around $70, this budget smartwatch is the kind of well-equipped, affordable fitness tracker that could be a big part of how more people monitor their health. The Amazfit Bip U Pro fitness tracker sits above the Bip U. The Pro model adds Alexa voice support, GPS, and a compass....

The largest inflatable hot tub deal we’re seeing is the Bestway SaluSpa Miami Inflatable Hot Tub, on sale for $309.99—that’s 48% off its 599.99 list price. This black inflatable hot tub sits 4 people, and is made out of puncture-resistant, tri-tech material for durability. It won’t lose it’s shape or stability thanks to an I-beam construction. This hot tub is just as relaxing as it is sturdy: tend to your sore muscles and unwind with the help of 120 bubble jets....

Ever since Voyager 1 first took pictures of Jupiter in 1979, we’ve seen massive jolts of energy deep beneath the planet’s cloud tops. But according to Heidi Becker, a physicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, spotting lightning in the upper reaches of the gas giant’s atmosphere has proven challenging—it wasn’t clear if we weren’t able to see lightning with our current tech, or if the lightning simply didn’t strike there....

The handheld, button-powered remote, evolutionarily, is kind of as good as it will ever be. Manufacturers of TVs, as well as assorted gadget and accessory makers, are all too willing to cram whatever trendy technology they can find onto remotes. Touch controls! Capacitive screens! Apps! Motion sensing! And none of them really work. Meanwhile, the need for them to work is growing: As TVs and connected boxes do ever more things, we need a way to navigate them that’s as effective as the way we navigate through our phones, our computers, and our tablets....

The concept, posted to arXiv, details an engine that could ingest debris, break it into tiny pieces (if it happens to be a large chunk), and then grind it (or blast with a laser) into a powder. Heating that powder up could then render it into a plasma, to be used as fuel. And since we have so much space junk to clean up, this engine could keep these helpful space vacuums zooming around space for a long time....

Prior to this discovery, evidence for the existence of Denisovans came only from another tooth and a tiny finger bone found in the same cave back in 2008. In 2010, a team of Russian scientists identified them as belonging to the same species, but one new to science. The researchers named the species after the cave in which it was found–Denisova cave. Now, with the help of this new tooth, scientists believe that the Denisovans were alive 60,000 years earlier than previously thought, providing evidence that early Homo sapiens lived alongside many other human-like species, including the Denisovans, Neanderthals, and other yet-to-be discovered species....

The Women’s Health Study is one of three initiatives now open to all Apple customers in the US (the other two are focused on heart health as it relates to physical activity and hearing loss from environmental noise and headphone use). But while all of the studies aim to add a massive influx of data around poorly understood topics, Harvard’s analysis of hundreds of thousands of users’ periods could be a game changer for physicians....

Hammerfest is home to the first oil and gas operation in the Barents Sea. The gas gets pumped 89 miles southeast from the gas fields of Snøhvit through an underwater pipeline. It arrives at a processing plant, which occupies pretty much the entire island of Melkøya—one of the handful that comprise the municipality of Hammerfest. Walking among the massive structures with a guide and a few fellow journalists, I can assure you that it is an impressive operation....

“Quantum networking is a very specific area of research that requires different focus compared to quantum computing,” Simone Severini, director, quantum technologies at AWS said in a statement. To exhibit peculiar quantum qualities like superposition or entanglement, objects have to be very small or very cold. Quantum networks being tested today use photons, or particles of light, to communicate quantum states over long distances. Quantum computers are a promising approach for carrying out select tasks like optimizing materials design or searching in a database....

“We know that our closest relatives, non-human primates, need to be trained to respond to rhythm,” Laura Verga, a postdoctoral researcher in the comparative bioacoustics department at Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, said in a statement. “And even when trained, primates show very different rhythmic capacities to ours”. But can adorable and musically-gifted baby seals pick up on rhythmic tones? Verga is the first author of a study published today in the journal Biology Letters outlines how harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) pick up on rhythmic patterns in various audio samples....

In short, even the best air purifiers aren’t guaranteed to fix all that ails you and your home. But if you’re wondering whether air purifiers are really worth it … we think so. The right filter can help distribute cleaner air and that’s always a good thing, considering the link between air quality and health. Best overall: Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde Best for large rooms: Mila Smart Air PurifierBest for small rooms: LEVOIT Air Purifier for Home BedroomBest for COVID: BLUEAIR Blue 211+ Auto HEPASilent 23dB Air PurifierBest HEPA: Coway Tower True HEPA Air PurifierBest with UV light: Germ Guardian True HEPA Filter Air PurifierBest for allergies: InvisiClean Aura II Air PurifierBest for smoke: Alen BreatheSmart 75iBest portable: WYND Smart Plus Personal Portable Air PurifierBest budget: LEVOIT Air Purifier for Home, Core 300...

How we selected the best Bluetooth speakers under $100 If you visit my apartment, you will immediately see a veritable wall of Bluetooth speakers, large and small. I have what some may call a “deep enthusiasm” for portable sound. To start our selection process for speakers under $100, we listened to personal favorites, took a deep dive into technical specs, and consulted user reviews on additional models. We paid particular attention to sound quality, battery life, and connectivity to ensure that these affordable options provide an exceptional listening experience....