Neural circuits are thought to be key for various neurological disorders having to do with stress, depression, addiction, and pain—researchers can study them by adding various chemicals or light to neurons to mimic the disease. But observing or manipulating neural circuits to figure out how they work has been notoriously difficult. When researchers do tests on mice, the animals have to be awake and moving around, but the devices to monitor their brain activity are usually hooked up to wires, so they can’t move freely....

Determining this feature of exoplanets required an experiment with giant lasers and an incredibly thin sliver of iron placed under unprecedented pressure. “We’re finding so many planets, and [one of] the big questions people have are: are these planets potentially habitable?” says Rick Kraus, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who led the study. To answer this question, researchers don’t normally start with thinking about a planet’s core. Instead, they ask whether the planet is the right distance from its star or whether it has water....

Today, Popular Science executive editor Jennifer Bogo interviewed astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko aboard the International Space Station. When asked for his viewpoint, from 249 miles up, Commander Kelly comments that Earth’s atmosphere is “something that we need to protect, because it’s the only thing that’s protecting us from space.” Watch his entire response, including his message to Paris negotiators, above.

Last spring, a reminder popped up on my calendar that I was due for a couple of routine cancer screenings. But healthy me wasn’t going anywhere near a health care facility in a pandemic—and apparently, the rest of America had similar thoughts. Screening for breast, colon, and cervical cancers fell as much as 94 percent in March compared to averages from the same time period over the last three years, according to an analysis of 2....

Disease experts used a series of experiments to determine that “skeeters” prefer to dine on a small group of mice infected with dengue and Zika. These infections caused the bacterial communities on the animals’ skin to boost production of a molecule called acetophenone, which in turn piqued the interest of mosquitoes. However, giving the rodents a chemical derived from vitamin A–that also happens to be a medication for severe acne–countered the effect after several days....

In 2007, I started a position at the urban entomology lab at the University of Florida. At the time, bedbugs were spreading around the United States—after a long period of quiescence—so a lot of research was focused on understanding and controlling the insects. Bedbugs are ancient critters with diets made up entirely of blood. Before they developed their taste for humans, they dwelled in caves and fed on bats. When our species moved into the caves, we became one of their main meal sources....

Skygazers can see up to 120 meteors per hour at the shower’s peak, if viewers are watching from a dark location. But this year such a high count seems unlikely, because the glow of a nearly full moon will dim the shower’s light. Metropolitan areas will also have a tougher time seeing the streams of cosmic debris. Realistically, meteor watchers in the Northern hemisphere can expect to see 30 to 40 per hour, says NASA....

But now, a submarine is going where no submarine has gone before. To the molecular level. In a paper published this month in NanoLetters, researchers announced that they’ve invented a submarine so small that it’s made out of a single molecule. The submarine is made of just 244 atoms, and can move through fluids with molecules of approximately the same size all around it. “This is akin to a person walking across a basketball court with 1,000 people throwing basketballs at him,” co-author James Tour said in a statement....

You can’t just sing any old note if you want some breakage. As the video illustrates, you have to find the resonant frequency of the glass: the frequency at which the glass naturally vibrates. That’s easy to do: just tap the glass and listen to (and/or record) the pitch at which it rings. The pitch that you hear corresponds to the vibration frequency — the higher the pitch, the higher the frequency....

The biggest deal we saw was this Celestron AstroMaster 130EQ Newtonian Telescope, down 20% from $349.95 to $236.47. This reflector telescope is great for those getting started on their galactic gaze journey. It features a fully-coated glass 130mm optic lens, a sturdy and lightweight German Equatorial frame, two eyepieces, a StarPointer red dot finderscope, and an adjustable tripod for hands-free viewing. Two slow-motion control knobs allow you to make small, precise adjustments to pinpoint each of Jupiter’s moons....

We’ve known that Venus has had some form of tectonic activity for a long time—since radar measurements taken in the 70s, according to Paul Byrne, a planetary geologist at North Carolina State University who led the study. Scientists have to rely on radar in this case because visible light gets blocked by Venus’ carbon dioxide atmosphere, which is 90 times the pressure of Earth’s. But no one had yet identified specific places “where the ground is pushed together, or where the ground is pulled apart,” or where two surfaces slide by each other lengthwise, Bryne says....

If you dig a little deeper into that email app of yours, you’ll discover quite a few features for streamlining your workflow, so you can spend less time sending and receiving messages and more time living your life. Some of these features may not be available in every email app out there, but most of them are—though with different names and paths. We’ve included one example for each to make sure you find something new....

But with an electric car, the software is the star of the show. Code controls everything. That’s why Tesla can introduce Track Mode to the Model 3 with a software download, unlocking new features designed to get the electric sports sedan around a track faster than before. On something like the BMW M5, putting the car in Sport Mode adjusts a dizzying array of settings for throttle response, transmission, chassis, steering, stability control, and whether the car operates in all- or rear-wheel drive....

In fact, you’ve got multiple apps to pick from, so you can choose the one that’s most convenient for your specific needs. 1. Venmo This platform’s main objective is to make it easier for you to quickly send money to friends and family, but Venmo (available for Android and iOS) is also simple, uncluttered, and friendly. To pay someone, select them directly from your contacts, enter their phone number or email address, or scan their Venmo profile QR code....

I’m one of the few people passing through town not for the express purpose of rubbing shoulders with them. Rather, I’m here to report on the Red Bull Stratos mission–Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner’s attempt to skydive from a record-breaking 120,000 feet–scheduled to take place here on Tuesday. Red Bull has erected a pop-up city, replete with a media center and mission control, at the Roswell International Air Center on the southern end of town....

Transporting athletes and fans from all over the world and to cities hosting the Olympic games comes with a gigantic carbon footprint, for example, the 2012 London Olympics had an estimated footprint of over 400 thousand tons of CO2 emissions. Constantly building brand-new stadiums every few years that often go unused after the games, with very few exceptions, is also extremely wasteful. The 2016 Rio Olympics whipped up a whopping 3....

Here are some of our favorites, in a range of styles and weights. These low-key wooden bookends bring a warm touch to any bookshelf. Reinforced with steel, and padded at the bottom, these can support a deceptive amount of weight. Beech wood compliments just about any color palette, making these a stylish choice for holding books, DVDs, and magazines. Class up your bookshelf with these polished marble bookends from Fox Run....

If the warmth these special winter socks provide isn’t enough to convince you to spring for a pair, consider this: The socks can also improve your circulation, which will help stop your feet from going numb from the cold in the first place. And while everyday winter socks are nice when you’re mostly inside, you’ll want to take things up a notch when you plan to be outdoors for an extended period of time....

If you’re looking to add kettlebell training to your daily fitness routine, you have more options than you may realize. A no-nonsense, basic kettlebell available from 10 to 55 pounds, these are sturdy cast iron weights that can withstand any punishment you can mete out. Coated and treated to prevent rusting, they are built to be a part of your home gym for a very long time. Sometimes, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel on this kind of thing and can just keep it simple....

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