This article was originally published in the March/April 2016 issue of Popular Science, under the title “6 Ways to Play Without Getting Your Hands Dirty.”

A new XPrize, announced today, has the goal of changing that. The new $7 million Shell Ocean Discovery XPrize will feature two rounds of competition over the next three years. Teams will need to develop a mostly autonomous device capable of navigating the ocean depths. The technologies can be launched from land or air, and will be put through timed trials, and have to complete several tasks at specified depths....

A new study published last week in in the research journal Joule details both the impediments and six possible solutions to ensuring the United States can reach the Biden administration’s 2035 goal for net-zero emissions in the electricity sector. Within those potential pathways are a mix of strategies, including further reliance on wind and solar energy production, hydrogen energy storage, and an expansion of our nuclear power capabilities. For example, as explained by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), wind and solar energy would provide 60 to 80 percent of total generation in the least expensive electricity mix, with “the overall generation capacity grow[ing] to roughly three times the 2020 level by 2035—including a combined 2 terawatts of wind and solar....

Salt does more than just make your food taste more delicious—it’s important for your body to function properly. Sodium, one of the key ingredients in table salt, regulates blood flow and pressure, and helps transmit messages between nerves and muscle fibers. Chloride, the other chemical in table salt, aids in digestion. Foods in your diet need to have enough salt replenish these nutrients to keep you healthy. But too much salt can be bad for you....

Phil Doherty doesn’t think sea otters are cute. Sure, he can see why tourists might get a kick out of watching the fuzzy critters reclining in waves with clams on their bellies, fixing to chow down. But to Doherty, co-director of the Southeast Alaska Regional Dive Fisheries Association and the commercial fisherman he represents, those cuddly otters are eating their bottom line. Northern sea otters were hunted to near extinction during the Russian fur trade....

Recent observations of Mercury’s rotation suggest that the planet has a partially molten core, and scientists at the University of Illinois and Case Western Reserve University developed laboratory experiments to model what might be happening beneath the surface. They studied the behavior of an iron-sulfur mix at high pressures and temperatures, and found that as the outer core of the stuff cools, iron atoms condense into snowflake-like pieces that fall in towards the center....

“It all got started in 2013, in a senior design class,” Landgraf recalls. “The professor brought in a number of people to talk about medical technology. These were young residents at a really prestigious medical school, who had grown up in the smartphone era. One of them pointed out a stethoscope and said, ‘I don’t understand the utility of this thing.’” Landgraf had come to UC-Berkeley with a passion for exploring mechanical and biological systems....

Since the early 2010s, military drones have faded from the minds of much of the public. In that time, other nations like Iraq and Nigeria and Pakistan have joined America as wielders of armed remotely piloted aircraft. And even more nations have adopted unarmed drones as flying cameras to guide their military. The latest country to join that list is none other than Afghanistan. A U.S. military official announced yesterday that Afghanistan is expected to field its own drones starting in March....

“I like to read the stuff that has nothing to do with my research,” he says—which is how he found himself totally absorbed in a paper about the asteroid that collided with Earth 66 million years ago, decimating dinosaurs, birds, insects, and all manner of other life. To understand how that cataclysmic collision impacted lichens—co-dependent organisms made of fungi and algae or cyanobacteria—Lumbsch and some colleagues studied the DNA of modern lichen to trace their evolution....

Introduction Google’s presentation starts with a joke about how much the new Pixel phones have leaked around the web. That’s pretty standard fare at this point for press events because everything leaks. Hopefully, this means there are some surprises left to learn about during the presentation. The first presenter is Google’s Rick Osterloh who is taking a very short walk down the company’s 20-year history. As usual, we start with some stats....

Revision3 uses the popular BitTorrent protocol to distribute the video files for its own high-defintion, Web-only shows. BitTorrent works by harnessing users’ own computers spread across multiple networks to deliver large files in bite-sized chunks, so it’s an easy and efficient way to deliver a multi-gigabyte HD video file without hogging the bandwidth of a single delivery server. While the protocol itself is perfectly legal, it can of course be used to easily and illegally distribute pirated movies, music and software, which is where MediaDefender comes in....

The little white stick protruding from Apple’s AirPods has become an instantly recognizable cultural object since the company first announced the wireless Bluetooth headphones way back in 2016. When the AirPods Pro showed up in 2019, they upped the performance—and the price—but kept a similar basic, and easily identifiable, form factor Today, however, Apple threw a change-up and announced the $549 over-the-ear AirPods Max designed to compete with other luxury headphones from companies like Bose and Sony....

Lockdown Mode is designed to block a category of hyper-targeted hacks that are generally used by governments (or private companies with support from governments) against activists, dissidents, journalists, and high-level business people. Although there are presumably other, similar exploits that have not been exposed, the most infamous of these is the spyware called Pegasus. Pegasus, developed by the (now sanctioned) Israeli technology firm NSO Group, turns iPhones and Android smartphones against their users....

Oh, here’s a nice mockup of what the iPad Mini might look like, given the current metallic trend amongst the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Now, researchers are getting a better idea of what happened. In two studies published in Science today and announced at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, researchers examined the aftermath of this latest massive earthquake, and unveiled new findings about past earthquakes in the region that could help prepare for greater hazards in the future. In the first paper researchers found that there were 4,312 landslides caused by the earthquakes and aftershocks....

“I was originally afraid of the side effects,” Stacy says. “I was worried it was going to make my migraines worse.” She’s not alone. In March 2021, Carnegie Mellon University published a survey showing that 70 percent of participants were concerned about COVID-19 vaccine side effects. This remains the most common reason people give for not getting the shot. But a new way of thinking about side effects could help convince folks on the fence to get the jab—and perhaps, some researchers suspect, even make vaccines more effective....

“Creating a poem once the machine is trained is easy,” says Karmel Allison, creator of Curated AI. The project’s name is itself an apt title for the work done by humans for the site: the implementation of an artificial intelligence designed to write, and the curation of what it has written. It’s hard to not entertain fantastical, sci-fi thoughts in the interview process of such a story. When a stranger answers a string of emails about their AI writing site in consistent 3-5 minute intervals, and remains faceless on the phone, the first few minutes feel a bit like it could be another AI layer of the concept....

In addition to health and convenience, air fryers also shine when it comes to versatility. When the uninitiated think of air frying, they may conjure images of perfectly crisped tater tots and appetizers from the freezer section of your local grocery store. But there’s so much more than that. Air fryers are also great for cooking main dishes, from whole chickens and steaks to fresh vegetables and tofu, depending on the size of the fryer....

Read up full list of Prime Day deals here When is Prime Day 2021? When does Prime Day end? Prime Day 2021 is scheduled for Monday, June 21 through Tuesday, June 22. The shopping event lasts 48 hours. Best water filter deal: LifeStraw Personal Water Filter — $20 (was $40) LifeStraw’s water filter uses a microfiltration membrane to allow you to drink water from any source and stay safe. It filters as you drink, preventing you from ingesting bacteria like E....

Instead of juggling all these things in your hands or weighing your bag down, a great beach wagon can make transporting all your belongings hassle-free. We’ve gathered some reliable sand-traversing options, as well as a compilation of helpful questions, so you can snag the best beach wagon for your next trip. Best all-terrain beach wagon: MacSports Heavy Duty All-Terrain Beach WagonBest vertical beach wagon: Rio Deluxe Wonder Wheeler Best double-decker beach wagon: MacSports Double Decker Utility CartBest soft-sand beach wagon: Big Kahuna Beach Wagon Best kids beach wagon: Radio Flyer Beach and Boardwalk Wagon Best budget beach wagon: Seina Folding Wagon...