But although the company is eager to try again, SpaceX’s next launch likely will not include a landing attempt, SpaceNews reports. In a launch scheduled for February 24, the Falcon 9 will launch a broadcast/communications satellite for a company named SES. The 12,000-pound satellite will need nearly all of the Falcon 9’s fuel to get into the proper orbit. SpaceX’s controlled landings require fuel for the thrusters that slow the rocket booster’s descent....

A new study in Environmental Science & Technology investigated climate solutions in professional sport based travel, examining how different leagues across North America contributed to greenhouse gas emissions. Estimated emissions for 2018 were about 121,841 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is over 20 percent higher than emissions in 2020—largely due to frequent flights. Professional teams often use private jets and other non-commercial forms of transit, so the emissions per person is often higher than the average person who isn’t a professional athlete....

Let the spoilers commence. The most fun of Star Wars Episode 7 is getting to know the new characters. We’re initially introduced to Poe Dameron—an X-Wing pilot and owner of the fan-favorite BB-8. Within moments we see how this Star Wars film sets itself apart from the other newer entries, when Poe can’t decide who should talk first: he or Kylo Ren. And in the very same scene we see a second way—stormtroopers (on screen) finally thinking and acting on their own....

Although the findings are preliminary and the carbon buried by storms won’t alleviate global warming, the data could still be useful to scientists as a benchmark to calculate the Earth’s carbon “budget,” which is how much carbon is added and removed from the atmosphere overall. Right now, those numbers could be way off if accurate carbon data from storms are not considered. Via PhysOrg

Meanwhile, TikTok is remains the current social media platform to beat for Gen Z, with 67-percent of responders claiming to frequently visit the app. Two other social media platforms—Instagram and Snapchat—also saw sizable increases over the past eight years. Another result gleaned from the study shows that YouTube is by far the website teens utilize most, with 95-percent of those surveyed saying they frequent the platform. Check out Pew Research’s infographic below for a wider view of the current social media landscape (RIP, Vine)....

The researchers determined the sexual histories of 189 white adults. Then they showed photos of those adults to 34 men and 34 women, who had to decide which subjects had a background of cheating. The female participants, researchers said, could tell with “modest” (not high but not insignificant) accuracy which men had a history of cheating. The men had an insignificant correlation with guessing right about the women–in other words, they couldn’t tell....

While the mother’s vagina contains a lot of bacteria that are good for a baby, it might also have some dangerous pathogens that the mother never even knew she had. The researchers mentioned B streptococcus, which is found in up to 30 percent of women and can cause an infection in the baby’s blood; as well as herpes virus and the bacteria that cause chlamydia and gonorrhea in adults and can bring on a nasty eye infection in newborns....

As more and more dissidents take to the streets in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, US police have unleashed some dangerous crowd-control tools, possibly exacerbating the continued health risks of COVID-19. Cities like Seattle are still seeing hundreds of new cases each week—and doctors worry that dispersing mass amounts of tear gas could needlessly damage people’s lungs and cause greater risk of virus exposure. “The coronavirus is still quite active … and we will likely see a rise in cases,” says Anna Nolan, a pulmonologist at New York University School of Medicine who’s been treating COVID-19 patients....

New episodes arrive every Monday. You can listen in the player above, subscribe via iTunes, add us on Stitcher, check us out on Anchor, keep up on Spotify, or find us wherever fine podcasts are served. Here’s what you can expect from this week’s episode. Techathlon Decathlon As always, we start with a 10-question deathmatch that pits our players against one another to find out who knows the most about the week’s big tech stories....

Click to launch our tour of Google Chrome’s first great apps The Chrome Web Store is an interesting beast, in that many (maybe even most) of the apps are essentially unchanged from a typical website. This is especially noticeable for Google’s own offerings, ranging from Gmail to Google Maps to Google Reader, but there’s a pretty reasonable explanation for that: Those “sites” were always web apps. Until now, there just wasn’t a central repository of them, but that’s no reason to radically change the near-perfection that is Gmail just so the app looks different than gmail....

Spring is a normal time for wildfires on the Texas plains; the grass that died over the winter haven’t been revived yet by early summer rains. But these fires are unusual in their speed and intensity. Between March 17 and 18 of this year, nearly 60,000 acres burned across the state. That’s not quite as large as the late-summer fires in California, the most destructive of which have burned hundreds of thousands of acres—but the Texas fires have moved remarkably quickly across open grassland, much like the blazes that consumed the suburbs around Boulder, Colorado, earlier this winter....

Black Friday laptop and computer deals SAMSUNG 34″ Class Flat LED Ultra WQHD Monitor, $229.00 (was $399.99) If you don’t want to shell out a lot for a monitor but still want an ultra-wide option with a high-quality picture, Samsung’s LED Ultra WQHD monitor is a great pick. At 34 inches across, the screen has a resolution of 3440×1440 pixels that delivers a sharp picture. A respectable 75Hz refresh rate and AMD FreeSync technology cut down on tearing and stutter for better gaming....

Every dog is unique, and the dog products you buy should cater to their specific routine. Whether you just brought home your new best friend or you’re looking to update your doggie wardrobe, we’ll help you find the best dog collar for your furry friend. Best for large dogs: EzyDog Neo Classic Wide Dog CollarBest for small dogs: Ruffwear Reflective Dog CollarBest tactical: Yunlep Adjustable Tactical Dog CollarBest leather: Soft Touch Collars Padded Leather Dog CollarBest budget: Coastal Pet Products New Earth Soy Adjustable Collar...

With all our product stories, the goal is simple: more information about the stuff you’re thinking about buying. We may sometimes get a cut from a purchase, but if something shows up on one of our pages, it’s because we like it. Period.

If there was ever a time to feel like a moderate level of pirate, this kite would be a key component. With vibrantly striped sails and an easy-to-assemble hull, flying this kite might be the simplest travel experience you’ll ever have. It has supportive metal rods and tough polyester fabric to avoid any undesired ripping. And while it’s nearly three feet tall, it folds down into a portable case that you can bring with you anywhere....

Still, two papers published today that describe the bed bug genome, which I personally think is exciting. (Can you blame me?) The work comes from two separate groups: one led by the American Museum of Natural History and Weill Cornell Medicine, and the other by i5K, a consortium of researchers who plan to sequence the genomes of 5,000 insect species. The groups published simultaneously in Nature Communications. For more on the papers and why they are interesting—and why I don’t think they’re YAG—check out my story at The Verge....

In recent decades, however, its reputation has tarnished. The Corvette is seen too often as an anachronism or a sad totem of mid-life crises. The ‘Vette wasn’t supposed to be a relic, trapped in ember in the 1970s and frozen in time to be idolized by drivers who are now in their golden years. We shouldn’t be in the place where the mighty Chevy Corvette—“America’s sports car” and bearer of the Stars and Stripes in international competition against the likes of Porsche and Ferrari in prestigious races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans—would come to be viewed so skeptically....

To understand why this branch of the DOD is interested in such a craft, it first helps to consider a phenomenon called “wing-in-ground effect.” “There is a history of attempting to develop aircraft created to fly with ‘wing-in-ground effect,’ which means the aircraft is flying no more than the length of its wingspan above ground or water,” reads the DARPA release. The Soviet Union developed vehicles on the same principle called “ekranoplans”—seaplanes like this could go fast and take off and land without runways, but were restricted to calm seas and couldn’t really maneuver much....

An important note: that registration counts drone owners, not drones themselves. The FAA, which certifies both pilots and aircraft, chose to register pilots instead of aircraft with its new rules, allowing model airplane enthusiasts with large fleets of small remotely controlled vehicles to just register once. That means it’s not quite an accurate picture of how many drones there are, but it’s a good lower threshold. Last fall, the FAA estimated that a million drones would be sold by the end of the 2015 holiday season....

The Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska is the largest temperate rainforest in the world and the largest national forest in the US. At almost 17 million acres, it’s a wonderland for hunting and fishing. The U.S. Forest Service announced plans last Tuesday to open up 9.2 million of those acres to potential logging and development. The service would do this by exempting the Tongass from the Clinton-era Roadless Rule, which regulates punching new roads into undeveloped forest service lands....