“[It’s] this kind of slow burn of a cost that happens all the time,” says Jason Dinh, a PhD candidate in biology at Duke University. However, Dinh has found that these crustaceans have developed a trick to bulk up without spending too much energy. When he examined claws from fiddler crabs and two snapping shrimp species, Dinh observed that larger claws contained relatively more exoskeleton and less soft tissue than smaller ones....
In a study published today in the journal Science, a team of scientists from around the world present evidence of past chemical reactions between liquid water and carbon-compounds on Mars. “We believe we have found these kinds of liquid water environments and organic compounds together. That’s sort of the limit to how we can describe what we call habitability,” Eva Linghan Scheller, the study’s first author and a post-doctoral fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), tells PopSci....
A new study in the journal Obesity suggests that it actually takes less time than you’d think: only about 23 minutes per day at the start, on average, going down to just 15 minutes once you’re used to calorie counting. But even 15 minutes can feel like a burden if you’re doing something you hate. So let’s not focus on the time it takes. Let’s focus on a side of calorie counting that a lot of people detest: the need to meticulously track your food....
Munesh sits by the roadside near a crowded market in Chandigarh, a city in India’s north, on a January day. She is flanked by several other women, all of them sweepers hired by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. She shows the smartwatch she is wearing and says, “See, I didn’t even touch it, but the camera has turned on.” Munesh, who estimates she is in her 40s and, like many Indians, goes by just one name, is one of around 4,000 such sanitation workers....
Now scientists from Stanford University believe they have found a new way to assess an embryo’s viability before it’s implanted: by checking its squishiness, just as you do in the grocery store to see if a fruit is ripe. The finding could lead to more successful pregnancies that are safer for both mother and child. The researchers published their findings yesterday in Nature Communications. The researchers became interested in this idea when the director of Stanford’s IVF laboratory mentioned to some colleagues that some embryos are squishier than others....
Toy manufacturers are taking note, producing games and playthings that go beyond the basics of early development. These toys introduce kids as young as 3 to physics, logic, and even a bit of circuitry work. Scientifically fun: ThinkFun Gravity Maze Marble Run Brain Game A combination logic game and STEM toy, the Gravity Maze challenges kids to build small marble runs using colorful magnetic bricks. With these simple pieces, they can construct nearly endless maze run variations, each one relying on their spatial reasoning and basic engineering skills....
A new study published in the journal Econometrica presents an unprecedented dive into the effects of robotic labor over the past four decades, revealing the rise of newly dubbed “so-so automation” exacerbates wage gaps between white and blue collar workers more than almost any other factor. “So-so automation” refers to industry robotics that save corporations large sums of money and eradicate lower-skilled human jobs in exchange for relatively minor productivity gains and consumer convenience, according to the paper....
Read about the project’s weird logo, watch Saturday’s launch, and enjoy the photos below:
Samsung announced new smartphones At its Unpacked event in San Francisco earlier this week, Samsung finally pushed the big, red launch button to propel its new Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy S20 smartphones into the world. You can see a full recap of the announcement here and take a closer look at the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s massive 100x “zoom” function here. MWC and CP+ got canceled The annual Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona typically acts as a launch pad for new smartphones and smartphone-adjacent products from a litany of companies....
The first issue, which affects around 119,009 Model S cars made from 2014 to 2021, involves a misalignment in the front trunk latch on the cars, which could cause the hood to open unexpectedly and block the driver’s view. Drivers should get an alert on their dashboard when their front trunk unlatches. The second issue, which affects around 356,309 Model 3 sedans from 2017 to 2020, involves the rearview camera cable harness attached to the car’s back trunk, which can incur stress damage from the trunk lid opening and closing....
But developers have introduced genuinely useful email apps with innovative features that might just save us from our worst nightmare: a cluttered inbox. Spark Spark is an email client crammed full of features—you get intelligent sorting of your email that pushes important messages to the top of your inbox. Plus email scheduling and snoozing, reminders to follow up on messages that have gone unanswered, a clever search system that supports natural language (like “attachments from David”), and plenty more....
Home saunas tend to use one of two different methods to achieve sweat-inducing temperatures. First, there is traditional steam, which heats the air around you to bring up your body heat. With portable saunas, this steam is typically generated by an external steamer pot that feeds into a sauna tent. The second employs infrared technology that uses electromagnetic radiation to warm your body directly rather than heating the air. This type of heat penetrates deeper into the body and is believed to impact and heal deep tissue....
The Sylvania LED light strip is Apple HomeKit-enabled, meaning you can change colors and settings with Siri or through the app. It connects over Bluetooth, and comes with three 2-foot flex strips with adhesive on the back. I’d recommend buying extra double-sided tape just in case you move the LEDs around; each time you remove them, they lose some of their stick. The lights are energy-efficient, have an adjustable white color temperature, and a range of 16 million colors....
eBay’s huge President’s Day sale encompasses all sorts of products, including laptops, cameras, shoes, and tax software. I’m personally most excited by the Dyson products. And if you use the code JUST4DYSON you can save an extra 20 percent. Other highlights include Roombas, home improvement gear, electric shavers, inflatable hot tubs, and much more. I’m once again looking for new headphones to try, so comment in our Facebook Deals group with your suggestions....
Samsung has a reputation for producing the fastest and sturdiest SSDs around. The T5 serves as their flagship portable product thanks to transfer speeds of up to 540 mbs/s. That high transfer rate makes the T5 a top choice for gamers who might want to upgrade their rigs or filmmakers and graphic designers who need quick access to large amounts of data. Carrying around all of your important documents on an expensive piece of technology might freak you out if you (like many of us) have accidentally dropped your phone in the toilet or had a kid use your laptop as a stepstool....
Few things provide the same kind of catharsis found when smashing through a wall or laying waste to some damaged cabinets. While the research is still out on whether or not smashing stuff really provides any clinically therapeutic effect, it’s an undeniable blast. If you want to maximize your destruction, you’re going to need the right tools. This collection of implements is ready to inflict damage as swiftly and brutally as possible....
Take a look at some of our favorite string trimmers currently on the market. This Black+Decker string trimmer comes with a 20-volt, 3-amp hour battery and operates at two different speeds, allowing flexibility depending on what type of vegetation you’re looking to clear. It’s easy to use and set apart by its easy-feed function, which allows you to advance the trimming line as needed with a simple press of a button....
To put that number into context, that’s around 6,900 times the distance between the Sun and Earth. Its orbit is 140 times wider than Pluto’s. At that distance, the dim red dwarf star would look like just another moderately bright star in the sky. Astronomer Simon Murphy from the Australian National University and his colleagues uncovered the secret relationship between the planet and star after noticing that they were both located 100 light-years from Earth....
The Bradley is an armored transport, with tracks and a small turret. It is tank-like in appearance, though the Bradley’s gun is much smaller than what’s mounted on a main battle tank like the M1 Abrams fielded by the US military. Its inclusion in the aid package comes after public calls from Ukraine’s President Zelensky for countries to send them high-end military equipment, including tanks. “It’s not a tank, but it’s a tank killer,” Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon Press Secretary, said at a press conference on January 5....
“Today is gender day because gender and climate are profoundly intertwined. The impact of climate change [affects] women and girls disproportionately,” Alok Sharma, the COP26 President said during an empowerment speech. Women and girls are more likely to be exposed to climate issues for a variety of causes. One being that women are a large portion of the world’s agricultural workforce despite owning less than half of the world’s land....
