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While vegetables are left to rot, food banks are struggling to meet the needs of the hungry. In a survey by the nonprofit Feeding America, 98 percent of food banks reported they were having increased demand for food assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, bridging this gap between farm surpluses and food bank shortages is not straightforward. At the heart of this situation is a highly-specialized food supply chain that can’t easily pivot to supplying donations or retail....

Understanding differences in color could help astronomers better understand the environment of these two planets. Besides the different shades of blue, both worlds have much in common. They both have similar atmospheric makeups, masses, and sizes—each about 4 times larger than Earth (if Earth was a nickel, Uranus and Neptune would be the size of a baseball). Because Uranus and Neptune are nearly 2 billion miles away from Earth, it is challenging to learn the ins and outs of these two giant planets....

Before the century is out, humanity hopes to travel to the Moon and Mars. Those future astronauts will face many risks, like radiation poisoning, isolation, communication delays, and cramped environments closed in by hostile conditions. But if and when we become extraterrestrials, will we have to prepare for alien asteroid strikes as well? “Impacts are a natural part of the process in space,” says Johnson. “This is a hazard throughout the solar system that we’ll have to keep in mind as we do venture out....

Nico Katsanis, a Duke geneticist who hunts down the causes of rare illnesses, is one of a growing number of researchers choosing to work with zebrafish instead of rodents. Since scientists learned to selectively mutate zebrafish DNA in 1988—giving them the ability to turn the species into models of human diseases—the number of biomedical zebra-fish papers has skyrocketed, from 26 to 2,100 last year. The nonprofit Zebrafish International Resource Center, which sells 2,608 different genetically modified strains to researchers, lists 921 academic labs and companies that use the fish....

Found in a remnant patch of forest on the Caribbean island of Barbados, Leptotyphlops is probably a rare species because most of its habitat has been cut down to make way for buildings and farms. Blair Hedges, who identified the tiny snake by its genetic signature and unique color pattern and scales, says that some older specimens of the species exist in museums but were misidentified by other scientists. While larger snakes can lay as many as 100 eggs at a time, Leptotyphlops usually lays just a single, relatively huge egg....

That’s where some very modern X-ray scanning has now come on board. Researchers have turned to techniques used in chemistry and manufacturing to scan wood from the Mary Rose. Unlike previous techniques that rely primarily on finding one specific element, this X-ray technique allows researchers to scan a relic and see any potential contaminants and where they are. The researchers published their work in the journal Matter on October 27....

This isn’t meant to shame or embarrass anyone who had, has, and/or will have throat gonorrhea (or rectal gonorrhea, or good old-fashioned genital gonorrhea). Nay; the point is that so-called sexually transmitted infections can happen to anyone having any kind of sex, even if it involves a condom or doesn’t include penetration. Here’s everything you need to know about these migrating microbes: Wait, I can get gonorrhea in my throat?...

If you can’t justify spending over $100 on a mouse, there is another option. Apple allows buyers to throw $50 towards a Magic Trackpad 2 upgrade. But only if they’re in the process of buying a new iMac. The desktop computer comes with Apple’s Magic Mouse 2, but you can swap it out for the Magic Trackpad 2 for just an extra $50, instead of having to pay the entire $130 for the trackpad and then end up with a spare mouse you may not need....

It’s the first time in the history of the NSC’s risk analysis that this has happened. Car crash rates have generally gone down over the decades, and as opioid overdoses have skyrocketed, the two were likely to cross over at some point. But it may still be surprising to learn that prescription pills are more dangerous than speeding along at 50 miles per hour in a two-ton metal box. As Ken Kolosh, manager of statistics at the NSC told NPR, “As human beings, we’re terrible at assessing our own risk....

Raynor appealed the decision, saying the DNA evidence shouldn’t have been used because it was collected without his consent. The appeal made it all the way up to the Supreme Court, which on Monday, the court announced that it would not hear the case. The Supreme Court did not comment on the denial—and to be fair, they get requests to hear a whole lot of cases every year and have to deny a majority of them—their refusal to hear the case means they stand with the lower court’s majority opinion: Shedding DNA is an inevitable part of life....

In other words, the days of ordering the Mayweather fight and having 40 of your friends over to defray the cost may soon be a memory. The idea here is to create a system that can charge the user on a pay-per-view basis, but not in the same way you’re used to. In this patent filing, Microsoft is talking about pay-per-viewer, or collecting fees based on the number of individuals consuming the content....

YouTube has also been changing some of its video monetization policies, especially around low quality and overly commercial content targeted to kids. In late October, executives from YouTube, along with TikTok and SnapChat, were called in front of the Senate to defend their efforts to protect young users from harm on their platforms. “Earlier this year, we experimented with the dislike button to see whether or not changes could help better protect our creators from harassment, and reduce dislike attacks — where people work to drive up the number of dislikes on a creator’s videos,” the YouTube team wrote....

Fittingly, it is about the Google Lunar XPrize, the competition that Google and the XPrize Foundation started back in 2007, which promises $30 million to the first team able to land a privately funded robotic rover on the moon and drive it around — making history in the process (until now, only a few government space agencies have managed to put rovers on the moon). The new documentary looks appropriately cosmic and stirring in its scope, profiling the dedicated dreamers and entrepreneurs of all 16 remaining teams in the competition as they inch closer to the goal (so far, only two teams have booked tickets on spacecraft actually set to launch soon, both in 2017)....

Perhaps a sale can steer you in the right direction? Below are 12 options to choose from, all price dropped for Labor Day. xFyro xS2 Waterproof Wireless Earphones Listen to music anywhere even when you’re going for a swim with the xFyro xS2 Waterproof Wireless Earphones. Built with an IP67 waterproof feature, you’re sure to still have an outstanding listening experience even while you’re underwater. House your earphones when they’re not in use in its compact carrying tube that doubles as a power bank to keep your buds charged....

But for now, drivers are still driving, and for the near future, we’re going to be required to sit in the driver’s seat, ready to take control back from our partially autonomous systems. And that means there’s still going to be human error, and we’re still going to have car crashes. Mercedes-Benz has been a pioneer in much of the safety technology we now take for granted, and the company’s Pre-Safe system in the latest version of the E-Class takes safety to a very specific level: inside your ear....

This year, the biggest automotive advances were all about maximizing efficiency. Whether it’s a car that tells other cars about that traffic jam ahead, a diesel engine that combines fuel economy with low emissions, or hybrid and electric vehicles with clever solutions to the technology’s limitations, the best new stuff on the road will save time, fuel, and maybe even the planet. The 2020 Volkswagen Golf features the Marvel-worthy superpower of omniscience, an ability to tell you about looming hazards and delays....

While this post will include an updated list of the best TV deals we can find for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I’m also including some useful general buying info to keep in mind as you search for your next screen. It’s easy to throw caution to the wind in the face of a good deal, but keeping your personal needs in mind will help you land the right TV at the best possible price....

If you like to plan ahead, you probably already nabbed a few things during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, but now you have a bunch of orders to track. And if you prefer to live on the edge and save your holiday shopping for mid-December, you’ll need inspiration, tracking bots, and some good old-fashioned lists. You can get all three from your phone—just equip it with these apps to turn it into a pocket-sized Santa’s little helper....

But voice control can make your phone and car compatible, and several apps are now embracing this feature. Using it will allow you to keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road, while you reply to texts, take calls or switch to another playlist. Spotify The music streaming app just announced the “hey, Spotify” voice command, which is currently rolling out. When you get it, it’ll be your perfect driving companion....