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The real question, of course, is: why? Why has the placebo effect gotten stronger, and why only in the United States? The study authors have a few ideas. Drug companies in the U.S. market directly to consumers, a practice illegal in much of the rest of the world, which might raise patient’s expectations for how well a drug should work. But a more likely reason, the study authors suspect, is that the glossy setting of an expensive, large-scale clinical trial—with professional nurses taking patients’ vitals and administering drugs—may raise patients’ expectations and convince them of the pill’s efficacy, even if it doesn’t have any active ingredient....

A new report from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction found that 90 percent of all major disasters in the past 20 years were caused by weather. From floods to droughts, storms to heatwaves, a grand total of 6,457 events claimed the lives of 606,000 people, and impacted 4.1 billion others, who were either hurt, homeless, or needed help after disaster struck. The events also caused an estimated $1....

The giant red button—activated with a dramatic turn of a key, WarGames-style— kills the lights and closes the curtains, while instantly activating a fog machine, lasers, blacklights and an LED sign—mostly using the industry-standard X-10 home automation protocol. It turns on the stereo too, firing up Haddaway’s “What is Love.” (Was there really any other choice?) The whole system only cost a little over $600 to put together, a small price to pay when you need to party so badly, it’s an emergency....

First, the project. SALT is a gun, but one that fires a unique type of ammunition. Instead of the cheap and deadly metal bullets common to handguns, SALT uses a proprietary salt, encased in small spherical pellets. According to their maker, these “SALT rounds cause temporary debilitation, including blindness, lung constriction and intense contact irritation, all without permanent harm.” It looks like this: As planned, these effects hit within seconds but wear away in 15 to 30 minutes after use, hopefully enough time for an alternative resolution to the situation to happen....

Questions of safety are especially urgent given the impending holiday season. AAA estimates that some 109 million Americans will travel between December 23 and January 2. Here’s what to consider as you weigh the risks and rewards of holiday celebration. Even if you’re fully vaccinated, you might want to cancel your holiday gatherings to avoid spreading COVID-19 First things first: If you’re not vaccinated, you should be doing everything you can to limit contact with people outside of your household right now....

Last week, they announced their intentions to build invest $1 billion in a site in North Las Vegas. The reasons they gave for the location are fairly typical, including worker availablity and tax climate. There’s also this: “Electric Highway” may refer to the specific piece of infrastructure, but it could also refer to the burgeoning transportation development hub that is forming in the area. Elon Musk’s Hyperloop is set to begin testing in North Las Vegas next year....

NASA celebrated the event with lots of fanfare just after midnight on New Year’s Day (Eastern Time), which is when the spacecraft actually made its closest approach of the alien rock. But that countdown was really just wishful thinking: New Horizons is more than 4 billion miles away from Earth, so it takes hours to transmit data back home. No one knew whether or not the mission had been successful until just after 10:30 a....

A mile-wide tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, in 2011 flattened neighborhoods into piles of wood and rubbish—and embedded a kitchen chair deep into the exterior wall of a store. Hurled by winds over 200 mph, the legs hit the stucco like flying spears. Waterspouts—vortexes that pull water into tornadolike columns—can also suck up objects. In 2005, a spout rudely plucked thousands of frogs from their cozy aquatic homes and dropped them from the sky over the nearby town of Odzaci, Serbia....

Researchers are currently analyzing the new data from these observations and are working on a paper for peer review. The findings are currently published in a preprint. But Webb’s first capture of an exoplanet already hints at future possibilities for studying distant worlds. JWST captured the image of the inhabitable gas giant called HIP 65426 b located about 385 light-years away from Earth. It is roughly six to 12 times the mass of Jupiter (our solar system’s biggest planet) and astronomers believe that their observations could help narrow down that estimate....

Unlike Faraday Future, Jannarelly is not creating a brand-new car from scratch. The company has built a curvy retro-futuristic rear-wheel-drive 2-seat roadster called the Design-1 around a 300-hp, 3.5-liter V6 Nissan engine just behind those seats. The frame and chassis are tubular steel and structural aluminum, but the body itself comes in fiberglass or carbon fiber. The company was founded by Anthony Jannarelly, a designer for the Dubai-based exclusive supercar manufacturer W Motors, and Frederic Juillot, who also founded Equation Composite, which makes carbon fiber....

TC Energy, formerly known as TransCanada, reported the accident just hours after the U.S. State Department held a public hearing on the environmental impact of the company’s proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. Keystone XL would help funnel petroleum from Alberta, Canada to refineries near the Gulf of Mexico, creating an estimated 16,000 to 42,000 jobs—and passing over the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world’s largest groundwater resources, where many fear it could leak....

It turns out Scotch tape curls up when exposed to humidity, so it can be used as a water-grabbing claw. This could be used to monitor water quality, according to the scientists at Purdue who developed them. The cellulose-acetate side, the slick clear film you rub with your finger, is water-absorbent. The adhesive side you stick on wrapping paper is water-repellent. So when one side absorbs water, it expands while the other side remains the same....

There was, however, real tech news happening last week, including a big event from Apple. So, if you spent too much time trying to come up with other video game-themed consumer products like PlayStation Toaster Strudel or Nintendo Drywall Mud, you can get all caught up right here. Listen to the latest episode of the Techathlon podcast On this week’s episode of Techathlon, we test your knowledge about the history of the iPod, tease your brain with familiar tech-related acronyms, and break down the week’s biggest tech news into 10 enjoyable trivia questions during the Techathlon Decathlon....

The Compact Muon Solenoid, one of the two major-magnet particle detectors in the LHC, has been busy smashing together lead ions and protons. When particles collide at incredible energies, they blow apart into their constituent pieces, and physicists look for those building blocks in the shrapnel. This is how LHC scientists found the Higgs boson this summer. (In this new case, the scientists were looking for particle behavior, not necessarily new fundamental bits....

Throwing out your back not only hurts intensely, but also can kick start a long-term, life-altering problem. While there’s no bulletproof way to avoid damage, greater understanding of why and how we mess up our spines can go a long way toward limiting serious pain. Understand your back First of all, there’s no such thing as plain “back pain,” according to Stu McGill, professor emeritus of kinesiology at the University of Waterloo and author of The Back Mechanic....

It is possible to look good on video chat, however. In fact, you can use many of the same tried and true techniques that photographers and cinematographers have been using for decades to make your self—and your home—look presentable in your next video chat. Find a big light source Generally speaking, the larger your light source is compared to your subject, the softer and more flattering the light is going to look....

Previously, scientists believed Oetzi was shepherd, killed by a blow to the head after being shot with an arrow. However, new evidence calls into question the hypothesis that his skull was crushed by the person who shot him, and dung found with Oetzi suggests he was a hunter, not a herder. Researchers also used plant matter found on his person to link Oetzi with a farming culture east of the Alps, fleshing out our understanding of Oetzi’s world....

Opening the pliers Needle-nose pliers are the main component of the Free P2, and opening them is the best demonstration of how Leatherman has changed up the design from previous versions. When it’s closed, a set of magnets holds the handles together. One you push the handles apart beyond their magnetic field, the whole thing flips open freely—hence the name—like a butterfly knife. According to Adam Lazenby, the lead engineer on the product, the internal magnets are strong enough to keep the tool closed, but the magnetic field doesn’t extend much beyond the metal housing itself....

The Aeryon SkyRanger drone is a 5.5 pound quadcopter that can fly for about 40 minutes at distances of over a mile, though by protocol it sticks to locations that are within 2500 feet. It can reach altitudes of up to 10,000 feet, but is restricted to flying below 400 feet, and it can operate in most weather except winds stronger than 30 mph. It’s controlled by a hand-held tablet, and streams video down to the pilot below....

The McLaren Speedtail is the first contender. It’s an impressive collection of automotive engineering feats that tally up to a price tag of $2.4 million. The company made just 106 (same as the original McLaren F1) and all of them are already sold. But, we can still admire it from afar. The cockpit is teardrop-shaped, with a center seating position for the driver, like in an F1 car and the McLaren F1, the Speedtail’s spiritual ancestor....