News (Page 55)

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a brick pathway through a lawn with clover

Should you plant a clover lawn? The pros and cons.

By Debbie Wolfe

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a compound that is effective against common bacteria that can lead to rare, dangerous illnesses. This image shows untreated Streptococcus pyogenes bacterial culture full of healthy microbes, labeled green (left). After treatment by GmPcide, the dish is full of dead bacteria (red; right).

A breakthrough in fighting bacteria that causes ‘flesh-eating’ illness

By Laura Baisas

moon in the 90s

Yes, the moon has an atmosphere—and it’s metal as hell

Don’t register to vote on Elon Musk’s AmericaPAC website. Do this instead.

Concept art of Neom Stadium in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia wants to top its linear city with a sci-fi soccer stadium

an illustration of a small penguin with light black, yellow, and white feathers on a new zealand beach

Tiny fossil reveals when penguins evolved their surprisingly useful wings

By Laura Baisas

young person standing on scale

Schools launched anti-obesity policies. Experts say they failed.

By Amanda Salazar / Undark

Close up of Screaming Woman mummy's face

‘Screaming woman’ may solve a 3,500-year-old mummy mystery

An artist’s reconstruction of Shishania aculeata as it would have appeared in life as viewed from the top, side and bottom (left to right). This early mollusk lived about 514 million years ago.

A ‘rotting little plastic bag’ was actually a 514 million-year-old fossil

By Laura Baisas

Close up view of a Taco Bell fast food bag inside of a car.

AI is coming to a Taco Bell drive-thru near you

This is an artist’s impression of a young star surrounded by a protoplanetary disk in which planets are forming.

What happens when you don’t have enough ingredients to make a planet?

By Briley Lewis

a fruit fly intestine. it is a long and narrow coiled tube with green coloration from dye

Swapping genes can help fruit flies regenerate cells

By Laura Baisas

A pair of tigers rescued from Joe Exotic’s G.W. Exotic Animal Park, popularized by Netflix’s “Tiger King,” relax at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado.

After ‘Tiger King’: Are 20,000 big cats caged in the U.S.? Highly unlikely.

By Peter Andrew Smith / Undark

a hand holding a remote in front of a TV playing a soccer match

What is TV Refresh Rate? From 60Hz to 120Hz and beyond.

By Nicholas Ware

A rare visitor, a Mandarin Duck, showed up in Central Park, New York City in 2018.

Why are there so many birds?

By Lauren Leffer

Perceptive robot dental machine working on human patient

Robot dentist can prep a tooth crown in 15 minutes

a plugged in smart phone on a table

You can (and should) stop charging your phone when it hits 80 percent

Close up of woman in runner's stance on track

Fitness & Exercise

Olympians in super-spike shoes could shatter records

a lobster with blue, pink, and purple coloring on a white tray

One in 100 million cotton candy lobster caught in New Hampshire

By Laura Baisas

Wound care and amputation in a Camponotus maculatus ant.

Ants perform teeny tiny operations to save their injured comrades

By Popular Science Team

a meteor shower over tall evergreen trees

August skygazing: First supermoon of 2024 and the Perseids meteor shower

By Laura Baisas

an orange, black, and white monarch butterfly on a pink milkweed flower

How everyone can help monarch butterflies

By Laura Baisas

Toxoplasma gondii oocyst under the microscope, isolated

Bioengineered parasites may one day deliver meds into your brain

woman riding a sea-doo watercraft on a brown river

Sea-Doo’s newest 325-HP watercraft can outrun an alligator (and then some)

By Kristin Shaw

Artist’s impression of the lobate macrofossils living 2.1 billion years ago in a shallow marine inland sea created by the collision of two continents.

Study claims life tried to evolve 1.5 billion years earlier than we thought

a pair of brown frogs mating, with the male on the female's back

The upside-down sex lives of Charles Darwin’s frogs

By Laura Baisas

a firefly with its bottom half illuminated

A new theory on why fireflies glow—and why they need help

By Laura Baisas

offshore windfarm

Environmentally, offshore wind is… fine

By Ashley Braun / Hakai Magazine

pile of denim jeans closeup

How to clean your denim without ruining it

By Debbie Wolfe

Asiatyrannus xui skull close up

‘Deep-snouted’ tyrannosaur fossils uncovered at construction site

a hotel in the ground

Subterranean retreats: How underground hotels harness Earth’s natural insulation

By Alisha McDarris

Nine-banded Armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus, in water, Santa Clara Ranch, southern Texas, United States.

‘Chaos is the norm now:’ The blurry line between invasive and range-expanding species

By Lauren Leffer

aerial drone view of an industrial installation that produces per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS

LED lights may be key to breaking down forever chemicals

a scientists with a gloved hand prepares a blood sample in a test tube

FDA approves new blood test to detect colon cancer

By Laura Baisas

retro TV against plain blue wall in empty room

How long do TVs last? When and why you should replace your set.

By Nicholas Ware

pile of coffee beans and a steaming cup of coffee

The chemistry behind decaf coffee

By Michael W. Crowder / The Conversation

chewing gum pieces on red background

Fitness & Exercise

Can chewing gum reshape your jawline? We asked experts.

pile of clothes

How to pick the best fabrics for sweaty season

By Debbie Wolfe

ham radio hobbyist

The rich history of ham radio culture

By Kristen Haring / MIT Press Reader

a lawnmower cuts grass

You’re probably mowing your lawn wrong

By Debbie Wolfe

Samsung OLED TV with Blade Runner on the screen in a room.

What is TV resolution? From 1080p to 8K and beyond.

By Nicholas Ware

California Forever concept art of utopian cityscape

California’s billionaire utopia faces a major setback

Soap bubble machine on top of car blowing a large bubble

Watch 50-foot long soap bubbles fly with the ‘Endless Bubble Machine’

a walrus calf with a cut on its right eye is cared for by two technicians

Abandoned Pacific walrus calf rescued in Alaska

By Laura Baisas

dead bird specimens with blue and green plumage in museum storage

All living birds share an ‘iridescent’ ancestor

By Laura Baisas

TOP: A relay participant dives off the blocks in the Women’s 4 x 100m final during the Paris 1924 Olympic Games. BOTTOM: American Alex Walsh swims in Arena’s Powerskin Primo.

The evolution of Olympic swimwear: From wool ‘costumes’ to tensoelastic race suits

By Laura Baisas

Are you a workaholic? Here’s how to spot the signs

Are you a workaholic? Here’s how to spot the signs

By Chris Woolston / Knowable Magazine

Historical artistic interpretation of an ouroboros. It is a dragon eating its own tail.

AI trained on AI churns out gibberish garbage

By Mack DeGeurin

Elderly woman listening to music happily

Our memory of music persists in old age

By Mack DeGeurin

a purple race track, with whit lane lines

Paris Olympics’ purple track is made with crushed mussel and clam shells

By Laura Baisas

an illustration of an long cylindrical arthropod. it has big blue eyes, a body that looks like a taco shell, several short red legs, and a tail

This taco-shaped critter is a big (evolutionary) deal

By Laura Baisas

Why millions are trying FDA-authorized alternatives to Big Pharma’s weight loss drugs

By Arthur Allen/KFF Health News

Entertainment app on iphone 14 pro in smartphone screen close up view

How to request all the data Netflix, Spotify, and other apps have on you

Ready or not, here come the police drones

By Mack DeGeurin

four red hens in a line. two are looking straight ahead, one is looking right, and the other is looking left. they have an expression that reads as suprise

Not to ruffle feathers, but chickens blush

By Laura Baisas

In the foreground to the left is a sphere half illuminated on the right side, almost filling the image vertically. The surface consists of several parallel, pale-coloured bands aligned horizontally. To the top right is a much smaller orange, circular light source, illuminating the large sphere in the foreground. The background is black with numerous tiny white dots.

Space Telescope

JWST detects a new exoplanet six times larger than Jupiter

Tree bark demonstrates an unexpected climate superpower

By Lauren Leffer

an illustration of two mouse-like animals in a forest, with a stegosaurus walking by and a mosquito flying over them

Baby teeth reveal surprisingly long lifespans of small Jurassic mammals

By Laura Baisas

Mercury colorful

What ‘Mercury in retrograde’ actually means

By Briley Lewis

a digital illustration of AI

Everyone is judging AI by these tests, but experts say they’re close to meaningless

By Jon Keegan / The Markup

various bird bones out on a table

Neanderthals ate birds. But how?

By Laura Baisas

a peacock butterfly on a pink plant. its wings are primarily red, with black, yellow, and blue circles

Butterflies and moths suck up pollen with static electricity

By Laura Baisas

Ram 1500 Revolution Battery-electric Vehicle (BEV) Concept front three-quarters

Ram’s vision for a three-row pickup truck could be closer to reality than you think

By Kristin Shaw

Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) breaching ocean in an attack.

Sharks are testing positive for cocaine