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Intel is now officially partnering with Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI on the Terafab project. Terafab is their joint venture for a massive, vertically integrated semiconductor facility (primarily in Austin, Texas) that combines logic chips, memory (HBM), advanced packaging, testing, and even photomask production all under one roof. The goal is to produce ~1 TW/year of ...

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In 2023, the U.S. government approved the sale of “lab-grown” chicken after it passed food safety tests.

Lab-grown meat, also called “cultivated” or “cultured” meat, is meat grown in a lab instead of on a farm. Scientists take a few cells from an animal and put them in a tank called a bioreactor with nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. The cells grow and multiply until they form muscle tissue—the same stuff that makes up the meat people eat.

Because no animal has to be killed, cultivated meat is better for animal welfare. The environmental impact is still debated: cultivated meat could be better or worse for the planet depending on the type of energy used to power the factories that make it. 

But what about the big question: Is it actually healthy to eat?

Lab-grown meat is nutritionally similar—but not identical—to conventional meat

Lab-grown meat is designed to be as close to the real thing as possible in terms of look, taste, and nutrition, but it’s not a perfect copy.

Conventional meat contains all nine essential amino acids (protein building blocks), which the human body cannot produce on its own, as well as various non-essential amino acids. It is also a source of B vitamins and several mineral nutrients, including iron and zinc. 

According to Dr. Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King’s College London and co-founder of the nutrition science company ZOE, “the protein quality and amino acid profile of cultivated meat is generally similar to conventional meat, with all essential amino acids present but with varying ratios.” 

And what about the vitamin and mineral content? “There is still limited published data on how closely real-world cultivated meat products match conventional meat for these micronutrients,” Spector says.

Early research suggests that some nutrients may be lower in lab-grown meat, while others could be equal—or even higher, says Noah Praamsma, a registered dietitian nutritionist and a nutrition education coordinator with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

At an agricultural expo in Hangzhou in east China’s Zhejiang province, a piece of lab-grown rainbow trout meat is displayed in November 2024. Image: Feature China / Contributor / Getty Images

One study found that, compared with regular chicken meat, lab-grown chicken had less protein, lower amounts of most essential amino acids, less magnesium, and less vitamin B3. However, it had more total fat, more saturated fat, more cholesterol, and higher levels of vitamins B5, B6, and A. Lab-grown chicken also contained higher amounts of several minerals, including calcium, copper, iron, potassium, manganese, sodium, phosphorus, selenium, and zinc.

In conventional meat, nutrients build up in animal tissues over the animal’s lifetime through diet, microbes in the animal’s gut, and normal metabolism, explains Spector.  Replicating that complex process in a lab environment is difficult, although technology is making great strides.

Lab-grown meat could be healthier than conventional meat

One of the biggest promises of lab-grown meat is that, unlike conventional meat, its nutritional content can potentially be fine-tuned during production.

“In practice, this might mean aiming for less saturated fat and more unsaturated fat and enriching the product with beneficial fatty acids such as omega-3,” says Spector. This may come with a few trade-offs, as fat plays a major role in how meat tastes and feels, he says. 

Another benefit of cultivated meat comes from the way it’s produced—in a sterile lab environment. This contrasts with traditional meat farming where manure is present and can—potentially—come into contact with meat. Lab-grown meat might improve the food safety concerns associated with large-scale animal farming, Praamsma says.

Lab-grown meat falls under the ‘ultra-processed food’ umbrella

Because of how lab-grown meat is made—through an industrial process, and with added ingredients—it would probably count as an ultra-processed food, says Spector. 

“But ‘processed’ doesn’t automatically mean unhealthy,” he says. “What matters is the quality of the final product, what’s added, how it affects the gut microbiome, and what it replaces in the diet.”

Nutritionally, lab-grown meat is much like regular meat: low in fiber and high in saturated fat. “But in theory, it could be designed to have an improved nutrient profile,” Spector says, for instance with more iron or vitamin B12 and less saturated fat.

Still, tweaking the nutrient mix doesn’t erase the health concerns linked to eating meat. “Decades of research shows that diets emphasizing whole plant foods are consistently associated with better long-term health outcomes than diets high in meat, whether conventional or novel,” says Praamsma. Simply swapping conventional meat for lab-grown versions isn’t likely to deliver the same benefits as adding more fruits, vegetables, and legumes to your plate, he points out.

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Its long-term impact on health is unknown

At the moment, we don’t yet know how eating lab-grown meat affects health in the long run.

“Studies evaluating its long-term health outcomes relative to traditional meat do not yet exist,” says Praamsma.

Spector agrees. “No clinical trials have been conducted to date, which means we don’t have data on its impact on any health conditions or allergies. This includes the impact on our gut microbiome.”

The bottom line

Nutritionally, lab-grown meat is much like regular meat, though it isn’t an exact copy. On the upside, it could be designed to be healthier, and because it’s made in a clean lab, it may lower the risk of contamination compared with farm-raised meat. 

But we still don’t know how eating lab-grown meat affects our health long-term. Based on what we know now, diets rich in whole plant foods are still the best way to improve overall health.

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post Is ‘lab-grown’ meat actually safe? appeared first on Popular Science.

Sports arenas across  the United States could soon have a new, jiggly way to measure the excitement of a game. Jell-O, the company most known for its physics-defying gelatin dessert, is introducing a device it says can calculate fan intensity in a stadium and then visually represent that data in real time as a jiggling mass of Jell-O. The rowdier the crowd gets, the more the Jell-O jiggles. The company is calling its bizarre invention the JELL-OMETER. It’s already been used at a professional hockey game in New York and is expected to be on its way to other stadiums soon.

Anyone who has been to a sporting event has likely seen messages on the jumbotron urging fans to “Get Loud” and cheer. Those systems typically use decibel readers to measure sound.

The JELL-OMETER takes a different approach and tries to measure fan energy instead. The company claims the device uses “proprietary plate-sensing” technology to capture sound pressure from the crowd’s cheers. That sound pressure is then converted into mechanical motion and presented as a shaking mold of Jell-O.

The energy is measured in “jiggles”on a scale of one to 10. One jiggle is roughly equivalent to a microwave, while 10 is supposedly the same as a small earthquake rumble. No word yet on how many the small earthquakes generated at Taylor Swift concerts would be. 

Related: [What a Jell-O brain tells us about the future of human-machine interaction]

The  company says that their goal is to create an “interactive way to experience crowd intensity.” Priming fans to get up and buy a packet of the jiggly substance probably doesn’t hurt either.

“As the inventors of the jiggle more than 125 years ago, we knew we had a unique opportunity to visually measure sound in a way no one else could,” Kathryn O’Brien, the Kraft Heinz Company’s head of marketing for desserts, said in a statement.

“With the JELL-OMETER, we’re bringing the iconic Jell-O jiggle to sports to give the fans something they’ve long waited for—the opportunity to secure bragging rights on who has the most passionate fanbase.” 

The JELL-OMETER has already seen some action. On Friday, the device was trialed  at a professional hockey game between the New York Islanders and the Philadelphia Flyers. This clip posted on Instagram shows the device registering “5.8” jiggles. 

View this post on Instagram Loud crowds can win games 

Sports fans aren’t shy about getting loud. In 2014, Kansas City Chiefs fans broke the Guinness World Record for loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium, belting out an ear-blistering 142.2 decibels—roughly equivalent to the sound of a jet taking off. That record beat the one set by Chiefs fans in 2013.

And while the rowdy fans certainly played a role, the stadium has also earned a reputation for being particularly loud, something reportedly attributed to a pair of canopies that cover a large portion of the seats. That coverage protects fans from rain, but it also serves a secondary purpose of amplifying sound.

Some particularly crafty sports teams have also been known to use a stadium’s loudness to their advantage. The Houston Astros famously opted to keep their roof closed during the 2017 World Series, even when the weather was fine, in a deliberate attempt to amplify the crowd noise bouncing back down from the roof. They ended up winning that series four to three.

The science behind the JELL-OMETER. Image: JELL-O

Jell-O makes it clear they aren’t pulling for any one team in particular. The company said it is looking to introduce its device to more stadiums and is gathering feedback from fans to see which cities might be prime candidates. 

“The JELL-OMETER doesn’t take sides,” O’Brien said. “It just measures the madness.”

The post Giant Jell-O measures crowd volume in wobbles appeared first on Popular Science.

Boom Supersonic has secured one major public sales order for its Superpower 42 MW natural gas turbines aimed at AI data centers. They will sell 29 units totaling 1.21 GW from launch customer Crusoe (announced December 9, 2025), creating a $1.25 billion backlog. Boom closed a $300 million funding round led by Darsana Capital Partners ...

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Anthropic signed a new agreement with Google and Broadcom for multiple gigawatts of next-generation TPU capacity that we expect to come online starting in 2027. This significant expansion of their compute infrastructure will power our frontier Claude models and help us serve extraordinary demand from customers worldwide. The run-rate revenue has now surpassed $30 billion—up ...

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A SpaceX Raptor has what looks like an explosion at McGregor.

Orion is more than two-thirds of the way to the Moon, traveling at high speed and breaking the Apollo 13 distance record (about 248,655 miles from Earth). It will enter the Moon’s sphere of influence early on April 6. A lunar flyby will happen Monday, April 6, 2026 at about 2:45–9:40 p.m. EDT . Orion ...

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China’s economy for the past 50 years has been investment/export/industrialization-driven with permissive building. There are fast approvals, state capacity). India’s became more consumption-led with decentralized hurdles and lower infrastructure spending. China’s GDP multiplied ~30× (1980–2010) vs. India’s ~5×. Productivity growth (output per worker) was nearly double India’s for decades. India and China starting point was ...

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Europe’s restrictive energy policies—characterized by lengthy, fragmented permitting (often 7–10+ years for renewables and industrial projects), heavy environmental/regulatory burdens, NIMBY/local opposition, carbon pricing (ETS), and phased-outs of reliable baseload (nuclear/coal) without rapid replacement—have led to persistently high energy costs, volatility, and slow infrastructure rollout. China has a permissive pro-growth energy approach. State-directed fast approvals, massive ...

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Metro areas/states allowing sprawl (Texas metros like Dallas/Houston permitted ~72k homes in 2024 alone) + densification (Minneapolis, Auckland NZ upzoning → 21–24% rent drops in targeted studies) show housing stock growth 2–3x higher and price appreciation 50–80% lower than restrictive peers (California, New York). Supply elasticity over 0.5 typically caps real price growth near inflation. ...

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I recently said our civ will fall if we do not finish the industrial revolution, and apply the industry trio of math, big orgs, and capitalism to more areas of life. Especially our fast activism-driven evolution of values, morals, and norms.

But watching a documentary on early activist H.D. Thoreau brought home to me just how huge an ask this seems. Our modern world has come to deeply adore and revere changing its morals fast via youth movements, and a great many features of our modern world support this new pattern.

For example, youths are generally more risk-taking, emotionally expressive, eager to impress potential mates, less invested in prior arrangements, and better able to bond together into groups. Which attracts youths to the chance to skip the usual dues to rise fast in status as leaders of new tightly-bonded emotional youth movements.

Helping further, we legitimized fashions, seeing those who first adopt new popular changes as more virtuous. And we put kids together in high school and college, where they have more time for activism, bond into their own youth cultures, and are taught to see the world more abstractly and thus morality more simply and universally. Also, better communication tech has let them coordinate faster across wider distances.

Finally, the modern world has widely adopted the views (a) that morality is a whole separate realm where the usual adult knowledge and experience are less relevant, (b) that moral opinions should from come authentically from within, and (c) that youthful opinions on morals tend to be less corrupted by habit and self-interest.

All of this has created a perfect storm encouraging youth to repeatedly make and join new internal-feelings-driven moral crusades, movements maximally suspicious of opposing older adults with ties of interest and habits to the existing order.

Could we apply industry to more strongly to manage this process? For example, by paying big orgs to create, suppress, and influence such movements to achieve key metrics. Yes, big orgs do substantially influence youth movements today, but mostly from behind the scenes. And these are mostly not for-profit orgs, and our world is pretty hostile to for-profit orgs operating outside their usual scopes, especially in sacred areas like moral activism. Social media feed algorithms seem to be the main form of this now, but I doubt they could do that much more than they do now.

We should do our best to try, but damn does this look hard.

In The Fatal Conceit (1988), F.A. Hayek argued that cultural evolution has bequeathed to us a capitalist “extended order” of money, property rights, and competitive markets, all with matching morals, and that socialism is bad because it appeals instead to dysfunctional moral instincts that this order had suppressed, while flattering us into thinking that we can apply reason well to more things than we actually can. Socialism replaces many capitalist choices with choices from deliberate “rational” bureaucratic government agencies. Capitalism, in contrast, typically makes use of more info than can our reason, and was also designed using more info.

Hayek, however, seems fine with using reason to choose within big firms, and he admits that cultural evolution (a) has often induced simpler societies to prevent such capitalism, (b) has often induced governments to greatly hinder capitalism in their later civilization periods, and (c) seems a proximate cause of the recent rise of interest in socialism. So why not estimate that the levels of capitalism and reason use that we seem to be drifting toward are in fact the most adaptive? Why see all that as a mistake?

Hayek seems to actually rely here not on cultural evolution, but instead on his theoretical economic analysis, together with empirical correlations between capitalism and places and periods that have had especially large wealth and growth. Which allows him to conclude that allowing cultural evolution to push us far enough away from capitalism now would plausibly result in the fall of our civilization, causing many deaths and much suffering. Which would be bad more because suffering is bad, and less because cultural evolution would go awry.

Behind Hayek’s argument there, however, seems to be a judgment that our modern world looks especially vulnerable to appeals to deeply embedded ancient moral instincts, and to flattery about our abilities to reason. However, as he never says this explicitly, Hayek never offers arguments for why we should expect to be more vulnerable to such things now.

This is where I offer cultural drift analysis as a complement to Hayek’s story. At the level of cultural features that we can only vary effectively in large groups, over the last few centuries our civilization has drifted toward less variety, weaker selection pressures, and faster rates of change of culture and environments. All of which does plausibly make us more vulnerable to flattery and simplistic moral appeals undermining our commitments to morals supporting capitalism.

However, such analysis also predicts that these same forces make us vulnerable to many more fatal conceits, i.e., to decay in many other key features of our shared culture. Does Hayek also fear and warn against excess trust in reason and moral instincts there? Is it feasible for us to reason well enough to usefully overturn other non-capitalist morals that we have inherited from cultural evolution? Hayek said:

Rebellion against private property and the family was, in short, not restricted to socialists. … Limits of space as well as insufficient competence forbid me to deal in this book with the second of the traditional objects of atavistic reaction that I have just mentioned: the family. I ought however at least to mention that I believe that new factual knowledge has in some measure deprived traditional rules of sexual morality of some of their foundation, and that it seems likely that in this area substantial changes are bound to occur. (p.51) …

Nor do I dispute that reason may, although with caution and in humility, and in a piecemeal way, be directed to the examination, criticism and rejection of traditional institutions and moral principles. … I wish neither to deny reason the power to improve norms and institutions nor even to insist that it is incapable of recasting the whole of our moral system in the direction now commonly conceived as `social justice’. We can do so, however, only by probing every part of a system of morals. (p.8)

So Hayek is relatively open to rationality overturning traditional morals in one big area of life, and is in principle open in many other areas. So let me say this clearly: our usual styles of rational analysis deployed over the last few centuries seem to have been quite inadequate to the task of changing morals while preserving or enhancing their cultural adaptability. Maybe we could up our game, but that does look quite hard.

Years ago I noticed that when my kids tried out a new game, those who won more wanted to play it again. And parents often try to make sure kids win at stuff they want kids to do more. We come to like things in part due to seeing ourselves win at them.

Nations seem similar. Yes, nations value some activities more, and engage in those more as a result. But nations often double-down on stuff after seeing themselves as win at it in ways that they personally respect, and expect others to respect. Nations continue to do that stuff lots in part to remind the world of how grateful it should be for their contribution.

For example, the US has seen itself as pioneering and greatly advancing democracy, free speech, medicine, higher education, basic research, legal due process, mass production, mass media, space exploration, entrepreneurship, the internet, and global military suppression of nazism, communism, and terrorism. This helps explain continued record US spending on medicine, education, military, and legal process.

Other nations act similarly. For example, Britain doubles down on law, parliaments, and anti-racism. France doubles down on liberties and fancy food. India doubles down on yoga and spirituality, Russia on war, sacrifice, and anti-decadence, and China on development.

If you want a nation to do more of X, maybe praise what they’ve already done on X.

While it might not always feel like it, spring has finally sprung for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. At the New England Wildlife Center in Massachusetts, the arrival of the first baby squirrels is an important indicator of the start of the season. 

While they usually begin to come in around St. Patrick’s Day, the center has received them as early as late February. This year’s  first baby squirrels have just arrived, New England Wildlife Center CEO Greg Mertz, tells Popular Science. 

Regardless of their admittance date, baby squirrels always mean lots of work for the staff. And the work has just begun, as the staff must feed them specially formulated milk every half an hour. 

Mertz explains that they receive the young animals in waves. They’re currently experiencing a spring wave and there will be another over the summer, and one more at the beginning of October. 

Baby squirrels can fall out of their nests for a variety of reasons. Wind storms can knock the babies out of a tree, the nest could be too small, or yard work like trimming or cutting down a tree may cause problems. The mother squirrel may also be injured, killed, or have been scared away. If the mother is still alive and well she will usually return her baby to the nest, which is why people shouldn’t immediately move a baby squirrel when they find one. 

Staff at the New England Wildlife Center must feed baby squirrels specially formulated milk every half an hour. Image: Greg Mertz / New England Wildlife Center.

“I would tell people to monitor the situation, not closely, but monitor from a distance for a good 12 hours, even if it’s overnight,” Mertz explains. “If people have indoor outdoor cats, keep the cat inside. If they have dogs, keep dogs inside and away from where that area is and let mom do her business, because as soon as we’re nearby, or dogs are nearby, or cats are nearby, she’s going to run away.” 

A predator like a hawk or raccoon might still come by, “but that’s the way of nature. We’re trying to do what we can for those that are left out of the system.”

If 12 hours passes and the baby has not been recuperated, then you should pick it up and reach out to a wildlife rehabilitator, he adds. 

According to an adorable New England Wildlife Center video, people could facilitate a healthy baby’s return to the mother by putting it (and a hot water bottle in case of cold weather) in an elevated basket and playing baby squirrel noises on YouTube. After setting this up, people should keep their distance. 

“Yes, it can work,” Mertz says, explaining that this solution is meant to keep the baby out of reach from predators. Though he admits, “I’m not sure that it’s gonna work successfully all the time.” 

When in doubt, contact your local animal rescue organization. 

In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post Baby squirrels are here! Here’s what to do if you find one. appeared first on Popular Science.

Modern life requires lots of logging into apps and websites. Even with a password manager, remembering all of that log in information can be difficult. Using a fingerprint, eye, or other biometrics can introduce privacy concerns. A new security system might solve that password problem by using vibrations—in our skulls. 

The newly designed software program called VitalID uses the tiny vibrations generated by heartbeats and breathing that move through the skull. Like our fingerprints, these patterns are unique to an individual’s facial tissue and bone structure. VitalID is designed for use in extended reality settings and was presented at the 2025 ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security. 

What is XR?

Extended reality (XR) includes virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality technologies that mix digital content with the physical world. XR systems including Viture, MetaQuest, and Oculus Rift are best known in the gaming world. However, this technology is expanding into finance, medicine, education, and remote work. As it increases its reach, security in XR systems has become increasingly urgent.

“Extended reality will play a major role in our future,” Yingying Chen, a study co-author and computer engineer who specializes in remote sensors at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said in a statement. “If immersive systems are going to become woven into daily life, authentication has to be secure, continuous and effortless.”

How VitalID works

VitalID uses simple biology to fix these user experience and security issues. Even when we are sitting still, our bodies are moving in subtle ways. Every breath and heartbeat creates tiny vibrations that travel through the neck and into the head. Once they reach the skull, they make our heads shake slightly. Since every skull has a different shape, thickness, and bone structure, the vibrations change in unique ways as they travel. 

As a result, we all produce a distinct vibration pattern within our skulls. Motion sensors that already reside inside virtual reality headsets can detect these tiny patterns and determine who is wearing the device.

“We do not need to add any device or additional hardware,” Chen said. “It requires only software.”

In their study, Chen and the team tested 52 users over a 10-month period using two popular XR headsets. Their system correctly authenticated legitimate users over 95 percent of the time. Importantly, it rejected unauthorized users more than 98 percent of the time.

They also built a filtering system that removes interference from extra head and body movement like nodding. This helps the headset only focus on the tiny vibrations in the skull that are caused by an individual’s breathing and heartbeat. They then used computer models to analyze the skull vibration patterns.

According to Chen, these vibrations may be more difficult to mimic since they travel internally through a person’s bone and tissue. While someone might imitate another person’s breathing rhythm, they can’t replicate the biomechanical properties of another person’s skull quite so easily. The headset would constantly sense these subtle vibrations to confirm that the right person is using it.

A next-gen solution

XR headsets now store confidential documents, personal accounts, and access to web services. However, typing passwords in a virtual environment based on gestures can be awkward. Two-factor authentication often interrupts immersion and hardware that scans the eye adds cost, according to Chen.

While not commercially available yet, VitalID is an attempt at solving this user experience and security problem. It allows users to access financial platforms, medical records or enterprise systems inside immersive environments without stopping to log in. 

This technology is available for licensing and/or research collaboration and Rutgers has applied for a provisional patent. The study was a collaboration with Cong Shi at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Yan Wang at Temple University in Philadelphia, and Nitesh Saxena at Texas A&M University.

The post Skull vibrations could be your next password appeared first on Popular Science.

Only 80 to 90 percent of Earth’s vast oceans have been explored, leaving countless species just waiting to be discovered. That’s where the Sustainable Seabed Knowledge Initiative: One Thousand Reasons campaign comes in. The project is designed to describe 1,000 previously unknown deep-sea species by 2030 in order to assess ocean biodiversity to protect species as the prospect of deep-sea mining expands.

Twenty-four new species of deep-sea crustaceans are now on the project’s growing list. The new species are detailed in a special edition of the journal Zookeys and were discovered in the remote Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ). This vast area of 1.7 million square-miles of deep ocean between the west coast of Mexico and Hawaii is home to numerous unknown species as well as minerals needed for many high-tech uses.

The type specimens of some of the new species, including Elimedon breviclunis, are now cared for by curators at the Natural History Museun in London. Image: © Horton et al. 2026. Meet the amphipods

These new species are amphipods—a diverse group of crustaceans made up of over 10,000 known species. Some amphipods are only millimeters in size, while the largest species Alicella gigantea is the size of a loaf of bread. They play a key role as a food source for larger animals and help decompose the bodies of larger creatures. 

Amphipods are adapted to live in a wide range of habitats. Some live in damp caves or even woodlands on land, while most live in fresh and saltwater environments. Parasitic whale lice ride around on marine mammals, eating algae and keeping whales clean. Predatory amphipods hunt small worms and other invertebrates, while other species are scavengers that help recycle nutrients in marine ecosystems.

The new species were found while researchers were taking so-called “box samples” from the seafloor. During box sampling, scientists take a huge cube of mud from the seabed and bring it up to a ship to study its contents and get a sense of what’s lurking inside. After washing and separating the material from these particular cores, they found a variety of pale amphipods.

“These amphipods appear to have a range of different feeding styles,” Dr. Eva Stewart, a study co-author and deep-sea scientist at the Natural History Museum in London, said in a statement. “Some seem to be eating the mud and getting nutrients from that, while others have large claws, which suggest they might be predating other things that are living in the sediment.”

Naming the new amphipods after video games, family, and a short butt

Since amphipods are such a diverse group of animals, it only makes sense that their names follow suit. The scientists met for one week to determine the name for this exciting new batch of critters. 

Mirabestia maisie and Astyra mclaughlinae are named after family members and colleagues, while Elimedon breviclunis is named for the animal’s short butt. 

Pop culture inspired other names. Lepidepecreum myla reminded the team of Myla from the videogame “Hollow Knight.” According to the team, both the character and specifically Lepidepecreum myla “are just little arthropods trying to survive in total darkness.”

In addition to new species, the team also discovered a new family and superfamily. A superfamily ranks below an order and above family. For example, the superfamily Hominoidea (or apes) includes both the family Hominidae (humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans) and Hylobatidae (gibbons).

“To find a new superfamily is very rare, so this is a discovery we’ll all remember,” added study co-author Dr. Tammy Hortonopens. “But each species we describe is just as important, as they’re a vital step towards improving our understanding of this fascinating ecosystem.”

One of the new species, Mirabestia maisie, was named after Dr. Tammy Horton’s daughter. Image: © Horton et al. 2026. The Clarion-Clipperton Zone has the attention of big tech

Further study of these creatures will give us a better idea of how they are living in one of the most untouched places on Earth. Despite its remoteness, the CCZ has drawn a lot of interest due to the metallic nodules found on the ocean floor. These nodules often contain minerals used for solar panels and wind turbines. While deep-sea mining can help us reach environmental goals, this region is poorly understood and mining could risk damage to these important ecosystems. 

“It’s estimated there are around 5,600 species in the CCZ, but around 90 percent of these are undescribed,” Stewart explained. “As a result, there are thousands of potential species that have been discovered over the past decade just waiting to be named.”

These types of discovery will be vital to understand the possible impacts of deep-sea mining in the future.

The post New crustacean named after its unique butt appeared first on Popular Science.

April 1Full Pink MoonApril 17Best Chance to See Comet C/2025 R3April 19The Moon, Venus, and Pleiades ConjunctionApril 22Lyrid Meteor Shower Predicted Peak

Spring has sprung, the annual hour of sleep has been stolen from us, and the days are getting longer.  But don’t fear, skygazers, there are still enough celestial sights to see this month to keep you happy. They include an early full moon, a meteor shower known for generating unexpected spectacles, and a lovely conjunction of the moon and one of our cosmic neighbors. Also, there’s a comet to see! Onwards! 

April 1: Full Pink Moon

A full moon on the first day of the month! As far as we know, there’s no name for this, but it doesn’t matter, because April’s moon is gifted with the most poetic of names anyway. It’s the Pink Moon, making April the best month of the year for fans of Nick Drake, Édith Piaf and, excuse the pun,, P!nk herself. Sadly, despite the poetic name, the moon itself is the same color as always. The “pink” in the pink moon is a reference to the flowers that bloom as winter releases its icy grasp and spring warms the Earth for another year.

This April’s full moon is also a micromoon, placing it firmly at the opposite end of the scale from the string of supermoons we had from October through January. A micromoon is a full moon that occurs when the moon is at or near its furthest distance from Earth. This distance means that the moon will appear relatively small. To see our little April moonlet, bless it, look to the skies at 10:12 p.m. EDT on April 1 when it reaches peak illumination.

April 17: Best Chance to See Comet C/2025 R3

There’s a comet heading our way this month—but don’t worry! As per NASA, that comet named Comet C/2025 R3 might be the brightest such visitor visible this year. While its closest approach to Earth isn’t until April 27, NASA suggests that the evening of April 17 might be the best time to catch it, because there’ll be no moonlight to interfere with comet viewing action. You’ll still need a telescope or a good pair of binoculars, though. If you have access to such gear, look to the eastern sky above the constellation Pisces—the comet should be visible within the constellation Pegasus.

April 19: The Moon, Venus, and Pleiades Conjunction

By April 19, the moon will have waxed almost to invisibility—but not quite. And that’s just as well.Otherwise, we’d be denied the lovely spectacle of the tiny crescent moon peeking its way out from the constellation Pleiades, just above the always eye-catching beauty that is the planet Venus. The scene will play out in the western sky, not far above the horizon. If you look a little further upward, you’ll see the absolute big boy himself, cousin Jupiter, rumbling into the chat to make sure he gets some attention too.

April 22: Lyrid Meteor Shower Predicted Peak

As far as meteor showers go, the Lyrids don’t mess around. They’re in and out of the sky in a couple of weeks, and if you miss them, that’s it  until next year. This means they can be hit or miss, especially if they coincide with the light of a full moon or a spell of bad weather. In these cases, there might be none to see at all.

Fortunately, their predicted peak will coincide with excellent viewing conditions—weather permitting, of course. The meteor shower will last from April 15 to April 29, with the predicted peak smack bang in the middle on April 22. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the radiant point—from which the meteors appear to originate—will be high in the northern sky. Expect to see 10 to 15 meteors an hour—but as per EarthSky, the Lyrids are known for generating “uncommon surges,” so you never know what you might see!

During any month, remember that you’ll get the best experience gazing at the cosmos if you get away from any sources of light pollution, give your eyeballs some time to adjust to the darkness, and review our stargazing tips before setting out into the night.

Until next time! 

The post April skygazing: An early micromoon, comet flyby, and the Lyrid meteor shower appeared first on Popular Science.

NASA’s Lead Electrostatics Scientist, Dr Charles Buhler, claims he’s discovered a “new force” that counteracts gravity with no fuel necessary. Dr. Charles Buhler has run 2,000 vacuum chamber experiments showing a propellantless thrust force that persists after the power is switched off, and cannot be explained by ion wind, magnetic effects, or classical energy conservation. ...

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Navigating streaming services is basically a nightmare at this point. On top of their constantly shifting libraries, it feels like nearly every week includes the announcement of yet another subscription price hike. If you’re looking for a temporary reprieve and some truly unique content this week, an unsung hero is ready to help you out. Folks, it’s time to tune into C-SPAN for NASA’s upcoming Artemis II launch.

Yes, that C-SPAN. The same channel that has been broadcasting government hearings daily since 1979.

Through Sunday, April 5, CSPAN is airing daily coverage of all things Artemis II. The NASA mission deserves it, after all. The four astronauts are scheduled to launch no earlier than Wednesday, April 1, and when they do it will kick off a major new era of space exploration. Over 10 days, the Artemis II crew will complete the first human flyby loop around the moon since the Apollo 8 mission in 1972.

The trip is expected to pave the way for NASA’s return to the lunar surface, estimated for 2027. The mission will also set new milestones and break multiple records in the process. Upon its return, Artemis II will have carried the first woman, first person of color, and the first non-United States citizen beyond low Earth orbit. It will also travel about 4,800 miles beyond the moon to surpass Apollo 8’s total distance, and set a new reentry top speed of around 25,000 miles per hour.

C-SPAN’s special programming began on March 29 and will continue through April 5. It features daily news briefings before all-day launch coverage expected on April 1. On March 31 and April 4, C-SPAN2 will air 24 hours of documentaries on the history of U.S. crewed spaceflights. There will also be live call-in sessions, as well as commentary from guests from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. While the exact date isn’t confirmed yet, C-SPAN will also cover Artemis II’s atmospheric reentry and splashdown.

No T.V.? No problem. You can also watch all of the coverage on C-SPAN.org, the C-SPAN YouTube channel, C-SPAN Radio, and the C-SPAN mobile app. Check out the upcoming programming schedule below.

C-SPAN’S Artemis II Coverage Schedule

Monday, March 30

• LIVE 5:00 p.m. ET (C-SPAN): NASA news conference

Tuesday, March 31

• LIVE 1:00 p.m. ET (C-SPAN): NASA pre-launch news conference

Wednesday, April 1 – expected Launch Day

• LIVE 1 p.m. ET (C-SPAN): C-SPAN’S extended live all-day launch coverage begins

Saturday, April 4

• 24 hours Historic Space Programming (C-SPAN2): American History TV marathon of historic programming about America’s manned spaceflight program

Sunday, April 5

• C-SPAN’s “Q&A” series (C-SPAN): Program will feature a history of the Space Shuttle, including video shot on location at The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum

The post The best way to watch the Artemis II launch is on C-SPAN appeared first on Popular Science.

Navigating streaming services is basically a nightmare at this point. On top of their constantly shifting libraries, it feels like nearly every week includes the announcement of yet another subscription price hike. If you’re looking for a temporary reprieve and some truly unique content this week, an unsung hero is ready to help you out. Folks, it’s time to tune into C-SPAN for NASA’s upcoming Artemis II launch.

Yes, that C-SPAN. The same channel that has been broadcasting government hearings daily since 1979.

Through Sunday, April 5, CSPAN is airing daily coverage of all things Artemis II. The NASA mission deserves it, after all. The four astronauts are scheduled to launch no earlier than Wednesday, April 1, and when they do it will kick off a major new era of space exploration. Over 10 days, the Artemis II crew will complete the first human flyby loop around the moon since the Apollo 8 mission in 1972.

The trip is expected to pave the way for NASA’s return to the lunar surface, estimated for 2027. The mission will also set new milestones and break multiple records in the process. Upon its return, Artemis II will have carried the first woman, first person of color, and the first non-United States citizen beyond low Earth orbit. It will also travel about 4,800 miles beyond the moon to surpass Apollo 8’s total distance, and set a new reentry top speed of around 25,000 miles per hour.

C-SPAN’s special programming began on March 29 and will continue through April 5. It features daily news briefings before all-day launch coverage expected on April 1. On March 31 and April 4, C-SPAN2 will air 24 hours of documentaries on the history of U.S. crewed spaceflights. There will also be live call-in sessions, as well as commentary from guests from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. While the exact date isn’t confirmed yet, C-SPAN will also cover Artemis II’s atmospheric reentry and splashdown.

No T.V.? No problem. You can also watch all of the coverage on C-SPAN.org, the C-SPAN YouTube channel, C-SPAN Radio, and the C-SPAN mobile app. Check out the upcoming programming schedule below.

C-SPAN’S Artemis II Coverage Schedule

Monday, March 30

• LIVE 5:00 p.m. ET (C-SPAN): NASA news conference

Tuesday, March 31

• LIVE 1:00 p.m. ET (C-SPAN): NASA pre-launch news conference

Wednesday, April 1 – expected Launch Day

• LIVE 1 p.m. ET (C-SPAN): C-SPAN’S extended live all-day launch coverage begins

Saturday, April 4

• 24 hours Historic Space Programming (C-SPAN2): American History TV marathon of historic programming about America’s manned spaceflight program

Sunday, April 5

• C-SPAN’s “Q&A” series (C-SPAN): Program will feature a history of the Space Shuttle, including video shot on location at The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum

The post The best way to watch the Artemis II launch is on C-SPAN appeared first on Popular Science.