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The US government has released some of the UFO files. Some really interesting ones are the three dots in a photo taken during Apollo 17. Apollo 12 lunar photos: Multiple images flagged as anomalous, including strangely shaped objects or lights captured on film during the mission. Users call these “wild” and are posting close-ups. “Yes. ...

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A rare white bison (Bison bison) calf was born at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Prairie City, Iowa. Most newborn bison are born with a reddish or brown coat, and the National Park Service estimates that white bison are born every one in one million births. A white bison calf was born at Yellowstone National Park in 2024 and was the first recorded there.

Refuge Manager Scott Gilje told WHO Des Moines this is the first time a white bison has been born at the refuge and it’s “something very special.” According to the National Park Service, white bison are very rare, with an estimated one in 1 million births being a white bison in the wild.

Whitish bison calf with adult bison on the prairie. Image: Photo courtesy of Hope Anderson / Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge / USFWS

There are currently 81 bison living at the 6,000 acre wildlife and plant refuge. As of May 5, nine calves have been born this spring. Gilje expects more calves will arrive over the next few weeks. Several bison still appear to be pregnant and the refuge sees about nine to 15 new calves every year. The refuge is also home to elk and several species of grassland birds. 

Many Native American nations, including the Sioux, Cherokee, Navaho, Lakota, and Dakota, believe that the birth of a white bison calf is sacred. It is a hopeful sign of good times ahead. It comes from the legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, or Ptesan Wi, is a sacred story that has been passed down among generations. Many tribes will incorporate Ptesan Wi’s lessons bringing harmony and spirituality into a troubled and hungry world into their prayers and teachings. 

Bison are the largest land animal in North America. The males weigh up to 2,000 pounds, while females weigh up to 1,000 pounds. While wild bison are rare, they are no longer considered endangered or threatened due to decades of conservation efforts. Approximately 30,000 bison managed by conservation groups live in public and private herds in North America.

The post One-in-a-million white bison calf born in Iowa appeared first on Popular Science.

Humanity has broken its superpower of cultural evolution, at least at the level of large cultural units, the units that set our game theoretic equilibria of key norms, values, and status markers. 300yrs ago these units had great variety, were under strong select pressures, and had slow rates of change of environment and internal drift. But since then, all four of these key control parameters have since gotten much worse.

Unless we achieve human level AI soon, our dominant world civ’s population seem likely to decline, to be replaced by fertile insular religious subcultures like the Amish and Haredim, who have been doubling every 20yrs for over a century. (Like how Christians took over Roman Empire.) Human extinction seems unlikely, if our declining civ continues to tolerate their norm deviance. But we do risk the end, at least for a while, of many novel treasured features of our current civ, such as democracy, pacifism, gender equality, sexual freedom, legal due process, open inquiry, and modern artistic genres.

I’ve been pondering our options, and want to report my current thinking. I see four.

Fertile Cults - We might plausibly try to create more fertile durable insular subcultures, ones that save more of our treasured cultural features. This is quite hard, however, as only a tiny fraction of cults ever achieve this package. As the strongest cultural divides in the world today are along religious lines, the few successes here are likely to be religious. And this only puts off the problem; replacement civs, including AIs, would still suffer cultural drift until they found deeper solutions. Very small groups can try this, though alas few seem interested in the key insularity feature.

Max Capitalism - For-profit firms still seem to be sustaining a healthy cultural evolution, with the set of all firms improving over time even as typical firms decay. The decaying dimensions of our behaviors seem to be those we don’t let for-profit firms control. So we might fix those dimensions by removing such limits. For example, allow large-scale for-profit governments, let capitalists pay parents to make profitable kids, let sacred capitalists invest in sacred ventures, and let foundations reinvest all returns to drive interest rates down to growth rates. This must be tried at the scales where laws now forbid such ventures. While many are passionately against this, some are passionately for, an energy one could build on.

Adaption Policy - If we could commit to measuring the actual adaptive influence (both via DNA and culture) of groups today in a century or two, we could make futures markets in such measures, and then use changes in current price estimates of group adaption as metrics to reward and punish group leaders. This requires such people to overcome the now widespread taboo against “Social Darwinism” to value adaptiveness greatly, and enough to use adaption as a main criterion when choosing group leaders and policies. (Futarchy might help here.) Modestly small groups can try this, though very few now have much passion for the adaption goal.

Sacred Policy - While few have much passion for the direct goal of adaption, many more can find passion for goals that cultural maladaption might block. For example, the goals of having a million people living in space, or achieving physical immortality for humans, might take centuries and also take longer if our civ falls due to maladaption. Many might treat such goals as sacred, being proud to sacrifice for them and ashamed to abandon them. A group big enough to have substantial influence on when the world achieves such goals might make futures markets estimating such dates, and use price changes to reward and punish group leaders. (Futarchy might help here.) Alas, this requires rather large groups, and requires them to, when they achieve sacred goals, keep setting new goals also in conflict with civ decline.

You can learn a lot about a society from the way they raise children. That includes not only what children learn, but how, when, and where they play.

Our modern concept of childhood emerged during the Enlightenment movement of the 18th century. Influential figures like philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau promoted the idea that children need special opportunities to explore and express themselves through playtime. 

Before then, children were treated essentially as small adults. Of course, kids in ancient or medieval times liked to run around and play as much as kids today, and they did so wherever they could. But only after childhood became thought of as a distinct stage of life with unique needs did adults start to design spaces like playgrounds.

When we look at the history of playgrounds, we can see how ideas about children’s play have changed over time.

The first playgrounds weren’t for children

The term “playground” predates the modern definition and was first used “to describe a general place of recreation,” Jon Winder, a historian of urban environments at the University of Liverpool in the UK, tells Popular Science. Winder explains that the modern children’s playground originated in 1840s England, when parks in the cities of Manchester and Salford set aside areas for children’s activities. 

The first playgrounds were just areas set aside for recreation. This circa 1914 photograph shows boys playing baseball on a so-called “playground.” Image: HUM Images / Contributor / Getty Images .

The park designers were influenced by earlier German education reformers like Friedrich Fröbel, who outfitted his schools with sandboxes for young students. Best-known for coining the term “Kindergarten,” Fröbel believed that cooperative outdoor play was essential to children’s development.

In the 19th century, “there was quite a lot of sharing of ideas between the UK and Europe” regarding social issues like education and public health, says Winder. The massive changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution, including an ever-growing urban population, brought with them concerns about how these changes were affecting adults and children alike. 

Early children’s playgrounds were meant to get kids off city streets

While rural children could still play in fields and forests, working-class urban children often played in the street, exposed to a variety of dangers. Adding children’s playgrounds to cities “was partly about removing [children] from the street” for their safety, says Winder. However, “that idea merged with these ideas about recreation, that there was something inherent about city life that led to physical degeneration of people.” 

The perceived negative effect of city living was considered a potential threat to the British Empire, which needed strong, healthy citizens. Gymnastic exercise regimens like Pilates became the health craze of the time. What people thought was best for adults extended to children, and “the spaces that were set aside for children to play in invariably also had gymnastic equipment,” says Winder.

The first playgrounds were not for fun

Some of the equipment in those first 19th century playgrounds resembles what we might see in an Olympic gymnast’s routine today, such as vaulting horses and climbing rings. Winder points out the absurdity of children being expected to know how to safely and effectively use such things. However, he explains, “It wasn’t about play as we would understand it. It was about physical exercise and strength.” Playgrounds were less about imagination and more about “wholesome strengthening exercises.”

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Winder notes that these early athletic playgrounds were also used to enforce Victorian gender norms. Not only were the first playgrounds separated by gender, he explains, “They had different equipment in them, because social reformers thought that girls and boys were capable of different types of physical exercise.” While a girls’ playground might have space for hopscotch and shuttlecock, boys would get more physically challenging equipment like ladders and climbing ropes. 

Furthermore, the design of the first playgrounds seemed intended to keep children themselves conveniently out of sight. Winder noted in 2022 that the first English playgrounds in Manchester “were hidden in the shrubbery on the boundary of the park, to prevent them from spoiling the view of the picturesque landscape.” 

Playgrounds spread around the world

As playgrounds spread to other cities in the UK and continental Europe, British companies began to mass-manufacture playground equipment. The reach of the British Empire meant that such equipment could be exported as far afield as South Africa and New Zealand, bringing with it contemporary ideas about what playgrounds were for.

American social reformers and urban planners soon joined the international conversation. “There were playground campaigners in the UK who were in correspondence with some of the organizations in the U.S.,” says Winder. “They swapped letters and did site visits.” 

American educator Henry Barnard drew up plans for a playground as early as 1848. It featured rotary swings, blocks, toy carts, and a shaded area for teachers to keep watch from. However, the first public playgrounds in the United States weren’t built until the late 1880s, with both Boston and San Francisco claiming the record. 

Following the earlier British model of the playground as a place to work out more than to play, Boston’s children’s playgrounds were part of a larger “open-air gymnasium” for all ages, and were separated by gender. 

Early playgrounds mostly consisted of gym equipment. Boys and girls were also divided for play time. This circa 1905 photograph shows girls playing on an early playground on Harriet Island in St. Paul, Minnesota. Image: Getty Images / Universal History Archive / Contributor / Circa Images / Glasshouse Images

However, there were some differences between American and European playgrounds. Early American playgrounds often featured adult facilitators who led athletic activities, something like modern gym teachers, as well as indoor activity spaces for bad weather. And as public playgrounds spread throughout the United States, racial segregation (both legal and de facto) was enforced in many such spaces until the 1950s. 

Putting the “play” back in playground

In 1921, industrialist Charles Wicksteed opened Wicksteed Park in Kettering, England, which Winder calls “a big, significant shift in the development of these children’s spaces.” Unlike earlier public playgrounds, Wicksteed Park emphasized amusement over exercise. Decked out with an ever-evolving range of equipment, as well as a theater, fountains, and refreshment areas, the space was designed to be enjoyed equally by boys, girls, and adults.

Rather than having gymnastics equipment, Wicksteed debuted some new kinds of playground equipment at his park based on fairground rides, such as the first playground slides, which were inspired by early roller coasters. 

Wicksteed is also credited with designing the modern playground swing, after the homemade swings that children had previously hung from trees (or even street lamps). Wicksteed sold his equipment to other parks, and the influence of Wicksteed Park spread far and wide. 

By the 1930s, says Winder, many designers had begun to accept the idea that “playgrounds perhaps needed to be fun to attract children and get them off the street.” While the playground was still seen as a place for children to get physical exercise in the 20th century, it increasingly became a site of entertainment.

In 1921, industrialist Charles Wicksteed opened Wicksteed Park in Kettering, England, which was one of the first playgrounds actually designed for amusement. Later playgrounds like this one followed Wicksteed’s approach. Image: Getty Images / Edoardo Frola The playground’s present and future

Both playground equipment and our perception of playgrounds have become more focused on fun over time. However, this also means that specific manufactured equipment has become increasingly viewed as essential to the playground. Today, park and school administrators may feel pressured to buy the right products to make a playground feel complete. Is it really a playground if there’s no slide or swing set?

Winder identifies a tension between equipment that stimulates creativity, and the constraints of budget and practicality. Kids can do a lot more with sand than with a set of swings, but it’s also a lot more work to keep clean and tidy.

But as ideas about education and the role of play in children’s lives have continued to evolve, the 20th century has also seen an increase in playgrounds that integrate more thoughtfully with the space around them. 

Dutch architect Aldo Van Eyck transformed hundreds of abandoned urban spaces into unique playgrounds designed to inspire children’s natural creativity, without dividing them from the rest of the environment, like the first Victorian playgrounds.

Designing playgrounds “was never about making city streets better places to play,” says Winder. “It was about removing kids from the street and segregating them into one place.” 

Winder advocates for urban design that “creates a more balanced relationship between people and vehicles on streets.” With more pedestrian-friendly spaces meshed into urban environments, children can be safe to let their imaginations run wild, whether that’s in a playground, in a park, or in other places set up for foot traffic.

“Kids are inherently playful,” says Winder, and they’ll find ways to play wherever they are. The challenge for adults has always been to try and get them to play the way we want them to.

In The History of Every Thing, Popular Science uncovers the hidden stories and surprising origins behind everyday things.

The post The first playgrounds were for adults, not kids appeared first on Popular Science.

Complex problems require creative solutions, and wildlife veterinarian Nielsen Donato is no stranger to what might seem like out-of-the-box problem solving. Last month, Donato and his team at Vets in Practice in the Philippines fixed temporary wheels onto an Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea) that was struggling to walk. 

More recently, they built a contraption to care for a four-year-old African spurred tortoise (Geochelone sulcata) that had been run over by a car not once but twice. When the unfortunate reptile was first brought to the clinic, Donato—who is the clinic’s chief surgeon and exotic animal medicine specialist—wasn’t there. 

Over the phone, Donato instructed the team to keep the tortoise’s exposed soft tissue damp by rinsing the shell with saline (salt water). They also tried to stabilize the cracks, by fixing inverted screws onto various parts of the shell with epoxy putty, and then tying rubber bands around the screws.

The team sketched out their plan of action to save the tortoise’s shell. Image: Nielsen Donato.

“At this point, our main concern is to stabilize the condition of the turtle from shock, from the injury. So for the first three weeks, we made sure that there were no flies that laid eggs and turned into maggots,” Donato tells Popular Science. 

They kept the tortoise hydrated, tube-fed it, kept its wound clean, basked it in the sun, and gave it antibiotics and pain medication. 

The wires help keep the shell together. Image: Nielsen Donato.

“And once the tortoise, the sulcata, was more mobile and showing interest in eating on its own, we planned to repair the shell,” he says

According to Donato, the most difficult part for him was lifting the crushed parts of the shell. So he designed a frame for the shell that, with the help of wires, would pull up these shell parts. And the contraption worked.

The tortoise was hit by a car twice, but is on the road to recovery. Image: Nielsen Donato.

“When we were twisting the wire, we noticed that we were starting to align the shell and the cracks were becoming more opposed to each other,” he explains. The team sealed the cracks with dental acrylic and asked the turtle’s owner to bring it back after three weeks. By the time the tortoise was back in their clinic, the shell had become more stable. The team removed the brace, wires, screws, and putty, and sent it back home again before its next appointment.

“When it visited us lately, it started moving around more actively and the owners were not worried about its appetite because it was eating again,” Donato reports. 

One thing is for certain—this tortoise went to shell and back again. 

The post Vet constructs ingenious contraption to help a tortoise hit by a car appeared first on Popular Science.

The economics of Tesla Semi versus Diesel Trucks. It is $40000 for two overnight chargers or $188000 for two chargers for 30 minute charging. Tesla has just introduced Semi Charging for Businesses. Pricing starts at $40,000 for 2 Basechargers or $188,000 for two Megachargers. Options: Megacharger Cabinet With Megacharger Post: • Max DC output: Up ...

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Full duration and full thrust 33-engine static fire with Super Heavy V3. This means the updated deluge system is working properly. Most current launch trackers (Next Spaceflight, Spaceflight Now) now list NET May 15, 2026 (around 5:30 p.m. CDT window), with the May 12 date having slipped a bit as expected after recent prep. Full ...

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Nvidia Vera Rubin platform with the Rubin GPU and Vera CPU is a full-stack systems with CPO. It is the next-gen successor to Blackwell. The Vera CPUs are for agentic workloads. There is Groq LPU integration for inference disaggregation. there is projected $1T in combined Blackwell/Rubin orders through 2027. It will have 10x better inference ...

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Bioluminescence is everywhere in nature, but it puts on its biggest light shows underwater. In the deepest regions of the oceans, as much as 90 percent of all living creatures may possess at least some ability to shimmer thanks to cellular chemical reactions. However, the ethereal displays aren’t limited to these deep, dark waters. The cold blue glow from bioluminescent algae like Pyrocystis lunula is occasionally visible atop waves for other organisms to see.

Still, spotting these glimmers is difficult for the naked eye. P. lunula only shines for a few milliseconds at a time when agitated. However, those lights could hypothetically remain illuminated for much longer if certain chemical switches are flipped on in the algae. The possibilities would be vast—suddenly, harmless organisms could replace environmentally toxic chemicals used to produce artificial glows, and even cut back on electricity usage for lights.

“This project was a moonshot idea,” University of Colorado Boulder civil engineer Wil Srubar said in a recent profile. “I was curious if we could create a world in which we don’t use electricity but rather use biology to produce light.”

Drawing on previous research, Srubar and his colleagues assessed P. lunula’s bioluminescent response to basic and acidic compounds. They tested one acidic compound with a pH of 4 (similar to tomato juice) and a more basic compound with a pH of 10 (similar to hand soap).

Their results, published in the journal Science Advances, suggest algae could be part of a brighter, more sustainable future. In both cases, P. lunula began to shine. Acidic exposure made the algae glow brightly for up to 25 minutes, while the basic compound produced a shorter, more diffused light.

“It was a very exciting moment when we found the right chemical stimulant that allowed the light to stay on for a long time,” said engineer and study co-author Giulia Brachi. “This is the first time we have figured out how to sustain luminescence.”

The team took things even further from there. The engineers embedded the algae into various shaped objects made with naturally sourced, 3D-printed hydrogel. Because the acid and base solutions aren’t lethal to P. lunula, the organisms survived for weeks while constantly glowing. After four weeks, the acid-treated examples still retained 75 percent of their brightness.

According to the team, there are a range of uses for P. lunula. Autonomous robots and even space exploration equipment could produce battery-free light illuminated by the algae. If the algae responds to other chemicals, then it may show promise as a tool to test water quality or toxicity. What’s more, the photosynthetic algae doesn’t produce any carbon—it devours it.

“We’re storing carbon while we’re producing light, whereas conventionally, we emit carbon to light up spaces,” said Srubar. “This discovery really paves the way for engineering other living light materials and devices.”

The post Glowing algae could power the lamps of the future appeared first on Popular Science.

A hiker who paused to examine an old, uprooted tree found something much rarer than roots during a recent walk in the hills of Norway. According to a team of archaeologists from the University of Stavanger, the man’s morning stroll unexpectedly revealed a 1,500-year-old sword scabbard crafted from gold. Its owner likely wasn’t a lowly soldier, either. Based on the artistic skill and material, the embellishment’s original weapon probably belonged to a prominent leader or chieftain who ruled during the 6th century.

The remarkable find remained buried for centuries in the Norwegian district of Austrått, not far from the country’s southwest coast. The small adornment measures about 2.4 inches wide and less than one inch tall, while weighing around 1.15 ounces. Although tiny, the accessory signified immense authority and power. It’s also an incredibly rare artifact.Only 17 other similar pieces are known throughout northern Europe.

“The odds of finding something like this are minimal,” University of Stavanger archaeologist Håkon Reiersen said in a statement, translated from Norwegian.

Drawing of the decor in the main field of the fitting from Austrått. The animal figure is drawn with violet color. The ribbon that has been thrown into the figure has been given a pink color. Credit: Ellen Hagen / Archaeological Museum / University of Stavanger

Even after generations underground, the scabbard retains much of its original design. Although somewhat difficult to discern now, researchers identified clear regional artistic stylings that match those seen during the Migration Period (300s–600s CE), an era known for its widespread shifting power dynamics across Europe and the fall of the Western Roman Empire. These decorations include animal and potential human-animal hybrid illustrations arranged symmetrically across the piece. There are even still remnants of filigree embellishments, and evidence of finely beaded gold wiring that helped create an overall shimmering effect.

Reiersen and his team believe the artifact belonged to a major leader or chief in Hove, a region along Norway’s western coast. This man probably oversaw many warrior followers, and relied on items like impressive weaponry to highlight his influence and power. But while similar relics exist, the Hove discovery is distinct for its clear evidence of heavy usage and wear. Many decorative swords of the era were purely ceremonial or intended only for display. In this case, it appears its owner actually wielded the weapon in battle. Or at the very least regularly carried it around with him in public.

The location of the find also tells its own story. After examining the site, archaeologists determined that the scabbard wasn’t accidentally deposited or discarded, but carefully placed inside a crack in the bedrock. This strongly suggests the ultimate fate of the gold accessory was a religious offering to the gods. Even this act would have been its own signifier of power and wealth. The 6th century was particularly difficult for communities living in the area, who faced many economic, agricultural, and cultural trials. Giving up such a rich adornment would have been a leader’s way of both reiterating his power while pleading for divine aid. Taken altogether, the discovery represents an extraordinary moment for archaeologists that will help them better understand the region’s social dynamics during the Migration Period.

“We just have to say a big thank you to a very attentive hiker for the fact that we now have a new puzzle piece linked to the power center at Hove,” added archaeologist and University of Stavanger museum director Kristin Armstrong-Oma.

The post Hiker stumbles on 6th century gold sword scabbard under fallen tree appeared first on Popular Science.

Curiosity got itself stuck between a rock and hard place last month, but NASA says there’s no reason to fret about the intrepid Mars rover. On April 25, mission engineers were remotely piloting its robotic arm’s rotary-percussive drill into a Martian rock nicknamed Atacama. It’s a relatively routine task for Curiosity, which takes the samples and then pulverizes them into a powder for future onboard chemical analysis.

But Atacama is no small stone. The hefty, 1.5-foot-wide geologic formation is about six inches thick and weighs about 28.6 pounds. So NASA engineers were understandably a bit worried when Curiosity attempted to retract its arm—and subsequently lifted the entire rock off the ground.

“Drilling has fractured or separated the upper layers of rocks in the past, but a rock has never remained attached to the drill sleeve,” the agency explained in a recent rundown.

While amusing to envision, the situation was no laughing matter for NASA’s engineers. The rover’s drill would be of little more use with a giant rock indefinitely attached to it. But even if controllers could detach Atacama from the rover, the force might damage the tool or the arm itself. Without those capabilities, Curiosity’s ongoing mission would be in serious jeopardy.

Mission specialists first tried the drilling version of “turning it off and on again,” by vibrating the tool. However, Atacama remained stubbornly stuck on Curiosity…for another four days. NASA then tried a new approach by reorienting the robotic arm and instructing the drill to vibrate one more time. Atacama managed to shake off a bit of sand that time, but little else.

Two more stressful days passed before NASA gave it a third try. Engineers tilted the drill slightly further, then rotated and vibrated the tool while also spinning its drill bit. The Curiosity team anticipated it may take multiple attempts to pull off the feat.But in this case, Atacama finally gave way almost immediately. The nearly weeklong ordeal culminated with the giant rock fracturing as it landed on the Martian ground.

So far, NASA hasn’t reported any lingering damage to the vehicle, meaning the rover is likely ready to continue exploring the Red Planet. As for Atacama, it seems the Martian rock learned a valuable lesson: Don’t mess with Curiosity.

The post For 6 days, NASA’s Mars rover battled a rock appeared first on Popular Science.

Flying cows, SUVs soaring through the air like toys, quaint towns that are virtually wiped off the map. Hollywood certainly makes the very real world of chasing tornadoes appear exciting on the big screen. And yet the reality of storm chasing is actually slower, less competitive, more methodical, and not nearly as deadly as Twister or Twisters make it appear.

“My whole setup for a single chase is longer than most tornado movies are,” meteorologist and storm chaser Cyrena Arnold tells Popular Science.

Every spring and summer, thousands of meteorologists like Arnold, alongside hobbyists and weather tourists alike, chase tornadoes. Roughly 5,000 people from around the world travel to the Great Plains to chase storms every year. On the ground, it’s a mixture of exhilaration, solid planning, teamwork, and some difficult math. It’s also the chance to make a major real-life impact.

“Being able to see something and call it into the National Weather Service and have them issue a warning based upon it is probably the coolest thing ever. Because you may have just saved lives.”

On May 24, 2023, storm chaser Cyrena Arnold encountered one of the angriest storms she had ever experienced in Tucumcari, New Mexico. The teal colors come from the large hail falling inside the storm, and inflow winds were 50 to 70+ mph. It produced multiple tornadoes and wreaked havoc in the area. Image: Cyrena Arnold What is storm chasing?

While the answer may seem obvious, the true definition of storm chasing has evolved over the years, as more hobbyists are going out in search of tornadoes—hobbyists not all that different from Glen Powell’s Tyler Owens in Twisters. 

For some, the whole point may be “trying to get as close to touching it as humanly possible without dying,” says Arnold. Others want to see the power of nature up close and snap photographs of its raw beauty. 

From a scientific standpoint, storm chasers can collect important data on storms, including wind speed, direction, and precipitation. They can also help weather forecasters get on-the-ground data that even the most advanced radar might not see. 

A meteorologist looking at a radar can understand that there might be a tornado in one spot or a severe thunderstorm with rotating clouds ready to spawn a tornado somewhere else. But radar coverage still isn’t perfect, nor does it tell the whole story of what’s happening on the ground. Enter storm chasers. They’re the folks, on the ground, relaying exactly what they see.  

“Storm spotters [another term for chasers] are actually a very critical part of that warning piece. We can be the eyes and ears on the ground for the National Weather Service, whether you’re a meteorologist or not,” says Arnold, who has over 20 years of storm chasing experience.

To stay safe while chasing storms, meteorologists like Arnold always need an exit plan. This storm with rotating wall clouds rolled through Clovis, New Mexico, in May of 2023. Image: Cyrena Arnold The real art of storm chasing

There is a lot of camaraderie among storm chasers and it is not as competitive as the movies make it seem. This is important, as safe storm chasing always involves sharing data and teamwork. Rival teams stealing each other’s research as depicted in Twister is more for the movie drama. 

It is impossible to drive, navigate, and watch the forecast all at once. Arnold is her team’s driver, partly because she is a self-proclaimed gear head, but she also gets car sick and would have trouble looking at forecast models and GPS while the car is moving.

Once a team figures out when they are going to go out based on what forecasting models are saying, they will continue to track changes and listen to local forecasts constantly. The goal is to pinpoint exactly where the team ought to be, in order to spot a tornado. And that is no easy task, akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

“Maybe I know things are going to blow up in east Kansas, but east Kansas is a really big place,” Arnold explains. “So I need to know where I should be, down to what town I want to be [in].”

This evening storm in Elida, New Mexico, on May 26, 2023, was stationary for almost three hours and included over two inch diameter hail and pouring rain, resulting in a lot of damage and flooding in the area. Image: Cyrena Arnold

Chasers will also look at signals coming from the atmosphere, like cloud formations, that can indicate where a storm might emerge. Tornadoes typically form in cumulonimbus clouds. These massive, dense, towering clouds are associated with severe weather, including hail, heavy rain, thunder, lightning, and tornadoes

“I am looking to be downstream of storms, just slightly where they initiate,” Arnold explains. This way, she can watch how the entire storm progresses, not just the tornado. 

“Where [tornadoes] initiate you get these towering cumulus clouds that start to grow and form,” she says. 

Chasers must also do the “boring” yet necessary steps in advance of the storm—charge cameras and batteries, gas up the car, eat a good meal, and consider what’s on your feet when looking at the sky.

“I know this sounds like a really weird one, but you don’t go storm chasing in flip flops,” Arnold says.

Arnold is her team’s driver and stays in communication with other teams on the road via radio. Image: Cyrena Arnold The perfect storm

One of the biggest misconceptions about storm chasing is that you will see a tornado every time you go out on a chase. 

“Your ratio is about one to 10. So, for every 10 storms you chase, you’ll probably find one,” Arnold explains. Since all tornadoes originate from severe thunderstorms, sometimes chasers will end up collecting data on these powerful thunderstorms. While not quite as dramatic, this can still help meteorologists improve their forecasts, as thunderstorms can lead to dangerous flooding and winds even if they don’t spawn a single tornado. Still, following a tornado is still the prize of the day.  

That said, if all of the variables align and you are in the right place at the right time, it’s time to watch. For some, that means analyzing the meteorological data coming in. Others are snapping photos and keeping the team safe from any flying debris. 

As the storm progresses, chasers will also look to see where it’s moving or if other storms are popping up nearby. Arnold says they’ll continue to move a few miles here and there in “very small changes, like a chessboard.”

With all of that debris and rain, it’s also crucial for navigators to get a sense of how road networks are affected. 

“In places like the middle of nowhere Kansas, roads turn to the slickest, gooiest, nastiest mud you’ve ever seen and you will get stuck,” says Arnold. “So, understanding how the road conditions are changed is important for our exit strategies.”

A storm slowly travels south toward Clovis, New Mexico. Inflow winds were incredibly strong and Arnold saw the storm produce a brief tornado shortly after this photo was taken. Image: Cyrena Arnold.

If a storm shifts direction, understanding the road conditions is critical for that exit plan. While storm paths can be unpredictable, the majority move from west to east due to the jetstream. This powerful “air river” moves storm systems from west to east across land and oceans due to how the Earth rotates around the sun. 

Most of the time, simply driving south is an easy escape route if a team needs to get out of the way fast. Unlike hurricanes, which span vast areas, tornado paths are more narrow and it is easier to get out of its way. 

Storm chasing is not nearly as deadly as the movies make it out to be. While the exact number is debated, only a handful of people have died while storm chasing. In 2013, storm chaser and meteorologist Tim Samaras, his storm chaser partner Carl Young, and son Paul Samaras were killed near El Reno, Oklahoma. First responders found Tim Samaras inside of his car with his seat belt still on, while Paul Samaras and Young were pulled from the car by a tornado.

No flying cows, but hail the size of DVDs

During one particularly strong storm outbreak in southwest Texas in May 2024, Cyrena and her storm chasing crew experienced a whole new category of hail during an EF3 tornado. The Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale measures a tornado’s wind speed and its related damage. An EF3 tornado, like this one Cyrena and her team were chasing, have winds between 136 and 165 miles per hour.

“We were between Midland and Odessa, and they put the largest hail warning they’ve ever had on a storm ever for DVD sized hail,” Arnold recalls. “It was the first time they had ever used that comparison and not something like ping pong, golf ball, or quarter.” 

There was plenty of warning that this massive hail was coming and the team was able to get out of harm’s way. Arnold and other meteorologists tell stories like these on the podcast she runs with a team of meteorologists called The Stormfront Freaks 

Still, even in the face of danger, storm chasing is a valuable public safety resource. It also gives weather geeks and hobbyists a front-row seat to the wonders of nature.

“You get out there and you feel so small. You feel so insignificant and seeing what Mother Nature is capable of is just incredible,” says Arnold. 

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.

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The post The real storm chasers of the Great Plains appeared first on Popular Science.

Famed British naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough turns 100 years old on May 8, and a team of researchers has prepared a special present: an entire new genus of wasp named in his honor. 

Meet Attenboroughnculus tau, a tiny parasitic wasp discovered in Chile. The specimen is 0.14 inches long and has a T-shaped marking on its abdomen that inspired the species name, “tau.” The insect was collected from Chile’s Valdivia Province in 1983, and it took over four decades for someone to officially recognize it as something new.  

Attenboroughnculus tau is one of the over 50 species named in honor of the famed naturalist. Image: © Trustees of the Natural History Museum.

“We hope to inspire global scientists to take another look in their collections to see if there is something small that could contribute to our collective understanding and therefore the future of our natural world,” Jennifer Pullar, science communications manager at London’s Natural History Museum, says in a statement. 

It was volunteer Augustijn De Ketelaere, a graduate student at Ghent University in Belgium, who noticed the insect’s unexpected traits while the team was examining the museum’s ichneumonid collections. Attenboroughnculus tau has a unique combination of anatomical features that make it different from already established genera: a strongly curved abdominal segment, toothlike structures on the ovipositor (which they use to lay eggs), and distinctive wing and leg morphology.

Attenboroughnculus tau is less than one inch long. Image: © Trustees of the Natural History Museum.

If you think Attenborough will be offended by the unsavory nature of the bug named in his honor, think again. Parasitoid wasps have appeared in his documentaries, such as the BBC nature documentary series The Trials of Life, in which he dubbed them the “bodysnatcher wasp.”

“David Attenborough has featured Chile’s diverse, extreme landscapes in several documentaries, emphasising the unique environmental challenges and ecological resilience of species within the country,” De Ketelaere, Pullar, and lead author Gavin Broad—principle curator of insects at the museum—write in a recent Journal of Natural History study. “He has used his work to reveal the intimate, unseen or overlooked within nature. This resonates in the discovery of this species in an unsorted drawer within the collections of the Natural History Museum, London.” 

This isn’t the first time Attenborough is honored by taxonomists. In fact, the man has over 50 species named after him, including the carnivorous plant Nepenthes attenboroughii. 

Happy Birthday Sir David Attenborough! 

The post Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday present is… a parasitic wasp appeared first on Popular Science.

A remarkable collection of ancient stone tools proves that human creativity can thrive in challenging times. The complexity of the stone tools found amidst the bones of butchered animals in central China demonstrate an elevated level of intelligence and creativity. Early humans forged the tools during an ice age 146,000 years ago, not during the relative ease of a warm period. According to a study published today in the Journal of Human Evolution, this challenges the idea that the early humans  could not innovate. 

“People often imagine creativity as something that flourishes in good times,” Yuchao Zhao, a study co-author and the assistant curator of East Asian archaeology at the Field Museum in Chicago, said in a statement. “Finding out that these stone tools were made during a harsh ice age tells a different story. Hard times can force us to adapt.”

A distant human cousin

The stone tools were found at the Lingjing archaeological site in central China. An early human species called Homo juluensis, a cousin of our own species, occupied the area. While they went extinct about 50,000 years ago, Homo juluensis had a very large brain size and traits seen in both eastern Asian archaic humans and Neanderthals in Europe.

Until recently, archaeologists believed that ancient humans in East Asia during the late Middle Pleistocene (300,000-120,000 years ago) did not make many significant technological advances, compared to the early humans living in Europe and Africa. However, the Lingjing stone tools tell a different story.

The disc-shaped stone cores at Lingjing were part of a detailed, carefully organized tool-making process. Homo juluensis built them by striking small stones against larger stone cores. Some of the cores were wired evenly on both sides. Other cores were more carefully built. One side was primarily a surface to strike from. The other side was shaped to produce sharp flakes.

According to the team, these asymmetrical cores are especially important. They indicate that prehistoric humans were not just knocking off pieces of a stone at random. Instead, they were managing the core as a three-dimensional object, where surfaces have different roles, while keeping the right angles for producing useful flakes.

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“This was not casual flake production, but a technology that required planning, precision, and a deep understanding of stone properties and fracture mechanics,” said Zhao. “The underlying logic of this system—and the cognitive abilities it reflects—shows important similarities to Middle Paleolithic technologies often associated with Neanderthals in Europe and with human ancestors in Africa, suggesting that advanced technological thinking was not limited to western Eurasia.”

The stone artifacts left behind by the Homo juluensis’ living at Lingjing suggest that they were capable of complex thought and creativity. However, this story  further complicates a shift in the timeline of how long ago these tools were made.

Aging bones

Homo juluensis at Lingjing would butcher animals like deer, with their bones found alongside the stone tools. A rib from a deer-like animal found at Lingjing contained several glittering calcite crystals—an important particle for dating objects. Calcite crystals have trace amounts of uranium, which degrades into another element called thorium over time. Scientists can then tell the age of the crystal by measuring the ratio of uranium to thorium present inside of a calcite crystal.

“The calcite crystals inside the bone acted like a natural clock, allowing us to refine the age of the site,” says Zhao.

Crystals growing inside a bone found at the Lingjing archaeological site; these crystals were used to date the site, and the tools found there, to an ice age 146,000 years ago. Image: Photo by Zhanyang Li.

Based on this new analysis, the team believes that these tools date back about 20,000 years older than scientists once believed. While 20,000 years doesn’t sound like  a huge amount of time in the grand scheme of things, it’s an important difference. They were likely made during a harsh and cold ice age instead of a warm period. With this new timeline, these tools were likely adaptations for surviving hard times.  

“Altogether, this research reveals a much richer story of innovation, intelligence, and human evolution in East Asia,” says Zhao.

The post An extinct human species made surprisingly creative butchery tools appeared first on Popular Science.

Psilocybin is the psychoactive compound that puts the “magic” in magic mushrooms. Ingest enough of a fungus like Psilocybe cubensis, and users are liable to experience sensory hallucinations, euphoria, and even altered perceptions of time. Mounting research also suggests that smaller, microdosed amounts may offer promising alternative therapeutic options for treating PTSD, depression, and even alcoholism.

But what happens when you give fish the same psychoactive ingredient? It may sound like an odd, even pointless experiment, but biological neuroscientists think the results could inform future medical and psychiatric treatments. Their evidence laid out in a study published today in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience suggests small levels of psilocybin ease anxiety or aggression. Or, at the very least, it calms down a notoriously mean species of fish.

The mean fish in question is the mangrove rivulus (Kryptolebias marmoratus). It is a remarkable creature found along the coast of Florida all the way to Brazil.The 1.5 to three inch amphibious fish has evolved to not only thrive in brackish waters, but survive on land for as long as two months. They’re also extremely aggressive and territorial, making them suitable for certain social and behavioral studies. And because the mangrove rivulus self-fertilizes and produces genetically identical embryos, they offer researchers conveniently uniform models.

To test how psilocybin affects the traditionally confrontational fish, a team from Nova Scotia’s Acadia University and the University of British Columbia bred three genetically distinct lines of laboratory rivulus. One group was exposed to the psychoactive compound, another essentially served as a target for their aggression, and a third was employed separately to assess psilocybin absorption and bodily concentration.

Researchers first observed the standard interactions between two fish separated by a mesh barrier in a tank. These frequently include high-energy “swimming bursts” to intimidate each other without making physical contact, as well as less energy intensive, head-on displays of hostility. On the following day, the team placed one of the rivulus into a water tank that included dissolved psilocybin for 20 minutes. Finally, they transported the now-dosed fish back into the tank with its original foe and watched their reunion.

The team’s findings offer the first direct evidence that psilocybin can selectively reduce the escalating aggression in the fish, without dampening their social interactions. Rivulus with psilocybin in their system significantly reduced their tendency to perform swimming bursts, but still participated in easier head-on displays. Basically, the fish calmed down a bit—but they also got very lazy.

“Psilocybin’s calming effect appears to selectively reduce energetically costly, escalated behaviors while lower‑energy social display behaviors remained largely unchanged,” study co-author and biologist Dayna Forsyth said in a statement. “This suggests that this compound can selectively dampen escalated social conflict rather than shutting down behavior altogether.”

That’s great for the mangrove rivulus, but what about humans? While the experiment focused on a single dose of psilocybin under short time constraints, the team’s findings may kickstart further explorations of the psychoactive compound’s uses in therapeutic treatments. In particular, knowing what social behaviors are affected by psilocybin versus the behaviors that remain unchanged can help researchers hone the scope of their future work.

“These are questions that are difficult or impossible to answer directly in humans,” added University of British Columbia biologist and study c-oauthor Suzie Curie.

The post Magic mushrooms make mean fish lazier and more chill appeared first on Popular Science.

Tesla now has at least 38 unsupervised robotaxi. Austin is up to 27 unsupervised, which is over half of the 53 robotaxi. The count from robotaxitracker is likely only 70% or less of the actual based upon how many Waymo vehicles have been confirmed out of 200 expected vehicles. Tesla FSD 14.3.2 is rolling out ...

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Concrete is everywhere, and that’s a problem. Manufacturing the essential material accounts for around eight percent of annual global carbon dioxide emissions, making it one of the single biggest contributors to the climate crisis. Researchers are investigating all types of creative solutions to the issue, often by replacing ingredients with more eco-friendly alternatives.

Recent propositions include adding coffee grounds, bacteria, and even recycled diapers into the mix.But engineers at Purdue University in Indiana think the answer can already be found in the natural world. According to a study recently published in the journal Chemistry of Materials, one solution may be swapping out the cement for shellfish.

“Oysters generate a natural cement. They use this material for attaching to each other when building reef structures,” chemist and study co-author Jonathan Wilker explained in a recent university profile.

Wilker has spent years examining the biological properties of oyster cement in hopes of recreating the sturdy adhesive for other applications. They have since learned that the bivalves bind together by producing the inorganic compound calcium carbonate—basically chalk. While calcium carbonate isn’t usually adhesive by itself, oysters also produce a small amount of stickier organic materials like phosphorylated proteins. This allows the shellfish to fuse together, even when saturated in water.

After breaking down the chemical composition of oyster cement, Wilker’s team recreated it in a laboratory. They then collected a bunch of limestone bathroom tiles, since their calcium carbonate is virtually identical to oyster shells. From there, they glued stacks of tiles together using their artificial, biomimetic cement. In nearly every stress test, the tiles broke before the bond itself.

Confident in their faux-oyster cement’s abilities, Wilker and colleagues finally tried combining a polymer from their creation into commercially available concrete mix. In lab tests, their oyster-inspired concrete was 10 times stronger while doubling its compressive strength. On top of all that, it also took less time to cure.

Wilker’s team plans to continue testing their patent-pending recipe. He notes that it’s not simply stronger. It’s even more eco-friendly when compared to most adhesives on the market.

“Most of the adhesives that you see at the hardware store are made of organic compounds, derived from petroleum,” he said. “There is so much more that we can learn from nature.

The post Want stronger concrete? Just add oysters. appeared first on Popular Science.

Everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes its controlled detonations. Texas A&M University recently revealed what they say is the world’s largest controlled explosion lab, where researchers can fill a nearly 500-foot metal tube with gas and ignite it in the name of science. They are calling it The Detonation Research Test Facility (DRTF). By precisely measuring what it takes to turn a simple flame into a massive, deadly detonation, researchers hope to make discoveries that could better prepare engineers to prevent gas leaks, and potentially inform ways to build explosion-resistant infrastructure. And all of that will require lots and lots of yeehaw inducing bangs.

Located in Southeast Central Texas, the detonation tunnel is about six feet in diameter and stretches nearly the length of two football fields. Its metal exterior consists of three-quarter-inch steel walls and is covered in earth to muffle the sound—or try to, at least. Inside, the tube holds various sensors that can measure the explosion as it intensifies. By containing all the power within the facility, researchers can study explosions strong enough to level entire buildings. The shockwaves that form in the tunnel can apparently reach speeds of Mach 5—or roughly 3,800 miles per hour.

“The facility enables us to observe, measure and understand one of nature’s most extreme forces in ways that haven’t been scaled before, or even been possible until now,” Texas A&M Engineering professor Dr. Elaine Oran said in a statement. 

Measuring a detonation, from flame to boom 

The idea for the massive detonation tunnel began as an inquiry from the coal mining industry. Industry leaders sought to scientifically determine whether natural gas trapped in a coal mine could explode and detonate. The short answer is yes. It quickly became clear, however, that a facility capable of measuring that would prove useful for a number of other explosion-related questions as well.

To measure an explosion, researchers start by sending an electrical current through a long wire leading into the chamber. Eventually, the current leads to a spark, which creates a flame, not unlike a gunslinger  in a Western striking a match and watching a flame trickle its way to a stick of dynamite. 

Texas A&M University’s Detonation Research Test Facility is a nearly 500-foot detonation tube more than 6 feet in diameter, built with three-quarter-inch-thick steel walls and paired with a 90-meter earth-covered muffler. Image: Texas A&M University College of Engineering.

When the flame enters the chamber, it begins a violent journey. The chamber is lined with what researchers refer to as an “obstacle course” of metal beams that generate turbulence. As the flame travels, more surface area is created, which in turn causes it to burn faster and stronger.

Eventually, all of that power creates a shockwave in front of the flame. Once the shockwave is strong enough, it pushes forward and creates a second, much larger explosion. That second, earth-shaking boom is the detonation.

Video footage of the process occurring in real time is dramatic, to say the least. Everything is quiet except for a voice in the control room counting down three, two, one. That’s followed by what sounds like a muffled gunshot as the flame enters the tube’s first segment. Visually, the tunnel’s thick metal exterior quivers and soil shakes off it as each succeeding segment ignites. That all leads up to the detonation, which is a significantly larger  boom that shakes the entire facility and sends earth soaring into the air. Seconds later, amid smoky air, the soil can be heard raining back down, like an artillery scene from a war film.

And even though the facility is designed to withstand massive explosion level forces safety, it still leads some to check their heart rates. 

“There’s a lot of nervousness, [and] jitters,” Texas A&M Aerospace engineering student Zachary Wideman said in a video. “Because something on this scale with this type of energy, you can’t help but be nervous.”  

Though the facility’s controlled explosions will likely prove most useful for industrial safety initially, engineers involved believe its scientific findings could have broader appeal. The shockwaves it creates could prove important for future testing of hypersonic plane and space shuttle propulsion. On the more conceptual side, scientists interested in the history of the cosmos could use the tube’s controlled explosions to help build models of supernovas, which undergo a similar physical process, albeit on a much, much larger scale.

The post The world’s largest explosion lab is ready for big booms. And yes, it’s in Texas. appeared first on Popular Science.

XAI gets to about breakeven by renting half of their AI Data center and Anthropic can serve its models and more money and can get to a better IPO. Both get to IPO before OpenAI. Both stronger against OpenAI. OpenAI IPO is hurt. Anthropic is already at pre-IPO valuation of $1.2 trillion. SpaceX XAI will ...

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What’s the weirdest thing you learned this week? Well, whatever it is, we promise you’ll have an even weirder answer if you listen to Popular Science’s hit podcast. The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week hits Spotify, YouTube, Apple, and everywhere else you listen to podcasts every-other Wednesday morning. It’s your new favorite source for the strangest science-adjacent facts, figures, and Wikipedia spirals our editors can muster. If you like the stories in this post, we guarantee you’ll love the show.

FACT: This musical motif is works like an emotional cheat code 

By Jess Boddy

So I played a lot of Hollow Knight: Silksong last year. And if you’ve played or even watched some of that game, you’ll recognize the core motif that’s embedded in the game’s entire soundtrack. In fact, it might even sound familiar if you’ve never played Silksong at all. That’s because that motif is actually an 800-year-old Latin chant called the “Dies irae.”

After it made the rounds in the Catholic church as a part of funeral requiems, it jumped to secular music and eventually movies. Most memorably, the opening of The Shining copies the exact melody of this ancient church song. But composers also sneak it into less obviously menacing movie scores like Star Wars, The Lion King, Shrek, and hundreds more. (Another more recent example is Frozen 2.)

Of course, it’s also trickled into video games like Silksong—and Elden Ring, The Witcher 3, and many others. I was curious why this often four-note motif is so prevalent, so I interviewed a musicology professor at the Berklee College of Music. He helped me break down why this motif sounds so sad, both contextually, psychologically, and sonically. Listen to the full episode to hear the motif and see for yourself just how sad it is! (And keep an eye out for my upcoming YouTube video essay on the topic, too!)

FACT: A roller coaster ‘thoosie’ on the latest advances in amusement park tech

By Grant O’Brien

This week’s episode features special guest Grant O’Brien, who you’ve probably seen on the streaming network Dropout. 

The last time Grant joined us on Weirdest Thing, we broke format to quiz him on weird historical gossip:

This time, we let Grant go wild on his favorite nerdy hyperfixation: roller coasters. Check out this week’s episode to learn about the hottest new technological features in coaster design—and why he has a few notes for the folks who designed Falcon’s Flight.

FACT: This disabled bird is the alpha male of his flock 

By Rachel Feltman

Here’s a riddle for you: What do you call a bird with a busted beak? An alpha male, apparently.

This is the story of a kea—which is a species of alpine parrot from New Zealand—named Bruce. Bruce made the media rounds a few years ago because of his unique methods for adapting to a lack of top beak. After losing this seemingly necessary chunk of himself, researchers found, he found new ways to incorporate tools into his grooming and eating routine. Bruce was thriving! What a wholesome tale.

A new study sheds light on some arguably less adorable, but to my mind no less inspiring, behaviors from Bruce. To make a long story short, this disabled parrot uses his half-beak to stab his adversaries. And it works really, really well. In fact, the researchers studying Bruce say he serves as the alpha male of his flock (or “circus,” to use the correct term for a group of cheeky kea) by just about every metric they could measure. Far from being shunted aside due to his undeniable handicap, Bruce has basically invented a method of fighting that’s so foreign to his peers that they can’t figure out how to beat him. 

You can read more about Bruce’s innovative fisticuffs here. 

The post Movies use this one musical trick to make you feel miserable  appeared first on Popular Science.