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The notorious disease known as sleeping sickness can lurk inside a host for months or even years before serious symptoms arrive. When these tiny parasites do, it’s often a death sentence for its human host. After confounding epidemiologists for decades, researchers now know exactly how sleeping sickness can remain undetected for so long. Its secret weapon is a constantly adapting “invisibility cloak” crafted from special proteins. The evidence is laid out in a study published on March 30 in the journal Nature Microbiology.

Trypanosomiasis, better known as sleeping sickness, starts with a tiny bloodsucking bug called the tsetse fly that causes a huge problem. Like the mosquito, the tsetse fly is a vector for multiple dangerous diseases. However, the tsetse fly is particularly notorious for its role in spreading sleeping sickness in humans via the parasite Typanosoma brucei gambiense (T. brucei). Roughly 70 million people across 36 countries are still at risk of contracting sleeping sickness, and a total eradication remains elusive. 

Around 70 million people live in regions at risk of spreading sleeping sickness. Credit: Deposit Photos

Cases of sleeping sickness are steadily declining, but they remain frequently fatal. Initial symptoms appear relatively innocuous, with a patient developing a fever, joint pain, headaches, and itchiness between one and three weeks after an insect bite. But the problems intensify from there. The second stage of sleeping sickness may arrive weeks, months, or even later, but its effects on the nervous system invariably include neurological complications like confusion, numbness, poor coordination, irregular sleep disruptions, and coma. What’s more, it’s often already too late for effective treatment once the most severe symptoms arrive. At that point, there isn’t much to do for a patient.

But how and why does it take so long to learn when someone has sleeping sickness? Newly discovered ESB2 proteins may be the reason why. These collectively create a barrier structure called a variant surface glycoprotein (VSG). At the same time, the parasite is also precisely editing its genes to hide inside its host.

“We’ve discovered that the parasite’s secret to staying invisible isn’t just what it prints, but what it chooses to redact,” explained University of York biologist and study co-author Joana Faria. “By placing a ‘molecular shredder’ directly inside its ‘protein factory,’ the parasite can edit its genetic manual in real-time.”

The explanation answers a question that’s stumped microbiologists and epidemiologists for nearly 40 years. In addition to the protein cloak, T. brucei is producing “helper genes” that ensure its survival by hiding it from the immune system. Researchers noted that although the genetic instructions should result in equal quantities of each gene type, the parasite knows to make many more VSG proteins than the helpers.

That’s where ESB2 comes into play. Faria’s team successfully identified the protein inside a region of the parasite known as the Expression Site Body. As new genetic material is manufactured, ESB2 immediately takes a cellular scalpel to the helper sections while sparing the cloaking mechanisms. Basically, it’s retracting telltale phrases in a manifesto that would otherwise trace back to the author.

“When we first saw the molecular shredder localized in the microscope, we knew we had found something special,” recalled biologist and study co-author Lianne Lansink.

The implications also extend beyond sleeping sickness. According to Faria, the breakthrough “suggests a fundamental shift” in how infectious diseases are approached. In some cases, an organism’s survival may rely less on how it creates genetic instructions, and more on which ones they eliminate in the moment.

Despite its classification as a neglected tropical disease, sleeping sickness cases have steadily declined in recent decades thanks to public health efforts. With the discovery of ESB2, researchers are one step closer to wiping out sleeping sickness.

“The mystery of how this parasite manages the asymmetric expression of its genetic manual has been a cold case in the back of my mind since my days as a postdoc,” said Faria. “It’s a testament to what a fresh lab and a diverse group of scientists can achieve when they look at an old problem from a completely new angle.”

The post Parasitic sleeping sickness creates ‘invisibility cloak’ to hide in humans for years appeared first on Popular Science.

Betty White spent the winter hiding from the authorities. The roughly 20-year-old female Russian tortoise (Testudo horsfieldii) named after the iconic actress is one of Oregon’s Badger Run Wildlife Rehab resident reptiles. She went missing this past fall, only to be found months later underneath her enclosure by a volunteer named Rose.

Russian tortoises like Betty White are found throughout Central Asia, including in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and China. After the fall of the Soviet Union, they became a popular export for former Soviet states. 

“Almost all of the Russian tortoises in the pet trade are wild-caught and this has taken a toll on their species in their native territories along with habitat loss,” Laura Hale, a biologist and the president of Badger Run Wildlife Rehab, tells Popular Science. “They are considered endangered or threatened in much of their range.” 

Betty White is a Russian tortoise, a species found through Central Asia. Image: Laura and John Hale / Badger Run Wildlife Rehab.

In December 2023, Betty White and a male Russian tortoise named Smudge were rescued after her owner had died. Both were brought to Badger Run Wildlife Rehab in Klamath Falls, Oregon, where they teach the public about turtles, tortoises, and the dangers of the exotic pet trade. Trafficking wild animals takes them out of their natural habitats and owning exotic pets also pose health risks for human handlers and the animals—Betty White included. Her name comes from the white lines on her shell due to improper growth between the individual sections of the shell. These lines are due to a poor diet and the incorrect humidity she was originally kept in.

Betty White and Smudge now spend their spring, summer, and fall together in a large outdoor enclosure with deep soil for burrowing. In the winter they are moved indoors to a warmer enclosure with UVB lamps.

Betty White (left) and her buddy Smudge (right) were reduced in 2023 and now help teach the public about reptiles and the dangers of the exotic pet trade. Image: Laura and John Hale / Badger Run Wildlife Rehab.

“Since Betty White and Smudge have ‘day jobs’ as education animals we do not let them brumate (hibernate) during cold weather,” Hale says. “They are moved indoors where they stay active throughout the cold months.”

According to Hale, many reptile experts advise against letting captive animals like Betty White and Smudge brumate unless caretakers can ensure absolute silence without any disturbances for the animals’ wellbeing.

“Every time a hibernating animal is awakened, it raises their metabolism again which burns precious calories,” Hale explains. “If that happens too often, they won’t have enough calories stored to survive until spring.”

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This past fall, the Badger Run team prepared to move the pair into their winter lodgings. Smudge, who is  more of a “people tortoise,” made sure to come out for shell rubs and scratches. But Ms. White had other plans. She burrowed a few feet beneath the heavy and insulated house underneath their 16 by eight foot rectangular enclosure. 

“The bottom of the enclosure has a heavy wire mesh floor to prevent a tortoise from completely tunneling out and escaping,” says Hale. “So, we knew she was in there somewhere.” 

Betty White spent the winter snugly tucked into her burrow, while the team patiently scanned the area for signs of tortoise life. When a spell of unusually warm weather returned earlier this month, Betty White came out to sun herself and was picked up by volunteers on Saturday March 21. 

Russian tortoises like Betty White were heavily trafficked after the fall of the Soviet Union. Image: Laura and John Hale / Badger Run Wildlife Rehab.

She was cleaned up and fed greens, dried flowers, a calcium supplement, in addition to access to water, heat, and UVB lamps. “Betty White was none too pleased with having her shell rinsed of caked mud upon return from her winter brumation adventure,” Hale explains.

Betty White will remain back indoors with Smudge until more steady warm temperatures return to southern Oregon.

“Smudge was very happy to see Betty White return,” says Hale. “He spent the first day following her around their indoor enclosure.”

The post Volunteers finally find Betty White—the rescue tortoise appeared first on Popular Science.

Artemis II astronauts have entered final preparations for their historic trip around the moon, but they won’t be flying alone. While speaking recently at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, mission commander Reid Wiseman revealed the mission’s adorable zero gravity indicator. Designed by a 2nd grader from California, “Rise” is a tiny plush doll that will let the four-person crew know when they’ve reached zero gravity. Aside from being extremely cute, Rise is also a symbolic celebration of the first crewed NASA mission to leave Earth’s orbit and circle the moon since the Apollo program.

“Rise,” designed by Lucas Ye of Mountain View, California, as the zero gravity indicator that will fly with the crew around the Moon. “Rise” was inspired by the iconic Earthrise moment from the Apollo 8 mission. A zero gravity indicator is a small plush item that typically rides with a crew to visually indicate when they are in space.
Credit: NASA

A zero gravity indicator is an untethered object—often a stuffed animal or something similar—that highlights astronauts’ journey into space. However, their inclusion during flights wasn’t an original NASA idea. In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first to pack a small doll alongside him during the Vostok I journey to showcase when he reached microgravity. Zero gravity indicators have since become an international staple of spacefaring, with past examples including plushies of R2-D2, Albert Einstein, and multiple dinosaurs. More recently, Snoopy was the sole inhabitant aboard the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022.

The Rise doll was one of over 2,600 submissions from more than 50 countries during NASA’s Moon Mascot contest. In August 2025, the Artemis II crew narrowed down the selections to 25 finalists before settling on the top five contenders:

• “Big Steps of Little Octopus,” Anzhelika Iudakova, Finland
• “Corey the Explorer,” Daniela Colina, Peru
• “Creation Mythos,” Johanna Beck, McPherson, Kansas
• “Lepus the Moon Rabbit,” Oakville Trafalgar School, Canada
• “Rise,” Lucas Ye, Mountain View, California

Ye’s creation is inspired by the historic Earthrise scene captured during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. While Rise will only be one official zero gravity indicator for Artemis II, there’s a solid chance that its very trendy, planet-themed baseball cap may start showing up in stores after the mission’s completion. Artemis II is currently scheduled to launch no earlier than Wednesday, April 1.

The post A 2nd grader designed an adorable mascot for NASA’s Artemis II mission appeared first on Popular Science.

Peter Cottontail would probably pull a muscle trying to lug this giant chocolate egg down the bunny trail. After the success of the world’s largest Cadbury Creme Egg in 2025, Cadbury World has a new sweet concoction. Behold the world’s largest Cadbury Mini Egg, aka The Mega Mini Egg.

The Mega Mini Egg is currently on display in the U.K.  Image: Cadbury World / PA Media

It took chocolatiers Claire Fielding, Dawn Jenks, and Donna Pitt two days to craft the giant egg entirely by hand. The 27.5-inch-tall, 121-pound egg weighs about as much as an emu. The Mega Mini Egg has a pastel pink sugar coating on its crisp shell and some subtle speckles on the surface. 

“Cadbury Mini Eggs are another absolute favourite and a British Easter staple, so creating the Mega Mini Egg felt like the perfect next challenge,” Cadbury chocolatier Claire Fielding said in a statement. “We took that instantly recognisable shell and chocolate centre and scaled it up into a real showstopper. It’s been so rewarding seeing it come to life, and we can’t wait for visitors to come and see it in person this Easter.”

Cadbury World Chocolatier Claire Fielding with the “Mega Mini Egg.”  Image: Cadbury World / PA Media

The egg is on display in the Chocolate Making area at Cadbury World in Bournville, England, about 100 miles northwest of London. 

Even if you were able to take a bite out of this enormous piece of candy, it would take a lot of chocolate to kill a person. The adult human weighing 165 pounds would need to eat 75,000 milligrams to be at a toxic level. To reach that level, our estimates say that a person would need to consume:

• 711 regular-sized Hershey’s milk chocolate bars OR 

• 7,084 Hershey chocolate kisses OR

• 332 standard- sized Hershey’s dark chocolate bars.

You’d probably end up getting sick long before reaching that chocolate critical mass. 

The post World’s largest Cadbury Mini egg weighs as much as an emu appeared first on Popular Science.

Tesla is deploying more supervised robotaxi, hiring more drivers and testers and will start production of Cybercab in weeks. This should lead to a scaled robotaxi future.

The NASA Lunar Gateway program was cancelled but pieces of it will be used for the early parts of the moonbase and as part of the nuclear mission to Mars. NASA wants to fly two crewed missions to the moon every year. Japan is helping to build a large 15 ton lunar rover that will ...

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Excerpted from THE EDGE OF SPACE-TIME: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein with permission from Pantheon Books, a division of Penguin Random House. Copyright © 2026 by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein.

Halfway through Space Is the Place, Sun Ra muses that scientists are fed on research while Black people have been fed on freedom. As a Black physicist, I have been fed on both, and I have tried to grow the seeds that my ancestors passed on to me. The ancestors could fly. I do too, whenever I am able to escape into looking at the universe through the lens of quantum fields. I am not the first to escape into the abstractions of space and time. If you’ve read this far, then you have joined me. We are not the first. We will not be the last.

When I was younger, I knew I could be a scientist because I grew up watching LeVar Burton play one on television. As Geordi La Forge, chief engineer of the starship Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Burton gave us a brilliant, Black nerd. Because I saw this early example, my child self never doubted that I had the freedom to be a professional nerd too. It was not a possibility that was, as it had been for Black generations before me, “Far Beyond the Stars”—the title of a powerful episode about twentieth-century anti-Black racism that aired during the sixth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. DS9, as many fans know it, was the first Trek series to feature a Black lead. Avery Brooks’s Benjamin Sisko broke barriers in what is to this day the longest-running television drama with a Black man in the leading role. Like Burton’s Lieutenant Commander La Forge, Captain Sisko taught Black children like me that not even the sky was the limit.

In this sense, representation has real material meaning: Trek has continuously pushed the boundaries of our imaginations for as long as it has existed. Burton’s performance as Geordi La Forge has its origins in an earlier iteration of Trek—the first Black person Burton ever saw on television was Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek series. This milestone was marked in the January 1967 issue of Ebony magazine, which also features a cover photograph of Nichols. In the photo, she’s wearing a form-fitting red synthetic velour dress with a respectably high black scoop-neck collar—the uniform of a liberated Black woman who is Earth’s chief communicator in outer space. The dress looks straight out of the 1960s except for the small patch over the left breast, which is roughly shaped like an arrowhead and features a swirly letter e (for engineering). The accompanying feature story declared that Nichols, then a star of the brand-new NBC Color television show Star Trek, was “the first Negro astronaut, a triumph of modern-day TV over modern-day NASA.”

The Edge of Space-Time is available on April 7th from Pantheon Books. Credit: Pantheon / Penguin Random House

The decision to feature the stunningly beautiful Nichols on the cover, complete with a lengthy feature describing her significant contributions to the production of Gene Roddenberry’s new humanistic drama of life in space, was both clear and pointed. Not only was Ebony celebrating a great Black actor; it was also offering political commentary on the whiteness of the political zeitgeist, asserting that NBC had imagination NASA utterly lacked. Of course, there are limits to this way of looking at things. Roddenberry had filmed the first Star Trek pilot featuring white actress Majel Barrett (his wife) as second in command of the Enterprise, but NBC hated the idea of portraying a white woman in such a powerful position and refused to pick up the series. The franchise might have died were it not for the intervention of Lucille Ball of I Love Lucy fame, who insisted that Roddenberry be given a second chance. So Roddenberry got rid of the white woman first officer and replaced her with not just any male but a male alien: Leonard Nimoy’s science officer Spock. He also added pilot Hikaru Sulu to the crew, played by Japanese American concentration-camp survivor George Takei. And he cast Nichols, already a star stage performer, in the role of the communications officer whose last name recalls uhuru—Swahili for “freedom.”

It would be nearly three decades before a Black woman would finally make the journey to space in real life. Roddenberry, of course, was not the first to dream of it. I imagine that Black women have dreamed of space throughout the centuries—for much longer than the idea of “Black people” has existed. Even Star Trek was a few years behind journalist Edward Murrow, who, as head of the U.S. Information Agency, wrote to NASA administrator James Webb in 1961 to suggest that the United States send “the first non-white man to space.” Webb replied that such a choice was “inconsistent with our agency’s policies.” And so in 1967, it was Lieutenant Uhura who first fulfilled that dream in the popular consciousness. Beamed into the living rooms of Black children across the country, Nichelle Nichols transformed how Black children saw themselves and their futures. 

Media like Trek kept me open to the possibility that space represented. I am a child of the space shuttle era, so I never knew a world where humans, including Black people, weren’t annually flying to space. I was fascinated by the 1976 IMAX film To Fly!—and saw it at both the California Science Museum and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., where it brought me “past Mars, past Jupiter and its moons, past Saturn and beyond.” The script of the twenty-seven-minute film, juxtaposed with the larger-than-life IMAX movie screen, was the best kind of propaganda, designed to inspire awe. Toward the end, the narrator sums up the journey: “Today we look upon our planet from afar and feel a new tenderness for the tiny and fragile Earth. And so I learned early on from documentary as well as Star Trek that space was a tapestry for our dreams.

______________

Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an associate professor of physics and astronomy and core faculty in women’s and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire. Her research in theoretical physics focuses on cosmology, dark matter, and neutron stars. She is also a researcher of Black feminist science, technology, and society studies. She is also the creator of the Cite Black Women+ in Physics and Astronomy Bibliography. Her first book The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred (Bold Type Books) won the 2021 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the science and technology category, the 2022 Phi Beta Kappa Science Award, and a 2022 PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award.

The post When ‘Star Trek’ put the first Black astronaut into space appeared first on Popular Science.

UK-based Pulsar Fusion announced it has successfully achieved first plasma in its Sunbird nuclear fusion rocket exhaust system. The demonstration, a world’s first for a rocket of this type, was showcased live during a technical session at Jeff Bezos’s exclusive MARS Conference in California, offering a tantalizing glimpse into a future of dramatically faster interplanetary ...

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ARC-AGI-3 is an interactive benchmark for studying agentic intelligence through novel, abstract, turn-based environments in which agents must explore, infer goals, build internal models of environment dynamics, and plan effective action sequences without explicit instructions. Like its predecessors ARC-AGI-1 and 2, ARC-AGI-3 focuses entirely on evaluating fluid adaptive efficiency on novel tasks, while avoiding language ...

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Have you ever walked into an old garage or antique store, seen a VHS tape gathering dust and wondered: would those sad old pieces of plastic still play? An eclectic YouTuber named Brady Brandwood is taking that  curiosity to the extreme. Brandwood has collected a handful of neglected VHS tapes and CDs from long-abandoned buildings in Georgia and is setting out on a journey to bring them back to life. Remarkably, after likely spending more than a decade exposed to the elements, almost all of the old media still worked. Well, mostly worked, at least.

“I’ve heard the lifespan of a VHS tape is about 30 years,” Brandwood says in his video. “I’m betting it’s actually a lot longer than that. “They are obviously very durable, even when they are left out in the elements.” 

Searching abandoned homes for neglected VHS tapes 

Brandwood has odd tastes. The regular programming on his channel (which has nearly 700,000 subscribers) normally involves chronicling the life of wild lobsters and welcoming wild animals into his home. This video switches things up, opening with him wandering through creepy, rotting homes in Georgia’s woodlands from a first-person camera view. The creaky floors, rotted wood, and strewn-about furniture make it look like something straight out of a “Resident Evil” game.

“Kinda sad, all of this will be bulldozed down soon,” he says. Something like a fast food restaurant or gas station will likely replace it. And whoever, or whatever is living in this basement will be evicted.”

The YouTuber returned to the house with his camera, because he had previously spotted some VHS tapes scattered around and wondered if there was any way to find out what was hidden on them. He left with several dirt-filled tapes as well as a handful of CDs, each showing varying levels of apparent wear and tear. One of the CDs clearly had a picture of Elvis on the front, while another had the words “The Blind Side” written in black marker.

Brandwood didn’t actually own a VHS player, so he had to visit several thrift shops to find one—a hunt he also recorded. To play back the CDs, he used an old Apple Power Mac G5 from his storage unit. But even with the correct hardware on hand, neither the VHS tapes nor the CDs would play in their current, dirt-coated state.

Brandwood burned through plenty of paper towels and cleaning spray during his experiment. Image: Brady Brandwood / YouTube.

To clean the VHS tapes, Brandwood started by wiping down the exteriors to remove dirt and grime. He then opened up the top of the tape casing to get a better look at the mechanical innards. It was a mess, to say the least. Mold was growing on the inside, and a good deal of extra dirt was lodged within. Upon closer inspection, one of the tapes had apparently also served as a spider’s nest at some point.

After all that cleaning came the moment of truth. He loaded in one of the VHS tapes and, at first, nothing happened. He ejected it and loaded it once more, and this time, after a brief dramatic pause, the screen went gray and old-time swing music started playing. Moments later, the Paramount Pictures logo with the mountaintop in the background appeared. When he rewound the tape, he realized it was a recording of something from Cartoon Network. It wasn’t crystal clear, but the old tape worked.

The other refurbished VHS tapes managed to play as well. One showed what appeared to be a dinosaur documentary. Another loaded up to reveal a filmed Jerry Lee Lewis concert, in which the musician can be seen playing the piano with his foot. While  all of the VHS tapes were able to play, the same couldn’t be said for the recovered CDs. Some were simply too degraded, and the computer spat them back out.

Brandwood loaded one of the tapes and was greeted with this recording of Jerry Lee Lewis in concert. Image: Brady Brandwood / YouTube. The race against time to save physical media’s secrets 

Brandwood set out to the abandoned VHS tapes and CDs for fun, but figuring out the science behind preserving old physical media is serious work. Around the globe, archivists are racing against time to find the best ways to immortalize degrading tech and safeguard the contents held within them.

Popular Science recently spoke with Cambridge University Library archivist Leontien Talboom  who teamed up with video game enthusiasts to create a new stand for cleaning and imagining floppy disc drives. The square cartridges were the dominant medium for storing digital information throughout the last three decades of the 20th century and are familiar to anyone who remembers the Tamagotchi craze. 

Some of the CDs were too badly damaged to play. Image: Brady Brandwood / YouTube

Here in the United States, archivists at the Library of Congress are actively running experiments on CDs. They’re artificially exposing them to various heat and humidity levels to see how fast they degrade, and what can be done to slow the process. 

For CDs and VHS tapes alike, the best way to prolong their life is to keep them in a climate-controlled environment to prevent decay. Ironically, even though the transition from VHS to CDs was driven partly by the perception that the CDs were a more durable, long-lasting medium, Brandwood’s adventure shows that’s not necessarily the case. It turns out the humble VHS tape may have been a more robust engineering accomplishment than was previously appreciated.

The post Georgia man brings abandoned VHS tapes back to life appeared first on Popular Science.

In Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale, “The Princess and the Pea,” a prince tests whether a young woman is, in fact, a princess. In order to authenticate her nobility, his mother (the queen) places a single pea at the bottom of the woman’s bed, beneath 20 mattresses and 20 quilts. If the woman is sensitive to the pea, she must have royal blood—obviously. Although she falls asleep easily atop the towering, the woman spends the entire night tossing and turning because the bed is so uncomfortable. Later, the queen confirms it was the pea that made her sleep so unbearable. But if you were to ask a sleep doctor today, it may have had more to do with the princess’s sleeping position. 

It’s no secret that your sleeping position can significantly affect your sleep quality. But according to science, which sleeping position is best? 

In order to determine whether we should be snoozing on our backs or curling up on our sides to achieve maximum health benefits (and a good night’s rest), Popular Science turned to  Dr. John Saito, a representative for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Apparently, the answer isn’t so clear-cut. 

A good sleep position begins with easy breathing

“Everyone has an idea of what a good sleep position may be,” says Saito, “whether it’s sleeping on your left side, ride side, back, belly, or even upside down. But it all depends on the context.” 

For example, say you’re lying on your back and have a good support pillow that keeps your spine and your neck in a neutral position. This, says Saito, allows your airway to remain unobstructed and you to breathe easily. That’s a good thing. 

However, if you have sleep apnea—a condition in which your breathing stops and starts throughout sleep, typically resulting from your throat muscles becoming too relaxed and blocking a body’s upper airway—sleeping on your back can be detrimental to your health. 

“If the tongue falls to the back of your throat when you’re lying on your back, that’s bad,” says Saito. For babies, most doctors recommend putting them to sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), an unexplained death that usually occurs during sleep. 

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Good news for side sleepers

For adults, “If you’re lying on your right side, it might be better for blood flow,” says Saito, as well as lower pressure on your heart. This is because your mediastinum, a flexible compartment located between the lungs, helps hold your heart in place. 

“If you’re lying on your left side, it may actually be better for clearing the waste product in our brain,” he says. This is called the glymphatic system, a brain’s specialized waste clearance network that washes away harmful metabolic byproducts, including proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease, while we sleep. 

There’s also a difference between sleeping in a fetal or curled position, and sprawling out straight. Sleeping on either side with your body relatively linear helps to align your spine, while curling up on your side is generally good for easing lower back pain. However, being too curled up like a baby can compress your diaphragm and chest, and in turn restrict breathing. 

Finding the best sleeping position for you

Regardless of what science shows, certain people will have certain preferences when it comes to sleeping positions, says Saito, and for good reason. For instance, “ask someone who’s dealing with back pain to then sleep on their back and they’re going to curse you,” he says, “because even though they’re breathing better, their bones and joints are hurting terribly.”

So instead of a specific sleeping position, Saito says to consider the ABCs of respiratory therapy: airway, breathing, and circulation. “If you can’t breathe because you have sleep apnea or you have allergies and a stuffy nose, you want to find the best position that keeps your airway open,” he says. 

What if you move around, sleeping in multiple positions through the night? 

According to Dr. Saito, “There’s nobody that sleeps like a log and doesn’t move. You may start off in one position to be comfortable, but over the night you shift.” However, he says, there’s a difference between repositioning yourself throughout the night, and moving a lot because you can’t find a comfortable sleeping position. “Just like in anything, a little bit is OK,” he says, “but too much means you’re outside of the spectrum of normal.”

People who have trouble sleeping tend to move excessively. But there are ways to practice sleeping in better positions. If you’re typically a side sleeper, try placing a pillow between your knees to help better align your head, neck, and hips. This neutral posture can not only make breathing easier, but it can also result in deeper, more restorative sleep. 

If you prefer sleeping on your side, try placing a pillow between your knees to help your alignment. Image: Getty Images / bymuratdeniz

If you’re traditionally a back sleeper, place a pillow under your knees. Is sleeping on your stomach more your thing? Try placing a thin pillow under your hips. Choosing a mattress that adheres to the natural curve of your spine is also a key element of snoozing through the night.  

In the end, “There’s no one best sleeping position,” says Saito. In reality, it can depend on a myriad of factors, from whether you’re pregnant and suffering from bad back pain to battling sleep apnea and being a chronic snorer. 

Your ultimate goal is to find a comfortable, unobtrusive sleeping position that allows you to get a good night’s sleep. 

Ultimately, whatever sleep position you find comfiest is going to be the best one for you. This is because it’s what’s going to give you the most rest, which, in turn, will also keep you healthiest.

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 The best sleep position, according to science appeared first on Popular Science.

When taking care of injured birds, sometimes a hands-off approach is the best place to start. And that’s exactly what was in store for two great-horned owls (Bubo virginianus) in the caring hands of the team at the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center in central California.

“Great-horned owls often jump out of the nest before the babies can fly. The parents continue to care for them on the ground,” Donna Burt, a biologist and chairman of the board, executive director, and founder of the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center, tells Popular Science. “That works fine if the owls are in a protected area, but these were in a soccer field.”

Fortunately, these birds did not have any injuries when they were brought into the animal care center, but they still needed a check-up. During a hands-off exam like this one, veterinarians look closely to see how an animal stands, walks, and looks around, to get a sense of their health and potential injuries. In the case of these four to five-week-old owls, the bird on the left is up on its feet, while the owl on the right is hock sitting. Since it is unable to stand, the bird sits back on its legs, which is a normal action for owls this age. Both birds can snap their beaks and spread their wings in threat displays, which indicates that they are feeling well. 

The team can also check on the birds’ eyes during this type of exam. They have a little cloudiness, which is normal for young great-horned owls. They will also blink by lowering the upper eyelids, which is sometimes another threat display. 

Great-horned owls reach adult size by 10 weeks-old. Image: Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center.

Great-horned owls are one of North America’s largest owls. They typically weigh between 2.5 and 4.5 pounds. Baby great-horned owls are also the first babies that the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center receives every single year. Owl pairs begin their courtship in November and lay eggs in late January or early February. The eggs will hatch in March or April. Once hatched, the owls reach full adult size at 10 weeks, but will stay with their parents until the fall.

“When we get tiny baby great-horns, we put them with a non-releasable surrogate owl who cares for and feeds them,” Burt says. “Not only is that easier for us, but it’s better for the babies. Although it can feel rewarding to hand-feed and care for the little fluffballs, it is in their best interest to be raised by owls. They grow faster and develop normal behavior.”

A baby owl with a surrogate. Image: Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center.

While these two can eat on their own, it will be another few weeks before they can fly. As soon as the birds reach that milestone, they will move  to one of the center’s larger aviaries that measure either 50 feet or 100 feet long.

If you come across baby great-horned owls on the ground who appear clean and healthy, the center advises people to leave them alone. If a bird looks injured or sick, contact your local animal control or wildlife rescue center.

The post Spunky baby owls examined after being found on soccer field appeared first on Popular Science.

When taking care of injured birds, sometimes a hands-off approach is the best place to start. And that’s exactly what was in store for two great-horned owls (Bubo virginianus) in the caring hands of the team at the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center in central California.

“Great-horned owls often jump out of the nest before the babies can fly. The parents continue to care for them on the ground,” Donna Burt, a biologist and chairman of the board, executive director, and founder of the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center, tells Popular Science. “That works fine if the owls are in a protected area, but these were in a soccer field.”

Fortunately, these birds did not have any injuries when they were brought into the animal care center, but they still needed a check-up. During a hands-off exam like this one, veterinarians look closely to see how an animal stands, walks, and looks around, to get a sense of their health and potential injuries. In the case of these four to five-week-old owls, the bird on the left is up on its feet, while the owl on the right is hock sitting. Since it is unable to stand, the bird sits back on its legs, which is a normal action for owls this age. Both birds can snap their beaks and spread their wings in threat displays, which indicates that they are feeling well. 

The team can also check on the birds’ eyes during this type of exam. They have a little cloudiness, which is normal for young great-horned owls. They will also blink by lowering the upper eyelids, which is sometimes another threat display. 

Great-horned owls reach adult size by 10 weeks-old. Image: Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center.

Great-horned owls are one of North America’s largest owls. They typically weigh between 2.5 and 4.5 pounds. Baby great-horned owls are also the first babies that the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center receives every single year. Owl pairs begin their courtship in November and lay eggs in late January or early February. The eggs will hatch in March or April. Once hatched, the owls reach full adult size at 10 weeks, but will stay with their parents until the fall.

“When we get tiny baby great-horns, we put them with a non-releasable surrogate owl who cares for and feeds them,” Burt says. “Not only is that easier for us, but it’s better for the babies. Although it can feel rewarding to hand-feed and care for the little fluffballs, it is in their best interest to be raised by owls. They grow faster and develop normal behavior.”

A baby owl with a surrogate. Image: Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center.

While these two can eat on their own, it will be another few weeks before they can fly. As soon as the birds reach that milestone, they will move  to one of the center’s larger aviaries that measure either 50 feet or 100 feet long.

If you come across baby great-horned owls on the ground who appear clean and healthy, the center advises people to leave them alone. If a bird looks injured or sick, contact your local animal control or wildlife rescue center.

The post Spunky baby owls examined after being found on soccer field appeared first on Popular Science.

When taking care of injured birds, sometimes a hands-off approach is the best place to start. And that’s exactly what was in store for two great-horned owls (Bubo virginianus) in the caring hands of the team at the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center in central California.

“Great-horned owls often jump out of the nest before the babies can fly. The parents continue to care for them on the ground,” Donna Burt, a biologist and chairman of the board, executive director, and founder of the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center, tells Popular Science. “That works fine if the owls are in a protected area, but these were in a soccer field.”

Fortunately, these birds did not have any injuries when they were brought into the animal care center, but they still needed a check-up. During a hands-off exam like this one, veterinarians look closely to see how an animal stands, walks, and looks around, to get a sense of their health and potential injuries. In the case of these four to five-week-old owls, the bird on the left is up on its feet, while the owl on the right is hock sitting. Since it is unable to stand, the bird sits back on its legs, which is a normal action for owls this age. Both birds can snap their beaks and spread their wings in threat displays, which indicates that they are feeling well. 

The team can also check on the birds’ eyes during this type of exam. They have a little cloudiness, which is normal for young great-horned owls. They will also blink by lowering the upper eyelids, which is sometimes another threat display. 

Great-horned owls reach adult size by 10 weeks-old. Image: Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center.

Great-horned owls are one of North America’s largest owls. They typically weigh between 2.5 and 4.5 pounds. Baby great-horned owls are also the first babies that the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center receives every single year. Owl pairs begin their courtship in November and lay eggs in late January or early February. The eggs will hatch in March or April. Once hatched, the owls reach full adult size at 10 weeks, but will stay with their parents until the fall.

“When we get tiny baby great-horns, we put them with a non-releasable surrogate owl who cares for and feeds them,” Burt says. “Not only is that easier for us, but it’s better for the babies. Although it can feel rewarding to hand-feed and care for the little fluffballs, it is in their best interest to be raised by owls. They grow faster and develop normal behavior.”

A baby owl with a surrogate. Image: Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center.

While these two can eat on their own, it will be another few weeks before they can fly. As soon as the birds reach that milestone, they will move  to one of the center’s larger aviaries that measure either 50 feet or 100 feet long.

If you come across baby great-horned owls on the ground who appear clean and healthy, the center advises people to leave them alone. If a bird looks injured or sick, contact your local animal control or wildlife rescue center.

The post Spunky baby owls examined after being found on soccer field appeared first on Popular Science.

Pepperoni or anchovies? Mushrooms or black olives? And what about the ever popular and polarizing pineapple? Pizza topping preferences are as varied as the people who order them. While that’s fine for one or two hungry friends, planning multiple pies for a larger group can quickly turn tense. Most of the time, it feels like diners simply settle on one-topping or cheese pizzas in the hopes of avoiding an argument.

From a technical standpoint, it is definitely possible to figure out the optimal pizza toppings based on a group’s various tastes. However, the time it takes to chart out and settle on the most democratically representative dishes may risk devolving into a dreaded “hangry” shouting match. Thankfully, a software engineer has a solution.

The recently launched Pizza Voter website is a free-to-use platform that allows you to email a pizza party invitation to every participant in an upcoming meal. Once accepted, each person then clicks whether they Love, Hate, or Don’t Mind each topping. There’s even a fill-in-the-blank option for the especially picky pizza fan. From there, an internal algorithm weighs each topping’s scores based on the answers, then calculates a perfect pizza that theoretically will satisfy everyone.

According to the creator’s announcement post on Reddit, it takes Pizza Voter about 60 seconds to generate an answer to each topping conundrum. And lest anyone think this is a covert ploy by Big Pizza to amass consumer data: the website includes a full privacy policy explaining that a geographic estimation of every user is the only data it is currently collecting from users.

Tracking location is also not for marketing. Instead, it simply lets everyone know where people are eating the most pizza. Judging from the project’s social media, it’s currently a toss-up between San Francisco and Chicago. We’ll let them argue over the best type of crust.

The post Software engineers design algorithm to solve pizza topping arguments appeared first on Popular Science.

There are reports Tesla Giga Shanghai already has dedicated production lines running for the standard Model 3. This variant is the simplified, lower-cost version (smaller battery, ~480 km CLTC range) that Tesla will sell in China and export to Asia. Expected pricing for the new Standard version per Multiple sources (Global China EV, CarNewsChina, 36Kr, ...

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Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX was featured on the cover of Time Magazine. Humans on lunar surface before 2030. HLS (Human Landing System) planned ready by 2028, though much must go right. Starlink Constellation Size has ~10,000 Starlink satellites launched and [high speed internet] likely cap 15,000–20,000. There has been a separate FCC filing for 15000 ...

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Last week I realized that today’s rapid cultural evolution, mediated greatly by youth movements, seems encouraged by the common modern norm favoring “authenticity”. Youths ask their hearts how society should change. So I just read two books on the subject, Lionel Trilling (1972) Sincerity and Authenticity, and Charles Taylor (1991) Ethics of Authenticity. I also read Rousseau (1755) Discourse on Inequality, as many call that the first modern advocacy of authenticity.

Authenticity having your behaviors driven from within you, instead of letting others influence them. Follow your heart, you do you, go with your gut, that sort of thing. It is such a widely accepted norm that the authors who write books on it don’t actually argue for it much; they instead use it to argue for other stuff. My reading was a waste.

But, why exactly is authenticity such a good thing? Yes, there’s this quote about me, “Robin Hanson is more like himself than anybody else I know.” And, yes, my webpage has long said: “I’m not a joiner; I rebel against groups with ‘our beliefs’.” So as a matter of practice I seem to be authentic. Yet I still don’t see why it’s good, per se.

The modern world changes faster, and gives us more options, which puts a premium on agency; we can’t just ride along with our slowly changing peasant village anymore. But that means you need make choices, not that they need to come from within.

We’ve long taken controlling more as a sign of status, so others controlling you lowers your status. But what would this effect be stronger in the modern world?

Maybe in the modern world imitation and social pressures have become easier to see. In the old stable peasant village you acted like everyone else, but so did everyone, and you were not noticeably following any particular other visible models. However, in the modern world choices are more varied and contested, and so we can more easily see who in particular is pressuring or influencing who else in particular.

That wouldn’t necessarily be bad, except that looking too obviously “try hard”, like you are trying to choose actions to impress and please others, shows an unimpressive lack of confidence. Just as the most impressive dancers make their dancing look “effortless”, maybe the most impressive social displays are those that seem to come naturally, with little noticeable effort.

Cultural evolution says that most everything that comes from inside of you was stuff that went there before, from your prior cultural exposures. But seeing you trying to please and conform looks quite different to observers than your seeming to just do stuff from within, even though all of that stuff inside resulted from your prior efforts to please and conform, perhaps as a child. It is like the difference between a dancer who is visibly struggles to do her dance routine, and one for who the routine looks effortless, enjoyable, and even invented on the spot.

Carbon Nanofibers in Dry-Coated Batteries (21.8% Energy Density Gain) is described by Jordan at the Limiting Factor. A new University of Chicago paper (published March 2026) demonstrates a simple but powerful tweak to dry-electrode cathode design that delivers a 21.8% increase in usable energy density while maintaining excellent cycle life. The breakthrough relies entirely on ...

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San Francisco, USA, 25th March 2026, CyberNewswire