Recommended Stories
- Popular Mechanics
Six Great Smart Notebooks to Increase Your Productivity
Prefer pen and paper to a smartphone or tablet? These smart notebooks will let you take notes the old-fashioned way and easily digitize them.From Popular Mechanics
- GeekWire
NASA backs concepts for deep-drilling Mars rover and interstellar-object probe
The latest crop of NASA-backed concepts for far-out space exploration includes “borebots” that could drill as far as a mile beneath the Martian surface in search of liquid water, and a nuclear-powered spacecraft that could intercept interstellar objects as they zip through our solar system. Researchers in Washington state are behind both of those ideas. The borebots and the interstellar-object checker are among 16 proposals winning Phase I funding from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program, or NIAC. For more than two decades, NIAC (which started out as the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts) has backed early-stage projects that could… Read More
- GeekWire
NASA releases jaw-dropping video and audio from Mars, with an assist from AWS
For the first time ever, NASA has captured video of a rover landing on the surface of Mars, plus audio of the wind whistling past it after the landing — and Amazon Web Services is playing a key role in making all those gigabytes of goodness available to the world. The stars of the show are NASA’s Perseverance rover and the hundreds of scientists and engineers supporting the mission to Mars at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other institutions around the world. But the fact that thousands of images are being pumped out via NASA’s website with only a few… Read More
- GeekWire
Human genome sequencing rises to the next level of diversity and accuracy
Twenty years after the first human genome sequence was published, an international research team has kicked the sequencing game to the next level with a set of 64 reference genomes that reflect much higher resolution and more genetic diversity. Since the Human Genome Project completed the first draft of its reference genome, decoding the human genetic code has been transformed from a multibillion-dollar endeavor into a relatively inexpensive commercial service. However, commercial whole-genome sequencing, or WGS, often misses out on crucial variations that can make all the difference when it comes to an individual’s health. “As a metric, 75% of… Read More
- Popular Mechanics
This Fuel Is About to Power the World's Biggest Fusion Reactor
But first, scientists need to see if it's ready.
- GeekWire
After losing launch competition, Blue Origin delays New Glenn rocket’s first flight until late 2022
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says it’s targeting the fourth quarter of 2022 for the first flight of its orbital-class New Glenn rocket — which marks a major schedule shift. The company had previously planned to conduct its first New Glenn launch from Florida by the end of this year, although it was becoming increasingly clear that timeline wouldn’t hold. In a blog posting, Blue Origin said its team “has been in contact with all of our customers to ensure this baseline meets their launch needs.” Blue Origin noted that the updated timeline follows the U.S. Space… Read More
- Popular Mechanics
The USPS's New Mail Truck Is Expected to Be Delivering Mail by 2023
The Postal Service just decided it's time to get weird.
- GeekWire
Paleontologists use fossilized teeth to flesh out ancient tale of earliest primates
The shapes of fossilized teeth from 65.9 million-year-old, squirrel-like creatures suggest that the branch of the tree of life that gave rise to us humans and other primates flowered while dinosaurs still walked the earth. That’s the claim coming from a team of 10 researchers across the U.S., including biologists at Seattle’s Burke Museum and the University of Washington. In a study published by Royal Society Open Science, the team lays out evidence that an ancient group of primates known as plesiadapiforms must have emerged before the mass-extinction event that killed off the dinosaurs. (Technically, modern-day birds are considered the… Read More
- Popular Mechanics
Scientists Just Figured Out How to Turn Your Body Into a Battery
Imagine charging your Apple Watch with ... yourself.
- GeekWire
Stoke Space raises $9.1 million to create a new breed of reusable upper-stage rockets
Stoke Space Technologies, the Renton, Wash.-based company founded by veterans of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture, has attracted $9.1 million in seed investments for extending rocket reusability to new frontiers. The first goal will be to develop a new kind of reusable upper stage, Stoke co-founder and CEO Andy Lapsa said. “That’s the last domino to fall in the industry before reusability is commonplace,” Lapsa told GeekWire. “Even right now, I think space launch is in a production-limited paradigm.” Rocket reusability is the watchword, to be sure — not only at Blue Origin, where Lapsa was an award-winning rocket… Read More
- Popular Mechanics
These Sharpeners Made Our Knives Cut Like New
Because if it’s not a sharp knife, it’s not a good knife.
- Popular Mechanics
The Ultimate Hunting Gear Guide
Expert-tested essentials for hunting deer, elk, ducks, birds, and beyondFrom Popular Mechanics
- Popular Mechanics
A Self-Taught Math Genius Wrote This Riddle While Serving Time in Prison. Can You Solve It?
Christopher Havens got his number theory problem published in a college-level mathematics magazine.
- Popular Mechanics
How to Do a Reverse Image Search
Here's the sneaky way to find out where practically any picture came from.
- Popular Mechanics
Breathe Easier With One of These 10 Best Humidifiers
An evaporative or ultrasonic humidifier will defend you from winter’s dry air.
- Popular Mechanics
Surreal Destinations You Wouldn’t Think Are in America
Pictures just won’t do these places justice.From Popular Mechanics
- Popular Mechanics
10 Low-Calorie Beers That Are High In Deliciousness
Six-packs. For your six-pack. From Popular Mechanics
- The Independent
FBI identifies suspect in death of Capitol police officer during Trump riot
FBI investigators have identified a single suspect in the death of a US Capitol police officer during the pro-Trump riot last month, reports say. Officer Brian Sicknick collapsed and died after being sprayed in the face with a chemical substance, believed to be bear spray, while defending the Capitol Building on 6 January. Now investigators have pinpointed a suspect in a video who attacked several officers, including Mr Sicknick, with bear spray, officials told the New York Times.
- Reuters
Bond markets left smarting from worst rout in years as reflation goes global
From the United States to Germany and Australia, government borrowing costs on Friday were set to end February with their biggest monthly rises in years as expectations for a post-pandemic ignition of inflation gained a life of their own. Australia's 10-year bond yield and Britain's 30-year yields were set for their biggest monthly jump since the 2009 global financial crisis. Even after a Friday respite from this week's brutal drubbing, Australia's 10-year yield is up 70 basis points in February and New Zealand's 10-year yield is up almost 77 bps.