Staff and military personnel at a Florida nursing home secure COVID-19 test samples. (Pfc. Orion Oettel/U.S. Army/)Maureen Ferran is an associate professor of biology at Rochester Institute of Technology. This story originally featured on The Conversation.Widespread testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus is important to both slow the virus and gain information about how widespread it is in the US. But a second aspect of testing has gotten less attention: accuracy.It’s surprisingly hard to determine how...
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Who says you can't be tough and cute at the same time? (Julian Kerbis Peterhans/)What’s small, furry, brown, and able to handle the weight of a full-grown human? Since the early 1900s, we’ve known that this little bodybuilder is none other than the hero shrew. The Congolese critter is legendary for its purported ability to withstand an adult man standing on its back, allegedly scurrying away unbothered once it’s released.“No big deal, it’s a shrew that weighs like 80 grams, and a 160-pound dude standing...
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Keep your greens clean. (Dmitry Dreyer via Unsplash/)Many of us have the best intentions when it comes to eating more salads at home. Delightful pictures on social media of lightly-dressed arugula adorned with heirloom tomatoes, seeds, and perfectly ripe avocados make it seem so easy to be green. The reality is that a good salad takes the right tools and a little prep work. A crisp and freshly-washed assortment of lettuce and herbs is an essential foundation for your chlorophyll fix. Here are our...
Thu May 07, 2020 22:54
The new Sonos Arc sound bar looks much more modern than its older offerings. (Sonos/)There are plenty of sound bars on the market at the moment, from super-high-end models that cost thousands of dollars from boutique brands, to $99 Black Friday fodder chilling out on the shelves of your local big box store. This week, however Sonos updated its Sound Bar offerings with a new flagship called Arc and it brings the company into the world of Dolby Atmos surround sound audio and waves good bye to the company’s...
Thu May 07, 2020 22:46
Control your water usage. (Imani via Unsplash/)Investing in a low-flow faucet or shower head is a great way to save money and the environment, but we get that you might have some hesitations. No one wants to take a shower with water coming down like mist. There are actually some great options that will save water without you even noticing the difference. Here are four of our favorite products for all your sinks and showers.We don’t need a gallon of water to wash our hands. (Amazon/)This is an excellent...
Thu May 07, 2020 22:39
Keep it classy. (Depositphotos/)Whether appreciated ironically or earnestly, the calculator watch holds a special place in our collective culture. It was the first step from old-fashioned timepieces toward our eventual smartwatch future, and it’s been a way for movies and TV shows to indicate “nerds” in easy shorthand.There has been a recent nostalgia-fueled resurgence in calculator watch popularity, with the iconic Casio still dominating the landscape. Here are some of the best options from that...
Thu May 07, 2020 19:52
Rock out on the down low. (Matthijs Smit via Unsplash/)There’s no need to be a nuisance when it comes to vibing on a drum set. Those who get their kicks playing this notoriously loud musical instrument will be glad to know that it’s now easier than ever to jam out in close proximity to neighbors and roommates thanks to new quiet innovations that keep the groove in the room and out of the ears of others. It doesn’t matter if you’re practicing paradiddles or trying your hand at recording a full-on...
Thu May 07, 2020 19:27
Fix just about anything. (Cesar Carlevarino Aragon via Unsplash /)The tool kit is like a rite of passage. Whether you’re in a starter home or a first apartment, the moment you have to fend for yourself in the real world you need a dependable set of tools for basic home repairs or projects. You can’t call your house or apartment a home until you know exactly where the screwdrivers and pliers are. It’s just that simple.Whether you are the do-it-all-yourself type or the occasional picture frame hanger,...
Thu May 07, 2020 19:22
Meet Hulk Candy and Snow Storm. They're only three days old, but they're sweet as hell. (Sandra Gutierrez/)Welcome to PopSci’s at-home science projects series. On weekdays at noon, we’ll be posting new projects that use ingredients you can buy at the grocery store. Show us how it went by tagging your project on social media using #popsciprojects.Any chef would agree that cooking is basically applied science and, unless you are an actual scientist working from home, your kitchen is the closest thing...
Thu May 07, 2020 19:00
Pamela Smith's Making and Knowing project brings 16th-century art and science to the public eye. (Marius Bugge/)Today, we imagine lab experiments as part of a separate realm from fine arts like painting or trades like carpentry. But artisans helped lay the groundwork for the scientific revolution. For the past five years, Pamela Smith, a historian of science at Columbia University in New York, has devoted herself to re-creating their long-forgotten techniques. “So much exploration, experimentation,...
Thu May 07, 2020 18:00
A clean doggo is a happy doggo. (Autri Taheri / Unsplash/)With veterinary offices and pet grooming services shut down, people have started to see their beloved poodles and doodles turn into tiny lint balls, while their cats become hairy, scarier versions of Freddy Krueger.And although it may seem daunting, there are ways to make your pet’s life a little more comfortable during this pandemic. But while you’re bathing, trimming, and clipping your pet’s nails at home, understand that you’re not aiming...
Thu May 07, 2020 16:00
Biking gets more popular when cities invest in infrastructure that makes it easier to cycle around. (Josh Bean/Unsplash/)Confined at home and with gyms closed, an increasing number of Americans are hopping on their bikes. According to Eco-Counter, a company providing stationary sensors that count pedestrians and cyclists as they pass, there’s been a jump in cycling across much of the United States during the last two weeks compared to the same period last year.To encourage those walking or rolling...
Thu May 07, 2020 13:00
With enough magnification, many stars might look like this system, with one or more stars orbiting an otherwise invisible black hole. (ESO/L. Calçada/)The crisp points of light that fill the night sky often play tricks on the naked eye. Take Sirius, our brightest star (after the sun). When magnified with a mighty enough telescope it splits into two stellar partners—Sirius A and Sirius B. Other systems come in threes, fours, or more. Much as planets orbit stars to craft solar systems, stars conspire...
Thu May 07, 2020 01:00
New processor options give the Surface Go 2 more potential for power. (Microsoft/)The original Microsoft Surface Go was a big deal despite its relatively small $400 price tag. The entry-level tablet was somewhat underpowered for anything beyond basic computing tasks, but adding the $99 keyboard case turned it into a surprisingly capable little productivity machine complete with the touch-enabled features you’d expect out of a Surface product. Today, Microsoft announced the Surface Go 2, which raises...
Wed May 06, 2020 23:12
Members of a newly discovered bat species, the Hipposideros bats, flying out of an abandoned gold mine in Western Kenya. (B.D. Patterson, Field Museum/)Much about the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic remains unclear, but it’s likely that the novel coronavirus originated in bats, perhaps then spread to another animal that in turn passed it to people.This isn’t the first disease we’ve faced that has come from the little flying mammals. Other coronaviruses that researchers are aware of that also cause...
Wed May 06, 2020 21:30
Look at that beautiful blob. (Purbita Saha/)Welcome to PopSci’s at-home science projects series. On weekdays at noon, we’ll be posting new projects that use ingredients you can buy at the grocery store. Show us how it went by tagging your project on social media using #popsciprojects.Silly Putty is a toy most anyone can appreciate. Pinch it, bounce it, stretch it, slap it on the side of your face—it does whatever you want it to do, with little complaint.But the chemical properties that make Silly...
Wed May 06, 2020 19:00
Long Star ticks are generally found in the West, but they've recently made the jump to the East Coast, too. (NIAID/)This story originally featured on Outdoor Life.Our love of the outdoors can bring us into contact will all sorts of unpleasant organisms, though few are as widespread as the tick. These vampiric arachnids can be found across the globe, and many are responsible for transmitting disease. Ticks have been documented transmitting a wide range of protozoan, bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens...
Wed May 06, 2020 17:31
Lay down some quality vocals. (Panos Sakalakis via Unsplash/)Few things in recorded music are as important as the vocal track. Our ears grab onto it first, and it can make or break our impression of a song in mere moments. It should come as no surprise, then, that vocals happen to be one of the more difficult musical elements to satisfactorily capture, and that’s owed largely to the outstanding range and nuance of the human voice on top of our critical human ears. If you’re looking to record a solid...
Wed May 06, 2020 16:45
That doesn't mean you shouldn't eat them. (Public Domain/)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 PopSci’s hit podcast. The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week hits Apple, Anchor, 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 the editors of Popular Science can muster. If you like...
Wed May 06, 2020 15:00
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