This time of year, new flowers and animals are everywhere. Baby birds and squirrels pop up in nests, while opossums and bunnies roam as the weather warms up. Not exactly known for their speed, turtles are also waking up from brumation—aka reptile hibernation. 

Busy roads can be particularly dangerous for turtles, even with the protection from their hard shells. Every squished turtle is another that won’t help create the next generation, which is not welcome news for many already endangered turtle species. Out of 356 known turtle species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists 161 of them as threatened. 

If you spot a turtle trying to cross a road, it is important to follow some simple rules.

Make sure that you are in a safe place to stop. You won’t be able to help a turtle if you get hurt. If driving, put on your hazard lights and slowly pull over onto the shoulder.

Assess the situation. It might be best to just stand guard as the turtle crosses on its own. If the turtle is not moving away from danger, pick it up and move it across the street in the direction that it was already going. Turtles know where they want to go to nest, feed, and reproduce, so putting them in the direction they are heading will help them get there faster.

Never pick up a turtle by its tail! Instead, gently place your hands on both sides of the shell as if you are holding a hamburger to carry it. If you do not want to carry the turtle, you can put it on a car mat and carry it across the road that way. 

If you encounter a snapping turtle, be particularly careful. The United States Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) describes them as having “very long necks and a very short temper.” Keep your hands as close to their backside as possible. Snapping turtles are generally more aggressive in how they defend themselves compared to other turtle species. For example, box turtles are more likely to pull themselves into their shells during a rescue. And remember, an aggressive turtle is simply trying to stay alive or to protect their eggs.

Place the turtle on a low spot in the ground, since high impact falls from a tall rock or building can injure them. 

After safely moving the turtle, it can also help to take a picture of the turtle and report it to your local fish and wildlife department. This can help scientists assess local populations.

If you find an injured turtle, safely contain it in a box, log where you found it, and call your local wildlife rehabilitation center for instructions. Importantly, do not try to fix the injuries yourself! Keep it contained and away from danger until rehabilitators can assess the situation. And please don’t keep injured turtles or the healthy ones as pets. Uninjured turtles are best left alone and in the wild. 

The FWS also encourages people to learn more about turtles in your area and get involved in road planning decisions that could impact their welfare. 

The post How to help a turtle cross the road appeared first on Popular Science.

When animals end up in a wildlife center, it’s usually not for happy reasons. But sometimes tough situations have a silver lining, and that’s exactly what’s happened at Raven Ridge Wildlife Center in Washington Boro, Pennsylvania.

The rescue center received a call from a game warden about a female great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) that had gotten stuck in an electrical fence. The game warden had successfully removed her from the fence, but the owl was struggling, unable to stand or fly. Thinking the owl may have broken a wing, he took her to the Raven Ridge Wildlife Center. 

Thankfully, neither of the owl’s wings broke, though one of them appeared swollen. While examining the patient, licensed wildlife rehabilitator Tracie Young noticed that the great horned owl had a brood patch—essentially a bare patch of skin that develops to provide a direct heat source for eggs. 

That meant she was a mama owl. Unfortunately, with the time that had passed and the distance she may have flown made tracking down her nest impossible. But the owl wouldn’t be an empty nester for long. The wildlife center then received a baby great horned owl that had been found in an external stairway leading to a basement. 

The pairing seemed like a potential match made in heaven—a motherless owlet and a baby-less mother great horned owl. Young decided to try pairing the two up. If it worked, the owlet could learn from the adult and not imprint on people, she explained to Popular Science. But some risk remained. The Raven Ridge staff had previously paired great horned owl babies with their foster great horned owl male, Pharaoh. 

“That’s why we say we want to take a chance. We don’t know for sure,” Young said. For example, the older owl might try to kill the owlet. Thankfully, “we’ve never had any issues. He [Pharaoh] has raised all of our babies for us.” But now they had a great horned owl female “that’s already doing the job,” and so they took a chance on her.

The team put the owlet in her cage. The next morning, they found the owlet sitting directly next to her. It worked. “She knew this was her baby now.” 

Little did the mother know that she would soon successfully adopt a second owlet brought to the wildlife center. The plan is to eventually release the family in the area where the mother was discovered. At this point, the owlets will have grown, but they can still call her for help. 

The post Owl saved from electrical fence adopts abandoned owlet appeared first on Popular Science.

In an intervention that might one day inspire the animated animal version of Argo, the Cheetah Conservation Fund and Somaliland’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change rescued two cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) cubs on the verge of a terrible fate. 

The Cheetah Conservation Fund carried out the extraction after receiving urgent intelligence that traffickers in the Somaliland capital were about to load the two cubs onto a boat and illegally move them into the exotic pet trade. Just hours later, the organization put a rescue team in action and worked with local authorities to take possession of the cheetahs. 

The next day, the cubs ended up at Somaliland’s Cheetah Rescue and Conservation Centre, where veterinary and wildlife experts will care for them. The conservation centre opened in Somaliland in 2016 by Laurie Marker for cheetahs pulled out of the illegal wildlife trade. At the moment, 125 rescued cheetahs live at the facility.

“This outcome is a testament to the speed and dedication of our team and our partners on the ground,” Laurie Marker said in a statement emailed to Popular Science. She founded the Cheetah Conservation Fund and established the Cheetah Research & Education Center in Namibia. “With fewer than 7,000 cheetahs remaining in the wild, every life we save matters, not just for the species, but for the ecosystems they support.”

The cheetah cubs are just two of at least 21 other recently rescued cubs, a figure that highlights the persistent extent of the region’s black market wildlife trade. The Horn of Africa, which includes Somalia/Somaliland, is unfortunately a center for the illegal trade of cheetah cubs. Somaliland is a self-proclaimed republic in Somalia’s northwest without international recognition. 

Trafficking attempts frequently leave recovered cheetahs seriously dehydrated and malnourished. In fact, researchers estimate that a shocking proportion—90 percent—die before their intended buyers receive them. Thankfully, the duo in question are rapidly recovering. 

The post Two cheetah cubs narrowly escape the illegal pet trade appeared first on Popular Science.

The Home Depot’s Spring Black Friday sale is running April 9–22, and the power tool section is loaded with deals worth taking seriously. Ryobi, Milwaukee, DeWalt, and RIDGID all have significant discounts. Plus: buy-this-get-a-free-tool promotions that substantially increase the value. Whether you’re a weekend DIYer or a seasoned pro building out your shop, here are the best power tool deals to grab before they’re gone.

For anyone building out a Ryobi ONE+ tool collection, this 8-tool kit at $160 off is one of the best per-tool values in the entire Spring Black Friday sale. The kit includes a drill/driver, impact driver, circular saw, reciprocating saw, jigsaw, random orbit sander, multi-tool, and flashlight, along with three batteries (one 1.5Ah and two 4.0Ah) plus a charger. At $369 for 8 tools and a real battery kit, the math works out to under $50 per tool.

DeWalt’s 20V MAX XR hammer drill paired with the ATOMIC compact impact driver is a versatile two-tool combo that covers most drilling and driving tasks on the job site or in the shop. The XR hammer drill delivers 820 UWO of power, and the ATOMIC impact driver is compact enough for tight spaces while still handling 1,500 in-lbs of torque. At $279, the kit includes two 4.0Ah batteries and a charger. The batteries alone retail for around $80 each. Do the math.

The DeWalt 20V XR finish nailer delivers consistent drive depth, runs on DeWalt’s widely available 20V MAX platform, and eliminates the need to drag a compressor and hose across a job site. The $70 discount is solid on its own, but the free select tool promo pushes this deal into must-consider territory. Plus, it looks awesome.

While the FLEXVOLT trimmer technically lives in the yard tool category, the buy-one-get-a-free-tool offer makes it highly relevant for anyone expanding their DeWalt battery ecosystem. Free tool options include an atomic reciprocating saw ($199 value). If you need a trimmer and want to add a saw, this is about as efficient a way to do it as you’ll find.

This compact, single-handed pruning saw handles branches up to 6 inches in diameter and is balanced well enough to use overhead. At $199 (down from $279), the tool-only price is the best deal for anyone already on M18 batteries. It’s become a go-to for arborists and serious homeowners alike.

The featured picks above are the standouts, but the Spring Black Friday sale runs deep across every tool category. Here are 50+ more deals worth adding to cart before the sale ends April 22.

• RIDGID 18V Brushless 2-Tool Combo Kit (Hammer Drill + Impact Driver) $199 (was $279)
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 2-Tool Hammer Drill + Impact Driver Combo Kit $229 (was $399)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V 2-Tool Combo Kit (Drill/Driver + Impact Driver) with 2 Batteries $89 (was $149)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V 1/2-in. Drill/Driver Kit with 2 Batteries and Charger $49 (was $99)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V 1/4-in. Impact Driver Kit with 2 Batteries and Charger $49 (was $79)
• DeWalt 20V MAX XR Brushless 3-Speed 1/4-in. Impact Driver with 5.0Ah Battery and Charger $149 (was $199)
• DeWalt 20V MAX XR 3-Speed 1/4-in. Impact Driver with (2) 5.0Ah Batteries and Charger $249 (was $399)

• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 6-1/2-in. Circular Saw (Tool Only) $229 (was $419)
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 7-1/4-in. Circular Saw Kit with FORGE 12.0Ah Battery $399 (was $649)
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 7-1/4-in. Circular Saw + SAWZALL with (2) 6.0Ah Batteries $449 (was $699)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V 5-1/2-in. Circular Saw + Jig Saw 2-Tool Combo (Tools Only) $59 (was $99)

• DeWalt 15 Amp 12-in. Double Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw DWS780 $329 (was $429)
• DeWalt 15 Amp 8-1/4-in. Compact Portable Jobsite Table Saw DWE7485 $349 (was $531)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V 7-1/4-in. Compound Miter Saw + Jig Saw 2-Tool Combo (Tools Only) $89 (was $149)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V 7-1/4-in. Compound Miter Saw + 18-Gauge AirStrike Brad Nailer (Tools Only) $99 (was $179)

• RYOBI ONE+ 18V Cordless Reciprocating Saw (Tool Only) $49.97 (was $89)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V Cordless Jig Saw (Tool Only) $49 (was $89)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V Jig Saw Kit with 2.0Ah Battery and Charger $79 (was $139)
• DeWalt 20V MAX XR 2-Tool Combo Kit (Hammer Drill + Circular Saw) with Reciprocating Saw, 2 4.0Ah Batteries $349 (was $499)

• Milwaukee M12 12V Cordless Sub-Compact Band Saw (Tool Only) $149 (was $199)
• Milwaukee M12 Sub-Compact Band Saw XC Kit with 3.0Ah Battery, Charger and Hard Case $269 (was $379)

• RIDGID 18-Gauge 2-1/8-in. Brad Nailer R213BNA $89 (was $109)
• DeWalt 20V MAX XR Brushless 16-Gauge Cordless Finish Nailer (Tool Only) $329 (was $399)
• DeWalt 20V MAX 3-1/2-in. 21° Cordless Framing Nailer Kit + 7-1/4-in. Circular Saw with 5Ah Battery and Charger $399 (was $549)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V 18-Gauge AirStrike Brad Nailer Kit with 2.0Ah Battery and Charger $149 (was $238)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V 2-Tool Combo: 18-Gauge Brad Nailer + 16-Gauge Finish Nailer with Battery and Charger $219 (was $349)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V 2-Tool Combo: AirStrike Brad Nailer + AirStrike 23-Gauge Pin Nailer (Tools Only) $89 (was $149)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V AirStrike 23-Gauge Cordless Pin Nailer (Tool Only) $49 (was $89)

• RIDGID 6-Gallon 150 PSI Portable Electric Oil-Free Pancake Air Compressor $119

• Milwaukee M18 FUEL GEN-2 Mid Torque 1/2-in. Impact Wrench with Friction Ring + 5.0Ah Starter Kit $299 (was $449)
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL GEN-2 3/8-in. Mid Torque Impact Wrench with Friction Ring (Tool Only) $199 (was $279)

• DeWalt 20V MAX XR Brushless 4.5-in. Paddle Switch Angle Grinder with Kickback Brake (Tool Only) $79 (was $139)

• Milwaukee M18 FUEL Brushless Oscillating Multi-Tool (Tool Only) $149 (was $219)
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL Brushless Oscillating Multi-Tool Kit with 5.0Ah Battery, Charger and Tool Bag $219 (was $299)
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL Oscillating Multi-Tool with M18 5-in. Random Orbit Sander $249 (was $389)
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL Oscillating Multi-Tool Kit with FUEL Compact Router and Jigsaw $299 (was $449)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V 1/4-Sheet Sander + Jig Saw 2-Tool Combo (Tools Only) $59 (was $99)

• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 5-Tool Combo Kit (Hammer Drill, Impact Driver, SAWZALL, Circ Saw, Light) with 2 5.0Ah Batteries $299 (was $599)
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 7-Tool Combo Kit with Two 5.0Ah Batteries and Two Tool Bags $499 (was $799)
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 7-Tool Combo Kit with M18 FUEL PACKOUT Vacuum $549 (was $899)
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 9-Tool Combo Kit with 18-Gauge Brad Nailer and Jig Saw $649 (was $1,099)
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 10-Tool Combo Kit with Multi-Tool, Jig Saw and Compact Router $799 (was $1,299)
• Milwaukee M12 FUEL 1/4-in. Hex Impact Driver + M12 Band Saw Combo Kit with Battery and Charger $199 (was $299)
• DeWalt 20V MAX 10-Tool Combo Kit with (2) 2.0Ah Batteries, Charger and Bag $399 (was $549)
• DeWalt 20V MAX 6-Tool Combo Kit with (4) 5.0Ah Batteries, Charger and Tool Bag $449 (was $649)
• RYOBI ONE+ HP 18V Brushless 8-Tool Combo Kit with 4.0Ah and 2.0Ah HIGH PERFORMANCE Batteries $369 (was $529)
• RYOBI ONE+ 18V HIGH PERFORMANCE Starter Kit with (2) 4.0Ah + 2.0Ah Batteries, Charger and FREE 18V Jig Saw $179 (was $299)

• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 8-in. HATCHET Pruning Saw (Tool Only) $199 (was $279)
• Milwaukee M18 FUEL 16-in. Brushless String Trimmer Kit with 8.0Ah Battery and QUIK-LOK $349 (was $379)
• DeWalt FLEXVOLT 60V MAX 17-in. Cordless String Trimmer Kit with 3.0Ah Battery and Charger $349 (was $379)

The post The Home Depot is blowing out power tools from RIDGID, DeWalt, Milwaukee, and more during its huge spring sale appeared first on Popular Science.

Music is the lifeblood of a good party. Whether it’s a live performance by a great band, a skilled DJ, or even your cousin Sally and Aunt June going ham on a beat-up karaoke machine, it’s part of the soundtrack of our lives. If you’re a musician, you know the sweetness that comes from adding your own notes to that music, which is exactly where the JBL BandBox Trio comes in: the performer’s party speaker.

• All-in-one design can replace a party speaker, small practice amp, mixer, and karaoke box
• Built-in battery makes it easy to use away from an outlet
• Lighter and easier to carry than a traditional combo amp or head + cab
• Intuitive screen-and-knob interface keeps setup and tweaking approachable
• STEM AI tools make practice faster and more useful
• Guitar presets and editable signal chains offer solid plug-and-play flexibility
• Delivers full, fun sound for home use, small parties, and casual performances

• 135W rating overstates its real-world loudness vs. larger guitar amps
• Small drivers can sound crowded at higher volumes when several channels are active at once
• Amp and effects models are good, but not as deep or refined as dedicated gear
• Stock tuning leans bass-heavy and can need adjustment for clarity
• Extra battery costs more, though most users probably will not need it

The JBL BandBox Trio is a cleverly niche all-in-one for musicians who want one compact box to cover practice, parties, karaoke, and casual performance, and while it won’t outgun a real guitar amp or outclass dedicated modeling gear, it packs enough portability, smart practice features, and just-plain-useful versatility to make it a genuinely appealing grab-and-go option.  

JBL is best known for its wide range of speakers and headphones, and already counts among its catalog some of the best party speakers. The BandBox Trio and its smaller sibling, the BandBox Solo, represent a new step for JBL, directly toward solo musicians and performers. If those people happen to have a summer barbecue or office banger where raucous renditions of “Rockin’ in the Free World” are called for (karaoke style), or the “Cha Cha Slide” hasn’t yet made an appearance, well, that makes this all the better of an investment.

Because, yes, the Trio is a party speaker, complete with audio inputs for Bluetooth 5.4, USB, and 3.5mm sources. But it’s also a low-profile, small-footprint guitar amplifier, a mixer, and an effects processor. Each one of these comes with the settings and parameters you would expect, ranging from dialing in the EQ with simple Bass and Treble controls to setting up a full signal chain for an electric guitar, complete with categorized stomp boxes, amps, and cabs. This is the party speaker with versatility built into its DNA.

Its physical construction is robust, but it’s noticeably less so than that of a dedicated guitar amp at a similar price. It’s “party speaker” robust, not “touring rig” robust. On the flip side, the Trio is also much lighter, and that also includes a built-in, swappable battery, so you’re not tethered to an outlet. Even so, I still find it to be well-made and solid. Treated with care, it should last for years. 

Part of the reason it’s smaller and lighter is that it uses a single 6.5-inch woofer and a pair of 1-inch tweeters instead of the single or even double 12-inch cones found in many comparable guitar amps. JBL says it can output up to 135 watts, and maybe it can, but don’t be misled: a 100-watt guitar amp with a speaker almost twice the size gets much, much louder and fills larger spaces far better than the Trio can. But for virtually any scenario at home, including the aforementioned summer get-together, it should get plenty loud. 

And, to be completely frank, it is so much easier to travel with the Trio that I’ve been happy to leave my bigger amp at home unless I really need its power or precise tone.

The Trio resembles a stage wedge, a low-profile monitor used by performers. The front face is all grille with a big JBL logo in the center. On top is a large silicone handle that is so much nicer to carry than a standard amp handle, and the control center. 

Using the speaker is done with a larger, color display and a handful of buttons and knobs. The screen shows a mixing interface when you first turn it on, and it always labels its active controls, making it intuitive to use. The mixing panel shows four channels, each with its own physical button, and clicking into any allows you to adjust levels, change EQ, apply vocal and guitar effects (increasing reverb on a microphone or distortion on a guitar, for example), and change parameters. This is especially rich for guitar, where you can create a complete signal chain for a completely custom tone. 

Around the back is the I/O panel. There are two multi-jacks that can support either XLR or standard 1/4-inch patch cables, plus a third instrument jack. And, like I mentioned up top, USB, 3.5mm, and Bluetooth. You can even use it as a speaker for your PC if you like to gig with a laptop.

Internally, it sports a big 68WH battery that JBL quotes as lasting up to 10 hours. That will depend heavily on how loud you’re playing, of course, but if you run it dry and can’t plug in, you can swap in a second battery. It’ll set you back another $110 and, in most situations where you’d be using the Trio, really isn’t necessary beyond peace of mind.

Finally, we get to the amp’s smart features. This is really where things get interesting. It comes with a selection of basic tools, like a tuner and metronome, a looper, a drum machine, and even AI. Yes, AI, but hold onto your scoffs for just a moment because this is one of the best implementations I’ve seen in a practice tool. 

JBL calls it STEM AI. Using a combination of the app, onboard controls, or both, simply turning on this mode opens the door to some truly useful features—whether you’ve been playing for decades or just picked up the instrument last week. 

The hallmark feature here is that STEM AI can, in real-time, separate audio into individual tracks for different instruments and vocals. You can turn these up or down, allowing you to hear parts better or remove them entirely so you can fill in yourself. Using the app, you can also pitch shift songs, so if you’re practicing a song in a different key than what was recorded, you can quickly adjust, isolate the part you’re learning, and play along.

It’s an incredibly useful learning feature for practicing licks at home, but it is also helpful for live performances, allowing you to use real songs and not “karaoke mixes” for your backing tracks.

In the words of my favorite college professor, the Trio is trying to “wear many different hats” all at the same time. The fear, of course, is that when you’re a jack of all trades, you risk being a master of none and, for this particular speaker, finding yourself in the annals of music-tech history. And while there are definite sacrifices going with an all-in-one product, JBL kinda knocked it out of the park. 

The Trio strikes an important balance between offering a quality feature set and performance-worthy acoustics while also remaining reasonably priced. At $600, it offers just enough in every area to make it worth considering, even while single-purpose alternatives may offer advantages in tone or capability.

As a guitarist and music lover, that’s where I spent most of my time. I used it as a speaker at my day job and carried it home to practice for that week’s worship set, amalgamating multiple guitar parts into a cohesive whole that I could play myself. That’s an important distinction because it requires versatility that simple systems struggle to maintain.

And while it won’t replace my Line 6 Helix and its deep processing capabilities for live or recorded work, I was surprised to find that the Trio isn’t just “fine” but has quickly become one of my favorite pieces of practice gear ever.

As a critic, I approach the Trio from a place that wouldn’t necessarily be charitable to it. The Helix, my daily driver, is an incredible, rich, and very expensive piece of guitar tech. But it’s a single piece of the sound chain. You can’t perform with just the Helix. And so the complications begin immediately, and quickly progress once you get into programming in custom sounds. You can do a lot, but it can take a lot to get there.

The Trio suffers none of that, for better and worse. It comes with a couple dozen preset tones, each the result of a half-dozen built-in effects and amp models dialed in to create a specific sound. You can use these as-is or take them as a starting point, swapping stomp boxes and settings to tailor your tone. “Just far enough” would have been offering tone presets, but being able to dive in and tweak each piece of the effects chain is that “small step farther” that makes this feel like a guitarist’s tool above anything else. 

The thing is, you quickly come to realize that even though it does go the extra step of providing options within its effects chain, there aren’t very many to choose from, and so the tonal options aren’t as robust. You could spend hours tweaking settings on the Helix. With its presets, you get the sense that someone at JBL already has. Each tone is well-represented, from twangy country drive to clean and compressed straight through to blistering lead tones and chunky metal rhythms. Classic guitar tones ranging from the 60s to modern day all have a preset. From there, tweak settings like reverb, drive, and EQ to taste.

From a company that most people probably wouldn’t even associate with guitar, it would be fair to expect that JBL’s simulations of its different amps and effects might lag behind its more established competition, like Yamaha or Positive Grid. And you would be right. Compared with dedicated multi-effects hardware, where modeling is their only job, the sound quality and resolution of the different amps and effects aren’t as high. But they aren’t bad.

And when you consider all that this amp is trying to do, what it offers for simplifying practice and making more efficient use of your time, that in a pinch, you could take it to a coffee shop or summer party, turn it on, and go, exactly like at home—there’s real, tangible, and sometimes even financial value in that. The sounds it provides through its presets are varied enough to get you in the ballpark of most songs, including wah-soaked classics like “Voodoo Child.” Just be prepared to make some tweaks—like lowering the bass on pretty much everything when you’re playing guitar.

The Trio’s biggest challenge is its size. Though it supports four channels, it can sound a bit busy to my ear, like its small trio of drivers is overwhelmed trying to reproduce so much sound. But then, that also depends on what you’re trying to send through each channel. An acoustic guitar, a singer, and a background track are going to sound very different from an overdriven guitar on top of ’80s metal and pretty much any singer trying to butt in on that.

When used to its fullest within its limits, the Trio sounds great. For music, it’s full, weighty, and loud. Its half-inch woofer does a lot of work, and the out-of-the-box tuning definitely leans into the low- and mid-bass at the expense of clarity. Thankfully, this is an easy fix using the global bass and treble settings (something which also applies to guitar). Properly tuned, the Trio can drive a small party all on its own without sacrificing the mids to get there. For performance, with the right musician and singer, or pure karaoke enthusiast, it’s big enough to make you stop and second-guess that so much sound could be coming from such a small speaker. 

With such a blend of capabilities, the Trio is inherently a niche product, but it’s also unique and more than a little cool, given how well it’s put together. If you happen to fall within its crosshairs, it seems inevitable that you’ll find something to love. 

That goes for more than just beginners. I’ve played guitar for more than 25 years, and the ability to quickly isolate the guitar and pitch-shift it to the proper key without a computer has been game-changing for my practice. While you shouldn’t expect the “best tone” or “deepest customization” from an all-in-one unit like this, what’s here is great for the less formal moments in life, be it bedroom or busking. The JBL BandBox Trio is about simplifying the progression from practice to performance and foregoing the need to purchase a separate amp, party speaker, and karaoke machine. And for those beginner guitarists and vocalists out there, this truly is an excellent investment that’s ready to grow with you for years into the future.

The post JBL BandBox Trio practice amplifier review: A party speaker for musicians, not just music appeared first on Popular Science.

In one corner of a typical 3D printing workshop, failed prints and discarded support structures pile up like industrial kindling. The technology is supposed to be lean. produce only what you need, when you need it. But anyone who runs a printer knows the reality. Misprints, scaffolding, abandoned prototypes: they accumulate.

In a laboratory at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, a researcher is demonstrating something that makes that waste pile look like a design choice rather than an inevitability. He takes a freshly printed object from the printer and crushes it into a shapeless lump with his bare hands. Then he nonchalantly stuffs the lump back into the printer’s material container. Heat is applied. A new object emerges from the nozzle, smooth and clean. No grinding, no reprocessing into filament. Crush, load, print. That’s it.

The material isn’t some exotic synthetic resin. It’s sulfur—the yellowish industrial byproduct that piles up in literal mountains at oil refineries and natural gas plants. Roughly 85 million tons of sulfur pour out of refineries and smelters worldwide every year. Some of it is turned into sulfuric acid or fertilizer. But much of it just sits there in yellow mounds on factory grounds, waiting for a use.

A joint research team led by Dr. Kim Dong-Gyun of the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Prof. Wie Jeong-Jae of Hanyang University, and Prof. Kim Yong-Seok of Sejong University may have found one. Their paper, published as a cover article in Advanced Materials, suggests that sulfur can solve the chronic waste problem that has dogged 3D printing since its inception.

The problem starts at the molecular level. Common thermoplastics like PLA and ABS can technically be melted down and reused, but every time you reheat them, you’re breaking polymer chains. The material gets weaker and less elastic. Research has shown that recycled plastics can drop below usable performance thresholds after as few as three to five cycles. And that’s assuming you’re willing to grind down the failed print, melt it at high temperatures, and extrude it back into filament of uniform thickness—a process that is slow, energy-intensive, and rarely worth the trouble for small batches.

Photocurable resins are worse. When UV light hardens them, it forms irreversible covalent bonds between the molecules. The resulting material won’t melt. It won’t dissolve. There is no practical way to undo the chemistry and get the raw material back.

So the waste problem in 3D printing is really a chemistry problem. Once these materials harden, they’re locked into their final state. The Korea Research Institute team set out to find a chemical bond that can be locked and unlocked at will. A material that holds its shape when needed and breaks apart on command. They found one in sulfur.

The idea of making plastic out of sulfur dates back to 2013, when Jeffrey Pyun’s team at the University of Arizona produced the first stable polymer in which sulfur made up more than half the material. The technique, known as inverse vulcanization, flipped the logic of conventional rubber processing. Normally, you add a small amount of sulfur to harden rubber. Pyun’s team made sulfur the main ingredient and added small amounts of organic compounds to hold it together.

The resulting material had unusual properties. It transmitted infrared light, making it a candidate for thermal imaging lenses. It could selectively absorb heavy metals like mercury from contaminated water. Over the following decade, labs around the world explored variations on the formula.

However, adapting sulfur plastic for 3D printing proved stubbornly difficult. The problem was structural. Inside the plastic, molecules were knotted into a mesh so tight that nothing could move through it. That density gave the plastic its strength. But it also made the material too viscous to push through a printer nozzle, even when melted. Researchers tried adjusting sulfur ratios and swapping in different organic crosslinkers, but the fundamental architecture of the network stayed the same. The mesh was too tight.

Dr. Kim’s team took a different approach. Instead of tweaking ingredient ratios within the existing network framework, they redesigned the network itself. They deliberately loosened the crosslinked structure, spacing out the connections between molecular chains.

This was necessary because sulfur-sulfur bonds break and reform easily. Heat breaks them apart. As it cools they reconnect. In the old, tightly crosslinked structures, the effect was largely suppressed. The bonds didn’t have enough room to rearrange. In the looser network, those exchange reactions came alive. The practical payoff is a property called shear-thinning: When forced through a narrow opening, the material’s viscosity drops and it flows easily. Through the printer nozzle it flows like a liquid. Once extruded, the bonds reform and the shape holds.

Getting the looseness right was the hard part. Too loose, and the material loses its strength. With too little crosslinker the sulfur reverts to its elemental form. It unravels.

“Adding too little organic crosslinker makes the material overly flexible, and the sulfur ends up unraveling back to its original elemental form,” Dr. Kim said. “To maintain the desired properties, a certain minimum amount of crosslinker is required, so we went through a process of fine-tuning the ratios.”

What makes this material genuinely different from conventional 3D printing plastics is what happens after printing. Because the sulfur-sulfur bonds are reversible, a finished print can be heated back into a soft, deformable state at any time. When it cools, the bonds reconnect and the material re-solidifies. The shape changes; the material doesn’t degrade. You can take a failed print or a structure that’s outlived its usefulness, crush it, stuff it back into the printer’s hopper, and print something new. No grinding. No filament reprocessing. The team confirmed that material properties remained stable through up to ten recycling cycles without significant degradation.

They called the process ‘closed-loop printing’. Sulfur that was once refinery waste becomes a printable plastic, gets shaped into a useful structure, and when that structure is no longer needed, gets melted down and printed into something else. At no point does the material leave the cycle as waste.

Recyclability turned out to be only the beginning. The same dynamic bonds that make the material reusable also make it responsive. When exposed to heat or light, the bonds break and reform in ways that allow a printed structure to change shape and move according to a pre-designed pattern—a capability known as 4D printing, where objects continue to transform after they leave the printer.

By adjusting the sulfur content, the team could tune the temperature at which this shape-memory effect kicks in. At 46 percent sulfur, the material returns to its programmed shape at around 14°C. At 63 percent, the trigger temperature rises to about 35°C. At 76 percent, it’s roughly 52°C. Certain compositions also respond to near-infrared light. And when iron powder is mixed in, the material becomes magnetically responsive. Temperature, light, magnetic fields—different stimuli can be combined within a single printed object.

To demonstrate what this means in practice, the team printed several soft robots. None of them contain batteries, wires, or motors. They move entirely through the material’s own shape-memory response to external stimuli.

One was a thread-shaped underwater robot, just one millimeter thick, that rolled through water in response to magnetic fields. Robot cleared obstacles nearly 1.75 times its own body thickness. Another was a gripper robot that opened and closed its arms in response to ambient temperature changes. It could pick up and relocate small objects.

The most striking demonstration was a capsule-shaped robot designed to carry out a chemical reaction autonomously. The team loaded a catalyst inside a 3D-printed sulfur-plastic capsule and sealed it. When the capsule was dropped into an organic solvent solution and the temperature reached 50°C, the lid popped open on its own, releasing the catalyst. Simultaneously, a magnet rotating beneath the container spun the capsule like a magnetic stir bar, mixing the solution evenly. After about 60 minutes, the reaction was complete. Without anyone having to add the catalyst by hand or stir the solution. 

Commercialization is a long way off. The ten-cycle recycling figure is encouraging, but the team hasn’t yet run long-term tests beyond a few dozen cycles. More iron powder improves the magnetic response, but above 20 percent it clogs the nozzle. And no sulfur polymer material of any kind has yet reached commercial production.

“To move beyond lab-scale results and turn this into actual products, we need to target specific application areas and work with companies from the early stages,” Dr. Kim said.

“If you look at each element in isolation, there has been prior research,” Dr. Kim said. “For instance, studies using magnetic particles to build soft robots, or work demonstrating shape-memory properties with sulfur polymers—those individual component technologies already existed. But this is the first time all of these have been integrated into a single material that can deliver so many different functions at once.”

That integration is the real contribution. It is a material made from industrial waste. It is printable and fully recyclable. It can also be programmed to move, respond to its environment, and carry out tasks on its own. Each of those capabilities existed separately. Putting them together in one printable, crushable, re-printable substance is new. 

The post How sulfur could fix 3D printing’s waste problem appeared first on Popular Science.

In February 2025, I went to Creswell, Ore., to see whether cult putter manufacturer L.A.B. Golf’s zero-torque premise could do something no golf instruction or my own overactive brain ever could: remove a variable without removing me from the process. In March 2026, I went back on the heels of something heel-shafted—L.A.B. Golf’s unusually country-club-coded LINK.2 blade putters, a more familiar silhouette from a company better known for shapes that look like dares. This was the growing company’s clearest attempt yet to package its zero-torque worldview in a shape traditionalists might actually recognize (and embrace). An older golfer at the Springfield, Va., country club where I first tested a stock LINK.2.1 looked it over lustily and declared it the “Patek Philippe of putters.”

My takeaway from that first visit wasn’t that L.A.B. had invented a magic wand. It was that Lie Angle Balance—the company’s namesake way of building putters so they resist twisting and stay more stable through the stroke—could strip out one of putting’s smallest, most persistent frictions. You still have to read greens. You still have to manage pace. You still have to live with your mishits … your many, many mishits. But the right club will stop asking for so many mid-stroke negotiations.

L.A.B. Co-founder Sam Hahn, also the company “Sultan,” according to the placard outside his office, has long argued that “zero torque” is really a simplification. What L.A.B. is building is really a kind of corrective torque, not the absence of force so much as technology to deliberately manage those forces so the golfer has to do less of it by hand. That sounds like the kind of distinction only a putting obsessive could love, but it gets at something central to how the company sees itself now: not just as the loudest name in a buzzy category, but as a steward of defining it more objectively.

A year later, L.A.B. Golf is in the same location at the edge of the Emerald Valley Golf & Resort, but in a very different place in the industry. It is no longer simply an oddball putter company in its Pacific Northwest bubble, making heads that once inspired equal parts inquisition and zealotry. It is now a company navigating two kinds of validation at once: financial and golfing.

__________

The first came in the form of acquisition by private-equity firm L Catterton, a drawn-out process Hahn described as “excruciating” because it came at a time the company was already growing at “an absolutely absurd, pretty unprecedented rate.” The second came in June 2025 when J. J. Spaun sank the winning 64-foot putt at the 125th U.S. Open with a custom L.A.B. DF3 putter [shown in the air below right], a moment Hahn called “the perfect closure to chapter one,” and one that left the company, “in a small little way,” “officially etched into golf history.”

L.A.B. has been slowly carving out its presence since 2018, but looking around Hahn’s office, you’d be led to believe L.A.B. had been part of golf history for the better part of a century. There’s a picture of Arnold Palmer circa 1953 with his L.A.B. putter. And there’s Richard Nixon with one. And there’s Ty Webb with his. Sure, they’re all photoshopped printouts, but after the last year, it wouldn’t be that hard to replace them all with actual photos from the Tour. You never know what can happen at Augusta National.

Walking through the building, it felt more like a company that could keep up with the $200 million-plus endeavor it had become. The deal didn’t so much change L.A.B.’s identity as remove bottlenecks from a company that was already outgrowing its old shape. Luckily, it’s a company that has no issue with new or odd shapes.

Last year, I saw a place straining at the seams. This year, I saw the same weirdness, but with more room to breathe. More space for conceptualizing and prototyping, a Ted Lasso-style “BELIEVE” sign sitting on the shelf above a workbench. More space for a six-axis precision measuring arm. More dedicated CNC machines for production. More repeatability. More order. Literally fewer walls to make the equipment and 250-plus employees all fit. Same dedication to hand-balancing and verifying every single one of the 1,500-plus clubs that leave the facility daily.

Lead times that once stretched to 14 weeks are now down closer to two on some builds, the result of what Director of Manufacturing Engineering Kevin Martin described as an effort “to level up everywhere in the company, from here to production, from equipment to processes across the board.”

Part of that leveling up involved the LINK.2 challenge to determine head material and shape, entry point of the shaft, hosel design, and weighting to deliver L.A.B.’s forgiveness with limited perimeter to manipulate. Martin also addressed the obvious anxiety that comes with private equity in any enthusiast niche: “The biggest fear … was that our stuff is going to slip once we get bought by PE, but we haven’t seen that at all. We’ve actually been requested to do everything with a higher standard than we had before.” 

Identifying and addressing pain points matters because L.A.B. still does not really make a mass product, even as it has achieved a critical mass of product. Putters still cost $499 stock up to $1,299 custom, offering an increasing number of shapes and components. Of course, L.A.B. is hardly alone in treating putters as an active design frontier. Across golf, manufacturers have been experimenting with new processes, new geometries, and new materials—from multi-material constructions to 3D-printed heads—in an effort to chase stability, consistency, and feel. L.A.B.’s distinction is that all of its experimentation keeps circling back to the same central thesis: remove torque, then fit the rest around the golfer.

Hahn told me the modern golf consumer is “less susceptible to BS marketing than they’ve ever been,” more informed and more interested in “scientific reality.” That has suited L.A.B., who continue to work on ways to quantify zero-torque’s legitimacy. But it has also forced the company to learn a broader audience in real time. There will always be hardcore mallet guys, real L.A.B. rats, but the LINK.2 invites a new Newport crowd to go from intrigued to convinced. That same maturation shows up in fitting.

__________

Last time, the fitting, which was done adjacent to HQ on the club’s putting green with a couple of golf bags of samples, felt like an outdoor mood board with physics. This time, it happens inside a dedicated studio, on a course-like artificial green lined with roughly 250 L.A.B. configurations. That’s not all the millions of potential builds, once you factor in every variation of alignment marks and other aesthetic customizations, but it’s enough to make the point and properly inform the customer perspective. 

Senior Fitting Specialist Tyler Falk, who fit me [several paragraphs below, in orange], says we’re only working with the “24 pack of crayons versus the 96 pack,” because we’re starting with just the recently released LINK.2.1, LINK.2.2, and DF3i models, not every conceivable version. However, we have more than enough to stop pretending this is just a vibe check. And there are those who come in excited to try anything and everything. Different strokes for different folks, as they say.

This room is the clearest symbol of where L.A.B. is now. The first time I stood here, it was an unfinished mound. Now it’s an inviting in-person pilgrimage. The company still sells a philosophy, but it has become much better at measuring how that philosophy meets an individual golfer. My first fitting was a conversation about shape, alignment, shaft feel, and preference. This one is also a conversation about data.

After some initial putter introductions and subjective impressions, Falk walks me through Quintic ball-roll readings and the kind of launch-monitor scrutiny that doesn’t care what I think I want. I hit a series of balls, high-speed cameras measure what happens at impact and during the first second(s) of roll, then we turn to a large screen dotted with reds and greens. The goal, he explained, is forward rotation and getting away from putts that skid or backspin and force you into inconsistent pace corrections. That was inconvenient news for my ego.

I came in thinking I would probably leave with some custom version of the LINK.2, probably with the fanciest TPT carbon fiber shaft because more expensive = better, right? That would best flatter the fantasy I have of the golfer I could become, striding up unassumingly, nonchalantly, and finding the bottom of the cup repeatedly from 20, 30, let’s just say 60 feet. But as the session unfolded, the evidence kept nudging me elsewhere.

___________

What we found after an hour was that the DF3i with a GEARS shaft addressed, more than anything, my need for steadier distance control and a build that would hold up better when my stroke was less than perfect.

The LINK.2.1 and LINK2.2 were not rejected. They were simply not the answer to the question my stroke was asking. Falk’s language around it was refreshingly unsentimental. With the LINK2.2 and an ACCRA shaft, the numbers were good. With the DF3i and GEARS, they were more resilient. He told me there is “no single shaft” that automatically performs better because of price or prestige; the point is matching profile to player. 

In my case, he says, the steel shaft “entered” my transition a little too much, the $250 Diamana carbon fiber upgrade was still a bit too stiff, and softening that profile “just a little bit” with GEARS graphite [available for “only” $175 more but clearly not a tier below] was where he “started to see your distance control really improve.” He liked the DF3i because my mishits produced better launch-and-roll numbers and because the head’s forgiveness made it the build that would “cooperate day in and day out the most consistently.” Different strokes for different folks, as they say.

That result made more sense once I understood how much L.A.B. now thinks about synergizing head materials and shaft materials in the same mechanical conversation. Vice President of Engineering Brian Parks explained that in a multi-material head—for instance, my DF3i’s aluminum body with a stainless-steel face insert—different materials create different sounds and sensations at impact. 

Scientifically, they model those frequencies and try to tune out the kinds of pitches that feel obtrusive. Subjectively, though, there is no universal answer: some players want a click, some want something duller and more muted, some want a more metallic note. The engineering can narrow the field, but preference still finishes the job. 

The shaft side is no less nerdy, or no less personal. Parks says the whole point of working with manufacturers on a growing shaft menu is “sound and feel,” with differences in composite density and stiffness changing how impact is transmitted. L.A.B. measures both frequency and deflection on 37” shafts: TPT sits at the stout, instant-feedback end of the spectrum, while ACCRA gives more visible deflection and a lower, softer sensation. 

GEARS lives in a particularly interesting middle ground. Its filament-wound construction was described to me during the fitting as the graphite shaft that most closely mimics steel, but Parks explained that its structure is more nuanced than that. It has a stiffer section up in the butt, then softens lower down, which gives it a feeling of stability while still letting the player sense the head and hear a more muted sound. In my case, 268 Hertz so good. Come on, baby …

That was useful context, because it meant the DF3i choice was not just about head shape. It was also about how that head’s insert and that shaft’s profile worked together for me. The insert version gave me a firmer, more energetic response than the softer all-aluminum on-rails DF 2.1 that spoke to me on my original visit but had recently felt too mushy, hence my ill-founded belief I was entering my competitive era. And the GEARS shaft kept that response from becoming overly sharp or overly demanding, which was the primary thing holding me back from the heavier, all-steel LINK.2. In terms even I could understand: enough pop, enough stability, not too much drama, which turns out to be the company’s story, too.

__________

What seems clearer a year later is that L.A.B. has not grown by hardening into dogma. It grows by staying flexible inside a rigid premise. Lie Angle Balance, eliminating torque to reduce the need for constant face management, remains the same. But the company keeps finding new ways to meet golfers where they actually are, not where tradition says they should be. Director of Player Development Liam Bedford tells me a story over dinner that perfectly illustrates this.

Pro Camilo Villegas wanted a setup L.A.B. did not really have at the time: a split-grip, counterbalanced-style build that would let him quiet his hands and keep the putter moving more like a single unit. So the company worked up a custom build: a MEZZ.1 Max with about one degree of shaft lean, a 74-degree lie, and a 17-inch grip. Bedford says it became “the first-ever counterbalance putter we built.”

More importantly, when Villegas needed a backup, Bedford says it was “the first time in [our] history that we got feedback that we were able to replicate a build” so precisely that the player “couldn’t tell the difference between the two of them.” This burgeoning confidence and machining prowess meant that what started as a specific tour-player solution could become a direct retail category you’ll find on the L.A.B. site today.

That says something larger than one tour anecdote. L.A.B.’s evolution has involved learning how to turn one-off experimentation into repeatable customization, how to translate an individual golfer’s odd-seeming needs into something real, manufacturable, and eventually scalable. Even palatable, as the increasing acceptance of the original Direct Force putter and its offshoots has shown. 

Another professional’s name fits here, too. Adam Scott. Bedford described the development of what became the MEZZ.1 Max began after Scott wanted L.A.B. to explore a larger concept. Bedford and the team tinkered late into the evening, rebalanced the perimeter, and realized, in Bedford’s phrasing, “oh shit, this is good. This is better.” What stands out is how organic the process sounded: not a top-down product brief, but a player’s need becoming a real product because the right people were curious enough to follow it. As Martin puts it, that is simply “how we operate.” Somebody says something, it sparks an idea, and eventually that idea becomes something you can buy. [And, yes, it was reportedly Scott who introduced Villegas to the putter.]

This makes my own fitting feel less like a separate consumer experience than part of the same company logic. Tour players helped push L.A.B. into new categories. Admittedly, I’m not doing anything so consequential, but I went through a similar basic process: arriving with a set of assumptions, preferences, and self-descriptions, then watching the evidence quietly reassemble them into a custom product.

__________

A year ago, I was fascinated by how L.A.B. putters seemed to reduce micro-adjustments. This time, what struck me was how the company’s expanded fitting process reduced self-mythology. Before, I knew nothing. This time, I thought I knew something. Both times, I learned there was more to know. Fitting politely told me something I sensed deep down: my taste-led instincts could actually benefit from some real problem-solving. At the end of the day, every L.A.B. putter stays square, but with a little effort, you can find the one that squares with playing style and personal style.

That lesson lines up neatly with how Hahn described L.A.B. itself at this moment. Speaking about his own swing changes and the company’s evolution, he says you eventually end up with an identity that reflects accumulated choices, habits, and limitations until those no longer fit the present version of you. Then the challenge is whether to become “a frustrated, middle-aged guy who talks about how good he used to be” or to “accommodate my new self.” 

L.A.B., Hahn says, is facing the same thing: “Chapter two has to look different. Our body’s changing. The goals are changing, the processes are changing. The audience is changing, and we need to change with that.”  

A year ago, my trip to L.A.B. taught me that odd-looking equipment can become intuitive once you stop fighting it. This year, it taught me something slightly more annoying and therefore probably more valuable about how I should stop fighting myself. Improvement is not always about becoming more like the golfer you imagine yourself to be. Sometimes it is about accepting the golfer the numbers have already identified.

I went in expecting to choose on taste and leave with something sleek, blade-adjacent, and flattering to an aspiring flagstick artist’s sensibilities. Instead, an indoor green, walls of options, and a lot of patient evidence pushed me less fantasy, more fit. Less Patek Philippe, more Gimmie Getter. Less projection, more cooperation. Less me as I’d like to be seen, more me as I’d like to actually putt. Eventually becoming the me that drained it rather than duffed it. 

Which, if I’m being honest, is the most L.A.B. Golf lesson imaginable …

… but don’t worry: numbers may have chosen the DF3i, but I chose it in purple, with skulls etched on the sole, a memento mori reminding me to embrace a little weirdness every day.

The post A year later, L.A.B. Golf’s weird science got bigger … and more personal appeared first on Popular Science.

Gadgets are worthless without power. Even the fanciest phone isn’t going to help (or entertain) you if the battery is dead. That’s why I consider portable power essential. Right now, INIU has its full range of portable chargers, GaN wall chargers, cables, wireless chargers, and car chargers, on sale for up to 30 percent off. On top of the product-specific deals, the site is automatically stacking tiered cart discounts at checkout: $5 off orders over $50, $10 off over $80, and $20 off over $100. No code needed for those. Browse the full INIU Spring Sale or read on for the best deals organized by category.

If you need a power bank that can charge a laptop without bogging it down, the P63 is the one. It delivers 100W through a single USB-C port, enough to keep a MacBook, Steam Deck, or modern ultrabook moving at a solid clip. At 25,000mAh the capacity is serious enough to fully top off most laptops and still have plenty left for your phone. The site price is already down from $75.99 to $66.99, and applying code P63EXTRA20 takes another 20% off for a final price around $53.59. Add a $10 or $20 tiered cart discount on top if your order qualifies.

GaN chargers are smaller and run cooler than the brick that probably came with your laptop, and this one delivers 100W from a single USB-C port . No coupon code required here; it’s already marked down from $45 to $33. Pair it with any 100W-rated cable and you’ve got a single charger that covers nearly every USB-C device you own.

Twenty thousand milliamp-hours is a lot of battery for this price point. The P512 is INIU’s slim high-capacity bank — charges at 22.5W and keeps the footprint small enough for a bag or backpack without taking over a pocket. Apply code P512SPRING at checkout for 30% off, dropping it from $36.99 to about $25.89. Orders over $80 or $100 qualify for the automatic tiered discount on top.

From palm-sized pocket chargers to full laptop-capable banks. Browse the full portable charger collection.

• INIU Pocket Rocket P50 — 10,000mAh / 45W PD fast charge $32.99 (use code TasteMe15 for 15% off, ~$28.04)
• INIU Pawsible P41L — 10,000mAh / 45W / built-in USB-C cable $22.99 (was $30.99)
• INIU SnapGo P73 — 10,000mAh / Qi2 15W magnetic wireless + USB-C $39.99 (use code P73EXTRA15 for 15% off, ~$33.99)
• INIU Carry P512 — 20,000mAh / 22.5W PD slim design $36.99 (use code P512SPRING for 30% off, ~$25.89)
• INIU Cougar P62 — 20,000mAh / 65W PD compact $50.99 (use code P62SPRING for 15% off, ~$43.34)
• INIU Cougar P63 — 25,000mAh / 100W PD laptop-ready $66.99 (was $75.99, use code P63EXTRA20 for additional 20% off, ~$53.59)
• INIU Cougar P64 — 25,000mAh / 140W PD fastest-class charging $89.99 (was $106.12, use code P64EXTRA15 for 15% off, ~$76.49)
• INIU SnapGo P81 — 5,000mAh / Apple Watch companion charger $24.99

GaN wall chargers that replace bulky bricks with something you can actually travel with. Browse the full charger collection.

• INIU A12 Dual Port Charger — 30W / USB-C + USB-A $12.99 (was $18.99)
• INIU I622 GaN Charger — 45W / dual USB-C ports / foldable plug $16.99 (was $24.99)
• INIU A21 GaN Charger — 65W / 3 ports (2x USB-C + 1x USB-A) $26.99 (use code A21SPRING for 25% off, ~$20.24)
• INIU A11 GaN Charger — 100W / single USB-C $32.99 (was $45.10)

High-wattage USB-C cables and specialty connectors for every setup. Browse the full cables collection.

• INIU D5CC USB-C to USB-C Cable — 100W / 6.6ft 2-pack $15.99 (was $21.48)
• INIU D7CC USB-C to USB-C Cable — 240W / 6.6ft 2-pack $17.99 (was $21.99)
• INIU C60 USB-C to HDMI Adapter — 4K 60Hz / iPhone 15+ & MacBook $11.99
• INIU DI401 VR Link Cable — 16ft high-speed transfer / separate charging port $23.99 (use code DI401SPRING for 20% off, ~$19.19)

Qi2-certified magnetic wireless charging for desk, nightstand, and travel. Browse the full wireless charger collection.

• INIU I211 Wireless Charger — 15W Qi-certified / sleep-friendly adaptive light $19.99 (was $23.99)
• INIU SnapGo W11 Magnetic Wireless Charger — Qi2 15W / LED indicator $21.99
• INIU W21 Magnetic Wireless Charger — Qi2 15W $29.99
• INIU SnapGo W31 3-in-1 Foldable Wireless Charger — Qi2 15W / phone + earbuds + watch $39.99

Fast USB-C car chargers and a Qi2 magnetic mount for hands-free navigation. Browse the full car charger collection.

• INIU I710 Car Charger — 60W / 2 ports (USB-C + USB-A) $11.99 (was $13.99)
• INIU I712 Car Charger — 66W / 2 ports (USB-C + USB-A) $11.99 (was $13.99)
• INIU I711 Car Charger — 66W / 2 ports / ultra-fast $16.99 (was $18.99)
• INIU SnapGo V11 Wireless Car Charger Mount — Qi2 15W magnetic $29.99

The post Save up to 30% on portable power banks, charging bricks, cables, and other essential accessories during INIU’s spring sale appeared first on Popular Science.

It’s only April, but we’re already prepping for pool season and bringing the beach chairs and beverage coolers down. And that means we’re also auditing our beat-up footwear, making it the perfect time for some new sandals. It just so happens that REEF knows a thing or two about warm-weather wear, and the Fanning, its most mischievous flip-flop with a built-in bottle opener on the bottom, turns 21 with new styles just in time for Spring/Summer 2026.

The original Fanning earned its place by being more than a blank slab of rubber, and that’s why it still deserves a toast now that it’s legal. Developed and named for pro surfer Mick Fanning, it landed in 2005 with a more athletic stance and supportive upper than your average flip-hop. The new Fanning + is an even more plush expression of easygoing meets multisurface-ready. Wet decks, hot pavement, sandy shortcuts, lakehouse hangs … long afternoons between beach bar and boardwalk … there’s a Fanning for you.

REEFlex EVA, molded memory foam straps, shockpads, and an oversized translucent airbag heel in the case of the Fanning +, make each step in a Fanning cush, but not mush. The Fanning H20 takes underfoot ease and puts it in a fully molded and quick-dry style. While the Fanning H2O Slides are an even looser, slip-on silhouette. All the franchise keeps the post-surf party personality … and the bottle opener.

The updated Fanning line is now available for $40 to $90.

After you get off your feet, are you looking to quickly beat the heat? Dyson just announced its HushJet Mini Cool fan, a 7.5-ounce portable model that squeezes a 65,000-RPM brushless motor and up to 25 m/s (55 mph) airflow into something slim enough to wear, plop by the deck chair, or prop on a table. Dyson’s HushJet nozzle cuts turbulence and tamps down the high-pitched whine, so the air feels sharp and clean instead of all buzz and bluster. With five speeds, a Boost mode, and up to six hours of runtime on a full USB-C charge, this $99 invigorating accessory seems built for the sticky stretch between poolside, BBQ, and couch.

The post REEF celebrates 21 years of the iconic Fanning flip-flop with updated Spring/Summer styles appeared first on Popular Science.

For many years, iPhones and Android devices didn’t play nicely together. Sure, you can get files and data swapped between platforms, but it hasn’t been easy. Plus, you’d typically need to rely on a third-party tool to do the job rather than anything from Apple or Google.

That’s starting to change. For example, Apple Messages and Google Messages both currently support the RCS standard, and at long last, Android smartphones can also use Apple’s AirDrop standard.

AirDrop is a protocol built into iPhones, iPads, and Macs that lets you quickly transfer anything shareable—a picture, a contact, a web link—over to another Apple device. It’s really simple, and it just works.

Last year Google announced that it was bringing AirDrop support to the newest Pixel 10 devices, and now Samsung has joined in as well. It means sharing something from an Android device to an Apple device should be as straightforward as it’s previously been for Apple-to-Apple transfers.

The usual AirDrop protections remain in place: You can always accept or reject incoming AirDrop transfers, and you have options to keep your devices invisible and unavailable to certain AirDrops.

You might also not see this feature right away. Google has now pushed out AirDrop support to both Pixel 9 and Pixel 10 series phones, while Samsung says availability is gradually expanding outside of South Korea and the newest Galaxy S26 phones.

On compatible Galaxy and Pixel phones, AirDrop takes its place in the standard Quick Share panel for Android, which has long been used for file and data transfers. Reports suggest this is not reaching everyone at the same time, so if you can’t currently see the option, check again soon.

For Galaxy phones, open up Settings then tap Connected devices > Quick Share and make sure Share with Apple devices is enabled. Then, find something to share, and hit the Share button. In Google Photos, for example, you’ll see the button underneath an image or video when you open it up.

You can then tap Quick Share, and if the relevant update has rolled out to your phone, you should see nearby Apple devices listed. If not, check the AirDrop settings on the Apple device to make sure you’re allowed to connect—if it’s an iPhone, then you need to open Settings in iOS and tap General > AirDrop.

The Apple device will show a pop-up message where the file transfer can be accepted or blocked, and you’re done—the file will be saved to the relevant app (such as Photos) on the iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

To go the other way, swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen on the Galaxy device, and pick Quick Share Contacts—this puts the device in receiving mode. You can then tap on the share buttons anywhere on iOS (they often look like an arrow on top of a square), and pick AirDrop to find your Galaxy. If it doesn’t show up, head to Connected Devices > Quick Share > Who can share with you to make the Samsung device visible.

It’s a similar process with Pixel devices: You get the Quick Share option whenever you try to share something on your phone, and can find AirDrop devices from there. To find the Quick Share configuration screen on a Pixel handset, open Settings and head to Connected devices > Connection preferences > Quick Share.

The post Samsung Galaxy phones now support Apple AirDrop. Here’s how it works. appeared first on Popular Science.

The 2026 World Press Photo Contest documents our fragility, resiliency, and the best and worst of humanity. More than 3,700 photojournalists and documentary photographers submitted 57,376 photographs for this year’s awards.

The winners include heartbreaking images of an elephant culling in Zimbabwe, a massive apartment fire in Hong Kong, and the devastating aftermath of drone attacks in Ukraine.

“This is a critical moment — for democracy, for truth, for the question of what we as a society are willing to see and call out and what we are willing to ignore,” global jury chair Kira Pollack said in a statement. “The photographers recognized here have done their part. They have made the record. Now it is our turn to look.”

Visit World Press Photo for a full gallery of winners.

The post 17 poignant images from the 2026 World Press Photo Contest appeared first on Popular Science.

Aside from the hallucinations, immense energy requirements, and potentially negative mental health effects, generative artificial intelligence still has an issue with accuracy. However, that hasn’t stopped major tech companies like Google from rolling out features like AI search summaries to its users. Most of the results seem fine at first glance and usually feature multiple source citations, but that doesn’t mean the product works perfectly.

A recent study reported by the New York Times found that Google’s “AI Overview” offers correct and reputably sourced summaries 9 out of 10 times. But while 90 percent sounds like a passing grade, the failure rate adds up in a matter of minutes. Given that the company will process over five trillion searches in 2026, the ensuing math means AI Overview is churning out tens of millions of questionable answers each hour. That’s hundreds of thousands of errors every minute.

What’s more, it’s difficult to truly assess AI Overview’s accuracy. An initially wrong response to a search query may transform into a correct summation when a user repeats the search a second time, making it basically impossible to anticipate. Google’s decision to place the AI Overview tab at the top of most search result pages also means more people see it and can assume its reliability.

Part of the issue relates to the specific sites treated as sources. The study’s authors at the open-source AI company Oumi found that Facebook and Reddit were the second- and fourth-most-cited references for AI Overview. Accurate answers cited Facebook 5 percent of the time, while inaccurate responses cited the social media site 7 percent of the time. In other cases, AI Overview seems to misstate a reliable source when giving a wrong answer.

Then there is the problem of bad actors. Anyone who understands these bugs in the system can potentially game AI Overview into giving inaccurate statements. Hypothetically, a person could author a series of blog posts asserting flat-out wrong historical information, then artificially boost traffic to their website. Google’s AI Overview may include the site in its source-scouring, fail to flag its inaccuracies, then generate a wrong answer.

“Our Search AI features are built on the same ranking and safety protections that block the overwhelming majority of spam from appearing in our results,” Google spokesperson Ned Adriance told the NYT. “Most of these examples are unrealistic searches that people wouldn’t actually do.”

At the very least, it’s important to view tools like AI Overview with a heavy dose of skepticism for the conceivable future. One faulty response in every 10 answers may not seem too serious, but think about how many search queries you have already made today. Studies also already indicate that overreliance on this type of tech may not be great for overall cognitive abilities. But if there is one thing you can trust, it’s AI Overview’s fine-print disclaimer:

“AI can make mistakes, so double-check responses.”

The post Study: Google’s AI Overviews show millions of wrong answers every hour appeared first on Popular Science.

Spring has finally arrived in the northern hemisphere, sweeping winter away with flowers, outdoor activities, and cute babies. While it’s safe to assume that human younglings will be outside in higher numbers, of course we’re talking about baby animals. In the springtime it’s not unusual to find babies such as chicks and squirrels separated from their mothers, but the protocol for what to do about it depends on the species—and the females’ motherly instinct. 

In the case of opossum mothers, that instinct is comically low. If given the opportunity, squirrel and raccoon mothers will take their babies back—but these marsupial mothers are less forgiving. 

“With possums, we generally say that reuniting is not possible, because mom generally has just kept going,” Priya Patel, wildlife veterinarian at Massachusetts’ New England Wildlife Center, tells Popular Science. It’s worth clarifying that while possums and opossums are sometimes used interchangeably, they are technically two different animals, and here we’re talking about Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana), North America’s only native marsupial.

Opossum babies weigh just 0.13 to 0.16 grams at birth. The newborns immediately move into the mother’s pouch, where they attach to her nipples and are quite literally stuck for 55 to 60 days, after which they re-emerge into the world. 

“The most common period we have people calling us about baby possums is generally about right before they’re two months old, when they’re starting to come out of the pouch and attach onto mom,” Patel explains. That’s when “you see all those pictures of them clinging onto her as she’s moving around, and they’re starting the weaning phase at that point and starting to explore, but they fall off of her and she doesn’t typically wait for them.”

In mom’s defense, opossum babies don’t have the clearest call for help—they make sneezing sounds. If she’s nearby, she might pause to take them back, but Patel has only heard of one potential case of a mother looking for her lost babies. 

As such, you should call a licensed wildlife rehabber or wildlife hospital if you come across one or more opossum babies on their own. In the meantime, don’t try to feed them—baby animals have a particular diet, and it could upset their gastrointestinal system, Patel explains. 

You might not always be asked to bring the animal in for care. If the individual is around 10 inches long not including the tail, it’s usually grown enough to be independent.

The post What to do if you find a baby opossum  appeared first on Popular Science.

The Artemis II mission has re-inspired our collective fascination with space. We’ve gazed on our home planet in a way unseen in decades and caught a glimpse of a part of the moon never seen by human eyes. The historic lunar flyby also sent humans farther from Earth than ever before.

Thanks to stellar camera work by the mission’s crew—Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and NASA mission specialist Christina Koch, and CSA mission specialist Jeremy Hansen—those of us left down here can feel like we’re along for the ride.

Capturing these beautiful and unprecedented photographs wasn’t a fluke. The NASA and CSA astronauts worked with Rochester Institute of Technology alumni Katrina Willoughby and Paul Reichert at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to up their photography skills in preparation for Artemis II.

“Most people can use a camera and get a photo that is good enough, but good enough isn’t what we’re after scientifically,” Willoughby, a graduate of RIT’s imaging and photographic technology program, said. We’re really teaching the astronauts how to go beyond the basics. Being able to understand how to use the equipment, and what the options are, gives us a lot more capability.”

[Related: Why you can’t see space junk in Artemis II photos]

The pair spent two years working with the crew and designed training modules to emulate the challenges of photographing in space. The astronauts learned how to operate both commercially available cameras (including iPhones), along with more advanced equipment and hardware.

While the photographs are absolutely awe-inspiring, they also hold importance for scientific study. Lunar and planetary scientists can use the images to better understand our moon and solar system. The Artemis II crew returns to Earth on April 10.

The post 16 inspiring Artemis II photos that’ll make you feel like a tiny Earthling appeared first on Popular Science.

The Artemis II astronauts have completed their historic lunar flyby and taken the pictures to prove it. But as skygazers continue enjoying the images of both the moon and Earth, one question is making the rounds online: If there’s such a space junk problem orbiting our home planet, then why isn’t it visible in any of the newest photos?

It may sound like an odd question, but it’s somewhat understandable. After all, numerous astronomers and researchers continue to sound the alarm on the exponentially growing amount of trash encircling Earth at any given moment. Without any actionable solutions, there is an increasing worry about the possibility of initiating a “Kessler cascade.” In such a scenario, the amount of space junk becomes so ubiquitous that collisions are inevitable. Debris traveling at upwards of 17,500 miles per hour smacks into one another, creating even smaller pieces of trash that then increase the likelihood of similar events. All of that ensuing orbital junk could make it extremely difficult to launch new satellites into space, send astronauts on missions, and even protect Earth’s terrestrial residents.

If all that pollution is so concerning and prevalent, how hasn’t the Artemis II crew documented examples to point it out once they return home? Technically, there is a slight possibility that astronauts could snap a perfect photo pointing out low Earth orbit’s fragility. But when you consider the logistics, the likelihood of pulling off such an image is extremely low. The vast majority of space junk isn’t discernible to the naked eye—especially at the speeds both the junk and astronauts are traveling. Aside from the millions of centimeter-or-larger objects orbiting Earth, around 130 million smaller chunks waste from satellites and rocketry encircle the planet.

[Related: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch isn’t just a floating trash pile]

The altitude varies case-by-case, but the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office estimates the greatest concentration of space junk is floating between 466 and 621 miles above Earth. To put it simply, Artemis II’s astronauts were too busy focusing on the earliest minutes of their launch to take photos outside the Orion capsule’s windows. Within seconds, it became nearly impossible to take pictures of any discernible orbital debris, let alone entire satellites. Imagine taking a photo of a pebble on the highway from even 10 miles down the road. It would be that hard—and that’s before piloting a historic space mission.

This isn’t to say Artemis II hasn’t already had firsthand experience with space junk. The International Space Station often collides with tiny debris, but the habitable capsules’ engineering ensures it can withstand strikes from objects as large as one centimeter in diameter. The Orbital Debris Program Office also estimates encounters with anything larger is “slight” at best.\

The bottomline is this: Space is incomprehensibly vast, but even Earth’s dimensions are difficult to imagine. There is still a lot of wiggle-room for Artemis II and future NASA astronaut crews, especially with the aid of precise computing models and orbital tracking technology. Space junk is a serious problem—but it’s not something to make you worry about crew safety, much less doubt humanity’s latest trip around the moon.

The post Why you can’t see space junk in Artemis II photos appeared first on Popular Science.