The US Space Force will bid the summer farewell by once again launching its (not-so-secret) secret space plane, the X-37B. According to a July 28 announcement, the Boeing-manufactured orbital test vehicle is scheduled to embark on its eighth mission (OTV-8) from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on August 21. After hitching a ride aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the X-37B will orbit high above Earth while facilitating multiple payload experiments. Its exact altitude capabilities are unknown, but previous estimates put it at around 250 miles above the planet.

The Space Force described the X-37B as a “dynamic and responsive spacecraft responsible for conducting a range of tests and experiments that expedite the development of critical next-generation technologies and operational concepts for reusable space capabilities.” In civilian terms, this means the X-37B hosts an array of both classified and unclassified payloads intended to bolster US defense capabilities, among other objectives.

While its larger purposes remain murky, the federal government hasn’t been shy about the X-37B’s existence. Its first mission was widely reported in 2010, following a decade of development and construction. In 2017, Orlando residents could hear the sonic boom from during its fifth mission’s atmospheric reentry. 

Not every experiment is shrouded in secrecy, however. The Space Force touted plans to test a new laser communications system, as well as the “highest performing quantum inertial sensor ever tested in space.” The former project is overseen by the Air Force Research Lab, and will focus on beaming data-packed infrared light to low-Earth orbiting satellites. Lasers are capable of storing much more information and are considered far more secure than commonly used radio frequencies. Developing and implementing the technology would have far-reaching consequences across military, commercial, and government applications.

Meanwhile, the quantum inertial sensor demonstration will offer engineers at the Defense Innovation Unit an unprecedented opportunity to continue fine-tuning an unaided, space-based navigation system intended to be a  successor to GPS. Instead of relying on satellites in orbit around the Earth, the inertial sensor determines positioning by measuring the acceleration and rotation of atoms at a quantum level.

“This technology is useful for navigation in GPS-denied environments and consequently will enhance the navigational resilience of U.S. spacecraft in the face of current and emerging threats,” Space Force explained in its announcement. Quantum inertial sensors may also be instrumental for astronauts stationed at a permanent lunar base.

It’s unclear how long OTV-8 will last, but if past missions are any indication, the unpiloted plane will remain above the planet for a while. X-37B’s most recent mission launched on December 28, 2023 and returned after 434 days in orbit. Its longest mission (OTV-6) took place from December 28, 2023, to March 7, 2025, and lasted 908 days.

The post Space Force schedules the next mission for its secret robot plane appeared first on Popular Science.

On October 9, 2022, astronomers detected a big bang. But while not as big as the “big bang” itself, experts quickly determined the gamma-ray burst (GRB) designated GRB 221009A was unquestionably the most powerful explosion ever observed by humans. The event was so impressive that it even earned a nickname—the Brightest of All Time, or BOAT. But even three years later, the BOAT continues revealing new information about these rarely seen, poorly understood, and mind-bogglingly massive energy eruptions. The latest findings are described by an international team of researchers in a study published this month in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Even when not the BOAT, gamma-ray bursts are gigantic. In a matter of seconds, the average GRB can release as much energy as the sun has generated during its entire 10-billion-year lifespan. But this doesn’t make it easy to follow all that energy back to its source. GRB gamma-ray signals weaken as they travel across the expanse of space, and seem to occur well outside the 100,000-light-year-wide Milky Way galaxy. For example, the BOAT was about 2.4 million light-years from Earth.

Astronomers believe there are two main types of GRBs, neither of which are long-lived. A short-period GRB’s initial phase lasts anywhere from a couple seconds down to only a few milliseconds, and is believed to form from the merger of neutron stars. Meanwhile, long-period GRBs (like the BOAT) last a few minutes, and appear to come from the universe’s largest supernovae—the ones that give birth black holes. Either way, their afterglows can linger for hours or even months, providing researchers with time to collect as much data as possible.

Although GRBs start with dazzling flashes of gamma radiation, their afterglows span multiple energy wavelengths. This afterglow was key to analyzing the BOAT and its aftermath.

After NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and Swift Observatory spotted the BOAT, , an international team of astronomers at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma, Spain, quickly worked to train their Large-Sized Telescope prototype (LST-1) in its direction. 

Although the LST-1 was technically still in its commissioning phase and a full moon made observations tricky, researchers tracked the BOAT’s activity for 20 days. This extended monitoring session allowed them to determine the upper limits of its powerful gamma-rays while also identifying potential formation properties.

However, what astronomers saw contradicted one of the prevailing models of GRB energy emissions. No matter its root cause, a GRB always spews an extremely fast jet of ionized plasma or gas—but the shape of these jets has remained unclear. One previous theory calculated that a GRB’s plasma beams emit in a T-shaped structure—a central cone of high-speed matter flanked by a wider spread of slower-moving material. Instead, the BOAT appeared to be fueled by a single jet containing a high-speed central jet wrapped in slower matter.

There is still a lot left to learn about GRBs, including the exact mechanics of their formation. They can’t all be as dramatic as the BOAT—astronomers estimate similarly sized GRBs only happen once every 10,000 years—but each detected event is an opportunity to better comprehend some of the universe’s most intense moments.

The post The brightest explosion ever seen is still baffling astronomers appeared first on Popular Science.

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, Spotify, YouTube, 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 the stories in this post, we guarantee you’ll love the show.

By Rachel Feltman

On this week’s episode of The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week, I covered a couple mini-facts—one of which is that tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons seem to be really good for players’ mental health. 

This story actually comes from my other podcast, Science Quickly. You can check out my video on the recent boom in DnD-related scientific research (featuring famous DM Brennan Lee Mulligan) here:

Dungeons and Dragons surged in popularity during COVID lockdowns, and the spike in interest has inspired several TTRPG-loving academics to bring their favorite game into the lab.There’s a lot of research left to do, but a growing body of evidence suggests that tabletop games can help players in all sorts of ways. Check out this week’s episode—and the video above—to learn more!

I also talked about why sharks play dead when they get flipped upside down. According to a recent study, the answer could be… just ’cause. 

By Laura Baisis 

As a young swimmer in New Jersey, endless laps in a concrete box was just too boring for me. I longed to be on some kind of “ocean swim team,” so I became an open-water marathon swimmer in my early 20s. 

A marathon swim is any event over 6.2 miles or 10K in a river, lake, ocean, really any body of water that is not a pool. The sport has roots in Ancient Greece with the legend of Leander swimming across the Hellespont to his lover the goddess Hero. Inspired by Leander, the poet Lord Byron swam the water separating Europe and Asia, along with Lieutenant Ekenhead, on their second attempt in 1810. Modern marathon swimming was born in 1875, when Matthew Webb became the first person to successfully swim across the English Channel. In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman and sixth person to ever swim the channel. A 10K open-water swim was also added to the Olympics in 2008.

Now, the peeing thing. You have to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated and also consume calories when swimming for hours at a time. It varies person to person, but most swimmers will eat every 30 minutes. We call these “feeds” and they must be done in the water while treading or sometimes laying on your back like an otter, since you can’t hang on to the boat or kayak. With that, comes practice peeing while swimming in open water…not in the pool. Don’t pee in pools.

By Ryan F. Mandelbaum

I’ve been super into salamanders lately. Even if you also love these little guys, you might be surprised to learn that a small population actually lives in Manhattan. 

Despite the city’s reputation as a concrete jungle, these dusky salamanders have managed to survive in some rocky, hidden corners of Highbridge Park for decades. Even when the park was full of garbage, these salamanders continued to hang on. 

On this week’s episode of Weirdest Thing, I talk about how fragile and isolated this little urban habitat really is—and how conservation even works in a place where nature and urban life have become intertwined. For more on urban wildlife, subscribe to my newsletter and check out my new book, Wild NYC.

The post Research on Dungeons and Dragons is booming—and it seems like it’s great for your brain  appeared first on Popular Science.

The buzz surrounding the contents of a 2,500-year-old bronze and copper jar has perplexed archaeologists for half a century. What was this residue with ties to Ancient Greece? Is it the remains of fats or oils from some kind of meat, or perhaps beeswax used for face creams, sealing boats, and more? 

A new reanalysis of this millennia-old residue found that it is likely the remains of ancient honey. The findings are detailed in a study published July 30 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

In the ancient world, honey was an important substance. It was found in alcoholic beverages uncovered in the tomb of King Midas and people in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt used the  sticky substance as a common medicinal ingredient. It was used to treat burns and fight infections. It was also used as a universal sweetener in foods and drinks. 

Honey also had a role in death rituals. According to historical accounts, Alexander the Great was preserved in honey upon his death. The substance was sometimes left in shrines as offerings to the gods and buried alongside the dead–whether they were conquerors or commoners. In 1954, an underground Greek shrine dating to about 520 BCE was discovered in Paestum, Italy, about 90 minutes from Pompeii. Archeologists at the time initially assumed that it was honey, but three different analyses over the next 30 years failed to confirm the presence of honey in the residue. Instead, it was believed to be some animal or vegetable fat that had been contaminated with pollen and insect parts over time.

The copper pot eventually made its way to University of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum for an exhibition, so a team there had a chance to re-examine the mystery substance. The researchers led by Oxford archeologist Luciana da Costa Carvalho and biological chemist James McCullagh, analyzed samples of the residue to determine its molecular makeup. 

This closer look revealed that the residue has a chemical fingerprint nearly identical to that of modern beeswax and honey. It has a higher acidity level consistent with the changes that occur during long-term storage. It also has a chemical composition more complex than heat-degraded beeswax. This suggested that honey or some other substance was once present in the vessel. 

[ Related: Ancient funerals may have included a ritual feast on a giant bird. ]

Additionally, where the residue had touched the jar, degraded sugar mixed with copper was not found. Instead, hexose sugars–a common group of sugars that is found in honey–were detected in greater concentrations in the ancient residue than modern beeswax. Royal jelly proteins that are known to be secreted by the western honeybee, were also found in the residue.

Together, the team says that these results suggest that the mystery substance is what remains of ancient honey. However, it is entirely possible that other bee products such as propolis may also be present in this sample.

“Ancient residues aren’t just traces of what people ate or offered to the gods—they are complex chemical ecosystems,” da Costa Carvalho said in a statement. “Studying them reveals how those substances changed over time, opening the door to future work on ancient microbial activity and its possible applications.”

The post Scientists think this orange goo is 2,500-year-old honey appeared first on Popular Science.

A massive work of art dating back at least 500 years has resurfaced along the beaches of Hawai’i. Although usually obscured by the Pacific Ocean’s waters, a 115-foot-long sequence of ancient petroglyphs is visible once again on Oahu’s western coast near the Pililaau Army Recreation Center. First documented in its entirety in 2016, researchers estimate Hawai’ian artists etched the figures into lithified sandstone around half a millennium ago. The series includes 26 individual designs measuring between 5.9 inches and 6.6 feet tall, 18 of which likely depict humans. Eight of those appear to be male genitalia, while the others are arranged in dynamic poses. The largest figure, for example, appears to extend one hand towards the sky and the other towards the ground beneath it.

“While it is difficult to pin down an exact date, these could [potentially] be upwards of 600 years old, based on nearby sites,” Laura Gilda, the site’s principal archaeologist, said in a statement released by the United States Army on July 28.

Gilda added that her team has already documented the engravings to share with local Indigenous community members while also ensuring the site remains protected against damage from any curious visitors. According to the US Army Garrison Hawai’i’s cultural resources program manager, the petroglyphs are only occasionally revealed after seasonal tidal changes and wave fluctuations shift the beach’s sands to expose the artwork underneath it.

Illustrative stone etchings or petroglyphs are one of humanity’s oldest forms of artistic expression. Archeological records indicate the first people to arrive and settle on the Hawai’ian islands were Polynesian sailors around 940–1200 CE. The local community would grow and evolve on its own for nearly 600 years before British Captain James Cook arrived in 1778, marking the first known contact between Hawai’i and Europeans.

With the help of European weaponry, King Kamehameha I conquered and unified the islands under his rule in 1795, establishing a dynasty that would last nearly a century in spite of multiple instances of outside interference. Meanwhile, the Hawai’ian monarchy encouraged a multiethnic society, and in 1840 went so far as to form a constitutional monarchy guaranteeing voting rights regardless of race, gender, or wealth.

By 1893, however, outside corporate interests including the Dole fruit and vegetable company orchestrated an illegal coup to wrest control away from the largely independent Indigenous nation. Queen Liliʻuokalani was subsequently deposed through the help of the US Marines, after which the islands briefly became the Republic of Hawai’i until its US territorial annexation in 1898. Hawai’i became the 50th state in 1959.

Speaking with the Associated Press, native Hawai’ian cultural practitioner Glen Kila explained that the mural was likely crafted to illustrate religious or ceremonial beliefs prior to the arrival of Europeans. At 72-years-old, Kila said he didn’t hold any animosity against the US, despite a childhood that included violent run-ins with local military personnel.

“We were proud and knew where we came from, so we never fostered any hatred for the military because one day we believed that the land will eventually return to us,” he said.

Update, July 31, 2025, 3:35 p.m. ET: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the petroglyphs as being located on Oahu’s eastern coast. They are actually located on the western coast. We apologize for the error.

The post 500-year-old petroglyphs resurface on Hawai’i beach appeared first on Popular Science.

Great headphones are portable architecture. They act as miniature listening rooms—an Eames lounge chair sitting squarely in a space organic enough to breathe, structured enough to govern every sympathetic resonance. But on your head. 

Meze Audio’s new 105 SILVA is one such headphone. It’s less a gadget than a trilogue between disciplines: mid‑century modern design’s disciplined grace, the mix engineer’s mania for vocal clarity, and a Romanian workshop’s obsession with heirloom build. At only $499, this dynamic-driver open-back headphone is not what some audiophiles would call a statement piece (though Meze has plenty of those). At only $499, it’s what I would call a standout—a means to dissolve the distance between listener and performance at an accessible price.

Architecture, melody, and machinery don’t merely coexist here; they trade compliments. The mid-century movement stripped away ornate trim for swooping contours and materials that felt honest—molded plywood, brushed steel, warm‑grain walnut. Furnishings perched on tapered legs, leaving visual “air” around daily ritual. A home took on an unforced, uncluttered, utterly human character.

Similarly, a form-meets-function philosophy is imbued in the 105 SILVA. The radial polymer grille, perforated like a sunburst, reinforces the walnut adding absorbent warmth. The cup geometry behaves like a miniature diffusion panel: reflections scatter while mids stay centered, and stage width feels more amphitheater than headphone cocoon. Sibilance is tamed without muting sheen. Open-back headphones are clerestory windows, venting low‑mid pressure so bass foundations exit gracefully instead of puddling. 

But form without fidelity is just an accessory, so Meze over-engineered its 50mm transducer. A carbon fiber-reinforced cellulose composite W-shaped dome nests inside a titanium-coated semicrystalline polymer torus and copper‑zinc alloy stabilizer, featuring precisely positioned grooves at a 45.5° angle. Together, this keeps the diaphragm rigid yet nimble within the chassis, exhibiting snap and verve across the 5 Hz – 30 kHz spectrum, while damping vibrations and banishing distortion to the wings. All within a self-adjusting spring-steel frame with velour ear pads, proven to spread clamp force so geometry—not weight—hugs your skull.

Ask anyone who has ever been behind a mixing board, and they will tell you that vocal-forward composition, like much of the 20th century’s most memorable fashion and design, succeeds by subtraction. Siphon mud below 200 Hz, fill the crucial 200-400 Hz muscle band where your chest hums, sculpt some space in the 300-800 Hz pocket, then chisel an opening in the 2-5 kHz presence band—the narrow corridor where intimacy and intelligibility live. 

The result? Flesh-and-blood immediacy. Kick drums that land with believable heft, delivered from a diaphragm that can stop cleanly on a dime. Bass lines that are thick-bodied, iron-braided. A splintered pick drawn right across your cochlea. Crunch that carves its own lane. But none of it at the detriment of airy, articulate vocals. Spectral and sighing. Grit and girth. Honored intent.

Slam doesn’t impede on headroom, doesn’t tread on transients. Harmonics shimmer without haze. Lush notes linger, unmasked by gratuitous sparkle. Stacked vocals coalesce with micro-detail and macro-cohesion. Expressive voicing isn’t distorted by “wow” frequencies that age into fatigue. Midrange truth feels housed, not artificially highlighted. 

Above 10 kHz, you still get some of Meze’s trademark upper-treble shimmer—ride-cymbal sheen, crowd-noise sparkle—but it’s not as laser-etched, as edgy as some planar competitors like HiFiMAN, putting it closer to the equally impressive value that is the $699 FiiO FT7 and its softer glow. Prefer an even more velvety but still resolving response? The $349 Sennheiser HD 550’s performance far exceeds its price point; however, its build quality is undeniably inferior to that of the Meze.

Ultimately, the balance feels curated rather than cosmetic. Compared to its dynamic siblings in Meze’s lineup (shown below), the 105 SILVA is more immediate than the warmer-tuned, Art Deco-styled $399 105 AER, less insistent than the $799 109 PRO’s analytical glaze, possibly prettier than both. 

Impedance settles at a friendly 42 Ω and sensitivity at 112 dB, so a laptop jack gets loud while scaling to a DAP or headphone DAC/amp (even something portable like the Questyle M18i) gets incisive. Inside the included hardshell case is a dual-twisted, Kevlar-wrapped OFC cable and USB-C-to-3.5mm dongle—featuring 32‑bit/384 kHz PCM DSD64/128 playback, plus 65 mW output—letting new headphones go directly from box to bops.

Mid-century pieces outlived fads because they solved problems without shouting. Meze Audio headphones aim to do the same, designed as something you want to live with and in. Every component is user‑serviceable, embedding faith in objects built to travel decades, not upgrade cycles. Aesthetically, the 105 SILVA champions restraint as expressive. Sonically, versatility reigns in a headphone that can swing from heavenly to heavy. 

The post Meze Audio 105 SILVA first impressions: Not just a headphone, a habitat appeared first on Popular Science.

Sun, sand, waves, and relaxation. No responsibilities and little to do but enjoy yourself. Yet somehow, after a whole day of blissful nothing, you find yourself completely zonked. What gives? If taking in the sea air is supposed to be restorative, why can a restful day at the beach end up feeling so tiring? There’s no one certain answer, but science offers a few possibilities.

[ Related: 6 of the weirdest things to ever wash up on the beach ]

It’s usually the height of summer when we opt to spend our days oceanside, and that means hours in the heat. “Humans need to be able to regulate our body temperature,” Craig Crandall, a physiologist and professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, tells Popular Science. “If we didn’t, we’d be lizards.” And unlike our scaly tetrapod counterparts, the fundamentals of our physiology require our internal temperature to stay close to 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. If the thermometer ticks too far up, the systems that keep us alive begin to break down. 

Maintaining a consistent body temperature takes work. We know that keeping cool in a hot environment requires extra energy, because people exposed to heat consume slightly more oxygen, says Crandall. Higher oxygen consumption indicates more cellular effort. Added up over hours, that can equal to a significant amount of exertion. Then, there’s the effect on your heart. 

One of the main methods we have for cooling down is increasing the amount of blood flow near the skin. Assuming the air temperature is lower than your core temp, blood moving near the surface will lose heat to the air. But that means the heart has to work harder to move more blood farther into the periphery of the circulatory system. “If somebody has a resting heart rate of 60 [at room temperature], it’s very possible their heart rate could rise to 100 or 110 beats per minute in a heated scenario,” Crandall says. 

This is a major part of why extreme temperatures can be so dangerous for those with heart conditions, he explains. On the less consequential side, beach fatigue could also, in part, be a byproduct of all this extra, unconscious effort.

The other major way our bodies offload heat is sweating. And when you’re playing or laying in the sun for a long time, you’re almost certainly losing a lot of water as your body sweats. Likely, you’re not drinking enough fluids to keep up. 

“Hydration is extremely important,” says Crandall. “As we get dehydrated, we will get symptoms not too different from heat exhaustion. You’ll start to feel fatigued.” Research, including at least two randomized control trials, have shown that even mild dehydration can lead to changes in mood, alertness, and cognitive performance in otherwise healthy people. 

Couple that dehydration with the fact that many people at the beach opt to drink alcohol over water, and the problem is amplified. Alcohol is a diuretic, so—depending on the potency of your drinks—imbibing can lead you to lose more liquid than you gain from each beverage. The accompanying intoxication can also make it more difficult to recognize early symptoms of dehydration and heat stress, Crandall notes, exacerbating the ultimate crash.

[ Related: How much water should you drink in a day? ]

The beach may be a welcome break from your usual grind. But in many cases, taking it easy involves a deceptive amount of activity. You have to find a nice spot to post up, which probably means walking a fair distance, lugging a cooler and umbrella behind you. Plus you’re on the sand, which makes every movement is harder. Maybe every hour, you spend 10 minutes treading water, or wading through the surf. Perhaps someone brought a frisbee, soccer ball, or volleyball net. If you have children, you’re undoubtedly chasing them around.

On a normal day, “I come sit in an office in front of a computer,” says Crandall. “If I go to the beach, it’s orders of magnitude more activity over hours than what I do day-to-day,” he says, adding that he enjoys water and sand sports. “I expect to be more exhausted after that.” 

Even if you’re staying hydrated, resting up, and taking shade breaks, sleepiness in response to afternoon heat may be an ancient, pre-programmed animal response. Though people sleep best at cooler temps, heat may also trigger drowsiness, according to a 2022 study of fruit flies. The research found that high temperatures trigger a cascade of brain signals that feed directly into the flies’ circadian rhythm system. Basically, in response to hot temperatures, fruit flies are driven to nap—which the authors compare to a Spanish siesta. Though it’s not yet clear if heat does the same in human brains.

Then, there’s the effect of the sun itself. If you get sunburned, it’s well established that it can lead to fatigue. Sunburn triggers an inflammatory response, Crandall notes. If it’s bad enough, that can lead to symptoms of full-body exhaustion, as well as headache, nausea, and even fever.

Even if you fastidiously apply sunblock and avoid burning, sunlight itself can still leave you feeling sluggish. One 2004 study found that sun exposure increases mental fatigue during leisure activity. A similar 2021 paper noted similar effects among outdoor workers, independent of heat stress. Workers showed more signs of slower cognition and other symptoms of heat stress when their skin was exposed to the sun, versus workers who were kept covered, even when temperatures were consistent. 

Exactly why this happens isn’t well understood, but Crandall notes that sun shining on our skin leads to chemical reactions. Sun exposure triggers vitamin D production. He speculates that it’s possible other chemical or hormonal cascades are set in motion by the sun. 

[ Related: Learn how to take a nap because they’re really beneficial ]

If you’re aiming to minimize the chance of the post-beach slump, Crandall says staying hydrated and avoiding sunburn are the two most important strategies. Shade breaks or indoor time might also help. But, assuming you’ve eaten enough, drunk enough water, and applied your sunscreen, the best treatment for beach fatigue may be not to fight it after all, he notes. “I would say, just take a good nap,” maybe under an umbrella.  

This story is part of Popular Science’s Ask Us Anything series, where we answer your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the ordinary to the off-the-wall. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post Why does the beach make you so tired? appeared first on Popular Science.

I went to college so long ago that I took notes with a pen and a notebook. Laptops existed at the time, but the battery life was terrible, and I was too poor to buy one anyway. Now, a laptop is essential college gear, and the MacBook Air is the best of the bunch. It’s super-light, powerful, and really reliable. Amazon currently has the M3 MacBook Air models for $200 off. So, whether you want the ultra-compact 13-inch or the roomy 15-inch, you can save a little bit of cash before classes start up.

This is the cheapest computer in the bunch that’s on sale, and it’s plenty for the vast majority of college activities. It offers a current-gen M4 chip, which can handle just about any task, including some video editing and graphics work. The 13-inch screen offers impeccable color and impressive resolution for its size. It’s less than a half-inch thick at its thickest point, plus it has a pair of USB-C ports for charging and connecting peripherals.

If you want more screen real estate for editing media or just keeping too many tabs open, the 15-inch MacBook Air is a great choice. It’s still extremely flat and portable at just over three pounds. I prefer the 15-inch model because it fits my hands better, offers slightly longer battery life (because there’s room for more battery inside), and I always appreciate more screen.

• Apple 2024 MacBook Pro Laptop with M4 chip with 10‑core CPU and 10‑core GPU $1,299 (was $1,599)
• Apple 2024 MacBook Pro Laptop with M4 Pro, 12-core CPU, 16-core GPU $1,785 (was $1,999)

The post The MacBook Air is the best back-to-school laptop and it’s $200 off at Amazon right now appeared first on Popular Science.

Netflix is often considered an essential streaming service—arguably the most essential—and has become as standard on the monthly bill as utilities like water or electricity. 

However, the cost of monthly subscriptions can quickly add up, especially with prices continuing to creep higher and higher. There are also competing services such as Disney+ and Apple TV+ to consider as well, each with their own content libraries.

But you can also  enjoy streaming movies and shows completely free of charge, thanks to a growing number of FAST services: Free Ad-supported Streaming Television. Instead of paying a monthly fee, you watch a few ads instead.

While the selections on these services aren’t quite top tier, they’re a lot better than you might think—and you can sign up to as many of them as you like without paying a dime. These are the best FAST platforms you need to know about.

As soon as you load up the Pluto website you’re thrown straight into watching a random live channel, and you don’t even need to register an account. From there, you can click through to a wealth of live channels and on-demand content, with plenty in the way of classic shows, sci-fi, horror, and reality TV.

You’ve got dedicated channels for action, crime, and cartoons, and comedy—with the total number of 24/7 channels exceeding 150 at the last count—and the platform is easy to use. Dedicated apps are available for Android and iOS, as well as multiple smart TV operating systems, and when the ads appear, they’re not too intrusive.

Plex is a suite of apps and services that can serve up your local video and audio files to multiple devices, as well as providing access to more than 600 live channels and more than 50,000 on-demand titles. There’s always something to watch, and you can get started via the Plex website without even signing up for a user account.

If you do get a free account, you can sync your viewing across other apps—including those for Android and iOS. Features such as search and recommendations are really well done, and while the films and shows are mostly a few years old, there are definitely some gems included. You’ll have plenty of classics to catch up on, with nothing for you to pay.

Tubi very much puts the focus on the content, with the Tubi website immediately presenting you with a host of movies and shows that you can queue up with a click. There’s some great stuff here too, though the best content is a couple of years old (or older). You can also watch on your phone through the Android and iOS apps.

Out of all the FAST services out there, Tubi has a strong claim to be the most straightforward to use—everything’s just really simple. You can search for something specific with a click or a tap, or sift through the movies and shows based on genre or theme, or load up a live TV channel (there are now more than 250 available).

The Roku FAST service is available as part of the selection of apps on Roku streaming devices and TVs. You don’t even need a Roku device to tune into the Roku Channel—just a Roku account. You can then sign in and access a host of free content through the Roku website or through the official Roku apps for Android and iOS.

There’s the usual FAST mix of classic content and live TV included, as well as some original programming and themed packages around topics such as fitness and motorsports. As you would expect from something bearing the Roku branding, it’s all neatly laid out and simple to get around, whether you’re on a laptop or using a TV remote.

Kanopy is a little different to the other services here because it’s public-funded and works through a library card or a university email address. This means that you do need to sign up to start watching. As well as getting to your content through the Kanopy website, you can also install the apps for Android and iOS, and spread your watching across multiple devices.

The platform brands itself as offering “thoughtful entertainment,” and there’s a smaller selection here, with no live TV channels. However, the movies, shows, and documentaries you do get are of a very high quality, and they include lots of critically acclaimed titles as well as plenty of educational content for keeping the kids entertained.

The post The 5 best free streaming services (so you can can stop paying for Netflix) appeared first on Popular Science.

Although the congressional reconciliation bill provides a small boost to the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and establishes permanent funding for the Opportunity Zones program, an article by Roshan Abraham in Shelterforce argues that the budget is ultimately harmful to affordable housing.

The law’s massive cuts to social programs such as Medicaid and Medicare will contribute to the housing crisis, Abraham notes. “The tax law has dire implications for renters and homeowners, largely because millions of American renters rely on the country’s major social safety health programs, but also because cuts to climate tax credits will result in raised utility bills.”

Housing advocates say that the LIHTC does not have the same tenant protections as other HUD programs, and often acts as an incentive for speculative developers, while also not providing deep enough affordability.

Advocates say federal cuts to rental assistance and fair housing enforcement programs will drive more people into homelessness. The federal budget calls for a 29 percent reduction in funding for administrators for public housing authorities that help people find Section 8 voucher housing. “Given the stringent requirements of the program and ongoing challenges of voucher-holders who face income-based discrimination, this would significantly slow down tenants’ ability to find homes.” The bill also eliminated the Fair Housing Initiatives Program, putting fair housing enforcement in jeopardy.

• Affordable Housing
• Housing Costs
• Trump 2.0
• Fair Housing
• housing affordability
• Low Income Housing Tax Credit
• Housing Assistance
• Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher

Pro-housing policies seem to be having an impact in some of the largest U.S. cities, with rent prices finally seeing drops after years of growth, reports Tosin Akintola in Reason.

“The data from Five Star Cash Offer supports recent reports from online real estate brokerages Redfin and Realtor, which detail a decline in rent prices across some of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States.” Cities with the sharpest drops in rent prices include Sarasota, Florida, with a 42.67 percent drop between January 2024 and January 2025; Providence, Rhode Island, with a 19.22 percent drop; and Minneapolis, with a 11.14 percent drop.

While experts attribute much of the decline in rent costs to zoning reform, “other factors could be at play. Florida has been struck in recent years by Hurricanes Ian and Milton, and higher flood insurance premiums could be forcing some homeowners—especially those with second homes—to sell, creating a surplus of available housing.” But in cities like Austin and Minneapolis, zoning deregulation has played a major role in making housing construction more affordable.

• Rent
• Tenants
• rent costs
• Housing Costs
• Housing Supply
• Zoning
• Zoning Reform
• YIMBY

If you’ve been letting your Microsoft 365 subscription renew on autopilot, you’re definitely not the only one. It’s easy to ignore those monthly charges, right up until you realize you’ve dropped a few hundred bucks just to keep typing in Word or building spreadsheets in Excel. But here’s the good news: you can break up with the subscription and still keep the software. A lifetime license for Microsoft Office Pro is now just $49.97, down from the usual $219.99.

You’re getting the full lineup: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, Access, and even the free version of Teams. Everything installs directly onto your Windows PC, runs offline, and doesn’t constantly remind you to log in or upgrade. No cloud dependency, no ticking trial countdown, and definitely no “surprise” fees lurking in your inbox.

This isn’t Microsoft 365, and that’s kind of the appeal. There are no AI pop-ups trying to finish your thoughts or redesign your documents. It’s just the classic Office tools you already know, working the way you expect. Clean, simple, and actually reliable.

It’s ideal if you work from home, run a small business, attend school, or just want something that works without drama. Install it once and you’re good to go. No more hunting through settings to cancel renewals or setting reminders to dodge a subscription charge.

If you’re ready to stop renting the same software year after year, this deal makes the switch a no-brainer.

For a limited time, you can get Microsoft Office Pro 2021 for a one-time payment of $49.97.

StackSocial prices subject to change

_

Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime License

See Deal

The post Why would you keep paying for a Microsoft 365 subscription when a lifetime license is only $50 appeared first on Popular Science.

Burmese pythons, one of the world’s largest snakes, are also one of the most problematic invasive species in South Florida. First spotted in the Florida Everglades in the 1970s, the snakes were introduced, either accidentally or intentionally, through the exotic pet trade.

Since then, pythons have become top predators in the local food ecosystem. Despite the fact that they now exist throughout much of South Florida, they remain difficult to track down. That means researchers and conservationists need to find creative ways to lure them out into the open. 

And by creative, we mean really creative—and University of Florida (UF) researchers clearly understood the assignment.

As reported by The Palm Beach Post, researchers led by UF professor of wildlife ecology and conservation Robert McCleery have released 40 solar-powered, remote-controlled robot bunnies in South Florida this month. The researchers replaced the plush toy’s stuffing with motors and heaters to imitate the motions and body temperatures of one of pythons’ favorite snacks: marsh rabbits (Sylvilagus palustris). 

“We want to capture all of the processes that an actual rabbit would give off,” McCleery explained. Previous research had demonstrated that live, penned rabbits successfully attract pythons, but this approach requires too much manpower to care for the animals at scale. 

Cue robot bunnies. They don’t need to be fed, their pens don’t need to be cleaned, they’re waterproof, and they’re decked out with a motion-sensor camera that pings researchers if a python approaches. 

“If we can see a statistically significant number of pythons that are coming to investigate these robotic rabbits and the pens that would be a success, because right now, pythons do a great job of staying hidden,” Mike Kirkland, lead invasive animal biologist for the South Florida Water Management District, told WINK.
It remains to be seen whether the pythons will be fooled. If they’re not, the researchers have another trick in their backpocket, according to The Palm Beach Post: perfuming the robots with rabbit scent.

The post Robot bunnies deployed in Florida to fight invasive pythons appeared first on Popular Science.

Tesla says it is planning to launch ‘robotaxis’ with human drivers in the vehicle in San Francisco, reports Aarian Marshall in Wired. “The plan appears to put the electric carmaker in murky legal waters in a US state with the country's most tightly regulated autonomous vehicle industry—and where Tesla is already being sued for misleading language around its driver assistance tech.”

According to Marshall, Tesla plans to expand an existing employee-only taxi service to “select” members of the public, which is legally allowed to do under the “Transportation Charter Party” it received in March. But the  California Public Utilities Commission says “Tesla is not allowed to test or transport the public (paid or unpaid) in an [autonomous vehicle] with or without a driver.”

It seems that the company and the CPUC differ on their definitions. While Tesla says they will “launch the service with a person in the driver's seat just to expedite while we wait for regulatory approval,” the CPUC says “Tesla does not have a permit to pilot autonomous vehicle technology even with a safety driver.”

• Tesla
• Robotaxis
• Autonomous Vehicles
• Self-Driving Cars
• Road Safety
• Traffic Safety

The city of Indianapolis is offering to assist residents who want to build tactical urbanism projects by providing access to resources and funding.

As Peter Blanchard explains in Mirror Indy, the city wants to encourage residents to experiment with traffic calming projects that can make their neighborhoods safer. Community groups can apply for the city’s 50/50 cost share program  and, if approved, will have access to a ‘lending library’ of materials such as water barriers, traffic cones, and painting supplies.

“Neighborhoods can also apply for funding for “art in the right-of-way” projects, which involve using artwork to encourage drivers to slow down.”

According to Blanchard, “In some cases, these projects can lead to permanent street changes, as was the case with traffic barriers on 10th Street in Community Heights. Data from the experiment showed the barriers slowed traffic along 10th Street and reduced crashes by 73%.”

• Indianapolis
• Traffic Calming
• Tactical Urbanism
• Safe Streets
• Road Safety

• An upgraded Telephoto lens with up to 8× optical zoom, compared to up to 5× optical zoom on the iPhone 16 Pro models. The lens can apparently move, allowing for continuous optical zoom at various focal lengths.


• An all-new pro camera app from Apple for both photos and videos. This app would compete with the likes of Halide, Kino, and Filmic Pro. It is unclear if the app would be exclusive to the iPhone 17 Pro models.


• An additional Camera Control button on the top edge of the devices, for quickly accessing the camera and related settings. This would complement the Camera Control button on the bottom-right edge of all iPhone 16 models.

Jacksonville, Florida just completed an $11 million road diet project on Park Street, which added over half a mile of new bike lanes and sidewalks to a previously dangerous corridor. “For the first time ever, the city is going to have what is called a two-way cycle track, also known as a bikeway.”

According to a News 4 Jax article, the project narrowed the street from four vehicular lanes to two to make room for bike and pedestrian infrastructure. “There are going to be some roundabouts and planted trees, and the city has also removed some traffic signals.”

Local business owners support the changes, saying they hope they will make it safer for people to access the area. City leaders also expect to see more housing built in the area.

• Jacksonville
• Road Diet
• Bike Lanes
• Bike Infrastructure
• Pedestrian infrastructure
• Road Safety
• Traffic Safety
• Roundabouts

If your inbox is constantly slammed with subscription emails, you’re not alone. Gmail now includes a helpful tool to make managing those subscriptions easier—and to help you take back control of your inbox.

This covers all kinds of subscriptions, too: shopping deals, newsletters, promotions from retailers, and updates from the apps and services you use. If it’s a regular message you’ve opted into, it’s covered.

It’s not the only trick you’ve got in Gmail to manage email subscriptions, either—subscriptions that may be taking up more of your inbox (and your time) than you realize. Here’s how to regain control of your chaotic inbox.

How you access the Manage Subscriptions feature depends on the device you’re using:

• On the web:
  Click More on the left-hand menu (under Inbox and Sent), then choose Manage subscriptions. If you don’t see the menu, click the three horizontal lines (top left).
  
• On mobile (Android/iOS):
  Tap the three horizontal lines (top left), then select Manage subscriptions.

Once there, you’ll see a list of recurring senders, sorted by frequency. You can view how many emails each sender has sent recently, preview individual messages, and—most importantly—unsubscribe.

If you’ve had enough from a particular sender, click on the Unsubscribe link or tap the unsubscribe button (which looks like a little envelope with a minus symbol) on the right. You’ll be asked to confirm your choice, so click or tap Unsubscribe if you’re sure. 

Note: It might take a few days for the action to be registered.

You’ll also find an Unsubscribe option at the top of many emails themselves—this option has been around in Gmail for a while and works similarly. Clicking the button prompts a confirmation dialog before you’re officially removed from the list. Beware that some senders also annoyingly require that you visit their site to unsubscribe. 

Beyond the new tool, Gmail gives you a lot of control over how messages from recurring senders are handled, especially in the web version.

If you suspect you’re getting too many emails from a particular sender, open one of their emails, click the three dots (top right), then select Filter messages like this. You’ll see a list of recent emails from that sender and can build a filter based on different criteria. You can either start building a filter using the options at the top, or click off the filter dialog and browse through the emails.

If you do decide to build a filter, it’ll be applied to any future messages from this sender.

When you click Create filter, you can choose to:

• Archive messages
• Mark as read
• Delete
• Apply labels like “newsletter” or “promo”

You can manage your filters at any time by clicking the gear icon (top right), then choosing See all settings and opening up the Filters and blocked addresses tab. Click Edit next to any filter to make changes to it, or Delete to remove it.

One other tip: Search through Gmail for “unsubscribe” using the search box at the top of the interface. This should lead to you most of your subscriptions, and if you click through to the individual emails, you should find the unsubscribe buttons. If the manage subscriptions feature isn’t working for whatever reason, you can use these unsubscribe links instead.

If the Manage Subscriptions page doesn’t cover everything, this manual method is a great backup.

The post How to manage all your subscriptions in Gmail appeared first on Popular Science.

Hanoi, Vietnam will ban gas-powered motorcycles — and later cars — in its downtown, reports Micah Toll in Electrek. “The plan will go into effect on July 1, 2026, and then will expand the following year to cover more districts outside of downtown, and eventually include gasoline-powered cars as well.”

Vietnam has a national goal of phasing out gas-powered two-wheelers by 2045. “And in a country where motorcycles are the lifeblood of daily transportation, with an estimated 72 million of them on the road, this marks a seismic shift.” The change could have a major impact on air quality, noise, and congestion in the city’s densest neighborhoods.

If Hanoi’s ban is successful, other cities like Ho Chi Minh City, the nation’s largest urban area, are likely to follow suit.

• Hanoi
• Vietnam
• Electric Vehicles
• Electric Cars
• Electric Motorcycles
• Electrification
• Gas-Powered Vehicles