Earthquakes are violent events that alter the face of the planet. In many cases, those changes occur beneath the surface and only gradually become visible over thousands of years. Occasionally, however, an earthquake’s effects aren’t just felt—they’re seen. It’s even rarer to actually capture one of those moments on camera, but according to seismologists at Japan’s Kyoto University, the footage highlights the first-known video of a strike-slip fault. Their analysis, published in The Seismic Record, has led to new findings based on real-time visual evidence of tectonic motion.

The magnitude 7.7 event took place on March 28 along the Sagaing Fault with an epicenter near Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay. Although the initial rupture process lasted barely 80 seconds, it and numerous aftershocks were ultimately responsible for 5,456 confirmed deaths and over 11,000 injuries. Later evaluations indicated the quake was the second deadliest in modern history, as well as the most powerful to hit Myanmar in over a century. According to a separate group’s paper published in the same journal, the southern portion of the rupture occurred at an astonishing 3.7 miles per second—fast enough to qualify as “supershear velocity.”

Amid the catastrophe, an outdoor CCTV camera about 74.5 miles south of the epicenter recorded a visceral illustration of its power. Over just a few moments, what at first looks like a single chunk of the ground appears to suddenly divide and horizontally shift past one another in opposite directions. Completely by accident, the camera recorded a direct look of a strike-slip fault, something previously analyzed by remote seismic instruments. To researchers at Kyoto University, the clip wasn’t just a jaw-dropping scene—it was an opportunity to study a strike-slip fault using visual data.

“We did not anticipate that this video record would provide such a rich variety of detailed observations,” corresponding author and geologist Jesse Kearse said in a statement. “Such kinematic data is critical for advancing our understanding of earthquake source physics.”

Kearse and colleagues utilized a technique called pixel cross-correlation to analyze the fault movement on a frame-by-frame basis. Their findings showed the fault slipped horizontally by 8.2 feet in only 1.3 seconds, with a maximum speed of about 10.5 feet per second. While the movement matched experts’ existing knowledge of strike-slip ruptures, the short duration and speed were new developments.

“The brief duration of motion confirms a pulse-like rupture, characterized by a concentrated burst of slip propagating along the fault, much like a ripple traveling down a rug when flicked from one end,” Kearse explained.

Additional examinations also proved that the slip path was slightly curved, confirming previous observations recorded elsewhere in the world. This means subtly curving strike-slips instead of totally linear ones may be the rule, not the exception.

“Overall, these observations establish a new benchmark for understanding dynamic rupture processes,” the study’s authors wrote, adding that the video offers real-time confirmation of curved slip paths while helping “deepen our understanding of the physical mechanisms that control rapid fault slip during large earthquakes.”

Such discoveries may also help seismologists, geologists, and urban planners design more resilient architecture to ensure that when major earthquakes inevitably occur, their damage is minimized as much as possible.

The post In world first, CCTV captures supershear velocity earthquake appeared first on Popular Science.

This article by Alex Brown was originally published in Oregon Capital Chronicle.

Oregon lawmakers have passed a pair of bills to enable “microgrids” within the larger power system.

Microgrids are essentially local “islands” of energy generation and storage systems that connect to a utility but can operate independently when needed. Many are designed to serve community facilities such as hospitals and schools during emergencies.

California passed its own microgrid policy in 2018, but Oregon advocates say the new legislation there is the most ambitious in the nation.

If a utility needs to shut off transmission lines during a period of high wildfire danger, a community microgrid could use a combination of local solar and battery storage to keep key facilities online even while cut off from the main grid.

The pair of bills in Oregon passed with large, bipartisan majorities and are awaiting the expected signature of Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek.

One of the bills orders the Oregon Public Utility Commission to create a regulatory framework for private and community-owned microgrids. It also orders regulators to establish rules for buildings to connect to microgrids. Under the measure, local governments can establish “microgrid zones” with unique land-use regulations.

Oregon state Rep. Mark Gamba, a Democrat who serves as vice chair of the House Climate, Energy, and Environment Committee, said the state needs further changes to its land use to speed up permitting for energy projects. The microgrid legislation, he said, “cuts a little bit of red tape.”

“This is not the end-all, be-all on fixing the permitting system by any stretch, but this was what we could get passed this year,” Gamba said in an interview.

The other bill would allow a public utility or a third-party consultant to evaluate requests to connect a microgrid to the public power grid. Backers say it would help ease a regulatory bottleneck slowing clean energy projects, trade publication Utility Dive reported.

Rural communities are especially susceptible to power reliability issues, Dylan Kruse, president of Oregon-based nonprofit Sustainable Northwest, told Utility Dive.

Some utilities opposed the legislation, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported, saying it could be risky to allow third parties to connect to utility infrastructure. They cited their own work to establish microgrids with public partners.

Kruse told OPB that wildfires, heat waves and snowstorms are creating urgency to make the grid more resilient.

“We’re seeing challenges with the grid,” he said. “It’s impacting communities and we’re seeing a lot more of these outages and they are looking for alternatives to say, ‘Look, if the lights are going to go off, we’ve got to have some options here’.”

• Microgrids
• Energy Use
• Emergencies
• power supply
• Energy Grid
• Renewable Energy

The Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District (RPOSD) has launched a record-setting $58 million competitive grant program to invest in parks, trails, and open space across the county. This historic initiative represents the largest grant program in RPOSD’s history and is designed to support projects that are community-driven, climate-smart, and shovel-ready. A minimum of 30% of funds will be allocated to areas identified as High or Very High Park Need, with additional attention to rural and historically underserved communities.

RPOSD Director Norma E. García-González emphasized that the program goes beyond funding—it is a promise to deliver on voter-approved priorities and ensure equitable access to quality park spaces. The investment builds on more than $45 million awarded in the past two years to park-deficient communities, wildfire recovery efforts, and the acquisition of 623 acres of new parkland. This latest round of funding continues the County’s momentum in advancing park equity and climate resilience.

The 2025 Competitive Grant Program includes three categories: $18 million for Planning & Design to prepare projects for future implementation; $24 million for Natural Lands, Local Beaches, and Water Protection to support ecological restoration and water quality; and $16 million for Regional Recreation and Trails to expand connectivity and inclusive access. Through this effort, RPOSD aims to create lasting impacts for communities across Los Angeles County.

• Los Angeles County
• Parks and Recreation
• Parks
• Grants
• Open Space

The state of California awarded $14 million to 10 affordable housing projects in San Diego County through the Regional Early Action Planning (REAP 2.0) program, reports Amber Coakley for Fox 5 San Diego.

The program helps local governments address affordable housing needs and advance the state’s climate goals. “The $14 million will support 966 new affordable units expected to enter the market between December 2026 and June 2030, with over two-thirds of them available by 2027. The homes will serve a wide range of residents, including low to middle income families, veterans, seniors, refugees, immigrants, and single women.”

The projects are a partnership between the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and the San Diego Foundation (SDF), which will oversee the distribution of funds as part of ongoing efforts to generate 1,000 new homes per year.

• Affordable Housing
• Housing Supply
• Housing Crisis
• San Diego Association of Governments

For the first time ever, AI models achieved prestigious gold-level scores at the International Mathematics Olympiad, one of the world’s premiere math competitions. Their success is an undeniable bragging right for the technology’s biggest supporters. But as it stands, Google and OpenAI’s most cutting-edge, experimental AI programs still can’t beat an extremely smart teenager.

It may seem ironic, but complex mathematics is still one of AI’s biggest hurdles. There are many analyses into why this remains such an issue, but generally speaking, it has to do with how the technology works. After receiving a prompt, AI like ChatGPT and Google Gemini break the words and letters down into “tokens,” then parse and predict an appropriate response. To an AI, an answer is just the most likely string of tokens. Humans, however, process them as words, sentences, and complete thoughts.

Given these parameters, AI doesn’t possess the “logic” capabilities required to handle complex mathematical prompts. This is largely because math prompts usually don’t have multiple possible answers—only a single, correct solution. Today, a pocket calculator will invariably give you the objectively true answer to multiplying 4596 by 4859 (22,331,964). Meanwhile, ChatGPT might still offer you an answer of 22,325,364:

Since 1959, the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) has served as one of the world’s premiere events for young—human—math whizzes. Many mathematicians would need longer than their allotted time to answer just one of the IMO’s problems—and most people wouldn’t be able to solve any of them. 

Australia most recently hosted the 66th annual IMO competition in Queensland, where 641 teenagers from 112 countries met on July 15 to tackle six questions in under 4.5 hours. This time, however, they had some additional competition: a pair of experimental AI reasoning models from Google and OpenAI.

The bots fared well. Both companies have since announced that their programs scored high enough on this year’s IMO test to earn gold medals. Each AI managed to solve 5 of the 6 problems within the time limit, earning 35 out of the maximum 42 possible points. This year, only about 10 percent of human entrants received a gold-level score.

It marked a major improvement from Google’s last showing at IMO. In 2024, a version of its DeepMind reasoning AI reached a silver-medal score after solving four of six problems, although it required 2-3 days of computation instead of the 4.5-hour time limit. According to IMO president Gregor Dolinar, one of the most striking points of this year’s results wasn’t just the AI programs’ calculations, but the ways in which they explained their “thought” process to arrive at each answer.

“Their solutions were astonishing in many respects. IMO graders found them to be clear, precise and most of them easy to follow,” Dolinar said via Google’s announcement.

There’s at least one last IMO milestone for both companies: a perfect score. This year, five teens pulled off that accomplishment. And even if Google or OpenAI ties humans at the IMO in the coming years, the victory may still require context. As AFP noted, IMO organizers couldn’t confirm how much computing power was required by either AI model, or if there was any additional human oversight during the calculations.

And while AI’s latest technological leap forward is impressive, it still likely required disconcertingly massive amounts of energy and water. Companies like Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft are all investing heavily in data center projects to support their AI projects—all of which need power sources. In some cases, that may even include expanding the use of fossil fuels. Watchdogs previously estimated that at this rate, the AI industry may consume as much energy as Argentina, if not multiple nations combined. That’s a problem that AI—nor its makers—have yet to solve.

The post Human teens beat AI at an international math competition appeared first on Popular Science.

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Almost two years ago, Albuquerque eliminated fares on its public bus system. In a piece for Next City, Erin Rode outlines some of the impacts the free fare program has had on the city’s residents.

According to Rode, “Nearly 90% of Albuquerque’s bus riders have household incomes of less than $35,000 per year, and a similar percentage don’t have access to a vehicle.” City officials cite this as one reason why making transit affordable and accessible is “the first purpose of public transit.” Free fares allow people, particularly those who are unhoused, to get to medical appointments, access social services, go to work, and see family.“For other Albuquerque residents, free public transit serves as a lifeline, a vital mobility option when money is tight or other transportation falls through.”

Making transit free citywide also reduces the strain on nonprofit social service providers, some of whom spent their own resources providing bus passes for their clients.

Since Albuquerque first piloted free transit in 2022, ridership is up 20 percent. Previously, fare revenue only brought in roughly $3 million per year to an agency with a $67 million budget. Unlike other cities, which have rolled back Covid-era zero-fare programs, Albuquerque appears committed to keeping transit free.

• Albuquerque
• Free Transit
• Fare-Free Transit
• Free Bus
• Public Transit
• Transit Ridership
• Transit Equity
• ABQ Ride

1. Open the Files app on your iPhone.


2. Long press an MP3 or M4A audio file that's less than 30 seconds long.


3. Tap Share in the pop-up menu.


4. Scroll down to the actions menu and choose Use as Ringtone.

The federal government is rescinding $327 million in federal funding for the Mass Pike Allston Multimodal Project in Boston’s Allston neighborhood, reports Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez for WBUR. “The project would replace the current, crumbling series of viaducts with a ground-level highway, build a new ‘West Station’ transit hub, improve accessibility, and free up an isolated rail yard for redevelopment.”

As Perdomo-Hernandez explains, “The claw back is part of President Trump’s tax and spending law, which rescinded unobligated funds awarded under the Biden-era Neighborhood Access and Equity Program.”

The governor and state transportation secretary both expressed the state’s continued commitment to the project, saying they plan to move forward with a new funding plan. According to former state transportation secretary Jim Aloisi, “I think that there are ways in which they can work with the community, work with the city of Boston, the city of Cambridge, work with other stakeholders to significantly reduce costs.”

• Mass Pike
• Multimodal Transportation
• Viaduct
• Public Transit
• Transportation Funding
• highway removal
• Federal Funding
• Trump 2.0

Ample sunshine, ice cream, and afternoons at the beach might leave you wishing that summer would never end. Unfortunately, this year the season is speeding by a smidge faster than normal. Through July and August of 2025, slight fluctuations in Earth’s rotation mean many of the days have been or will be measurably (though not conspicuously) shorter. 

Today, July 22, is projected to be about 1.34 milliseconds under the typical 24-hours (86,400 seconds, where a second is defined by an atomic clock), according to a report from timeanddate.com. It’s the latest in a recent string of slightly abridged days. On July 10, the shortest of 2025 so far, Earth completed its daily spin 1.38 milliseconds faster than usual, per data from the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS). At the beginning of August, multiple days in a row are forecast to all be more than a millisecond less than 24-hours.

Earlier projections predicted some of these days might be quick enough to be a record since atomic timekeeping began in the 1950s. But revised estimates suggest not. The current standing record for shortest day remains July 5, 2024, which was 1.66 milliseconds below 86,400 seconds.

The variation is all part of a trend in recent years where Earth’s rotation is speeding up. And though it may sound alarming, the acceleration it’s nothing to worry about, says Duncan Agnew, a geophysicist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. “It’s not something you’d notice,” he tells Popular Science. 

Our planet’s day length has never been stagnant. Tidal friction from the moon, glacial melt, atmospheric winds and weather, and the motion of the molten core all have some sway on how fast Earth spins on its axis as it makes its annual orbit around the sun. Some of these forces act against each other, and all act on different timescales. 

Over the longest-term, the cumulative effect of the moon pulling on Earth, adding friction to its rotation, is slowing us down. About 70 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous, a dinosaur’s day on Earth would have been about 30-minutes shorter, as revealed by a detailed analysis of fossilized mollusk shells. In millions more years, we’d expect additional minutes tacked onto each spin cycle. Given enough time (about 50 billion years), the moon would eventually drag Earth’s rotation to a crawl, matching the speed of its own orbit around Earth through tidal locking. At this point, a day on Earth would last about a month–equal to one lunar cycle. Though we’ll likely never reach this point, as our sun is projected to expand into a red giant about 5 billion years from now, fully engulfing both Earth and the moon long before we’re set to stop spinning.

Then, there’s the movement of Earth’s core, which is countering that longest-term trend on the scale of decades. Our planet’s molten core also rotates (though more turbulently than the planet’s surface). This core movement is why and how Earth has a magnetic field: spinning iron soup generates electrical currents that add up to an electromagnetic effect. But in recent years, the core has slowed. Scientists aren’t exactly certain why, Agnew notes. Despite the fact that each U.S. coast is closer to the center of the Earth than it is to the other, “we really don’t understand very much about the core.” he says. Predicting its movement “is like trying to predict the weather without actually being able to see anything.” 

What is certain though is that Earth’s surface, core, and atmosphere comprise a closed physical system. The law of conservation of angular momentum means that a spinning system must maintain its total rotational momentum, unless acted on by outside torque, explains Agnew. As the core movement slows, that lost speed must be picked up by another part of the system. So, counterintuitively, the surface starts to rotate faster. (It’s difficult to imagine in the abstract, but easy enough to demonstrate.) This core pattern explains the bulk of why days have been trending shorter for the last 50 years. 

Similarly, the motion of our atmosphere also dictates surface movement. Atmospheric currents like the jetstream vary seasonally. In the summer, these perpetual winds weaken and slow. Again, thanks to angular momentum conservation, that motion is transferred to the surface instead, causing Earth to speed up. This is why, year-to-year, there are clear and predictable seasonal peaks and valleys in Earth’s length of day. Smaller fluctuations in weather and global wind speeds have an additional influence, Clark Wilson, a geophysicist and geodesist at the University of Texas Austin, tells Popular Science. As climate change alters weather patterns and redistributes water across the globe, it, too, is affecting the planet’s spin. Earth’s surface rotates slightly slower than it would otherwise because of ice cap melt, though the effect isn’t enough to overcome the impact of the core. 

Finally, the moon becomes important again periodically, as its relative position to Earth in its elliptical orbit shifts how much friction it exerts. Twice a month, the moon is overhead directly at the equator, and twice a month it reaches a maximum north or south of the equator. At these maximum, off-center points, its pull is lessened, and Earth speeds up a little bit, says Agnew. 

Though milliseconds of delay can add up to leap seconds over time, they don’t generally disrupt life on Earth. The reason multiple international bodies monitor and measure Earth’s tilt and rotation so closely is because the numbers do matter for precise Global Positioning Systems (GPS), like the type militaries rely on. 

“The modern day interest in these variations is really for navigation purposes,” Wilson says. GPS depends on satellites orbiting Earth. When our planet changes speed (or the axis tilt varies), the relationship between those satellites and ourselves changes too. In order to triangulate near-exact locations on Earth, scientists need to know where the planet is in relation to GPS satellites. A one millisecond error in spin speed would translate to about 1.5 feet discrepancy in location, Wilson notes. 

To make such precise speed predictions, down to the hundredth of a millisecond, the IERS and other bodies depend on predictable effects like the moon position, tides, and seasonal atmospheric shifts, Agnew explains. They also incorporate global weather data, notes Wilson. Then, when it comes to actually measuring spin speed, an array of radio telescopes assesses our planet’s movement in relation to a very distant, functionally static celestial reference frame. 

Predictions can be slightly off, so we won’t know exactly how fast today went until it’s over. But it’s a good bet that shorter days are yet to come. All the more reason to make the most of the summertime you’ve got left. 

The post This summer is filled with scientifically short days appeared first on Popular Science.

You probably have friends and family who rave about Costco gas prices or the giant tubs of snacks and baked goods they find within aisles, so why haven’t you joined yet? If it’s because of the membership cost, this promotion gives you an excuse to sign up now.

For a limited time, Costsco Gold Star Memberships ($65/year) come with a $20 Digital Costco Shop Card* when you sign up online through us. To claim this bonus, simply follow a few simple steps—and we actually think it might be easier than having to wait in line at your local warehouse.

You’ll get all of these instructions via email after purchase, but if you’re still thinking this promotion sounds too good to be true, we’ll lay it out here to set your mind at ease. This is all you have to do:

1. Buy your Costco membership online through our shop. This is technically a voucher (you’ll see!).
2. Open your email to find instructions to activate this voucher through Costco’s website. Boom—you’re a member!
3. Pick up your Gold Star Membership card at your local Costco. Make sure to bring your ID.

Did you know that with your single membership purchase, you and another adult in your household can get Gold Star Membership cards at Costco? Yup—there’s a main card, plus a separate Household Card.

Also, savings at Costco stretch beyond groceries and household items. Use your Gold Star Membership at Costco Optical for eyeglasses and contact lenses, Costco Pharmacy for medications, and Costco Tire Center for your vehicle.

Don’t miss this promotion: Sign up for Gold Star Membership ($65/year) and receive a $20 Digital Costco Shop Card*.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

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Costco 1-Year Gold Star Membership + $20 Digital Costco Shop Card

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*To receive a Digital Costco Shop Card, you must provide a valid email address and set up auto-renewal of your Costco membership on a Visa® card at the time of sign-up. If you elect not to enroll in auto-renewal at the time of sign-up, incentives will not be emailed.

Valid only for new members and those whose memberships (Primary and Household) have expired at least 18 months or more. Valid only for nonmembers for their first year of membership. Not valid for renewal or upgrade of an existing membership. Promotion may not be combined with any other promotion. Digital Costco Shop Card will be emailed to the email address provided by the Primary Member at time of sign-up within 2 weeks to qualifying members. Digital Costco Shop Card is not redeemable for cash, except as required by law. Costco is not liable for incentives not received due to entry of an invalid address during sign-up. Digital Costco Shop Cards are not accepted at U.S. or Canada Food Court. Neither Costco Wholesale Corporation nor its affiliates are responsible for use of the card without your permission.Use the provided single-use promo code when entering your payment information. A Costco Gold Star Membership is $65 a year. An Executive Membership is an additional $65 upgrade fee a year. Each membership includes one free Household Card. May be subject to sales tax. Costco accepts all Visa cards, as well as cash, checks, debit/ATM cards, EBT and Costco Shop Cards. Departments and product selection may vary. (Note: You will see a $0.01 deduction on your membership cost after the promo code is entered. This indicates that your promo code has been successfully applied).

The post Get a $20 Digital Costco Shop Card* with Gold Star Membership appeared first on Popular Science.

This refurbished MacBook Pro is at an all-time low price until they’re sold out! Now $324.97 (reg. $1,499).

• Pro-level performance for less: Tackle multitasking, creative projects, or schoolwork with a 3.1GHz Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz), 8GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD.
• Enhanced functionality: Enjoy a MacBook with a Touch Bar for quick-access controls and Touch ID to keep your logins and payments secure.
• Brilliant Retina display: Enjoy vibrant, true-to-life visuals on the 13.3-inch Retina display with 2560×1600 resolution and 500 nits of brightness.
• Like-new condition: This grade “A” refurbished model comes in near-mint shape and includes a 30-day parts and labor warranty for peace of mind.
• Portable and powerful: Weighing three pounds with a sleek aluminum Space Gray finish, it’s perfect for professionals, students, or anyone on the go.

Don’t miss this MacBook Pro deal! We have fewer than 50 left in stock at $324.97 (reg. $1,499).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

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Apple MacBook Pro 13″ Touchbar (2017) 3.1GHz i5 8GB RAM 512GB SSD Space Gray (Refurbished)

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The post The best MacBook Pro deal we’ve seen in a while is happening right now appeared first on Popular Science.