New research shows making direct eye contact with seagulls can deter them from snatching up your food.Even though it may not seem like it, herring gull populations are facing a general decline. Pesky seagulls are notorious for swiping food straight out of the hands and mouths of unsuspecting humans, but if you’ve ever lost a fry in a sneak gull attack, science has an easy solution: just make eye contact. That’s right....
The pops and hisses of a vinyl record hint at the device’s magical and mysterious inner workings. But Ben Krasnow wanted to know a little bit more. Specifically, he wanted to photograph a needle moving in the groove of a vinyl record using an electron microscope. As he puts it in the video below, he wanted to see the “animation of the needle flowing in the LP groove.“The resulting images are a stunning demonstration of microscopic power—and Krasnow’s devotion....
Earth may be special because of its water, but not in the way you may think. A new study published in The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society suggests that we may actually have less of it than average.Astronomer Fergus Simpson of the University of Barcelona ran a series of computer simulations to determine what planets orbiting in their star’s habitable zones would look like. Habitable zone planets like Earth are the perfect distance from their host stars for liquid water to form on the surface and are prime candidates in the search for extraterrestrial life....
Media Platforms Design TeamJust a few months ago, the plot of Salt, out July 23, might have seemed like something out of the Cold War: Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie), a decorated CIA agent, is accused of being a Russian spy and must go on the run to prove her innocence. But thanks to the , the film seems as though it was ripped straight from the headlines—and serves as an important reminder that terrorists aren’t the only threat to U....
Media Platforms Design TeamCredit: NASAThe first space shuttle just became the first space shuttle to be in New York City. Mated on top of NASA’s modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), the 75-ton Enterprise prototype space shuttle came north from Washington, D.C., this morning. It flew up and down the Hudson River this morning, not far from PopMech’s office in the Hearst Tower. After a series of flyovers above the Statue of Liberty, Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, the George Washington Bridge, and other NYC locales, the 747 landed at JFK airport where it was greeted with a star-packed ceremony that included NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, New York Sen....
Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking had his ashes interred at Westminster Abbey in London last week, and he also received a send-off to space: the European Space Agency beamed music that included snippets of his synthesized voice towards the closest known black-hole. A fitting tribute to Hawking, who was renowned for his work on black holes: in 1974, he demonstrated that, contrary to popular belief, black holes do emit radiation (a phenomena that became known as “Hawking radiation)....
During the Cold War, the subway stations of Beijing doubled as fallout shelters to protect the city’s population from nuclear attack. Many of the stations featured heavy, blast-resistant doors designed to keep people in the underground safe. The doors were cleverly blended into the station walls, allowing capital city residents to go about their business largely unaware of government preparations for nuclear war.An article on China’s Tencent microblogging service describes, with photos, the carefully hidden blast doors....
When Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Americas, they brought many things that changed the lives of the people that lived there: guns, Christianity, colonialism. But perhaps the thing that had the biggest impact was brought completely by accident: disease. Soon after the Europeans arrived, disease outbreaks killed millions of people across both continents.One of those outbreaks occurred in Mexico soon after the arrival of Hernán Cortés and his soldiers. In 1545 and again in 1756 a plague swept through Mexico, killing millions of people....
When I was casting around for furniture to take to college, I found a red Army footlocker I’d never seen before. It probably came from the garage. My mom, who once bought a truck just to bring home tables and chests of drawers left on the side of the road, helped me paint and stencil it so it would match my dorm-room decor. In the fifteen years since, the footlocker followed me to nine apartments in three cities—filled with Halloween costumes, old photo albums, Christmas ornaments....
It’s tempting to think of “strength” as a simple variable and that various materials all fall somewhere on a spectrum of strong to weak. The reality, of course, is much more complex. Different materials are strong in specific situations, but weak in others. For a really robust material, you have to start mixing and matching. Reinforced concrete is a perfect example. Concrete is great at putting up with stress in the form of compression....
X-ION-T, by Chris ArmstrongPro: Light and maneuverable, with a big glass canopy and no propellor in front to spoil the view.Con: Optimized for low-speed flight, this plane would try the patience of anyone needing to get quickly from point A to point B.Bottom line: A great platform for low-altitude sightseeingAADX450TJ, by Jason ChandlerPro: Aerodynamically slippery and smooth-handling.Con: A short tail leaves something to be desired in the yaw-control department.Bottom Line: Fairly conventional in its basic design, this jet would be well suited either for private point-to-point transportation or as a regional air taxi....
Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s been a bad week in a troubled year for NASA’s public image, with the revelation that on at least two occasions, inebriated astronauts were allowed to fly, despite warnings by flight surgeons on the ground. On multiple other occasions, astronauts broke NASA guidelines by drinking within a few hours of a flight, though they apparently seemed sober by the time they climbed into the cockpit. The news is contained in a pair of NASA reports released today, commissioned by agency head Michael Griffin after astronaut Lisa Nowak allegedly stalked and tried to kidnap a romantic rival in February....
After six months, the wrecked Golden Ray is finally being enclosed and then sliced up for removal.This shipwreck is unusual compared to others because it’s a gigantic ship in extremely shallow waters.Crews have removed all remaining oil and the ship’s heavy rudder to reduce structural stress.Experts and salvagers are making a plan to slice up a 656-foot cargo ship that crashed in an inland waterway in Georgia. The ship was carrying over 4,000 brand new cars, and authorities haven’t yet disclosed the cause of the crash in September 2019....
The Amphicar was a good idea that maybe never had a chance. Built for a few years in the 1960s, they were amphibious German droptops that could do 70 mph on land and seven knots in the water. Only a few thousand were built, and the ones that remain are mostly in private collections. I’ve seen an Amphicar here and there as a novelty at an auction or car show, but I’ve never seen one in action, splashing into a lake....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe GMC Granite concept is yet another compact crossover SUV aimed at young urban professionals. But a closer look at the Granite sparks our interest a bit more, especially since it may show the direction of future product at GM. Compared to the vehicle in GMC’s lineup that it most closely resembles–and the demographic and psychographic of the segment overall–the GMC Terrain crossover, the Granite is a full 2 feet shorter overall....
That phone in your pocket is a modern miracle. Ditto the laptop on your desk, the tablet in your backpack, maybe even the watch on your wrist. And regardless of what each is capable of, they all have one cornerstone component to thank, one that you probably ought to know how to take care of: A battery.The first step to knowing your device’s battery is to narrow down the kind. The first kind you might think of (and the kind you probably grew up with) are nickel-metal hydride, or NiMH batteries....
SpecsPrice: $13,000Engine: 1200-cc V-TwinTransmission: Six-speedHorsepower: 120Weight: Around 490 lbs., dryThe motorcycle industry is looking for new riders. Ducati released its affordable Scrambler in 2014, hoping to lure riders who’d never owned a bike. Last summer, Harley-Davidson announced an unexpected lineup that included an electric and off-road adventure model. As for Indian, the brand has spent the last several year putting its marketing money into reviving flat-track racing, a style of riding going back to the 1910’s....
The properties of magnetism have puzzled and intrigued humanity for as long as its existence, but its origins are often associated with ancient Greece. Magnetism’s earliest chronicler in Greece, the sixth-century philosopher Thales of Miletus, saw the phenomenon as evidence of a soul. But a new study says it wasn’t just Greeks who recognized the concept. “Indirect evidence suggests that an understanding of magnetism existed in Mesoamerica, possibly pre-dating the ancient Greek descriptions,” reads the paper’s introduction....
NASA’s Martian rover Curiosity has discovered that the Red Planet has been producing significantly more methane than previously known. The finding has significant implications for the study of Mars, most notably the possibility that the planet is currently harboring life.“Given this surprising result, we’ve reorganized the weekend to run a follow-up experiment,” Ashwin R. Vasavada, the project scientist for the mission, wrote to the science team in an email obtained by The New York Times, which reported the finding on June 22....
To test out the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) new national emergency protocol, President Trump will send a text message to everyone in the country at 2:18 pm EST today. The first ever “Presidential Alert” alert is similar to the Amber Alert and flood warnings you might receive in the wake of extreme weather events and the like, with one minor exception: It’s the first ever to come with a “Presidential Alert” moniker....
