Switching water sources improved hygiene of Pompeii’s public baths
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE released thermal energy roughly equivalent to 100,000 times the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War…
Tech
NASA launches new mission to get the most out of the James Webb Space Telescope
Among other things, the James Webb Space Telescope is designed to get us closer to finding habitable worlds around faraway stars. From its perch a million miles from Earth, Webb’s…
Dead star emits perplexing shock wave for 1,000 years
A star spends its entire life influencing the cosmos across billions of miles in all directions. In certain circumstances, the surrounding gas and dust plumes will even interact to generate…
NASA Bolsters Golden Age of Exploration with Technology Priorities
3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA As NASA prepares for long-duration missions to the Moon that will pave the way for human exploration on…
How pilots avoid thunderstorms—and what happens when they can’t
In the 2023 movie Plane starring Gerard Butler, a commercial aircraft is caught in a terrible storm. Dark purple thunderclouds suffocate the sky. The plane shakes and the lights go…
Trump’s fundraisers asked Microsoft for its White House ballroom donation
The Trump administration approached Microsoft for its donation to fund the White House’s $300 million ballroom, documents released by Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) office reveal. In response to a Democrat-led…
You need to listen to Billy Woods’ horrorcore masterpiece for the A24 crowd
Billy Woods has one of the highest batting averages in the game. Between his solo records like Hiding Places and Maps, and his collaborative albums with Elucid as Armand Hammer,…
That time Will Smith helped discover new species of anaconda
In 2024, scientists announced the discovery of a new species of giant anaconda in South America. A National Geographic camera crew was on hand for the 2022 expedition that documented…
Google pulls AI overviews for some medical searches
Earlier this month, The Guardian published an investigation that showed Google was serving up misleading and outright false information via its AI overviews in response to certain medical inquiries. Now…
Here are over 20 gadgets that’ll help you achieve your New Year’s resolutions
It happens every year: we set ambitious New Year’s resolutions – work out more, spend less, keep the house cleaner – full of optimism and motivation. Then life happens, and…