Why airplane toilets are tiny engineering marvels
There’s nothing quite like the sound of an airplane toilet flushing. But that incredibly loud sucking sound is actually something of an engineering marvel. These toilets flush, with no water,…
Three’s a party: US, China, and now Russia are on the prowl in GEO
The world’s leading space powers desperately want to know what the others are up to high above the equator. For more than a decade, the US military has operated a…
Send the arXiv AI-generated slop, get a yearlong vacation from submissions
AI-generated slop has shown up everywhere, including in the peer-reviewed literature. Fake citations, unedited prompt responses, and nonsensical diagrams have all slipped past editors and peer reviewers, and it’s not…
1.3 million people share DNA with Maryland’s earliest colonists
In 1634, English settlers established St. Mary’s City as the first permanent outpost in the colony of Maryland. Many of these early residents were ultimately buried in the town’s Chapel…
Picturing Earth in a New Light
Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Picturing Earth in a New Light Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer Topics All Topics Atmosphere Land Heat & Radiation Life on…
Men use “vocal fry” more than women, counter to stereotype
Vocal fry, aka “creaky voice,” is a distinctive drop in pitch, usually at the end of sentences, associated with the speech patterns of young women in particular. Britney Spears is…
Intrepid man tests giant flaming darts used on 16th century warship
The Mary Rose is a remarkable remnant of maritime history. One of England’s largest Tudor Era vessels, the four-masted carrack sailed with a crew of around 450 sailors during the…
Zero-day exploit completely defeats default Windows 11 BitLocker protections
A zero-day exploit circulating online allows people with physical access to a Windows 11 system to bypass default BitLocker protections and gain complete access to an encrypted drive within seconds.…
Cisco announces record revenue and 4,000 layoffs in the same day
Following a quarter in which his company delivered record revenue, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins announced that the company’s latest round of layoffs begins today. In a blog post yesterday, Robbins…
Protein in Homo erectus teeth suggests Denisovans gave us some of their DNA
Humanity’s ancestry has grown far clearer thanks to our ability to obtain ancient DNA. We now know that, as humans left Africa, they interbred with the groups they met there,…