It’s strange to think that they didn’t just arise one holiday by accident and get passed down through generations. But the green bean casserole did not just evolve. So how did green beans, crispy friend onions, and condensed cream of mushroom soup meet after all? Well, it all started in 1955, at the Campbell’s Kitchen (where else?), for an Associated Press feature. The mastermind behind the recipe is a woman named Dorcas Reilly....

The Twitter feed has only been in existence for a day, but already has over 3,000 followers. The content of the feed is focused on climate, a topic that many people including the President find difficult to focus on for very long. It presents topics like the administration’s Clean Power Plan with easily sharable quotes and images designed to make the public take notice. The Twitter feed also seems to be a place for the administration to publicly confront comments or doubts about its climate change policy efforts; That last tweet is in reference to the Climate Pledge announced this week, in which 81 large American companies from Apple to Xerox have vowed to green up their act over the next few years....

The best: Adaptive Sound Technologies LectroFan High Fidelity White Noise Sound Machine This noise machine has white noise, pink noise, and brown noise capabilities. While it does not imitate the sound of a forest or stream, the variations of ambient noise create a similar effect. It has 20 different sound settings as well a 60-minute sleep timer should you drift off. Runner-up: Yogasleep Dohm Classic (Black) The Original White Noise Machine The Yogasleep Dohm Classic white noise machines contain fans that create a constant ambient sound to level out what is going on around you....

The plug-and-chug vehicles come in both sedan and light truck models, and can charge their batteries at any three-pronged household outlet. Estimates put the savings over a six-year service lifetime at 11 million gallons of fuel, not to mention 115,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. “We estimate the cost of charging an electric vehicle in a given year at $400, which is a substantial savings from the fuel that would be purchased for a petroleum vehicle,” said Paul Bollinger, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Energy & Partnerships, during a Department of Defense bloggers roundtable on Monday....

The number of fireworks being lit off at night is out of control this year. While people often light off fireworks close to the Fourth of July, this year fireworks have been lit in large numbers starting weeks earlier. New York City had a 4,000 percent increase in fireworks complaints in the first two weeks of June compared with last year. This prompted Mayor Bill de Blasio to vow a crackdown on illegal fireworks....

To address this, the country has set goals to hit peak emissions by 2030 and become completely carbon-neutral by 2060. China is installing new renewable energy rapidly, expecting to hit about a third of its total grid energy use from renewables by 2025. Despite these goals, the country continues to build 33 gigawatts of new coal plants—three times more capacity under construction than the rest of the world. Coal has long been a vital energy resource for China, and it is the largest consumer, producer, and importer of coal worldwide....

Although artificial gills never made it out to sea, Cousteau’s dream of living underwater is not dead. Recently, at a summit in New York City, Fabien Cousteau (grandson of Jacques) announced his intentions to build a city under the sea. “I’m here to help pioneer the next underwater cities, which will be completely self-sustaining, to tend a network of information and data gathering.” In the 1960s, scientists built loads of underwater research labs....

In 1800, scientists the world over were fascinated by electricity. Practical applications, however, were elusive, mainly because no one could figure out how to generate continuous current. At the time, physicist Alessandro Volta stood athwart Luigi Galvani, a physician-scientist who studied frogs—specifically, dissected legs still attached to their spinal cords and mounted on brass or iron hooks. Galvani noticed that when he touched a probe made of a different metal to the legs, they twitched....

With constant news reports about the threat climate change poses to a livable future, you might be wondering what you can do to join the fight against climate change. Using less energy or buying an electric car are options we’re all familiar with to reduce your impact on the planet, but one idea you might not have considered could have a much larger effect: Getting your community on a microgrid....

The key is to know the ball’s precise location, and the relative speed of the ball and the wheel, at the instant the croupier starts the game. If you know where the ball starts and how fast it and the wheel are rotating, you can make a much more educated guess about where it might land. Book your next trip to Vegas and read all about it in the AIP journal Chaos....

Google made the beta version of Chrome available for download this morning, after previously releasing this [somewhat broken] online comic to explain what makes it different from all other browsers. Chrome features a very stripped down interface with no top bar for the “File,” “Edit” etc. menus. The program looks sleek, but flatter than the famed Mac aesthetic. Under the hood, Chrome takes a page from operating systems by compartmentalizing the activities going on in different browsing tabs....

To understand why this might be, we first need to know a bit more about kitty’s ancestry. It’s likely that the domestic cat’s ancestors (the African wildcat) were regarded as mere pest control, but modern day cats are often treated as our valued companions or even “fur babies.” This social shift in the human-cat relationship is thought to have occurred around 4,000 years ago—a little later than “man’s best friend”—the domestic dog....

Just being outside near traffic can prove dangerous, contributing to their developing chronic asthma. An attack can leave a child literally gasping for air. And many children don’t outgrow it. “Since there is still no cure, once a child develops asthma it will be a lifelong affliction,” said Pattanun Achakulwisut, a researcher at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Asthma is the most common chronic illness among children globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and occurs when inflammation causes the airways to narrow, prompting breathlessness and wheezing....

The study of 16 cats (nine male and seven female) adds to the evidence that some cats can actually form strong bonds with their owners. Charlotte de Mouzon and colleagues from Université Paris Nanterre in France investigated how the cats reacted to pre-recorded voices, that included both their owner and a stranger. The speakers in the recordings used phrases in both a in hither pitched cat-directed tone and a deeper human adult-directed tone....

Microwave ovens are so commonplace that it’s hard to imagine you’re missing out on tremendous cooking potential every time you pop in some leftovers, set it, and forget it. But you are. They don’t do anything that, say, a conventional oven or a stovetop can’t do, though they can do it faster, more efficiently, and with way less hassle. But first, how do microwave ovens work I’ll make this quick, I promise....

P30 Pro by Huawei Smartphone cameras aren’t very good at zooming. They typically switch to a whole different camera module with a longer lens (and smaller sensor) or they use digital “zoom,” which typically offers even worse image quality than simply cropping after the fact. The P30 Pro, however, has a 10x optical zoom lens built in. No, the phone isn’t massively thick. Instead, the company mounted the zoom lens vertically inside the smartphone and employs a mirror to redirect its viewing angle like you’d expect from a periscope....

Best 4th of July outdoor entertaining sale: WalmartBest 4th of July furniture and decor sale: WalmartBest 4th of July electronics sale: SamsungBest 4th of July clothing sale: J. CrewBest 4th of July appliances sale: Samsung What to look for when shopping the best 4th of July sales When big seasonal and holiday sales hit, it’s easy to get swept up by all of the greatly discounted prices. Typically, big-ticket items will be marked down the most, so they’re a great place to start....

1. See notifications at a glance If you’re using an iPhone 6s or later, you can take advantage of the Raise to Wake feature. Once you enable it, simply lift your handset to view notifications. Although the lock screen will light up and display new alerts, the phone will remain locked and secure. To set it up, open Settings, tap Display & Brightness, and activate the Raise to Wake option....

Click to launch the photo gallery_ For most people, animals and plants, a warming planet is generally a bad thing, bringing dramatic climate shifts and changes in ecosystems. But not everyone will suffer. A few species stand to gain a lot, actually. Like, for example, those poor killer whales trapped in Canada. Caught by surprise as the mercury fell, a pod of about 12 orcas spent two days bobbing up and down in a truck-sized breathing hole through thick sea ice, with no way out....

There’s actually so much to explore on an Apple Watch that you might not have gotten around to finding out about everything that it can do. And it would be a shame if you were only using a fraction of the features that the gadget offers. 1. Translate between languages Your Apple Watch is multilingual, and can help you figure out the foreign phrase you need. It comes handy when you’re traveling or trying to communicate whenever you can’t use English....