So in 2017, when Nicholson was examining seismic scans of the region taken by oil and gas exploration vessels, an unexpected feature jumped out: a 5-mile-wide dimple buried deep in the cake. A closer analysis of the site, led by Nicholson and published today in the journal Science Advances, argues that it’s the crater from a meteor as wide as the Eiffel Tower is tall. If it’s confirmed as a crater, it would have crashed into Earth within a million years of the Chicxulub meteor that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs....

Wildlife populations are often pushed out of their natural habitats and into more contact with people, especially in dire situations caused by the climate crisis. Both groups are pushed to fight for resources and that often leads to attacks on people from animals, or people attacking the animal populations in hopes of protecting their homes, livestock, and crops. Briana Abrahms, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Washington wrote a recent editorial for Science outlining specific challenges that both human and animal populations have experienced as territories start to cross over with the slow—and rapid—impacts of climate change....

The shape of the war is reflected in the other weapons included in the package. The US is sending up to 245,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition and up to 65,000 rounds of 120mm mortar ammunition, weapons that emphasize how much of the present conflict is an artillery fight. The 155mm artillery rounds, fired by US- and NATO-supplied howitzers, can duel with Russian artillery, while the mortar rounds let soldiers on foot attack enemy defenses from behind hills or otherwise out of sight....

The raptor, which the researchers have named Dineobellator notohesperus, lived in northwestern New Mexico at the end of the Cretaceous Period. When paleontologists examined a partial skeleton of Dineobellator, they found features in its forelimbs, claws, and tail indicating that the dinosaur was both strong and nimble. The fossils are among the youngest known for any member of the raptor, or dromaeosaurid, family, and indicate that this group was splitting into new species right up until the end of the dinosaurs’ reign, says Steven Jasinski, a paleontologist at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg....

Janet Voight, associate curator of zoology at the Field Museum in Chicago and one of the lead researchers on the study, saw the first specimen of these octopuses back in 1994. But when she actually got to see their natural habitat from inside the Human Occupied Vehicle the ALVIN, she was confused by how different, yet alike, the specimens were. At first, she wondered if there were two separate groups instead of a scale of variation, so she started mapping out the number of warts versus the depth of collection “I was surprised to find out that the variation was related to depth,” Voight wrote in an email to Popular Science....

Which of the two red circles is bigger? The one on the right, right? In reality, the pair are identical. Brain researchers hypothesize that this ­effect, known as the Ebbinghaus illusion, plays its trick based on how our brains ­interpret depth. From a lifetime of looking at things, we remember that smaller items tend to be farther away, while larger ones are closer. In this image, the brain reads the left ring of large, black circles as nearby and the right, smaller set as distant....

That’s why tests that can offer quick answers are tempting. However, only a handful of devices and other tools are actually approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to assess head injuries. This week, the agency warned consumers against using phone or tablet applications that claim to identify suspected concussions. “Products being marketed for the assessment, diagnosis, or management of a head injury, including concussion, that have not been approved or cleared by the FDA are in violation of the law,” said Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, in a statement....

That was the observation of the founders of Damon Motorcycles, a startup out of Vancouver, Canada. They’ve resolved to address the shortcomings of current two-wheelers with the battery-electric Damon Hypersport, scheduled for delivery to riders in 2021. It is a no-excuses superbike that happens to be powered by a 200-horsepower electric motor and that boasts an array of rider-assistance sensors worthy of an F-35 fighter jet. “Why are cars the only vehicles afforded safety?...

Drones are a cheaper delivery method than the manual throw-moths-out-of-a-small airplane method that has been used in the past, so if the tests continue to go well, you might be seeing more moths flying out of drones in the future. But why bomb cotton fields with moths? Pink bollworms are a notorious cotton pest. Once they start eating their way through the seeds and fibers, they reduce the quality of the cotton dramatically....

For your peace of mind in your home-away-from-home, it’s worth bringing a tool that’s capable of detecting hidden cameras. Just in time for vacation season, the 2-pack of the Scout Hidden Camera Detector is on sale for $99.99, thanks to our exclusive Deals Day event. In a survey of 2,000 Airbnb guests, 58 percent said they were worried about hidden cameras in their rental. You can escape from being part of that demographic with Scout, as it’s specifically designed to find all hidden cameras....

It’s worth noting that iPhones technically have two low-power modes. There’s the hardware one in question now, and the iOS software low-power mode which optionally kicks in when your battery life drops below 20 percent to keep your phone running for a little longer. Since iOS 15, the iPhone XR, XS, 11, 12, 13, and most recent SE models have supported this special hardware low-power mode. It only works with the Near-Field Communication (NFC), ultra wideband, and Bluetooth chips, which is why it only supports such a limited set of features....

This already makes things like drawing and entering numbers look a dozen times easier than trying to get the corner of your fingertip to hit just the right way on a square-inch space on the actual device. Of course, hopefully, the next advance will be figuring out a way to ditch the sensor-tripping ring–or at least get more stylish companies to partner with it. [H/T The Verge]

Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adults over the age of 18 must engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of high-intensity workouts each week. If you’re not reaching these numbers, then it’s time to do something about it. You can start by investing in equipment that doesn’t require you to get up from your desk and move. The FlexStride Pedal Exerciser fits the bill, as it’s a mini elliptical machine that you can easily use while you’re sending emails....

It was unusual, then, when researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia approached typography professor Stephen Banham about crafting a font that was harder to read. “[It] was unlike any other typeface I have designed,” he wrote in an email. He broke each letter; the S looks like someone dragged an eraser down its midline, the G like a roughed-up zebra, the W like a broken dinner plate. And he tilted each letter—and with it, therefore each word or line or paragraph—on an axis, setting the misfit runes deliberately askew....

Many US states have seen a recent spike in COVID-19 infections, which makes a crowded Fourth of July fireworks show an inherently risky place to be—even if you’re not concerned about long-term hearing damage. Without a vaccine, social distancing is still the best way to fight the pandemic. But if a fireworks-free holiday feels untenable, you have options. Cities like New York and New Orleans are spreading their entertainment out over multiple locations so viewers can stay isolated....

Here are a few tips to help you sound better on video conference calls while avoiding familiar problems like feedback, echos, and the dreaded robot voice. Consider an external microphone Laptop microphones have come a long way in recent years—the mic on the most recent MacBook Pro is surprisingly good. But, even a relatively cheap dedicated microphone will provide a serious jump in fidelity. If you buy something high-quality enough, it can come in handy down the road if you ever want to take the next step to live streaming or podcast recording....

This June 1956 Popular Science article admitted that even the researchers behind the scheme thought it was somewhat brazen. But, as one unnamed specialist said, “Hurricane control is such an important subject that we cannot afford to overlook any possibilities.” During the 1960s, the U.S. government explored releasing both dry ice and silver iodide into storm clouds, but the experiments were inconclusive. In 1983, Project Stormfury was shut down. Read on for more from “Can We Steer Away Hurricanes?...

Yet one thing the Mission Act doesn’t tackle head-on is mental healthcare, which the VA says is more in demand than ever. Between 2005 and 2017, the U.S. saw a six-percent jump in suicides in the military population, from 5,878 to 6,139. Veterans now account for nearly 14 percent of the national suicide rate, with an average of 16.8 deaths a day. The statistics are even more dire for women and LGBTQ individuals who’ve enlisted....

In the early 1930s, physicist Karl Jansky published stunning results of a study in which he detected radio waves emanating from the center of the Milky Way. Jansky’s work confirmed a suspicion long held by astrophysicists that the universe could be observed by measuring electromagnetic frequencies outside of the range of visible light. By eliminating limitations of traditional telescopes — like the difficulty of grinding perfect glass lenses, and avoiding peering through our dusty, murky atmosphere — radio telescopes promised astronomers deeper views into space than seen before....

But space is hard, and it’s not always glamorous getting there. Sometimes NASA blows us away in more mundane ways—like by shooting about 450,000 gallons of water 100 feet into the air. It’s no surprise that the latest test of NASA’s Ignition Overpressure Protection and Sound Suppression (IOP/SS) water deluge system is making a splash all over the Internet. Just check out the footage for yourself: The testing is part of the preparation for NASA’s new Space Launch System, a rocket intended to take humans beyond Earth’s orbit—around the moon and perhaps even to Mars....