When Apple introduced the iPhone 12 Pro Max, however, camera nerds like myself took notice. The company promised to grow the main imaging sensor by 47 percent while keeping the same resolution. That means bigger pixels, which typically translates into less ugly digital noise in low-light situations and, generally, less reliance on features like Night Mode. The Pro Max also promises a new lens with a wider f/1.6 aperture to let in more light and an image stabilization system that moves the sensor instead of glass lens elements to combat blurry photos stemming from shaky hands....

“Most of the time these claims are exaggerated,” says Jonathan Koomey, a researcher focused on the intersection of climate and technology, who wrote a recent commentary in Cell about the common mistakes in these reports. ”There are some [researchers] who are engaging in good faith who make some common mistakes, and then there are serial dis-informers who keep saying the same wrong thing.” For folks who are spending a lot more time in front of a screen and feel guilty about it, climate-wise, all of this information can feel contradictory and confusing....

The program is designed to give low-income households monthly discounts toward their internet service, and while the list of providers included in this program varies from state to state, for many areas it includes top ISPs like Verizon, Xfinity, and AT&T. And according to new statistics announced by the White House on Monday, “more than 10 million households” have now enrolled in the program to date. For a program that’s had less than two months of operation, these numbers may seem on their face to be phenomenal—and they are, in part....

Legislation and restrictions have reduced ozone-depleting chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere, and the ozone layer is starting to slowly repair its holes. But those chemicals still concentrate around the poles during spring and summer (it’s currently summer in Antarctica), eating a seasonal hole in the ozone layer every year. As of October, the ozone hole over Antarctica was roughly 10 million square miles in size, slightly smaller than it was nine years ago when it was 10....

Free tests can still be obtained at several federally-funded community sites (libraries, museums, pharmacies, etc.), community health clinics, and both public and private health insurance plans will reimburse the cost. A senior Biden administration official spoke with USA Today on condition of anonymity, as this update has not been publicly announced. The official said that the administration would work “within its limited existing resources” to secure as many additional tests as possible....

The two bicycle-shop owning siblings achieved a total of four flights in their glider aircraft, the Flyer, and that against 21-mile-per-hour winds, according to a telegram the brothers sent, that was quoted again today by the Federal Aviation Administration. The actual first flight took place at 10:35 a.m. local time and lasted just 12 seconds and traveled 120 feet, according to the Library of Congress. The longest of these flights lasted 57 seconds, according to the Wrights’ telegram....

The animal kingdom is a pretty weird place, and science writer Matt Simon has made it his job to enlighten you about some of the craziest solutions evolution has come up with to solve life’s challenges. Simon writes the Absurd Creature Of The Week column at Wired, and he’s just finished writing a book compiling all of the grossest, funniest, and most fascinating critters out there. In this excerpt from The Wasp that Brainwashed the Caterpillar, which goes on sale October 25, we meet the pearlfish....

The image and the resulting analysis were published this week in The Astrophysical Journal. The image was created by the combined powers of 15 radio telescopes, most located here on Earth, and the Russian Spektr-R radio space telescope. The combined power of the telescopes was equivalent to a telescope 63,000 miles across. The jet itself is huge, and would just fit inside the Oort cloud that surrounds our solar system, a distance of roughly 186 billion miles at its minimum....

To better understand and prepare for these kinds of cataclysmic storms, the University of Miami just opened a $45 million lab, and at its heart sits a hurricane-simulator called SUSTAIN (SUrge-STructure-Atmosphere INteraction—a tortured acronym, to be sure). The 75-foot, 30,000-gallon acrylic tank can be filled with salt or fresh water. Using a 1,700-horsepower fan and a 12-paddle wave generator, scientists can stir up an infinite variety of waves. “We can create the equivalent of a hurricane with winds over 200 miles per hour,” says oceanographer Brian Haus, SUSTAIN’s director....

If you are in the market for a new computer but aren’t looking to spend a fortune, there is good news. Right now you can get a refurbished Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 for a 36 percent markdown from its MSRP. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 is ideal to complete all of the things you need from a computer. With a 14-inch touchscreen that also has 360-degree hinge, it can be used as a laptop, tablet, or tent....

Taking advantage of the ground effect in aerodynamics, by which a vehicle flying fast and low generates lift under the wings and reduces drag, making the plane almost float above the surface of the sea. For decades Soviet engineers built special vehicles called Ekranoplans to take advantage of this ability over shallow water, lakes, and rivers. Boeing even looked into the design for a cargo vehicle. In 1992, Popular Science covered a much earlier version of the Airfish, noting that the low-flying planes could literally fly under the radar....

And make no mistake, they do oppose in force. Revelations this year that mining giant Glencore spent millions of dollars globally to bankroll a pro-coal campaign are just the latest example. My research, however, shows that there are specific strategies policymakers can use to help overcome the resistance from incumbent fossil fuel companies, including exploiting the divisions within and between them. I have spent the past few years studying the behavior of these firms and industries in the United States—the center of fossil fuel resistance....

The star, R Sculptoris, is called an asymptotic giant branch star, a type that starts out anywhere from about the size of the sun to 8 times the size of the sun. (The sun will also become an AGB star when it grows old.) Red giants like this spew huge amounts of dust and gas as they die, providing the raw materials for new stars, planets and us. Shells of this material sometimes encircle the stars, but this is the first time scientists have seen a shell and a spiral flowing out of the star....

Not under it’s own power, of course. But NASA’s Doug McCuistion says it is his personal hope, if not that of the entire Mars team NASA, that humans will touch down on the Red Planet in the 2030s or 2040s. And if they do, there’s no reason why they might not pay a visit to some of the hardware we’ve left behind there. Some museum would likely be thrilled to have Curiosity, so why shouldn’t a manned mission bring it back to Earth?...

Curiosity is equipped with several internal instruments that will bake and X-ray rocks to determine their histories. This virgin scoop will be used to season some of the rover’s guts. The sand, taken from a site called Rocknest, will be held and vibrated inside each chamber of Curiosity’s sampling mechanism. In the image above, the gash in the soft Martian soil shows where Curiosity collected its sample. Eventually, Curiosity will drill into rocks to pulverize them, and tuck the dust inside its instruments for further study....

Since 2006, Twitter has been breaking major news, connecting celebrities directly to their fans, and creating all kinds of memes from the hilarious to the downright bizarre. Whether you use the service or not, Twitter has played a huge role in internet culture for the past 15 years. Despite its surface simplicity—a non-stop flow of updates, 280 characters long or less—this social network hides powerful tools and customizations under its unassuming exterior....

The European Space Agency and Johns Hopkins University are working together on a two-part asteroid interception and deflection mission, but they need help to refine it. ESA wants your research ideas for ground- and space-based studies that will improve the Asteroid Impact and Deflection mission, or AIDA. It’s a two-part mission with two separate spacecraft, which would fly up to intercept a binary asteroid. The goal is to see how the objects’ relative spin changes, so you need a binary asteroid or one with a small moon....

On Wednesday, President Trump said on Twitter: “The Trump Administration is revoking California’s Federal Waiver on emissions in order to produce far less expensive cars for the consumer, while at the same time making the cars substantially SAFER.” The proposal takes aim at a longstanding tradition of California leading the nation in protecting clean air. In 1966, the Golden State became the first to regulate tailpipe emissions after officials traced Los Angeles’ heavy smog—at times obscuring views to just three blocks—to cars....

Aspire to be as warm, classy, and unassuming a houseguest as this beautiful blanket. $249 on Williams-Sonoma. Look, maybe you know how difficult your presence is to tolerate. If you want to smooth things over with some serious libations, Simple Vodka is a nice choice; the bottles are super sleek and gift-able, the booze is sustainably made, and the company uses proceeds to provide 20 meals to those in need for every bottle....

But the AquaJelly does more than swim around and look pretty. Each is coated with conductive metal paint that draws the robot to a nearby charging station. It also has LED illumination, integrated pressure, light and radio sensors, and 11 infrared light-emitting diodes used for jelly-to-jelly communication. Above water, the robots use a short-range radio system to signal to one another that a charging station is occupied. Markus Fischer, the head of corporate design at Festo, hopes the AquaJelly will lead to a robotic workforce that can adapt to complicated tasks....