When he got home, Gulak drew up a plan for an all-electric unicycle that would emit no fumes and, he figured, be easier to weave through crowded streets than a standard two-wheeler. To give the ride more stability, he put the wheels side-by-side just an inch apart and directly under the rider, who accelerates by leaning forward, as he would on a Segway. When the rider leans into a turn, the inside wheel lifts and the outside wheel lowers, so both stay firmly on the ground....

But researchers don’t, in the words of Isaac Newton, stand on the shoulders of giants alone. They also wield impressive machinery to help them see better, track outcomes more precisely, or process data perfectly. These are the tools that enabled the 2018 Nobel laureates to go for gold: Prize for physics This year’s Nobels were, in the words of PopSci‘s own Charlie Wood, “a rare nod to technology over fundamental physics....

But as the climate changes, temperatures will increase and rain patterns will change—and along with those changes, by 2100, the fungus’s range will expand causing the number of Valley fever cases to increase by 50 percent, according to a new model published in the journal, GeoHealth. Right now, the fungus is restricted by rain and temperature to its current territory, but climate change will lift some of those environmental barriers....

“It could happen that you get rained upon,” says Björn Benneke, an exoplanet researcher at the University of Montreal. Telescopes hunting for flickering, wobbling stars have located more than 4,000 potential exoplanets in recent decades, some of which orbit in the not-too-cold, not-too-hot zone around their host star where water would have a shot at staying liquid. Others have even been found to harbor actual molecules of H2O. The exoplanet K2-18b, however, is the first to check both boxes, according to two studies published this week....

This time, the researchers got lucky. Not one, but two super typhoons hit their equipment at the same time. Even luckier, most of their gear managed to not break apart. He and his team waited for the storms to subside before they left port to retrieve their recording devices. But before they could recover the buoys, one storm, named Chaba, defied the forecasts. Instead of losing strength, it headed right for them at full power....

The newly-developed substance stacks up to a mere .47-nanometers, which is one million times thinner than a human fingernail and one-fifth as thin as the diameter of a strand of human DNA, according to a paper published Tuesday in the journal Advanced Science. To create the gold nanosheets, the researchers combined gold with two acids—chloroauric acid (which is widely used in gold refining processes) and sodium citrate—in a methyl orange solution....

Thanks to technology, you no longer need to drop hundreds—or even thousands—to enjoy an engaging viewing experience. All you need is a portable projector like the Prima 1080p HD Pocket Projector. For a limited time, it’s on sale for only $279.97. Unlike the massive projectors of old, the Prima is portable, lightweight, roughly the same size as the iPhone 7s Plus. It’s capable of turning every moment into a standalone multimedia experience, thanks to its LED lights and 64-bit quad-core processor....

One of the more perplexing facets of the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens is how, after the Rebel Alliance successfully destroyed two Imperial Death Stars (and the Emperor himself), the titular war is still going on. Mild spoilers to follow. As already spoiled, the Empire’s legacy seems to live on in The First Order, and what remains of the Rebel Alliance is now The Resistance. Unlike other visions of a post-Imperial galaxy for Star Wars, there is no glorious New Republic spreading freedom and democracy wherever it goes....

Fletcher used a specialized 65mm macro lens, which can shoot minuscule objects with striking sharpness. He’s been an amateur photographer for over three decades, specializing in capturing spellbinding images of some of the tiniest and most intricate spiders on the planet. “I love the fact that I can find small things anywhere and photograph them to show everyone the exquisite beauty of all the patterns, colors, and details,” Fletcher says....

These hundreds of cables have to come on land eventually—that’s not only how they connect networks, but it’s how they receive the electricity they need to keep the data flowing. There are landing points all over the world, in places like Spain, India, and, yes, Guam. Guam—the Pacific island about 1,600 miles from Japan— is a key landing spot for cables crossing the biggest ocean in the world. And now the island is getting four new cables, and a new, storm-resistant facility to manage them....

Two new papers published in the journals Nature and Nature Astronomy are throwing some some cold water on that theory. In the new papers, Australian astronomers explain that the 17 concentric rings that look a bit like a spider web are a series of dust shells. These shells are created by the circular interaction between a pair of hot stars locked together in a tight orbit. “Like clockwork, WR140 puffs out a sculpted smoke ring every eight years, which is then inflated in the stellar wind like a balloon,” Peter Tuthill from the Sydney Institute for Astronomy at the University of Sydney, a co-author in both papers, said in a press release....

If you are interested in protecting yourself and your family, or if you want to just be able to keep footage of your day-to-day, then there is good news for you. The TOKK™ CAM C2+ Range of Smart WiFi Discreet Day/Night Vision Camera is on sale for 32 percent off of its retail price. The Discreet Day/Night Vision Camera is portable and comes with an ultra-compact Wi-Fi camera so that you can stream or record instantly....

With all that in mind, what are the basics you’ll need in your kit? Obviously, you won’t get anywhere without a high-quality, but compact, camera. You’ll need a versatile tripod to hold it when shooting yourself and your food. Don’t forget lighting, because you can’t shoot what you can’t see. And if you plan on doing any narration, a good, external clip-on microphone is always recommended. What’s more, this kit can be used for more than cooking shows—it works equally well for product videos or photography, for unboxing videos, or for shooting a book while remotely reading to kids at a library....

When using the “Nearby” feed, users could hypothetically browse for local businesses and restaurants based on their interests, as well as find new and more relevant accounts to follow. Reports of the newest potential feature come on the heels of TikTok also testing out a separate “Shop” feed earlier this summer that could consolidate consumers’ purchasing and product browsing within TikTok Shop. Both additions signal potentially major new ways to utilize the app and further solidify TikTok’s standing within the social media ecosystem....

That importance means you shouldn’t take it for granted. Take a few minutes to learn all the cool features and hidden tricks Finder is capable of. You get to pick which shortcuts appear in the Sidebar and which don’t. While it’s convenient to have these quick links, you won’t want to add too many of them—that will make it hard to find the ones you need. Instead, stick to the entries that are most useful to you....

Now that Steph Curry has conquered the iPhone’s movable photos, it seems his next target is virtual reality. To watch the Golden State NBA game live in VR, Galaxy S6 owners will have to download the Next VR app from the Oculus app store. Similar to the 360-degree video Facebook offers users, the virtual-reality-enabled NBA game will allow the audience to pan around the court. With cameras placed around the arena, fans of California basketball will be able to watch the Splash Brothers knock back three-pointers front-and-center....

In a study published last week in Science Advances, a group of international researchers examined satellite air pollution data from 2005-2018 across 46 projected future megacity locations throughout the tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Looking over month by month imaging of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, ammonia, and fine particulate matter, the scientists watched as cities became more and more polluted. “The result, in a nutshell, is that most of these fast-growing cities actually show increases in almost all of these pollutants for the entire record,” says study author Karn Vohra, a geography research fellow at the University College London....

“We want everyone to feel comfortable contributing to Birdwatch,” the Birdwatch account tweeted, “and aliases let you write and rate notes without sharing your Twitter username.” If you haven’t heard of Birdwatch before, here’s what you missed: Twitter started the program around the beginning of this year, with the goal of allowing users to collaboratively fact-check tweets and combat misinformation by flagging misleading posts and providing notes to give more context....

Dolphins use sonar-like echolocation–essentially, seeing with their ears–which makes them beasts at finding mines in water. After training the animals, they also have to be taken care of for the rest of their lives, which is costly. So let’s feel free to let technology take over here. Development of the Knifefish, a torpedo-like unmanned underwater vehicle, is underway and should be completed by 2017. BBC News

Now, COVID-19 has overtaken the 1918 influenza as the most devastating pandemic for American lives. As of Tuesday, 676,347 people in the US have died from SARS-CoV-2 infection, according to John Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center—and the COVID-19 pandemic is still far from over. According to the CDC, the country is still averaging about 1,350 deaths per day, and the approaching second winter of the pandemic may bring another surge to the already huge death toll....