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The investigation into these fluorescent flying critters began with a serendipitous discovery: Jonathan Martin, an associate professor of forestry at Northland College in Wisconsin, was coming back from a hike at night, and shone a UV light at the flying squirrels he heard on his bird feeder. “Then I saw this blaze of pink,” he recalls, via email. “It was simply beautiful.” (He was already interested in the topic of fluorescence in nature, and had read a study about fluorescent frogs....

The star’s strange activity was originally discovered with the no-longer-functional Kepler telescope, but now scientists have followed up with observations from the Spitzer telescope. The results will be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters. Although Spitzer can’t tell us much about whether there are aliens around the star KIC 8462852, it can help to sort through the other possibilities. A press release explains: When Spitzer looked for that excess infrared light, it found none....

This article was originally published in the Summer 2019, Make It Last issue of Popular Science.

Whether or not you’ve resolved to get into shape this January, Muscle Month is here to teach you a thing or two about stretching, contracting, lifting, tearing, gaining, and so much more. Unlike octopuses, we don’t have brains in our limbs. So we can’t really “remember” anything in our arms and legs. But it’s true that once you learn how to do something physical—whether it be riding a bike or deadlifting—it becomes easier and easier to do it without thinking....

We first heard about this potential partnership almost exactly a year ago, but at that point an actual deal between NASA and Bigelow was anything but certain. Bigelow had previously launched two concept space habitats into orbit (unmanned, of course) demonstrating, at the very least, that they work in prototype. But that’s a far cry from gaining a foothold aboard one of the world’s most expensive science experiments. For now, it appears the deal is going forward, though neither NASA nor Bigelow has released the details of the agreement (the two are holding a presser on Wednesday)....

The posters were created by the design firm Invisible Creature, and you can buy them now. Unfortunately, actually booking a trip to one of these destinations won’t be so easy. NASA missions to Mars aren’t scheduled to begin until the 2030s at the earliest, and those plans are fraught with problems. However, with private companies getting into the spaceflight scene, the goal is that (hopefully, maybe) someday we’ll all get to be interplanetary tourists....

As a part of the OSIRIS-REx (sic) mission to sample the asteroid Bennu (185911.61 miles away from Earth at its closest point), NASA will send along artwork from Earth loaded onto a hard drive. NASA is asking artists to come up with artwork based on one (or more) of these three “big questions”: What does it mean to be an explorer like OSIRIS-REx?What might this mission teach us about ourselves and our universe?...

The planet’s name is GJ 1132b. Its discovery was announced today in Nature, and an accompanying commentary says the exoplanet is “arguably the most important planet ever found outside the Solar System.” It’s not the nearest or the most Earthlike exoplanet, but it could help scientists track down potentially habitable planets in our galaxy. Between A Rock And Deep Space GJ 1132b is much too hot to be habitable–it orbits very close to its star and receives 19 times more stellar radiation than Earth....

Compiled by more than 100 authors who reviewed about 7,000 publications, the report raises a number of alarming points, but the bottom line is: the watery parts of the Earth are changing at an accelerating rate, putting many ecosystems and people at risk. “The open sea, the Arctic, the Antarctic and the high mountains may seem far away to many people,” said Hoesung Lee, chair of the IPCC, in a press release....

Starting with the MacBooks The event is under way and Apple says 51 percent of Mac buyers are new to the platform and 76 percent are in China. Apple says it has sold 100 million Macs, which is a lot. Cook is extolling the virtues of the MacBook Air, calling it “the most beloved notebook ever,” which is a strong-but-accurate statement. Now, it’s time for a new one. It will have a Retina display and come in various colors....

If you have a sweet tooth and are often anxious, these non-GMO candy-coated chocolates will seem heaven-sent. They’re made with fair-trade certified milk chocolate, a chamomile flower blend, plus amino acids to help you relax without any drowsiness. Chocolate naturally has mood-enhancing properties, too. Two pieces will grant you a ‘chill pill’ and eight will have you ‘maxin’ and relaxin’. Wanna relieve tension during an everlasting meeting or take a break from typing all day?...

In the next six decades, the government agency went through triumphs, tragedies, massive exploratory undertakings, and new periods of international cooperation. It’s still going strong today, with 38 current aeronautic and aerospace missions from the recent launch of the Parker Solar Probe to the ongoing Voyager crafts launched in 1977. We asked you what you thought of NASA, 60 years after its formation. Here are some of your responses....

What is the OnePlus 10 Pro smartphone? We really liked the design, display, and camera on last year’s OnePlus flagship, and the OnePlus 10 Pro builds on that strong foundation. The 6.7-inch Fluid AMOLED display looks near perfect, at least to my eyes, thanks to features like dual-color calibration, which calibrates colors to two levels of brightness (100 nits and 500 nits), and a 120Hz refresh rate. The OnePlus 10 Pro brings even more camera features to the table, too....

Toyota is readying a limited run of a plug-in Prius, which can average 100 miles per gallon, for use in government and commercial fleets starting in 2009. Toyota will monitor how these cars, which will have high-efficiency lithium-ion batteries that haven’t been fully tested yet, will hold up under everyday use. The regular Prius relies more on its gas engine, switching to (or combining) use of the electric motor in slow traffic, to maintain cruising speed, and when idling or backing up....

Last weekend, I traveled to my childhood hometown of Downers Grove, Illinois, for my mom’s birthday. A sleepy, picturesque suburb of Chicago straight out of a John Hughes movie, with wide, grassy lawns and a growing number of McMansions, Downers Grove is not exactly my ideal weekend getaway destination. I go crazy with boredom after a few days. But my parents are there, and a few of my childhood friends still live nearby....

But let’s get back to planet-hunting. Scientists often look for planets outside our solar system by searching for shifts in the light coming from a distant star–these little wobbles can indicate the passage of a smaller planet between the star and Earth. This new laser could help detectors pick up smaller shifts in the frequency of that starlight, and give astronomers a better shot at determining the presence or absence of a planet....

Shielding your treasures from theft or harm doesn’t have to be expensive, bulky, or involve lasers (unless you want them). Below, find some secure vessels for family heirlooms or documents you can’t afford to lose. It’s important to note that it is possible for fireproof and waterproof safes to be damaged by fire or water under extreme conditions—that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy one. The interior space of this safe is about the size of a small toaster and is ideal for folded documents, cash, jewelry, and hard drives....

Chemical clues from this far-flung sample hint that Mars and Earth–often viewed as would-be twins because they are rocky worlds and solar system neighbors–were birthed in very different ways: Earth formed slowly, and Mars much faster. Current hypotheses about the creation of a rocky planet, like Mars or Earth, suggest that some elements in the planet’s interior should have the same chemical characteristics as those in the planet’s atmosphere. That’s because, in the early days of our solar system about 4....

The direct strike killed three people, including one child, and left at least 17 people injured, including doctors, nurses, young patients, and women waiting to give birth. Mariupol, a city in southeastern Ukraine, has been besieged by Russian forces for days; hospitals like the one targeted in the strike had been using their basements as simultaneous shelters and wards. The Mariupol city council told the BBC the strike had caused “colossal damage....

Sputnik, one of Russia’s state-owned English language news services, occasionally showcases a new war robot. On Sunday, they highlighted the Uran-6 mine-sweeping robot. It’s a heavy, remote-controlled bulldozer with some ability to recognize and detonate explosives. That’s a totally normal robot a nation could have. Other times, Sputnik promises a lot more than the robot on display can deliver. Take the RS1A3 Mini Rex by LOBAEV Robotics. LOBAEV itself is a Russian sniper rifle maker, and they boast that the robot can fit in a backpack....