Sci-Tech news

• Ecological collapse circumscribes traditional women's work in Iraq's Mesopotamian Marshes

  24-03-2016 19:53
  
  For thousands of years, the marshes at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern day Iraq were an oasis of green in a dry landscape, hosting a wealth of wildlife. The culture of the Marsh Arab, or Ma'dan, people who live there is tightly interwoven with the ecosystem of the marshes. The once dense and ubiquitous common reed (Phragmites australis) served as raw material for homes, handicrafts, tools, and animal fodder for thousands of years. Distinctive mudhif communal houses, b
  
  Read more

• Researchers make a ticklishness body map

  23-08-2026 16:04 via popsci.com
  
  Whether it’s the belly, armpits, or feet, many people are ticklish at least somewhere on their body. Nevertheless, scientists have paid little attention to the silly sensation. As such, two researchers took it upon themselves to investigate the experience, and discovered that it is no laughing matter. Ziliang Xiong and Konstantina Kilteni, from the neuroscience department at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, investigated the experience of getting tickled as well as the distribution
  
  Read more

• Why do hummingbirds buzz? Tiny tornadoes.

  23-08-2026 14:01 via popsci.com
  
  In Ecuador’s Chocó Andino de Pichincha Biosphere Reserve, a 709,192-acre biodiversity hotspot northwest of Quito, hummingbirds thrive. The country is home to roughly 132 of the world’s 320-plus hummingbird species. On a single afternoon in the reserve’s Mashpi Cloud Forest, you might see a couple dozen of these species, from tiny green thorntails to velvet-purple coronets. The brilliant-colored avians dart and whizz between feeders, flying forwards, backwards, and i
  
  Read more

• U.S. and Canada trade war intensifies with new tariffs

  23-08-2026 01:07 via nbcnews.com
  The Trump administration is imposing 50 percent tariffs on a variety of Canadian goods after trade talks between the U.S. and Canada collapsed late Friday night. NBC News’ Yamiche Alcindor breaks down what this means for Americans’ wallets.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• How gross is it to leave a toothbrush exposed in the bathroom?

  22-08-2026 19:19 via popsci.com
  
  You put your toothbrush in your mouth. You store it in your bathroom, near your toilet. If that’s something you’d rather not think about, I understand.In 2015, a grad student at Quinnipiac University found fecal matter on toothbrushes in communal bathrooms, research that was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. It was certainly attention grabbing, prompting widespread media coverage. But besides driving clicks, and making people feel generally unc
  
  Read more

• New Fat Bear Week children’s book turns Katmai’s famous bears into wrestlers

  22-08-2026 16:14 via popsci.com
  
  The bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska are gorging on salmon and packing on the pounds ahead of the long winter. With the days growing shorter, it means that the annual Fat Bear Week tournament is just around the corner.A new children’s book, Big Fat Bear Battle!, celebrates the famous bears. Written by Alaskan author Brooke Hartman and illustrated by Can Tugrul, the book follows reporters Goldie Fox and Moose McMahon, as they cover a wild competition between Alaska&rsquo
  
  Read more

• 5 tricks you can do on Android but not iOS

  22-08-2026 14:00 via popsci.com
  
  Android and iOS have competed against each other since 2008, and have borrowed a lot from each other over that time—so a lot of the differences that did exist between these two operating systems have now disappeared.However, Android and iOS are still unique in some ways. It’s worth knowing these differences so you can make the most of the handset you have, and perhaps make a more informed decision as to whether you want to switch OS the next time you upgrade your phone.Put two apps o
  
  Read more

• Oddly etched Neolithic arrowheads baffle archaeologists in Turkey

  21-08-2026 20:55 via popsci.com
  
  A set of carefully etched obsidian arrowheads stick out among other similar artifacts, but archaeologists in central Turkey have still amassed dozens of them over the last 40 years. Following excavation work at a site in Anatolia known as Tepecik-Çiftlik, researchers from France’s Aix Marseille Université have catalogued and described another 11 examples of the weapon tips in a recently published study in the journal PLOS One. But while 54 similar arrowheads—some crafte
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Neck fans might look goofy, but tests show they work surprisingly well

  21-08-2026 20:07 via popsci.com
  
  Wearable neck fans, the kind that drape around users’ collarbones and shoot short streams of cooling air upward, have existed for the better part of two decades, but have never really taken off due to their unavoidable dork factor. But research recently published in the journal E3S Web of Conferences shows why employers may actually have a strong incentive to push these portable gadgets onto their workforce.In testing, portable neck and face fans performed about as well as bladeless desk f
  
  Read more

• Fisherman finds live WWII mine at bottom of Danube River in Slovakia

  21-08-2026 19:27 via popsci.com
  
  Europe’s brutal heatwaves have left the Danube River at historically low water levels. Over the last few weeks alone, residents in Serbia and Hungary discovered World War II artifacts like Nazi motorcycles and sunken ships that resurfaced after remaining submerged for decades.Yet another historic relic has recently been uncovered—this time in Slovakia. But unlike the summer’s previous finds, this one required a bit more finesse to tackle. Near the town of Virt along the souther
  
  Read more

• Flock Safety Extends Surveillance Capabilities As Sam Altman Hides In The Shadows

  21-08-2026 17:36 via technocracy.news
  
  Flock Safety received a startup grant from Y Combinator in 2017 when Sam Altman was President. YC bills itself as a high-touch startup accelerator that coaches early founders, connects them with a dense investor and alumni network, and prepares them to raise institutional capital. Altman always picked high-probability disruptive companies. Without Altman, Flock would never have been picked by Andreessen Horowitz for major funding. ⁃ Patrick Wood, Editor. .
  Vehicle surveillance giant F
  
  Read more

• Baby raccoon wrestling shenanigans caught on wildlife center camera

  21-08-2026 17:14 via popsci.com
  
  After a busy baby season, some of the raccoons at the New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth, Massachusetts were recently spotted having the time of their lives. The center recently renovated its outdoor raccoon enclosure, with a reinforced perimeter, better enrichment structures, and additional outdoor cameras. The cameras help staff keep an eye on the raccoons without going in in person—and they’ve recently captured “absolute chaos” at the wildlife center. A video show
  
  Read more

• Amazon just dropped our favorite Garmin running watches and fitness trackers to their lowest prices ever

  21-08-2026 16:48 via popsci.com
  
  There are plenty of fitness trackers and workout watches out there to choose from, but none of them have the same credibility that Garmin has earned. This has been a particularly…indulgent summer for me, so it’s time to lock in and start tracking some real workouts. Most of the cuts in this Garmin sale on Amazon match Garmin’s own store and REI penny-for-penny, which tells you the money is coming from the company rather than from one retailer clearing shelf space. A handful of
  
  Read more

• British man spends $7,000 building a street-legal sports car in his shed

  21-08-2026 16:07 via popsci.com
  
  Looking for a new car in 2026 can feel like a drag. Physical designs often coalesce into middle-of-the-road conformity, while increasingly complex components and additional tech make the more exciting, zippy cars unaffordable for many drivers. What once delivered a jolt of pure excitement now feels like a necessary chore. One particularly peeved British car enthusiast named Robert Ely came up with a simple solution: if carmakers won’t build affordable, fun cars, you just have to build one
  
  Read more

• Will People Really Flip Over the New Era of Foldable Phones?

  21-08-2026 15:46 via today.com
  Foldable smartphones are growing in popularity and now Apple is reportedly preparing to launch its own version, so NBC’s Brian Cheung joins TODAY to break down this nostalgic tech trend including the benefits, the downsides, the cost breakdown, and more.
  
  Read more

• How likely is a Yellowstone ‘supervolcano’ eruption today?

  21-08-2026 15:00 via popsci.com
  
  Picture this: You’re roaming Yellowstone National Park as the ground begins to rumble, pressure builds, and then…KA-BOOM! Goodbye to Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho.The last Yellowstone explosion happened 661,000 years ago, but could it happen again? On our latest episode of Ask Us Anything, editors Sarah Durn and Annie Colbert explore the chances of Yellowstone’s supervolcano erupting today. Let’s just say you shouldn’t cancel your vacation. But that doesn’t mea
  
  Read more

• OpenAI’s Two-Week Pause + Jill Lepore on the Threat of the “Artificial State” + Train of Thought

  21-08-2026 13:00 via nytimes.com
  “It is the first time that we know of that a major lab has voluntarily slowed down.”
  
  Read more

• Verb CEO says you should own your data and get paid for it

  21-08-2026 03:36 via nbcnews.com
  Companies collect and profit from our personal data every day, but most of that value never makes its way back to consumers. Verb CEO Cyrus Beschloss explains how his company aims to give users control of their information and the ability to earn money from it.
  
  Read more

• China hosts second Humanoid Robot Games as arms race with U.S. heats up

  21-08-2026 01:23 via nbcnews.com
  The second annual World Humanoid Games are set to take place in Beijing. It comes as tension continues to build between China and the U.S. in a technological arms-race. NBC News' Janis Mackey Frayer is there with a preview of some of the up-and-coming robotic talent.
  
  Read more

• Hacker targets ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ in apparent leak

  21-08-2026 00:50 via nbcnews.com
  
  The gaming world has been rattled by what appears to be a major leak of the highly anticipated “Grand Theft Auto VI,” with the alleged hacker warning other publishers that “no one is safe” from similar breaches.
  
  Read more

• New software helps California schools crack down on staff allegedly viewing explicit content

  20-08-2026 22:31 via nbcnews.com
  Child sexual abuse material is spreading online — and showing up on school staff computers. New scanning software in 12 California districts is catching offenders. NBC News' Dana Griffin reports.
  
  Read more

• New snake species named in honor of Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash

  20-08-2026 22:09 via popsci.com
  
  Welcome to the jungle, Lielaphis slashi. The newly discovered snake is named after Saul Hudson aka Slash, Guns N’ Roses’ lead guitarist. The snake’s named translates to “Slash’s groundsnake” in English, and honors his lifelong love of reptiles and support for museums and zoos. “As a long time herpephile, I am extremely honored and humbled to have Lielaphis slashi from New Guinea named after me. It is really exciting, I never would have imagined this
  
  Read more

• Scientists smash atoms together to create ‘little’ big bangs

  20-08-2026 22:03 via popsci.com
  
  It’s difficult to imagine anything of consequence occurring within a millionth of a second, but one of the most pivotal moments in cosmic history occurred in that miniscule time.. Physicists believe the earliest form of matter in the universe—known as quark-gluon plasma—arrived in this brief blip in time following the big bang about 13.8 billion years ago. This incredibly dense, hot state of matter existed at a moment when the nascent universe was so hot that it prevented the f
  
  Read more

• Meet Bucky Dent, one of Katmai’s most innovative fish-finder

  20-08-2026 21:02 via popsci.com
  
  If you’ve followed explore.org’s livestream of the bears at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska this summer, you’ve probably noticed a big bear nicknamed Bucky Dent who is great at catching fish. Officially designated as Bear 164, this roughly seven-year-old adult male is so good at catching fish, he invented a new way to find them as a young subadult bear. Today, the cameras spotted Bucky Dent catching a salmon that looked pretty determined to swim away. Cameras a
  
  Read more

• Meet Bucky Dent, one of Katmai’s most innovative bears

  20-08-2026 21:02 via popsci.com
  
  If you’ve followed explore.org’s livestream of the bears at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska this summer, you’ve probably noticed a big bear nicknamed Bucky Dent who is great at catching fish. Officially designated as Bear 164, this roughly seven-year-old adult male is so good at catching fish, he invented a new way to find them as a young subadult bear. Today, the cameras spotted Bucky Dent catching a salmon that looked pretty determined to swim away. Cameras a
  
  Read more

• Excessive Air Conditioning Use May Cause Cities to Heat Up — and Passive Cooling Techniques Could Be the Future

  20-08-2026 20:38 via discovermagazine.com
  
  New research reveals how passive cooling techniques are going to be increasingly important to reduce energy use and cool urban areas. Learn more about them. 
  
  Read more

• 15,000 years ago, desert dwellers dined on snakes and lizards

  20-08-2026 20:03 via popsci.com
  
  The desert is a harsh environment, even if you’re equipped with the latest tools, protective clothing, and resources. But 15,000 years ago, a group of hunter-gatherers known as the Natufian culture living in the southern Levant did more than eke out an existence. Unlike other prehistoric communities, Natufians abandoned nomadic life across present-day Jordan, Palestine, and Israel for smaller, permanent settlements before they even developed agriculture.A major key to their survival? They
  
  Read more

• NASA abandons mission to save Swift Observatory from a fiery death

  20-08-2026 17:31 via popsci.com
  
  NASA engineers have confirmed they can’t spare the historic Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory from a fiery demise, despite their best efforts. In July, mission specialists partnering with Katalyst Space Technologies launched the Link spacecraft with the hopes of capturing the orbital telescope and boosting it into a higher orbit. However,numerous complications forced the team to finally abandon the rescue attempt.“This is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change wh
  
  Read more

• Quantum Fluctuations Break a Crystal’s Symmetry Rules

  20-08-2026 17:12 via scitechdaily.com
  Electronic fluctuations can act as a resonant bridge between normally separate crystal vibrations, offering a new route to study and control ferroaxial quantum states. Symmetry is a basic rule of the natural world. It explains why some objects appear the same after they are rotated, reflected, or changed in other ways. In materials, symmetry helps [...]
  
  Read more

• An India-Israel Corridor Is the Biggest Middle East Story Nobody Is Talking About

  20-08-2026 17:08 via technocracy.news
  
  This is the most astute article about the IMEC Corridor that I have seen, and that from a seasoned policy analyst. It is blunt and thoughtful. There are obstacles to the IMEC Corridor running through Israel, not the least of which is Saudi Arabia digging its heels in. Saudi-Israeli normalization becomes a make-or-break deal for Israel and the difference between huge investment flows and being shut out of world trade altogether. ⁃ Patrick Wood, Editor.About a month before the Oct. 7, 2023,
  
  Read more

Follow @NewslockSciTech on Twitter!