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Man builds 12-foot-long sailboat with materials from hardware store
It traditionally takes years of training and apprenticeship before shipbuilders truly master the art of handcrafting wooden vessels. However, that doesn’t mean all that time is necessary. Kentucky-based YouTuber Nick Kroehnke, aka Cumberland Rover, has spent the past few months documenting his progress on constructing a simple, 12-foot-long sailboat using everyday materials from the local hardware store. As he demonstrates across multiple videos, sometimes all you need is basic carpentry skills and a bit of creativity to take to the water yourself.
According to Hackaday’s recent rundown, Kroehnke began his journey by building a rowboat using two pieces of 1×12 lumber that he bent and attached to a basic wooden frame. From there, it was only a matter of fastening a plywood bottom and installing a couple seats, along with waterproofing the entire boat.
But why stop there? More recently, Kroehnke added accessories like a mast and sail using additional hardware store lumber. The boat is gaff-rigged, meaning it relies on a square sail hoisted to the mast using a spar. The choices make for both a fast setup and a quick breakdown. When winds aren’t favorable, Kroehnke can still use a pair of oars to paddle along in his tiny ride.
Anyone truly interested in giving the project a shot can order his exact plans through his website. But if that seems like biting off more than you can chew, Kroehnke offers multiple other wooden boat designs, including a kayak and a pirogue.
Of course, just because you can build it doesn’t make you a master seafarer. Make sure to learn the basics of sailing and always use proper safety precautions when on the water. The goal is to sail the boat, not go down with the ship.
The post Man builds 12-foot-long sailboat with materials from hardware store appeared first on Popular Science.
Crude Oil Movement By Rail in Canada and Iran
Fat Bear Week champion Chunk spotted taking a stroll in Alaska
The king has returned. Maintenance workers at Katmai National Park in Alaska spotted 2025 Fat Bear Week champion Chunk. In a video shared by Katmai Conservancy, National Park Service (NPS) maintenance crews spotted the roughly large adult male brown bear (Ursus arctos) walking along on a patch of ice in the park.
View this post on InstagramBears are not seen as frequently during the spring, so this early glimpse of Chunk is exciting. Katmai is a home and hunting ground for some of the largest brown bears in the world. They bulk up every summer on the salmon running up the Brooks River. Fatter bears are more likely to survive hibernation and the long winter ahead. To celebrate and raise funds and awareness, Katmai hosts Fat Bear Week, an annual tournament every fall where nature enthusiasts can vote online for Katmai’s fattest bear. Chunk was crowned last year’s winner, receiving 96,350 votes. The runner up— Bear 856—received 63,725 votes.
Chunk—aka Bear 32—is known for his dominance and size, but also narrow-set eyes, dark fur, a prominent brow ridge, and a distinctive scar across his muzzle. He weighed roughly 1,200 pounds after gorging on salmon last summer.
The complete 2025 Fat Bear Week bracket. Image: Explore.org/National Park Service/Katmai Conservancy.Bears like Chunk return to Brooks River every June when the salmon run begins. Last year, he was spotted with a freshly broken jaw. As it was also mating season, Chunk was likely injured while fighting with another bear for a mate. Even with his injury, Chunk managed to catch the salmon swimming in the river.
“Chunk proved immediately adaptable,” explore.org writes. “He adjusted his behavior to avoid most direct confrontations with other large male bears. He quickly learned to eat salmon without the full use of his mandible. Additionally, his large body size still gave him easy access to many productive fishing spots. He remains one of the largest bears at Brooks River.”
Mating season generally begins in May, with peak mating in June. The males will sometimes pursue the females for up to one week before mating even occurs. The salmon run in Brooks River begins in late June, and the bears will spend the summer gorging on salmon. The largest number of bears are typically seen during the middle of July.
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Tesla Added at Least Six Unsupervised Robotaxi in Texas
May skygazing: A blue moon, fading comet, and a lot of meteors
It’s spring! All is beautiful and full of life, and apart from that one weird smell, all is well in the great outdoors. Along with flowers and seasonal allergies, this month brings us plenty of opportunities for stargazing, from not one but two full moons to a meteor shower and the year’s first Lāhainā noon.
May 1: Full Flower MoonThe full Flower Moon on May Day? How much more spring-y can spring get? Unsurprisingly, the Flower Moon gets its name from the blooms that burst into life as winter releases its hold on the land. The Farmer’s Almanac attributes the name to several possible North American sources, including the Algonquin peoples of the continent’s northeast and/or the Dakota people of the Midwest. The moon will reach its peak illumination at 1:23 p.m. EDT on May 1.
May 4: One Last Chance to Catch Comet C/2025 R3 (Possibly)If you missed Comet C/2025 R3 last month, or you just want another chance to look at it before it departs, you might be able to catch a glimpse depending on where you are. In the Northern Hemisphere, the combination of the (almost) full moon and the comet’s proximity to the sun will make it all but impossible to spot before it disappears over the horizon and moves into southern skies.
If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you’ll have a little longer to try to take a look. The comet’s brightness will be decreasing, so you’ll need at least a good pair of binoculars, or ideally a small telescope, to see it. As per Starwalk, the comet will trace a line over the course of the month, starting in the constellation Eridanus on May 4, and moving up through Orion toward the Red Rectangle nebula.
If you miss out this time, well, that’s basically it. The comet’s orbital period is notionally around 170,000 years, but the latest models suggest that it ain’t coming back at all, predicting that it will be ejected from our Solar System entirely after this journey around the sun.
May 5: Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower Predicted PeakThe Southern Hemisphere also gets the lion’s share of this month’s only notable meteor shower, the Eta Aquarids. May’s annual meteor shower is predicted to peak on the morning of May 5. But never fear, because the shower is also visible from the Northern Hemisphere, albeit in reduced volumes. Southern skies are predicted to get up to 60 meteors per hour, with the north getting about half that number. As per EarthSky, the best time to look is just before dawn, when the moon is sinking toward the horizon. Look south toward the constellation Aquarius and enjoy the show!
The other notable fact about the Eta Aquarids is their source: Halley’s Comet. The famous space rock last visited in 1985 and makes an appearance in the Bayeux Tapestry, where it features as a harbinger of doom.
May 14: May’s Lāhainā Noon BeginsThis month will bring the first of this year’s two Lāhainā noons for those living between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. If you live in the United States, that basically means people in Hawai’i, because the continental U.S. lies entirely north of the Tropic of Cancer. On May 14, the sun at noon will be directly overhead, which means that for a few moments, vertically standing objects—telephone poles, flagpoles, people—will not cast any shadows. For those of us non-tropical types unused to the phenomenon, it’s very strange—and not a little disconcerting—to behold.
Incidentally, if you’ve ever wondered, this is what defines the tropics: the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn demarcate the boundaries of the region of the earth from which the sun can be seen directly overhead. The more you know!
May 31: Full Blue MicromoonI’ve been writing this column for a little over a year, and this is my first time writing about… a blue moon! This is the name given to the second full moon in a month, an occasion rare enough to have given rise to the expression “once in a blue moon.” In fairness, it turns out that they’re not that rare. Blue moons happen about once every two-and-a-half years—but still, they’re unusual enough to be exciting.
This month’s blue moon is also a micromoon.It’s smaller than usual because it occurs while the moon is near its furthest distance from the Earth. You can see it reach its peak illumination at 4:45 a.m. EDT on May 31. And just to be clear, it will not in fact be blue.
Also, if you’re wondering whether we can ever go through a month without a full moon, the answer is yes—but only in February.
Anyway, whatever you choose to gaze upon this month, remember that you’ll get the best experience gazing at the cosmos if you get away from any sources of light pollution, give your eyeballs some time to adjust to the darkness, and review our stargazing tips before setting out into the night.
Until next time!
The post May skygazing: A blue moon, fading comet, and a lot of meteors appeared first on Popular Science.
Tesla Semi Truck Has Officially Started Mass Production
On Prediction Market Regulation
(This is my comment re CFTC call for comments on prediction markets.)
As an economist, not a lawyer, I write here on public interest, not what is legal.
Like all financial markets, prediction markets can serve many functions, such as moving and cutting risk, collecting and sharing information, and the fun of action and proving yourself in competition. For decades, that risk function was the only one U.S. regulators allowed as a justification, but I’ve long argued for a huge potential info value, far more than what we now realize. I want these markets to grow toward that potential. While I personally don’t mind people having fun, I see that others mind, and we might have to compromise there.
Focusing on that info function, prediction markets have many issues in common with other info institutions, like gossip, academia, and journalism. All info institutions can induce folks to (A) reveal info better kept secret, (B) reveal secrets people promised to keep, (C) waste time and money that could be used productively, (D) make misleading contributions to get favorable treatment, (E) change the world to get favorable treatment, and (F) reward participants unequally.
I admit these are real issues, but I say we should treat the various info institutions similarly, unless we find specific reasons to treat them differently. For example, if you wouldn’t forbid govt employees from talking to reporters, for fear they’ll reveal govt secrets, also don’t forbid them from trading just due to similar fears.
On (A), an example is election-day who-wins predictions, which many say discourage voting. But as the risk of over-regulation here is severe, the first amendment should protect prediction markets as an info institution, especially markets on politics and policy. Just as protests are protected, since there are things you can say via protests you can’t say via mere words, trades should also be protected, as there are things you can say with trades you can’t say via words or protests. Putting your money where your mouth is adds punch to your words.
On (B), orgs have legit interests in keeping secrets, but outsiders often have legit interests in exposing them. Many of history’s most lauded journalism stories were enabled by org leaks. There’s a tradeoff here, and requiring everyone to work to help all orgs keep their secrets goes too far. We have strong rules on the books now re prediction market “insider trading”, but note that such rules for stocks have had limited effects. At public firms announcements, half of the price change happens beforehand, and half of that is from insider trading. We shouldn’t expect prediction market rules to succeed much better, or to result in much worse harms.
On (C), other financial markets already allow as much pure “gambling” as anyone could want, and compared to prior ages we today let people devote great time and money into non-productive fun of many sorts, including news, making risky choices of who to date, and making risky choices of careers like acting, music, or athletics.
On (D), speculative markets are actually far more resistant to manipulation than other info institutions. When traders expect more efforts to manipulate a price, they respond so that prices on average become MORE accurate. Also, in head-to-head comparisons with other info institutions, with the same question, time, participants, and resources, speculative markets have been consistently about as accurate or much more accurate.
On (E), life insurance has big enough stakes and easy enough personal influence that we reasonably regulate it to prevent murder for money. But we see almost no cases of traders successfully sabotaging firms to profit from stock trades; firms seem too hard for individuals to influence compared to the stakes. And when prediction markets have been made on events that individuals can influence, it seems traders have been well aware of this fact, and saw this fact as adding to their fun.
On (F), other info institutions also give unequal rewards for intelligence, education, effort, and good social connections. Yes, we could create amateur-only markets, but few would want to trade there; most want to try their hand competing with the best.
Due to their great info potential, let’s approve prediction markets by default, especially when they can inform topics that matter, and only restrict them when we see clear evidence of harm, applying similar standards and scrutiny as we do for other info institutions.
Medieval cannonballs and WWI bomb discovered under construction site
Renovations on government buildings in the coastal Belgian town of Nieuwpoort are currently on hold after surveyors discovered an impressive archaeological trove: dozens of carefully crafted stone cannonballs dating as far back as the 14th century. However, the medieval ammunition backstock wasn’t the only weaponry buried roughly 70 miles west of Brussels. According to city officials, experts also excavated an unexploded artillery shell from World War I.
“What has been exposed here in recent weeks proves that Nieuwpoort is a city where history is literally everywhere. Even a few meters under our feet,” Nieuwpoort Mayor Kris Vandecasteele said in a statement.
Investigations into the small plot of land began in February, after preliminary test digs indicated promising archaeological relics in the area. Since then, excavations have yielded numerous stone cannonballs near the site of what was once the city’s southern fortification wall. Researchers say that the carefully assembled stockpile and its location suggest it was an intentional store of ammunition dedicated to the town’s defense. This is further supported by the dig’s location near the city’s historic Stadshalle civic center and belfry, but this is not a definitive confirmation.
Stone cannonballs like those uncovered in Nieuwpoort represent an important transitional phase in medieval military technology. Popular across Europe between roughly 1350 and 1600, the ballistics could be fired from not only mechanical catapults and trebuchets, but explosive cannons. As Arkeonews highlights, the variations in cannonball size also suggest a mixed arsenal stocked for multiple types of weapons.
One additional discovery provides a poetic—if eerie—symbol of Nieuwpoort’s military and technological history. In a more recent soil layer, archaeologists also located an unexploded artillery shell that crashed into the ground during World War I. While Belgium’s explosive ordinance team safely removed the potentially volatile artifact, the shell serves as a reminder of the city’s longstanding strategic importance, due to its location on the English Channel. Nieuwpoort functioned as a front-line European city during WWI, and experienced widespread damage as a result of its location.
“What we find here exceeds our expectations: from medieval building structures and an exceptional depot of cannonballs to military relics that point to our past as a front city,” said Nieuwpoort Heritage Alderman Ann Gheeraert. “These excavations confirm that every construction phase in Nieuwpoort is also a journey of discovery into our own history, a past that has not yet revealed all its secrets.”
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A rare prairie chicken shakes his butt all day to attract ladies
An exclusive dance party is raging in the coastal marshes along southern Texas—and it’s coming to an end. However, to score an invite to this event, you have to be an Attwater’s prairie chicken (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri). From February through May, the males of this colorful bird species do a quick-stomping dance and make a low booming sound to attract a mate.
Beginning in late January and into February, male prairie-chickens begin to gather in low grass to start this elaborate courtship display. These “booming grounds” will be the male’s stage for the next few months to show off for the females. Booming grounds are typically found in naturally occurring short grass flats or sometimes artificially maintained areas like dirt roads.
The real fun happens from February to May. Every morning, male prairie-chickens grab their spot on a booming ground and dance for hours. They drop their heads to inflate the two large orange sacks on the sides of their face to make a low booming sound. The chickens stomp with swift feet like an Irish step dancer, keeping their tails erect and wings drooped. They will even jump and charge at each other while dancing—pretty much whatever it takes to attract a mate. Unlike the club scene, this ritual is more of an older male’s game. Most of the females only choose two to three of the older and more experienced males, leaving most of the younger males out.
Once a female chooses a mate and breeds with him, she will leave the booming ground. Prairie-chickens build their nests in shallow depressions on the open prairie, typically about one mile away from the booming ground. Hens lay eight to 13 eggs that will hatch roughly 26 days later—if she’s lucky. Only about 30 percent of all nests evade their many predators, including skunks, opossums, raccoons, coyotes, snakes, and even domestic dogs and cats.
This mating dance is more than just an annual ritual for the birds. Attwater’s prairie chickens are among the rarest birds in the Lonestar State and are highly-endangered. According to Nature Conservancy working lands program director Kirk Feuerbacher, 98 percent of their habitat in coastal marshes has been redeveloped or altered.
Roughly 200 exist in the wild, down from over 400 in 1993. They live in two isolated colonies in Texas—the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge in Colorado County, and a parcel of privately owned ranch land. This important ranch land is part of the Nature Conservancy’s Refugio-Goliad Prairie Project, a protected 660,000 acres along the Gulf Coast between Houston and Corpus Christi. According to Feuerbacher, the population here has been increasing about 20 percent every year. In 2025, the Nature Conservancy counted 102 males on the booming grounds. This year, the team counted 138 males.
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Brinker Introduces a Novel Approach to Deepfake Detection
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Metal-reinforced scorpions evolved to kill
Scorpions are optimized hunters, whose skills have been honed through millions of years of evolution. An armored exoskeleton, strong pincers, a poisonous stinger—almost everything about their anatomy aids in either hunting insects, small mammals, and reptiles, or defending themselves from snakes and birds. But for years, entomologists were aware of a potential secret weapon in the arthropods’ biology: metallic reinforcements.
Researchers previously detected trace metals in the exoskeletons of at least some of the estimated 3,000 known scorpion species. At the same time, experts were unsure about the distribution and concentration of these metals.
“We knew that metals strengthen the weapons in some species’ arsenals, [but] we don’t know if all scorpions’ weapons contain metal,” Sam Campbell, an environmental scientist at Australia’s University of Queensland, explained in a statement.
Back-scatter electron (BSE) scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of the telson of The yellow-fat tailed scorpion (Androctonus australis). Similar contrast of enrichment is present in the telson (stinger), highlighting the presence of metal. Also present is a clear line, we are terming the enrichment transition zone, where metal enrichment abruptly ends. Stingers in both msueum and wild specimens have been shown to snap break at, or near, this region. Credit: Sam Campbell/Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute JEOLThe answer might come in how they rely on their stingers and pincers. Some scorpion species wield their poisonous barbs more than their claws, while others deploy the opposite strategy. Campbell and colleagues theorized that the trace metal distributions might correspond to whether or not a species prefers its stingers or pincers..
While pursuing a Smithsonian fellowship at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C., the team used microanalytical methods like high-resolution electron microscopy and X-ray analysis to examine specimens from 18 separate scorpion species. Their results published in the Journal of The Royal Society Interface found pincers and stingers do contain concentrations of metal.
“The National Museum of Natural History’s large scorpion collection allowed us to analyze metal enrichment in a wide range of scorpion species, more than have ever been studied before using these techniques,” said Museum Conservation Institute research scientist and study co-author Edward Vincenzi.
The results revealed a pair of distinct metal layers in scorpions. Stingers reliably featured high amounts of zinc in their needle-like tips, followed by a layer of manganese. The distribution is similar in pincers, as well. In the movable portion known as the tarsus, Campbell’s team pinpointed either zinc or a combination of zinc and iron along the claw’s cutting edge.
An X-ray spectral image superimposed on a scanning electron microscope image of the denticles (claw “teeth”) on the pincers of a giant hairy scorpion (Hadrurus arizonensis). The spectral image shows selective enrichment of zinc (red) in the denticles, in addition to phosphorous (green), and carbon (blue). Credit: Smithsonian Museum Conservation InstituteHowever, each metal’s purpose isn’t quite what researchers hypothesized. Although they predicted stronger, crushing pincers to feature more zinc, they saw higher zinc levels in thinner, longer claws typically used in conjunction with stingers.
“This points to a role for zinc beyond hardness, perhaps playing a bigger role in durability,” said Campbell. “After all, long claws need to grasp prey and prevent it from escaping before being injected by venom. This is an interesting finding because it suggests an evolutionary relationship between how a weapon is used and the specific properties of the metal that reinforces it.”
The team’s findings have major ramifications for understanding the wider world of arthropods and insects. Scorpions are far from the only creatures to incorporate trace metals into their anatomy. By laying a clear foundation for future analysis, researchers can study how these evolutionary adaptations may appear across bees, wasps, spiders, and other animals.
“The microscopic-scale methods we used allowed us to identify individual transition metals in extremely high detail, showing us how nature skillfully engineered these metals in the scorpion’s weapons,” added Vincenzi.
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Berkeley Conference on Aging This Weekend
The ‘Waymo of the sea’ tracks sperm whale conversations
Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) go deep. They can dive 1,300 to 4,000 feet-deep and also travel as much as 15,000 miles per year. These depths and distances make sperm whales and other whale species particularly difficult for scientists to follow and study.
A new autonomous underwater glider system aims to make that trek a little easier. The glider from Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative), detailed in a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, follows sperm whale vocalizations without getting in their way. AI is embedded directly into the glider, which allows it to react in real-time to the whale’s sounds while underwater.
Why gliders?In addition to their long journeys and impressive diving, collecting long-term acoustic data has been difficult because traditional tags typically remain attached to the whales for only one to three days.
Autonomous underwater gliders are a more recent addition to whale tracking. They can detect the presence of whales while disturbing them as little as possible. According to the team, the new glider can actively follow whales based on their sounds. It could potentially monitor sperm whale populations and collect data for months at a time.
“This technology opens an entirely new dimension to studying whales underwater in their natural environment,” said David Gruber, the Founder and President of Project CETI. “We can now collect long-term communication information never before dreamed possible—like how a baby whale learns its clan-specific dialects as we can now listen to individual whales for extended periods.”
An actually helpful ‘backseat driver’All underwater gliders have a navigation computer that controls its movement. In CETI’s new system, the team developed a custom “backseat driver” and acoustic sensing system with French ocean robotics company Alseamar. A second onboard computer is also equipped with a back seat driver. This computer processes acoustic data and runs detection algorithms that can recognize sperm whale vocalizations.
“With the new glider, we significantly extend ‘backseat driver’ capabilities by enabling complete mission changes (such as different dive plans),” Roee Diamant, Project CETI’s Underwater Acoustics Lead, tells Popular Science. “This allows fully autonomous control by the glider for tracking whales—a first for underwater gliders, like the Waymo of the underwater world.”
The glider also has four custom hydrophones so that researchers can find the source of underwater calls. Project CETI developed whale-detection and angle-of-arrival estimation algorithms that analyze the sounds in real time. This way, the system can pinpoint the source of the vocalizing whales and adjust the glider’s path. The individual navigation commands can also be updated via satellite every two to four hours when the vehicle surfaces. When the glider emerges above water, the computer transmits data, recalibrates onboard sensors, and can then receive new mission instructions before diving again.
Do not disturbAccording to Diamant, the glider also limits the impact on the whales, a critical part of CETI’s mission of conducting “minimally invasive marine biology.” The glider is programmed to ascend once whale vocalizations are detected and then reposition itself to stay close to the vocalizing whales.
“On-whale biosensors are deployed by gentle tap-and-go methods via drones rather than approaching the whales with vessels,” he explains. “Here, we extend this minimally-invasive approach by using a self-guided underwater glider that operates quietly and with less disturbance.”
Currently, Project CETI conducts most of its fieldwork within a roughly 12-by-12-mile study area off the coast of Dominica in the Caribbean. There, they have witnessed a sperm whale birth, and also begun to decode the sperm whale alphabet and dialects. The new glider system may help the project expand monitoring beyond this one region, as the whales swim across broader ocean areas.
The post The ‘Waymo of the sea’ tracks sperm whale conversations appeared first on Popular Science.
The ‘Waymo of the sea’ tracks sperm whale conversations
Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) go deep. They can dive 1,300 to 4,000 feet-deep and also travel as much as 15,000 miles per year. These depths and distances make sperm whales and other whale species particularly difficult for scientists to follow and study.
A new autonomous underwater glider system aims to make that trek a little easier. The glider from Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative), detailed in a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, follows sperm whale vocalizations without getting in their way. AI is embedded directly into the glider, which allows it to react in real-time to the whale’s sounds while underwater.
Why gliders?In addition to their long journeys and impressive diving, collecting long-term acoustic data has been difficult because traditional tags typically remain attached to the whales for only one to three days.
Autonomous underwater gliders are a more recent addition to whale tracking. They can detect the presence of whales while disturbing them as little as possible. According to the team, the new glider can actively follow whales based on their sounds. It could potentially monitor sperm whale populations and collect data for months at a time.
“This technology opens an entirely new dimension to studying whales underwater in their natural environment,” said David Gruber, the Founder and President of Project CETI. “We can now collect long-term communication information never before dreamed possible—like how a baby whale learns its clan-specific dialects as we can now listen to individual whales for extended periods.”
An actually helpful ‘backseat driver’All underwater gliders have a navigation computer that controls its movement. In CETI’s new system, the team developed a custom “backseat driver” and acoustic sensing system with French ocean robotics company Alseamar. A second onboard computer is also equipped with a back seat driver. This computer processes acoustic data and runs detection algorithms that can recognize sperm whale vocalizations.
“With the new glider, we significantly extend ‘backseat driver’ capabilities by enabling complete mission changes (such as different dive plans),” Roee Diamant, Project CETI’s Underwater Acoustics Lead, tells Popular Science. “This allows fully autonomous control by the glider for tracking whales—a first for underwater gliders, like the Waymo of the underwater world.”
The glider also has four custom hydrophones so that researchers can find the source of underwater calls. Project CETI developed whale-detection and angle-of-arrival estimation algorithms that analyze the sounds in real time. This way, the system can pinpoint the source of the vocalizing whales and adjust the glider’s path. The individual navigation commands can also be updated via satellite every two to four hours when the vehicle surfaces. When the glider emerges above water, the computer transmits data, recalibrates onboard sensors, and can then receive new mission instructions before diving again.
Do not disturbAccording to Diamant, the glider also limits the impact on the whales, a critical part of CETI’s mission of conducting “minimally invasive marine biology.” The glider is programmed to ascend once whale vocalizations are detected and then reposition itself to stay close to the vocalizing whales.
“On-whale biosensors are deployed by gentle tap-and-go methods via drones rather than approaching the whales with vessels,” he explains. “Here, we extend this minimally-invasive approach by using a self-guided underwater glider that operates quietly and with less disturbance.”
Currently, Project CETI conducts most of its fieldwork within a roughly 12-by-12-mile study area off the coast of Dominica in the Caribbean. There, they have witnessed a sperm whale birth, and also begun to decode the sperm whale alphabet and dialects. The new glider system may help the project expand monitoring beyond this one region, as the whales swim across broader ocean areas.
The post The ‘Waymo of the sea’ tracks sperm whale conversations appeared first on Popular Science.
The adorable Artemis II ‘Rise’ plushies finally land in NASA’s online shop
It was understandably only a matter of time. Rise, the Artemis II crew’s ridiculously adorable zero-gravity indicator, is now available for purchase. On the NASA Exchange website, you can pre-order your own diminutive plushie for $24.99 plus shipping, along with other Artemis goodies including stickers, magnets, hoodies, and more. Patience is a virtue, however. Due to an “extended production time,” NASA is warning collectors that their own, personal Rise may take up to eight weeks to ship.
Zero-gravity indicators—usually a stuffed animal or something similar—have accompanied both U.S. astronauts and Russian cosmonauts into space since the 1960s. More symbolic than technical, the untethered objects mark a crew’s passage beyond Earth’s gravity into space. Rise is an original design, but sometimes more iconic figures serve as a mission’s mascot. In 2022, Snoopy was the only occupant aboard the uncrewed Artemis I mission.
Designed by Lucas Ye, a 2nd grader from Mountain View, California, Rise accompanied NASA’s four-person Artemis II crew during their historic, 10-day lunar flyby mission that launched on April 1. The plushie gained internet fame, along with a floating jar of Nutella and the now viral phrase “moon joy.” Commander Reid Wiseman made sure to safely carry Rise out of the capsule after splashdown on April 10.
Rise was selected from a pool of over 2,500 design submissions from more than 50 countries during NASA’s Moon Mascot contest, and recalls Apollo 8’s iconic “Earthrise” photo from 1968. According to NASA Exchange, all proceeds from the plushie (and its many other products) help fund the “morale, welfare, and recreation of NASA employees.”
The post The adorable Artemis II ‘Rise’ plushies finally land in NASA’s online shop appeared first on Popular Science.
How to watch Chonkers, the 2,000-pound sea lion live from San Francisco
While an enormous sea lion named Chonkers makes a splash in San Francisco, you don’t have to live in the Golden City to sneak a peek. Viewers can watch the action from home with Pier 39’s livestream as this 2,000-pound Stellar sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) cozies up with the smaller California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) that “haul-out” along the docks on Pier 39.
To watch the Pier 39 livestream, scroll down to the bottom of the page until you see “VIEW THE SEA LIONS LIVE.” Then, press the “GO LIVE” button. You can also press “Control” to choose a position, snap a screenshot, pause the stream, or enter a full-screen mode.
Pier 39 Sea Lion Webcam HDRelay.create({target: 'webcam_holder', id: 'CID_UROS0000008D'}); How to spot ChonkersChonkers was first spotted at Pier 39 in early April. He has been flopping up onto the marina’s floats and hanging out with the California sea lions. While they can be seen in California waters, Stellar sea lions more commonly call Alaska and Washington State home, so Chonkers sticks out among his much smaller float-mates.
His size is the first thing that will make him stand out for viewers. Stellar sea lions are about 10 times bigger than California sea lions. Male Stellar sea lions like Chonkers push 2,500 pounds and are 11 feet long, while male California sea lions weigh about 250 pounds and are seven feet long. The females are also bigger. Female Stellar sea lions weigh in at roughly 1,000 pounds and measure nine feet long, compared to 220 pounds and six feet for California sea lions.
A Stellar sea lion (left) wearing a NOAA satellite transmitter. A California sea lion (right) wearing a similar tracker. Images: NOAA.Chonkers also has a light tan to reddish color compared to the California sea lions’s darker brown fur. Stellar sea lions have a more low-frequency vocalization that sounds like a roar, while California sea lions’ sound more like barks.
California sea lions have a more pointed snout like a long-nosed dog, while Stellar sea lions like Chonkers typically have a more blunt face and a boxy, bear-like head.
What is Chonkers doing on the dock?While watching, you’ll see both species “hauling out.” This means the seals and sea lions temporarily leave the water and lay on a rock, the beach, or a human-made structure like a dock. They may haul out after foraging for food or get some rest between migrations.
Chonkers is a Steller sea lion amidst a sea of California sea lions. Screenshot: Pier 39 Live Cam via RedditAccording to The Marine Mammal Center, hauling out also helps them regulate their body temperature, avoid hungry predators, molt or shed their fur, interact with other animals, mate, give birth, and nurse their pups.
Chonkers and other Stellar sea lions do not migrate in the traditional sense. Instead, they will move from the center of their foraging activity, to follow seasonal concentrations of their many types of prey. These predatory animals consume over 100 species of fish, including salmon, Pacific cod, arrowtooth flounder, and rock sole. They also eat cephalopods, including squid and octopus.
Steller sea lions have over 300 haul-out sites along the North Pacific rim from Japan and Russia to Alaska and the Channel Islands off California. The longest recorded distances traveled are 1,600 miles from Forrester Island to Cape Newenham, 1,400 miles from Kozlof Cape, Russia, to Round Island in Alaska, and 1,200 miles from Medny Island, Russia, to Round Island.
World map with a rough representation of the Steller sea lion’s range. Image: NOAA. The history of Pier 39’s sea lionsCalifornia sea lions first began hauling out on Pier 39’s K-Dock in October 1989 after the 2.9-magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake struck the Bay Area. By January 1990, the loud pinnipeds began to arrive in huge numbers.
The staff at the marina turned to The Marine Mammal Center, a local animal rescue and rehabilitation organization, for advice on how to handle their new residents. The experts from The Marine Mammal Center recommended that the sea lions stay in their newfound home.
The number of sea lions at Pier 39 fluctuates depending on the time of year. The current record is over 2,100 sea lions in May–June 2024.
The post How to watch Chonkers, the 2,000-pound sea lion live from San Francisco appeared first on Popular Science.
Why scars never disappear
I am a clumsy guy. If there are sharp corners nearby, I’ll bash into them. If there’s a surface underfoot with even a light sheen of polish, I’ll take a tumble. You don’t need to take my word for it. A quick look at my knees, which have become knitted with a patchwork of small scars, tells the story.
I can trace some of these marks back years, and have accepted that they will be on my body for life. But what gives? Why don’t our bodies remove old scars? The answer goes to the heart of how our bodies have adapted to protect us.
Why do some injuries not cause scarring?“The skin is our protection against the external environment,” says Dr. Corey Maas, an associate clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco and founder of the Maas Clinic. “It’s a remarkable organ. It’s very important that its integrity be maintained.”
The skin consists of three layers. From outermost to innermost, these are the epidermis, dermis, and fat layer or hypodermis.
Your skin is a complex organ with three main layers: the epidermis, dermis, and fat layer or hypodermis. Image: Cancer Research UK / CC BY-SA 4.0
After our skin is damaged, a cascade of biological processes fires up. If an injury only damages the epidermis, the wound will typically heal without scarring.
But if the injury goes deeper, a scar will form. All scars, big or small, are “designed to repair the skin and restore to you all the continuity and the protective mechanisms that the skin exhibits for the entire body,” says Maas. In other words, our body’s priority is to get the skin strong enough to repel invading microbes—not make it look pristine.
How do scars form?There are several stages involved in scar formation. The body first forms a blood clot to prevent bleeding, which then dries into a scab.
The immune system then sends specialized cells into the clot to beat back any microbes that may have snuck their way in through the wound. To do so, these cells release specific chemicals (called cytokines), which help prevent infection and send out a loudspeaker message to the body that it’s time for a cleanup in the skin aisle.
In response, more specialized cells in the skin called fibroblasts kick into action. These cells start releasing a type of biological scaffolding, known as the extracellular matrix, made up of molecules like long, fibrous proteins such as collagen. These tough proteins increase the scar tissue’s strength.
While a wound might close quickly, the full process of restoring the skin’s layers can take months or even years.
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Can you have too much scarring?A fully formed scar is made of tough, dense bundles of collagen and other connective tissue, with no sweat glands or hair follicles. This messy mix of hardened tissue isn’t like other skin. There are fewer cells to be renewed and replaced.
“Those collagen molecules are there forever,” says Maas, creating a tough, fibrous tissue that keeps scars on our bodies for years, decades, or even a lifetime. Sometimes our bodies overdo it on collagen production, resulting in large or raised scars.
In its urgency to seal the rip in its protective outer coating, the body piles on extra collagen. This can produce red, raised scars that stay where the original injury, called hypertrophic scars. In some cases, the resulting scar even extends far beyond the original injury. These are called keloid scars.
Keloid scars can become itchy or painful as they grow. If they form too close to a joint, they can even impede movement. Surgical removal of keloids can cause them to grow back even larger.
How to look after your scarsScars can fade and become less prominent over time as initial deposits of disorganized collagen are replaced with flatter, more ordered layers. But even this overhauled tissue looks different from normal skin, which is why scars rarely disappear completely.
Maas says that doctors can alter factors, such as a scar’s discoloration and depth through cosmetic procedures, and that steroids can reduce redness. But the most important consideration is good wound management, says Maas.
Keep the wound clean. If it’s an open wound, keep it covered with fresh dressings. If the wound is closed up, Maas recommends keeping it covered with a thin layer of ointment. He says that some doctors prefer scars to dry up, but in his view, it’s important to protect against microbes while a wound heals.
But scars aren’t all bad. They’re a physical record of the experiences you’ve gone through. A scarred knee might fondly recall a tumble in the playground. A burn scar conjures memories of a busy dinner party. These marks wouldn’t have such power if they simply disappeared after a short time.
In Ask Us Anything, Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.
The post Why scars never disappear appeared first on Popular Science.
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NASA needs your help spotting meteors hitting the moon
Establishing a long-term human presence on the moon is a daunting challenge. Daunting—but not impossible. One way to help prepare for our imminent arrival is to gain a better understanding of the frequency and effects of meteorite strikes on the lunar surface. NASA isn’t only relying on its brave squadron of astronauts like the recently returned Artemis II crew to do the work, however. They need help from anyone willing to spend some time gazing up at the moon from here on Earth. For those ready and willing citizen scientists, it’s time to contribute to the ongoing Impact Flash endeavor.
Earth is bombarded by tiny meteorites every day, but only a fraction of them actually survive their fiery passage through our home planet’s atmosphere. The moon isn’t so lucky.. Astronomers estimate around 100 meteoroids the size of ping-pong balls strike the lunar surface every day, each impact releasing the equivalent energy to seven pounds of dynamite. If that weren’t enough, a meteor with at least an eight-foot diameter plows into the moon with the force of about a kiloton’s worth of TNT roughly once every four years.
If humans want to have a long-term presence on this meteor-filled satellite, designing the best, most resilient lunar base possible requires a comprehensive analysis of the moon’s relationship with meteoroids. One way to assess the situation is by monitoring and measuring events called impact flashes. As the NASA-funded group called Geophysical Exploration of the Dynamics and Evolution of the Solar System (GEODES) at the University of Maryland explains, impact flashes are “split-second flares of light” caused when meteoroids strike the moon’s dark side.
The Artemis II astronauts scored front-row seats to a handful of these moments while completing their historic lunar flyby on April 6. Their subsequent visual and equipment data is now helping astronomers understand present-day impact rates, as well as how that may change over extended periods of time. But to truly learn about these occurrences, they need much more source material.
That’s where Impact Flash comes into play. Organizers are asking anyone with a powerful enough telescope to point it at the moon’s darkened hemisphere and wait for the drama to unfold. For the best chance, the team suggests equipment with at least a 4-inch mirror or lens, automatic tracking, and a video recording capability of 25-30 frames per second.
While volunteers are encouraged to try identifying any new impact flashes themselves using publicly available software, all clips still need to be uploaded to the official Lunar Impact Flash database. From there, astronomers will comb through submissions and extract as much info as possible from the meteoroid meetups.
The results also go beyond planning a future lunar base.According to Los Alamos National Laboratory planetary scientist and Impact Flash project lead Ben Fernando, the next step will be using the data to investigate moonquakes.
“We are planning to send seismometers to the Moon to measure how the ground shakes,” Fernando explained in a statement. “Your measurements of impact flashes will help us work out the sources of moonquakes we detect. This will help us work out what the Moon’s interior looks like.”
The post NASA needs your help spotting meteors hitting the moon appeared first on Popular Science.
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