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Showing posts from October, 2018

Frankenstein was based on some very real (and very creepy) experiments

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Science Scientists really did believe that electricity might be able to bring the dead back to life. The idea that electricity really was the stuff of life and that it might be used to bring back the dead was certainly a familiar one in the kinds of circles in which the… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2qlClO4"

The next novel you read may be in Facebook Messenger

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Technology Facebook, Hooked, and other platforms are changing the way we read. We aren't exactly a nation of readers. But these tech companies want to change that, by putting fiction on our smartphones. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2EXAARl"

Left 4 Dead - Update

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An update has been released for Left 4 Dead - Fixed a potential buffer overflow in closed captions. Reported via HackerOne. via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2zlKPJo"

Portal 2 - Update

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An update has been released for Portal 2 - Fixed possible remote code execution exploits. - Fixed potential buffer overflow in closed captions. Reported via HackerOne. via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2Js12kR"

Scientists set up a haunted lab to figure out why we like being scared

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Science Or why some of us do, anyway. The researchers set up their makeshift lab in the basement of the haunted house, recruiting people who had already purchased tickets. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2AEaLl7"

The swamp science that lured travelers to their doom—and inspired the jack-o’-lantern

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Science And led to one of the first American science experiments. A mysterious light hovers over a marsh, luring travelers to their watery dooms. This real phenomenon earned the nickname will o' the wisp—or jack-o'-lantern. Here's the… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2Qb67jN"

Bitcoin is probably bad for the planet, but exactly how bad remains to be seen

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Technology An alarming new study may also be "deeply flawed." This study claims that Bitcoin mining could warm the Earth by 2 degrees C within 22 years, all by itself. One energy expert calls baloney. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2SuZdYi"

Dota 2 Update - October 31st, 2018

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- Fixed a longstanding bug that caused units to attack more slowly than expected at certain attack speeds. - Fixing a bug that caused Morphling to not gain stats when leveling up while morphed. - Fixed a bug that allowed the Silence from Riki's Smoke Screen to be applied to units with Spell Immunity. - Fixed a bug that caused Monkey King to become disabled when Feared during Primal Spring channeling. - Fixed post-game scoreboard text not clipping correctly with long strings. via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2Q9BdbA"

We created a frankenhouse of the most common phobias

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Science Explore the things that keep humanity up at night—and learn why they haunt us. What keeps you up at night? This frankenhouse is the ultimate fear factory, based on humanity’s most commonly diagnosed phobias. Learn why they get to us. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2SCBcPl"

Picture This: Mystery Tourism Spots

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Mystery Tourism Spots By Melissa Lindberg Halloween provides an opportunity to meditate on — and perhaps to visit — some of the American landscape's more mysterious tourist destinations. I recently grew curious about these peculiar attractions when I came across a photograph by roadside documentarian John Margolies of a sign for Saint Ignace, Michigan's Mystery Spot. The Saint Ignace Mystery Spot promises visitors a disorienting sensory experience marked by visual anomalies and feelings of lightheadedness and queasiness. According to its website, this Mystery Spot was discovered by three surveyors, who found that "no matter how many times they tried to level their tripod… the plum-bob would always be drawn far to the east, even as the level was reading level." Spooky. Mystery Spot entrance, Saint Ignace, Michigan , 1980. Photo by John Margolies. https://ift.tt/2zl

Behold the mighty elephant bird, blindly crashing through the Madagascan forest

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Science Sightless, flightless, and 10 feet tall. Islands breed strange animals. Isolated from the rest of the world, these ecosystems often produce creatures uniquely adapted to their idiosyncratic environments. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2AFASZ7"

Is my headache actually eye strain?

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Health Why tired eyes cause you pain. You’ve got a headache for the third time this week, and the culprit could be anything. But what if the pain is just coming from eye strain? via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2zgB1Ak"

The spookiest things we learned this week

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Science Our editors scrounged up some truly frightful facts. What’s the weirdest thing you learned this week? Well, whatever it is, we promise you’ll have an even weirder answer if you listen to PopSci’s newest podcast. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2RqbFqZ"

Humanity's obsession with chocolate may go back much further than we thought

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Science Some delicious new research. The new findings paint a more complicated and deeper picture of humans’ relationship with cacao, one of the world’s biggest economic crops to date… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2DdGvA4"

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe just smashed two all-time records on its way to the sun

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Space And it's going to keep on smashing them. The Parker Space Probe just broke a 40-year-old speed record during its ongoing plunge toward the sun. And that's not all. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2CSvd3p"

These dogs know you have malaria before you do

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Animals Reporting for the dog detection unit A group of researchers proved dogs can be trained to detect malaria in people infected with the disease but who had no fever or physical symptoms. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2Q7tbA6"

What did dinosaurs eat?

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Animals Salad. And some meat. Surprisingly, the bigger the dinosaurs were, the more likely they were to be vegetarian. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2Q3dZ6S"

Team Fortress 2 Update Released

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An update to Team Fortress 2 has been released. The update will be applied automatically when you restart Team Fortress 2. The major changes include: Fixed XP-earned text being truncated for some clients Fixed some missing particles when running in DirectX8 Fixed the Athenian Attire not being paintable Added server ConVar "sv_downloadlist_include_navfile" to control downloading .nav files to clients (disabled by default) Added ESEA 6s Invite Season 29 and Season 30 tournament medals Added Brazil Fortress 6v6 Season 1 and Season 2 tournament medals Updated the LODs for the TFNew tournament medals Updated the Roaring Rockets unusual taunt particle effect Updated pl_rumble_event Fixed bumper car head start not being awarded correctly to the winning team of the normal world Fixed Merasmus announcing winner of the bumper car race twice Fixed players sometimes getting stuck on closing doors Added spawn locations for the collectable soul gargoyle in the normal world

Midweek Madness - FOR HONOR™, 33% Off

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Save 33% on FOR HONOR™ during this week's Midweek Madness*! *Offer ends Thursday at 4PM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2OdDoZX"

Will wearing glasses make my vision worse?

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Health Short answer: no. As we age, our eyesight worsens. Although lenses can compensate for these changes, many people worry that wearing glasses will make them become dependent on specs. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2CSOIca"

Daily Deal - Witch It, 50% Off

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Today's Deal: Save 50% on Witch It !* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends Thursday at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2Q5MJ7T"

Eight science policies at stake this Election Day

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Environment With flipping districts come flipping issues. Enough House and Senate seats are on the ballot to flip legislative control—though a House swap is more likely. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2OWpH6W"

The ocean floor is littered with adorable octopuses (and actual garbage)

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Science Alongside the wild natural beauty, some evidence of humans. Today your biology homework is to watch scientists in charge of millions of dollars worth of deep-sea roving equipment get all squeal-y about a lil octopus. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2ERonxv"

Let’s watch Apple announce new iPads, updated MacBook laptops, and more

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Gadgets Maybe a new HomePod? Tim Cook and company are in NYC to announce some new Apple stuff. Aren't you proud of us for avoiding the "Big Apple" joke? via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2StKVap"

As states scramble to find execution drugs, experts say it’s time to let lethal injection die

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Health It isn't more humane than antiquated methods—it’s just easier to watch. While death by drug is the overwhelming execution method of choice—all of the 31 death penalty states use it—injection is more likely to go wrong than any other method… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2SvzkYr"

Astronomy Picture of the Day: Orionids Meteors over Inner Mongolia

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Orionids Meteors over Inner Mongolia Meteors have been shooting out from the constellation of Orion. This was expected, as October is the time of year for the Orionids Meteor Shower . Pictured here, over two dozen meteors were caught in successively added exposures last October over Wulan Hada volcano in Inner Mongolia , China . The featured image shows multiple meteor streaks that can all be connected to a single small region on the sky called the radiant , here visible just above and to the left of the belt of Orion , The Orionids meteors started as sand sized bits expelled from Comet Ha lley during one of its trips to the inner Solar System . Comet Halley is actually responsible for two known meteor showers , the other known as the Eta Aquarids and visible every May. An Orionids image featured on APOD one year ago today from the same location shows the same car. Next month,

Brazil’s new president plans to plunder the Amazon, which is bad news for all of us

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Environment Deforestation could be devastating for indigenous peoples—and for the whole planet. President-elect Jair Bolsonaro now governs an incomparable resource—the Amazon. What he does with it could affect the whole planet. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2DecS1q"

Five laptops to buy if Apple messes up this MacBook Air update

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Gadgets If you want to hop off the Apple ship, there are lots of ultra-portable PCs that are worth a look. Apple's lineup of ultra-portable laptops may get an upgrade, but we've been burned in the past. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2JoNHcY"

MEGAPIXELS: Spooky animal x-rays are exactly as cool as you'd imagine

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Animals They’re spooky-scary. To prepare for Halloween this year, we talked to a veterinarian at the Oregon Zoo about the wild anatomy in these spooky animal x-rays. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2yHxkE4"

You really can be scared to death—here’s how

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Health But don't freak out. You really can be "scared to death." Here’s how it happens. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2CN6vkW"

Last week in tech: A $435,000 AI portrait, the good Twitter bots, and how a house survives a hurricane

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Technology Plus, we talk about the new iPhone XR as the default iPhone on our podcast. Check out the latest episode of our podcast and catch up on the rest of the latest tech news. via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2CPZRKN"

Daily Deal - War for the Overworld, 80% Off

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Today's Deal: Save 80% on War for the Overworld !* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends Wednesday at 10AM Pacific Time via Steam RSS News Feed "https://ift.tt/2qk6FbL"

The FDA's updated nutrition labels could improve your health—if you know how to read them

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Health The regulatory agency has finally accepted that nobody drinks just half a bottle of Coke. Food companies have been rolling out the new nutrition labels over the past few months, but last week, the FDA made clear exactly why those changes were made, along with… via Popular Science "https://ift.tt/2zcaR1w"