Circuit & Byte — Tech, gadgets, and science — where the future gets reported first.
Maybe itching has evolved to alert us to attack by blood-sucking arthropods, and if the persistence of the itch leads to a visceral loathing thereof, then surely that too, given dangers like the plague or malaria, will…
The induced vortex will create an air channel right up the middle to the bottom of the vessel. This lets air behind the water and so the whole mass of water is now free to fall under gravity. Without swirling to let air…
So, heating is more readily available than cooling. Liquid helium (at -269°C) gives us the closest commercial approach to absolute zero, but it is a pretty expensive way to cool your cocktails! Advertisement Humans have…
For hours at a time – in the case of the more free-range cat, sometimes several days – they vanish from sight. What might they be doing? Torturing the local small-animal population perhaps, or chasing fallen leaves…
Human evolution and archaeology indicate that for most of humanity’s existence, information was passed down by the spoken word, probably often to children. Even factual events and people would be subject to distortion…
In cotton and linen, adjacent cellulose molecules can cross-link to form weak, reversible links known as hydrogen bonds. These links can be broken and reformed under pressure, in the presence of heat and moisture –…
To answer a question or ask a new one, email lastword@newscientist.com To answer this question – or ask a new one – email lastword@newscientist.com . Questions should be scientific enquiries about everyday phenomena, and…
Science tells us that this is mechanistic: pull the trigger and you will get hurt. But in some cases, large uncertainty remains. One particular concern is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the…
And as you’ll see in my Sonos Ace Ultra review , I think these updates establish Sonos as a major player in the world of wireless headphones. The standard Sonos Ace fell just short of greatness when they released due to…
Plus and Pro users will be able to use the Work tab on their phone to create a document, draft an email, or summarize Slack messages, for instance. These subscribers can do things like build sites, create presentations…