Innehållsförteckning för Spring 2022 från Popular Science

THE IDEA THAT you swallow eight arachnids each night is a load of malarkey popularized by a list of random “facts” that went viral in the early days of the internet. Still, there is a reason this stomach-churning urban legend persists: Humans unknowingly gulp down all manner of disgusting detritus each day, from random animal parts during lunch to their own pearly whites while sleeping. You’re usually none the worse for ingesting this stuff—as long as you don’t think too much about how nasty it is. Here are some of the grossest, and strangest, things that go down your gullet without your knowing it.   Countless arthropods swarm your sustenance, leaving traces as it moves from field to market. The Food and Drug Administration says everything from macaroni to wine…

YOU HAVE B.O., but honestly, you’re not alone. This common problem starts with sweat, which is mainly an odorless mix of water and salt the body secretes to keep you cool. On its own, perspiration is fine; the funk comes from a combo of proteins and lipids released by apocrine glands in the armpits and groin. Bacteria and other organisms on the skin love that oily soup and release the stench after slurping it up. The key to avoiding malodorousness is simply a matter of breaking up their dinner party. Lucky for you, there are many easy ways to stop the stink. A shower each morning or after a workout washes away hungry microbes and the smorgasbord of sweat, dead skin cells, and other detritus they devour. Antimicrobial soap can…

A PAIR OF EMPTY DOCKS sit atop dried muck at an abandoned marina, glaring reminders that the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere is disappearing. Three main tributaries empty into Utah’s Great Salt Lake, but decades of their flows being diverted for agriculture, cities, and industry—along with prolonged drought—have starved the 1,700-square-mile body of its lifeblood. Last summer the inland sea made national headlines when it dropped to the lowest point ever recorded, exposing roughly 750 square miles of sediment to the same winds that carve hoodoos and sculpt arches to the south and east. Despite much-needed rain on this early-October afternoon, only the slimmest sheen of water glistens where the lake should be—and it will disappear within days. The patches of bare earth it will leave behind can easily…

AMBER is a portal to the past. The pieces often capture insects and other tiny organisms in stained-glass mausoleums, providing vivid glimpses of flora and fauna that lived more than 100 million years ago. Each reveals subtle clues about how life on Earth evolved—and where it might be headed. “Because it preserves with such intricacy, you can make detailed comparisons with living species,” says entomologist David Grimaldi, who curates the incredibly diverse amber collection at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. “There’s nothing like it.” Trees create these time capsules when injuries trigger a rush of wound-sealing resin. The compound seeps slowly over bark, enveloping buggy bystanders in an effective glue trap. Most specimens form near lakes and rivers, where moist ground or water protects them…

ROBOT VACUUMS do an admirable job sucking up dirt and slaying dust bunnies. But anyone with kids can tell you they choke on Legos, and folks with dogs live in mortal fear of Fido leaving a surprise that turns a small accident into a cleaning catastrophe. Many self-driving sweepers rely on infrared sensors, basic cameras, and bump detectors to navigate a space—hence their penchant for trying to clean what they shouldn’t. The Roomba j7 adds a front-facing, wide-angle camera with an LED to the mix, which helps it detect common floor-level obstructions. Real-time computer vision paired with iRobot's own algorithms helps it identify potential obstacles as disasters waiting to happen and figure out how to avoid them. Though dog poop is at the top of the preloaded list of things…

IT ALL STARTED with a broken beaker in St. Paul, Minnesota. 3M chemist Patsy Sherman was working on a synthetic rubber meant to endure the frigid temperatures aircraft encounter at high altitude when her assistant let the substance slip. The polymer splashed all over the technician’s sneakers, and nothing would remove it. Intrigued, her boss suggested applying the chemical to fabric. Sherman discovered that H20 and solvents flowed right off anything treated with the stuff, making it both waterproof and stain-resistant. In 1956, after three more years of experimentation, 3M introduced Sherman’s discovery under the brand name Scotchgard. The genius of the unexpected lies in its ability to spur researchers and inventors to reconsider their work just enough to drive innovation. Many of science and technology’s most famous discoveries have…

  IT’S A TRUTH universally acknowledged that if you shove wired headphones into your pocket, they’ll eventually emerge in a jumble of knots. That’s why mathematical biologist Mariel Vazquez keeps a tangled pair at her desk: Looking at the messy cord helps her envision how each microscopic human cell manages to pack in 6 feet of DNA. Of course, the twisted strands within our bodies carry much higher stakes than even the most chaotic audio cable. Cells would die if they couldn’t efficiently store these helixes in tight quarters while still being able to access their genetic information. Figuring out how they manage to do so is one of the knotty problems Vazquez’s interdisciplinary lab is designed to tackle, often with an eye toward practical applications like novel cancer treatments.…

IN NOVEMBER OF 2021, the crew of the International Space Station briefly went on lockdown after they were pummeled by shards of metal from a retired satellite blown up during an unannounced Russian military exercise. According to NASA, the Department of Defense currently tracks more than 27,000 pieces of similar orbital debris, aka space junk. But many other bits of trash are too small to keep tabs on. Hurtling at speeds of 17,500 miles per hour—and without the friction of an atmosphere to burn them up—even minuscule flecks of rocket paint can spell doom for an astronaut or flying craft. And while accidents have been rare, the rise of commercial space traffic (54 launches in 2021 alone, compared to the previous record of 33 in 2018) has exponentially increased the…

THE AIR INSIDE SULPHUR CAVE in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is full of poisonous hydrogen sulfide and lethal levels of carbon dioxide. The cavern, blocked off with a three-board fence, has hosted few visitors. Old editions of the Steamboat Pilot newspaper detail the few earlier expeditions, like when 1930s spelunkers wearing gas masks could manage going inside only in four-minute spurts. Or when a 1960s speleologist with an oxygen supply thrust himself, convulsing, back toward the entrance and had to be dragged into fresh air. David Steinmann wasn’t intimidated, though. “The most deadly gas is actually what bubbles out of soda,” he says, smiling. Steinmann, an environmental consultant and research associate in the zoology department of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, is also a volunteer firefighter and plenty used…

OUR ENTIRE SOCIETY runs on garbage, at least in a manner of speaking. Eons-old junk—coal and oil that began as ancient plants and dinosaur remains, among other dreck—has powered our electric grid since the beginning of the industrial age. Of the 3.8 trillion kilowatt hours of electricity the United States used in 2020, most came from fossil fuels. The problem is that this trash isn’t meant to keep lights on or charge up EVs; it’s supposed to stay deep beneath the surface, locking away the gases that now flood our atmosphere and cause disastrous warming. The good news—and bad news—is that we’re making new batches of carbon-rich refuse all the time. In 2018, the average American generated an unsavory 4.9 pounds of waste every day. Could these fresh trash heaps…

THE WEB IS CLUTTERED with disinformation, plagued by hackers, and littered with harmful content. That’s when it’s working—and good luck figuring out what’s wrong with your connection if it isn’t. It’s almost enough to make you log off and read a book. While it’s true that more moderation and oversight would go a long way toward addressing the problem, technology could do more to clean the mess it’s made. We asked four experts for their best advice on making the online world a bit tidier and safer. ➖ To combat misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, political figures, and the like, the government must continue spending research money on developing tools to identify and flag it. Social networks don’t go far enough to govern users’ posts; they should put forth more policies…

1 / WORX POWER SHARE PSI: 725 Flow: 1.1 gallons/minute A pair of 20-volt rechargeable batteries powers a pump in this washer that draws H2O from any standing water source—think a bucket, pond, or pool. A low-maintenance brushless motor propels the liquid through the nozzle at roughly 11 times the pressure of a typical garden hose, plenty for simple jobs like spraying down bikes after a ride. 2 / SUN JOE SPX 200E PSI: 1,350 Flow: 1.45 gallons/minute This 10-amp electric model weighs less than 10 pounds and fits easily into most car trunks. The adjustable nozzle can generate a laserlike stream strong enough to blast mud off your vehicle without damaging the paint. The pump shuts off completely when the trigger isn’t pressed, which cuts energy consumption. 3 /…