The Oura Ring is a fashionable take on a health tracker. We wore it for most of eight months to find out if it prioritizes style over substance. Abby Ferguson / Popular Science We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more › The market is absolutely flooded with devices designed to track your health, most of which reside on the wearer’s wrist. Relatively newer to the health-tracking game, though, are smart rings. The Oura Ring was first released in 2015 but didn’t gain widespread recognition and popularity until roughly 2020 ..read more

Similar activity will likely increase as the sun nears its 'solar maximum.'. Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA Earlier this week, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded a rarely seen event—four nearly-simultaneous flare eruptions involving three separate sunspots, as well as the magnetic filament between them. But as impressive as it is, the event could soon pose problems for some satellites and spacecraft orbiting Earth, as well as electronic systems here on the ground. It may seem like a massive ball of fiery, thermonuclear chaos, but there’s actually a fairly predictable rhythm to the sun. Si ..read more

Researchers used a hyperspectral camera to create images of 141 potatoes and inspect their firmness and dry matter content. Llez/Wikimedia Most grocery store patrons take for granted just what it takes to transport a humble sweet potato out of the ground and into a shopping basket. The slightly-sweet red root vegetable can come in various sizes and flavor profiles but consumers have come to expect a level of consistency. To meet that market demand, sweet potatoes are subjected to rounds of laborious and time-consuming quality assessments to root out undesirable batches that are either too fir ..read more

Mars' Inca City formation (left) is home to Martian ‘spiders’ every spring (right). ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (left) ESA/TGO/CaSSIS (right) It’s ‘spider’ season on the Red Planet. There are no actual spiders on Mars–that we know of–but arachnid-shaped black spots dot some parts of our celestial neighbor every spring. [Related: Mars’s mascara-like streaks may be caused by slush and landslides.] The European Space Agency (ESA) released new images of these seasonal eruptions in a formation called Inca City in Mars’ southern polar region. How do Martian ‘spiders’ form? Mars has four distinct seasons, sim ..read more

Eight passengers and a pilot can dive up to 200 meters in Triton’s new luxury submersible. Titron/Nick Verola When OceanGate’s under-tested Titan submersible went missing last summer, it captured the attention of millions worldwide. Authorities frantically scoured the North Atlantic Ocean for days only to eventually determine the small vessel had catastrophically imploded, killing its five passengers instantly. The tragic incident doesn’t appear to have actually slowed demand or interest in the vessels among its audience of passionate, and often wealthy, underwater exploration enthusiasts. Th ..read more

Brandt Ranj We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more › Nobody likes to think about why they’re beefing up their home security system, but it’s important to take some precautions against package theft (or worse) now that the technology is available and accessible. If “set up a home security system” has been on your to-do list for months, we highly recommend taking advantage of Amazon’s deal on the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus, which is on sale for a limited time. Ring Battery Doorbell Plus $119.99 (Was $149.99) Ring SEE I ..read more

In about 5 billion years, our Sun will run out of fuel and expand, possibly engulfing Earth. These end stages of a star’s life can be utterly beautiful as is the case with this planetary nebula called the Helix Nebula. Astronomers study these objects by looking at all kinds of light, including X-rays that the Chandra X-ray Observatory sees. X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; UV: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSC; Optical: NASA/ STScI/M. Meixner, ESA/NRAO/T.A. Rector; Infrared:NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Su; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk and K. Arcand One of NASA’s Great Observatories may soon meet an untimely demise ..read more

You've got access to a wealth of games on your smartphone. Screenshots: Lemuroid, Delta Video games have been around for a long, long time now. Pong made its debut in 1972— though back then you needed a bulky arcade cabinet to run it. Nowadays, you’ve got a much more powerful machine right in your pocket with your smartphone. Along with all of the modern games available for Android and iOS, you can also dig deep into vast libraries of retro video games from years gone by. Games from old consoles can be brought back to life right on your phone’s screen. What’s more, the emulators that run thes ..read more

Stack Commerce We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more › The globally celebrated office suite Microsoft Office has quickly become an essential tool in many industries. Verified users are very impressed, with reviews reflecting an average of 4.8 out of 5-star ratings. For a limited time, enhance your workflow with crucial applications like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, and more, and save even further on bundles for Windows and Mac. Each is only $30 through April 30 only.  Windows users looking to upgrad ..read more

Microbial life may be pervasive everywhere beneath Earth’s surface under conditions long thought to be inhospitable, if not fatal. DepositPhotos This article was originally featured on MIT Press Reader. This article is excerpted from James Lawrence Powell’s book “Mysteries of the Deep“. When HMS Challenger set sail in 1872, some scientists still believed in the azoic theory: that life cannot exist below 300 fathoms, or 550 meters. Others thought that creatures lived in the abyss, but that the cold and dark prevented them from evolving. With no more than their dredges, the Challenger scientist ..read more