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Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology simulated scenarios where female finches did not have much choice in males to understand if being picky affected the number of offspring the female finches ended up having. It turns out, the female finches remained selective and got creative: The female birds who ended up without a mate still laid plenty of eggs, but instead of taking care of them, the finches dumped them in other nests....

Earlier this week, the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced the selection of four encryption algorithms that will become part of the agency’s post-quantum cryptographic standard. NIST is considering additional algorithms down the line and aims to finalize this standard in the next two years. NIST first asked for contributions around creating and testing an encryption algorithm that could hold up against attacks from emerging (but potentially powerful) quantum computers back in 2016....

A new study from researchers at Cornell University shows that, when attacked by the herbivorous goldenrod leaf beetle, Solidago altissima sends out a chemical “cry” detectable by all nearby plants of the same species. It spreads throughout the group until they’re all working to defend the collective from invaders. We’ve known for a while that plants can “talk” using smelly volatile organic compounds, also known as VOCs, says study author André Kessler....

There are no signs of the shortage hitting American homes just yet, but in case it does, this may be a good time to get a bag of mustard seeds and learn how to make your own. It’s surprisingly simple, highly customizable, and the science involved in managing mustard’s spiciness is a lot cooler than you may have imagined. A good starting point, in our opinion, is the basic American mustard recipe: mild, strikingly yellow, and perfect on a ballpark hot dog....

When your phone or laptop needs attention, your options vary depending on where you bought it and which manufacturer made it. If you purchased the device less than a year ago and it has developed a problem that isn’t your fault, you can often get it repaired for free by contacting the manufacturer. But navigating the repair policies of major companies can be daunting, and while we can’t cover every gadget-maker and retailer in the country in detail, we can provide some pointers about dealing with the big names—and get you quickly on your way to having a fully working device again....

In the waste-recycling plant, a 50-cubic-foot glass crusher gnashes bottles into pea-size pellets, hydraulics squeeze cardboard and aluminum into blocks, and incinerators burn nonrecyclable refuse. Some ships pulp food waste and tip it overboard as instant fish food. To clean seawater, ships often rely on two main methods. Reverse-osmosis membranes filter out salt, and evaporators use heat from the engine to boil off the fresh H2O. Once liquid goes through one of these processes, it can safely fill onboard swimming pools....

Feeling yucky? Runny nose, scratchy throat? Maybe a cough, with light chills and aches, possibly a low-grade fever? We’ve all been there. Statistically, everyone comes down with these symptoms multiple times a year. These past few years, it would be tempting to blame some variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, for such symptoms. However, there’s also a strong possibility that it’s a distant cousin on the human virus family tree, one that is responsible for more sick days and visits to the doctor each year than any other pathogen—rhinovirus....

“This is an incredibly hard business,” said Mike Sarafin, the mission manager for Artemis, during a NASA conference about the scrubbed launch on Monday. “We’re trying to do something that hasn’t been done in over 50 years, and we’re doing it with new technology.” The last time humans stepped on the moon was during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. If and when Artemis 1 is able to launch, the first flight will conclude a half a century hiatus and a new era of long-term human exploration on Earth’s satellite....

Now, Ostrander leads the Dog Genome Project, an initiative she launched in 2004 in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health. But the project’s research goals aren’t just to learn about our best friends. Scientists want to discover new things about humans, too, which is why the NIH has taken an interest in our four-legged friends. It turns out humans and dogs are remarkably similar genetically, and studying our canine companions can help us learn more about diseases in humans....

The prints were left over thousands of years by humans who walked among giant sloths, camels, and mammoths on the grassy shores of a lake 23,000 years ago, as determined by radiocarbon dating of grass seeds found around the footprints. That’s in stark contrast to the conventional hypothesis in archaeology, which holds that the first Americans crossed over between 16,000 and 12,000 years ago, when the glaciers still covered North America, and Siberia and interior Alaska were part of the same grassy subcontinent called Beringia....

This just means that beating inflation is becoming trickier than ever. If only your checking account could magically have a million more dollars, right? Now, with a bit of luck and $24.99, you can get a chance to add a million (or two) to your net worth. The 2 Million Dollar Puzzle by MHSHF is on sale for a limited time, and now is your last chance to snap up the unique puzzle for cheap, along with free shipping....

That’s not to say that noise can’t cause humans physical harm. It’s just that the kind of sonic blasts that can produce nausea and impair breathing and vision, start at around 150 decibels. Even if you sat directly beneath a wind turbine, the sound produced would be about 105 decibels. That level of sound may be annoying, but the noise would not cause cancer. Scores of studies back this up....

The study, published last week in the journal Nature Communications, examines this self-destructive, lactation-like process in C. elegans, one-millimeter transparent roundworms. The researchers, all from University College London’s Institute of Healthy Aging, studied how the known process of venting one’s intestines is associated with chemical pathways that control the aging process. “The real interesting side of it is that this milk is being produced at a cost,” says Carina Kern, the study’s first author....

There’s just one problem: it’s falling apart. Yup, time has not been kind to the New York State Pavilion. Over the years, the structure has seemingly transformed from a Jetsons-like future structure to something that would look right at home next to the creepy amusement park in Chernobyl (you know the one). The good news is that this is all may change soon thanks to the New York State Pavilion Ideas Competition....

Blurring faces in a flash Laws regarding facial recognition use are still worryingly lax, and images of faces have become valuable to everyone from marketers to police forces. But you can keep those mugs private from prying eyes. Just this week, Signal—a secure messaging service that you should probably be using—added a tool to allow users to blur faces of people in their photos. It’s a simple mechanism that allows users to obscure someone’s identity with about as much effort as it takes to add an emoji....

Scientists have already had some inklings of the relationship between genes and infectious diseases—for example, people with the genetic mutation for cystic fibrosis don’t usually get typhoid, which is caused by bacteria. Bacteria and viruses, in turn, can also affect your genes. For this study, the researchers wanted to see if genes affected a person’s likelihood of contracting a common bacterial infection. The researchers infected 30 participants with E. coli bacteria, a common cause of diarrhea....

A new review in Science of The Total Environment shows just unprepared we are for such floods and droughts—especially as the climate warms. We’re bad at monitoring water resources, we use outdated flood maps, and our responses tend to be reactive rather than proactive. To protect ourselves from the water shortages and excesses of the future, we need to rethink how we prepare, the study illustrates. That starts with estimating our water resources....

Many new phrases have entered our vocabulary as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. “Zoom fatigue” refers to the mental exhaustion associated with online video conferencing. We can change how we interact on video calls with adapted social behaviors such as scheduling shorter meetings. But theories from audio and sound research tell us that a lot of what determines how fatigued you become is based on what you are listening to....

But that name might be a “misnomer,” according to Jessica Lu, associate professor of astronomy at the University of California Berkeley. She prefers the term “free-floating” to describe these black holes. “Rogue,” she says, implies that the nomads are rare or unusual—or up to no good. That’s certainly not the case. Astronomers estimate that there are as many as 100 million such black holes that roam around our galaxy. But because they’re solitary, they’re extremely difficult to find....

Prima 1080p HD Pocket Projector Blow up any content you want with this portable projector that’s as slim and light as an iPhone 7s Plus. It casts a 200-inch cinema-quality image onto any surface, and thanks to its 200 lumens, it delivers 4 times the brightness of other portable projectors. It usually goes for $799, but you can grab it on sale for only $279.97. TREBLAB Z2 Bluetooth 5.0 Noise-Cancelling Headphones Passport 30W Global Travel Adapter You no longer have to keep purchasing adapters whenever you travel....