Josie Ford Feedback is New Scientist’s popular sideways look at the latest science and technology news. You can submit items you believe may amuse readers to Feedback by emailing feedback@newscientist.com A shedload of bears Following the use of golden retrievers as a unit of ice mass, Feedback has found our inbox filling up with more…
How can we spot if someone is lying to us? There are no easy tells Margarita Young/Alamy Poisonous PeopleLeanne ten BrinkeSimon & Schuster It seems only fitting that a book about dark personalities opens with the case study of a psychopath. But the author’s choice isn’t who you might have been expecting. Instead of a…
Alistair Berg/Getty Images Let’s start off with a fact: you do not, no matter what you’ve heard, eat a credit card’s worth of microplastics each week. At least, not in the course of a normal human diet. But this popular claim has raised alarm, especially as it has been followed by a flurry of studies…
Like the Omron Evolv ($75), the blood pressure cuff has the electronics embedded in the cuff itself. That can make it a little awkward to use, especially if you don’t have a particularly big arm. Aktiia also instructs you to use the cuff on the opposite arm from which you’re wearing the band. You also…
When Netflix dropped the first season of Love Is Blind in February 2020, it offered a reprieve from the washboard abs that normally seem like a casting requirement for reality TV shows. The premise—that couples get engaged “sight unseen” after talking to each other through pods, then, following a big reveal, decide if they want…
Alkaline sodium hydroxide was dumped into the Gulf of Maine to test its effect on carbon uptake and marine life Daniel Cojanu, Undercurrent Productions, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Can we safely remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by counteracting ocean acidification? Maybe, suggests a trial in which ships poured 65,000 litres of alkaline sodium hydroxide…
Chet Kittleson, 38, is the cofounder of Tin Can and a father of three kids, 10, 8, and 5. I suspect he wouldn’t much like my description of the product’s function as “spying” (keeping watch over one’s kids is part of a parent’s job) or the product itself as a “toy.” He thinks of it,…
Could this dramatic image ever happen for real? angel_nt/Getty Images Somewhere, out in the cold depths of space, there is a space rock that could destroy a large chunk of life on Earth. Is this fate inevitable? Could we find a way to stop it, or will we eventually suffer the same fate as the…
Hair loss isn’t always dramatic. It can be incremental. You start noticing a bit more scalp in harsh bathroom lighting; a tiny bald spot when you tie your hair up in a ponytail. The shower drain is more clogged than usual. Not long ago, hair loss treatments meant topical remedies, supplements, or a flight to…
Congressional Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee say they’ve identified more than $20.9 billion in consumer losses tied to identity theft connected to four major breaches involving data broker firms. The estimate was released Friday in a minority report stemming from a months-long inquiry into data broker practices launched by United States senator Maggie Hassan.…