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• Best overall: Focusrite Clarett+ 8Pre• Best on a budget: Presonus Audiobox Go• Premium pick: Cranborne Audio 500R8• Best compact: Antelope Audio Zen Tour Synergy Core• Best portable: Apogee Duet• Best connectivity options: Arturia AudioFuse• Best preamp: Solid State Logic SSL 2+ How we picked the best USB audio interfaces It used to be that USB audio interface options were fairly limited. Either you bought the one relatively affordable one or you winced in pain as you handed over your credit card for a pro-level unit....

Best overall: Husqvarna MZ61 61 in. 27 HP Briggs & Stratton Hydrostatic Zero Turn Riding MowerBest for first-timers: Ariens APEX Zero-Turn MowerBest for comfort: Craftsman Z5200 20-HP V-Twin Dual Hydrostatic 42-in Zero-Turn Lawn MowerBest for the pros: Swisher B&S Zero-Turn RiderBest budget: Husqvarna Z242F Zero-Turn Riding Mower How we chose the best zero-turn mowers Previously, we’ve searched for the top push mowers, the best riding lawn mowers, and some great cordless lawn mowers....

After years of intermittent study on this singular galaxy system, Reines, now an astrophysicist at Montana State University, and her student, astrophysicist Zach Schutte, have uncovered why Henize looks the way it does: At the heart of Henize is a massive black hole that’s indirectly birthing stars. The results are published Wednesday in the journal Nature. It’s the first time researchers have shown clear signs of black holes triggering star formation in a galaxy as small as this one, says Fabio Pacucci, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian who wasn’t involved in the study....

This is the first such blue carbon project registered by Verra, an organization that sets standards for and approves VCU projects. It’s the result of collaboration between nonprofit Conservation International and Colombia’s INVEMAR Research Institute, the Omacha Foundation, and two national environmental authorities, CVS and CARSUCR. Blue carbon is becoming a buzzword, and it may not be long before these carbon crediting programs start popping up in coastal ecosystems around the globe....

The build The original QuietComfort earbuds, released in 2020, were bulky beans. The new ’buds—launching at $299 and available initially in Triple Black, with Soapstone to follow—are slimmer ovals at almost a third smaller by volume, while the case has been shrunk by almost 40 percent. These are immediately felt improvements. A selection of exchangeable silicon eartips (S, M, L) and stability bands help you avoid a loose fit (and they are IPX4 splash- and sweat-resistant, in case you get caught in the rain/take a run)....

The technology has a range of applications, everything from more efficient steam turbines to planes that can be de-iced faster. But the video only has one: extreme hypnotism. Enjoy

When you’re done, you’ll have a sturdy drawer organizer that will easily slide into and lift out of the drawer you built it for. That means easy cleaning (and removal if you’re renting your place). Stats Time: 2-3 hoursMaterial cost: $20Difficulty: moderate Materials Lauan plywood1/2-inch poplar board1-inch finish nails Tools Measuring tapePencilPaperMasking tapeSquareClampsEye protectionCircular sawCoarse sandpaperHammer (or brad nailer)Thick work gloves (optional) Instructions Plan your drawer organizer Empty your drawer....

According to a paper published last week in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, researchers constructed a new ventilation system reliant on a Boston University building’s normal carbon exhaust system to act as fertilizer for both spinach and corn crops. Meanwhile, control plants grown nearby employed their own fan system to ensure airflow sans building emissions. The resulting yields were noticeable, to say the least. “Spinach grown next to the exhaust vents had four times the biomass of spinach grown next to a control fan,” explains the paper’s announcement, adding that, “even when high winds decreased the size advantage, the plants were still twice as large as the controls....

“I can remember when I ran the analysis, I almost started crying,” says Kerri Smith, a research fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who studies beaked whales. “I was so excited, because it was totally new. For like an hour, I knew something that nobody ever in the entire world knew.” Smith’s recent research looked at the remains of Sowerby’s beaked whales that were stored in museums and research centers or stranded or bycatch from fisheries....

Like anything, a lot of CBD use depends on your personal tastes. If you’re curious but don’t know where to start, here’s a cross-section of different CBD products that can help you find a way in that works best for your lifestyle and needs. Cannabis edibles company, Wyld—based out of Portland, Oregon—recently released a line of CBD products. The gummies have no artificial flavoring or colors and come with 10 pieces per bottle in either 25MG or 50MG options....

Google also exhibited how they’ll be using their new artificial intelligence system, MUM, or Multitask Unified Model, to expand their search capabilities so users can better explore complex topics. Despite its wonky name, MUM, along with other artificial intelligence innovations, is intended to make search feel more natural and intuitive. To do this, MUM works to understand separate components related to a subject such as word descriptions, images, videos, and draws connections between these different components....

Of particular note was a high-speed aircraft with a 5.5-ton dual-rotor compound set-up. It’s got the narrow fuselage of a conventional helicopter but with two long wings, each with a three-blade rotor on top horizontally aligned turboprop engine below. While the rotor/turboprop combination may be heavier than the tiltorotor found on the U.S.-made MV-22, it is expected to be less expensive to maintain. It’s arguably China’s first baby step in the world of high-speed helicopters....

The birds have had plenty of time to practice breaking into neighborhood trash bins. They do so by by prying up the front, lifting the lid, walking around to the side of the can, and then flipping the lid back. This innovative garbage invasion technique is passed between birds and a new study published yesterday in Current Biology, outlines the shifting techniques of this “interspecies innovation arms race.” The study says the cockatoos have escalated this fight further by thwarting human made defenses like rocks and water bottles....

And not just for sledding in your backyard for fun— climate change is making reliable sporting events a rarity even in the best places for skiing, snowboarding, and luging. What that means for the Winter Olympics in the future could be pretty dire. A recent report in Current Issues in Tourism outlined which of the 21 previous locations for the Winter Olympics could realistically host safe and fair winter sporting events by the end of the century....

Yesterday, Congress approved legislation that will compel employers and health insurers to provide the same benefits for mental illnesses as they do for physical ones. It hasn’t been an easy bill to pass. For 15 years, the mental health bill has been stuck on the House and Senate floors, where it’s been rewritten several times. Now, almost everyone is behind the legislation, including both parties, the President, businesses, insurance companies and the medical community....

Bongaerts and his fellow biologists ended up discovering through DNA sequencing that the ubiquitous Pachyseris speciosa or “serpent coral” that had long been thought to be one species turned out to be four separate, ecologically different lineages that evolved millions of years ago. These missions were part of a massive, years-long research project on coral diversity in the Indo-Pacific ocean, and have important implications for conservation efforts. They published their findings in the journal Current Biology....

A version of this article was initially published on February 29. It has been updated. COVID-19 has now killed at least 29 people in the United States. The disease caused by a novel strain of coronavirus thought to have originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019 has infected more than 121,000 people worldwide and killed at least 4,300. As of March 11, people in 37 states and Washington, D.C. have tested positive for the virus....

In a paper published today in the journal mBio, researchers with the United States Geological Survey announced that they’ve discovered the culprit responsible for causing a deadly skin infection in snakes, a fungus called Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola. “There is a fear that Ophidiomyces could drive at least some populations of snakes to extinction,” study author Jeffrey Lorch said in a statement. The fungus is responsible for a disease called snake fungal disease, or SFD....

This just goes to show that anyone who wishes to be an app developer can be one if they want to, and these days, you don’t even need to write a line of code to develop the app of your dreams. All you need is a subscription to the AppMySite Mobile App Builder Pro Plan, which is currently on sale for 97-percent off, thanks to our limited-time April Fools’ Day special....

But as with all sports, you only get to really learn by doing. Watching Tiger Woods and his peers from the screen can only get you so far, and real-life practice is what you need to be truly skilled. The good news is you don’t even need a country club membership to practice. You can do it in the comfort of your own home (or dorm) with the SLX MicroSim, a home golf simulator that lets you play realistic virtual golf games anywhere....