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“They don’t cause any damage,” says Perotti, associate professor at the University of Reading. “All people with healthy skin carry the mites. We should love them and care for them.” And now, genetic research is giving a new glimpse into the lifestyle and adaptations of our most intimate neighbors. Published this week in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, co-lead author Perotti and a team of biologists completed the first ever genome sequence of Demodex folliculorum, one of two species of skin mite that is present on more than 90 percent of humans....

Whether you’re on desktop or mobile, if you’re on Facebook and see one of these new 360-degree videos published by media outlets, you can tap, click, or drag the video to change your viewing angle and see the action happening all around you. And the experience is even more immersive if you’re one of the lucky few software developers who has early access to an Oculus Rift VR headset (the consumer model is coming early 2016)....

SpaceNews reports that this will be the final flight of the old version of the Falcon 9 rocket. The company recently launched and landed its souped-up Falcon 9 v.1.2, which is outfitted to have 30 percent more thrust. If the company is successful in landing on the platform, it’ll be for the first time. Although SpaceX has managed to land their rocket on solid ground, a swaying ocean platform presents extra difficulties, and the company’s previous attempts have ended in flames....

French manufacturer Focal has been making audiophile loudspeakers and professional studio monitors (as well as PopSci‘s best overall headphones) for decades; its speakers are mainstays in many of the world’s leading music lounges and mastering studios. Top-of-the-line Focals run well into the six-figure range; fortunately for the price-conscious prosumer, its Alpha Evo line provides an entry point into professional Focal technology at a fraction of that cost. With the second-generation Alpha Series, Focal introduces a range of features and upgrades and expands the family with two new models....

But rather than close shop, the site simply shifted its focus to the international market. In the Philippines (and also Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, where the site is also popular), many consumers lack computers, and broadband connections aren’t nearly as widespread as in the West. But lots and lots of people, particularly the 18-25 crowd Friendster attracts, have cell phones. So the site started testing mobile applications . . ....

By measuring methane production directly inside each cow, biologist Silvia Valtorta hopes to more accurately determine the country’s overall agricultural contribution to global warming. According to the data, an average cow releases more than 70 gallons of the stuff every day. But a change in diet could reduce that. Cows that eat mostly grain produce 20 to 25 percent less methane than grazing cows, and adding tannin—a bitter chemical found in wine—to the feed could lower it further....

Masters candidate at Ryerson University Adam Harley has built an interactive visualization that helps explain how a convolutional neural net, a type of artificial intelligence program used for analyzing images, works internally. As seen in the interactive visualization, neural networks work in sequential layers. At the bottom is the input, the original idea that the computer is trying to make sense of — in this case a numeral that you drew — and at the top is the output, the computer’s final conclusion....

Learn all about letterforms and the types of pen or pencil strokes you can use to create them. Build a strong foundation in basic techniques, design terms, and compositional elements as you work through the practice sheets in this 128-page spiral-bound volume. Then try out projects where you are tasked with filling in the words on the author’s lovely designs, including a wreath and a monogram with floral accents. Ink from brush pens and markers can easily bleed through thin sheets of paper, so it’s important to have good quality stock to practice on....

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Starting today on Android, Google is rolling out the ability to use the Maps app without a Wi-Fi signal or cell signal. Users can look up an area when their phone is connected to a data stream, hit the new “Download” option, and crop to select their preferred region, which the app will then store for offline use. Users can also hit the hamburger menu button to reveal the left-side menu, select Offline Map, and tap the plus symbol button....

A study of 336 chimpanzees and 172 orangutans found a similar U-curve in their well-being, according to researchers in the UK, US and Japan. The animals were housed in zoos and sanctuaries in the US, Japan, Canada, Australia and Singapore, and keepers and caretakers measured their well-being. The animals received happiness scores, adapted from similar subjective measurements used on humans. It turns out they also experience a U-shaped curve in happiness throughout life, the researchers say....

These findings, released today by the JAMA Internal Medicine, may sound obvious. But since Congress has essentially withheld all funding for gun violence research for the last 20 years, large-scale studies of this sort have been few and far between. As The Atlantic reported, “In the mid-1990s, Congress declared that funding at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shouldn’t be used to advocate for gun control, and it effectively blocked funding for the study of gun violence at the agency....

Candy wrapper producers use a mix of plastics and aluminum to house their sweets and protect goodies from spoiling. But, the combo is difficult to separate in order to recycle. There are some options, like through recycling company Terracycle, that include a recycling box you can purchase and ship back to the company to painstakingly separate wrappers, but just one small snack and candy wrapper recycling box costs $118. Like other single use packaging that cannot be recycled, candy wrappers that do not reach a landfill end up in ecosystems, getting tangled in habitats, potentially leaking toxins, or clogging up waterways....

Protests at the building site halted construction starting in April of this year, cyberattacks targeted the TMT’s website, and activist groups challenged the project in Hawaiian courts. Now those courts have reached a decision. In a decision announced yesterday, the court determined that the board issuing the construction permit had done so improperly, issuing the permit before opponents could bring forth their side of the case. In a concurring opinion Justice Richard Pollack wrote: The court’s ruling revokes the construction permit, halting the building process....

At the University of Maine’s new Harold Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering Laboratory and Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory at the University of Maine, researchers from academia and industry will be able to test new engineering designs against the most intense ocean conditions. The $13.8-million facility will be able to test models of different technologies in the pool, which has an adjustable floor that can descend to a depth of 16 feet. Models of ships, offshore wind turbines, and wave energy devices will be put through the ringer with simulated waves and winds strong enough to rival powerful hurricanes....

But despite all appearances, it seems Biden wasn’t surprised by the announcement; in conjunction with Obama’s speech, the Vice President’s office published a post on Medium outlining the roadmap towards a cure for cancer. Cancer, as noted in the Medium post, is personal issue for Biden (his son, Beau, died from brain cancer at the age of 46 last May), but also for millions of Americans who have lost loved ones to different forms of cancer....

Confirmed planets Orbiting bodies dim starlight as they pass in front of their respective suns, which makes the fireballs appear to flicker out at regular intervals from our perspective. Astronomers think they’ve already spotted potentially telltale winks from more than 8,000 planets but have confirmed the existence of only around half that number. Rocky planets Mass really does matter. Rocks much smaller than ours lack the gravity to hold an atmosphere, so liquid surface water won’t stick around....

DARPA projects often start from a problem, one that can be specifically fixed by taking a new technology from theoretical to demonstrable. In the case of Gambit, the problem is the limits of existing rockets, ramjets, and gas turbine engines, which can be too short-ranged, too slow traveling, or too expensive. A better weapon should have greater reach to hit targets, faster speeds to reach them in time to matter, and be cheap enough that commanders can have them in the field and feel comfortable using them....

Some chew tobacco. Some sip coffee from Styrofoam cups. A few hack dry coughs. The group is worn thin. For the past 22 days, many have worked 16-hour shifts fighting a group of wildfires outside Chelan, a 4,000-person town. As of that morning, 500 square miles of Washington are burning. “It’s another critical weather event,” Ruthford says into a microphone. A National Weather Service meteorologist, Ruthford’s responsible for a daily morning briefing, with a detailed forecast for the wildfires known as the Chelan complex....