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To visualize this (mostly invisible) form of political action, artist-researcher Mauro Martino, sociologist Sasha Goodman, and other members of Northeastern University’s LazerLab team created software to download, process, and geocode data from thousands of files submitted to the Federal Election Commission by political action committees (PACs). Next, they used several visualization tools to create an animation showing the location and timing of campaign contributions throughout 2012. They zeroed in on Boston, because that’s where they live, but the model could be applied anywhere....

Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance, has backed out of contracts with both Chinese and, more recently, American and European suppliers. Instead it appears Turkey will turn towards a collaboration between state-owned defense companies, Roketsan and Aselsan. As with most technologically advanced weaponry, it is faster and often cheaper to collaborate with a country that’s already developed the weapon. Aselsan is already making both short- and medium-range anti-air missiles, which are scheduled to finish development by 2018 and should be capable of hitting targets 15 miles away and 30,000 feet above the ground....

Earlier this summer, Bethesda released the smaller Fallout Shelter game for mobile devices. The game played in the familiar genre of resource management. Players, with a small starting base and a few survivors, had to expand a vault that could sustain a growing population, while keeping the residents safe from hostile raiders of radioactive cockroach infestations. It was a good tool for building anticipation. The Fallout universe, and every game in the series, is defined by centuries of isolation before returning to the world....

The AIAIAI TMA-2 Studio Wireless+ headphones’ design Just as AIAIAI has aimed to achieve something technologically unique with the TMA-2 Studio Wireless+ headphones, the Copenhagen, Denmark-based company also gives its headphones a signature look. Their modern, stark appearance comes with materials that are smooth to the touch. The headband is minimally padded, but it’s still comfortable and light on the head. And the ear cushions, lined with Alcantara vegan suede, are soft and feel good for extended use....

Only a narrow band of people are really that affected by daylight saving. But gosh darn it, we will complain about it loudly every year. The annual springtime switch to daylight saving time (DST) is the hour that launched a thousand angry articles. And honestly, this is one of the few events that actually warrants them. DST, in addition to not actually being invented by America’s favorite founding father Benjamin Franklin, is mostly a terrible idea....

14-Inch Apple MacBook Pro, $1,599.99 (Was $1,999.99) The 14-Inch MacBook Pro is well-built, powerful, and typically very expensive. The $500 discount available now brings it down to $1,500, which is still expensive but a lot more affordable than usual. This machine features an ultra-high resolution monitor, 16GB of RAM (memory), a 512GB SSD (Solid State Drive), and Apple’s custom-made M1 Pro processor. It’s powerful enough to edit 4K video, high-resolution images, or 32-track audio recordings without a sweat—you may not even hear the fan spin up....

Salmon and trout are anadromous: They hatch in rivers, spend their lives at sea, then return to their birthplaces to reproduce and die. Here on the Snake in eastern Washington, that means traversing four hydroelectric dams, an arduous undertaking few complete. The Lower Granite is the last barrier between this chinook and its spawning grounds. It is one of 13 salmon and trout species in the Pacific Northwest that the federal government lists as threatened or endangered....

The lock protects data using a random sequence of numbers from light particles. At the moment, data is protected using a key distribution system based on mathematical algorithms. But, with enough time and effort, those algorithms can be cracked. The quantum cryptographic light lock, on the other hand, takes advantage of the laws of nature by using photons—individual light particles—to create completely random codes through an optical array. When these codes are transferred to the receiving end through fiber-optic cables, it waits till it is verified through communication partners before creating a fail-safe key....

As for me, I’m having trouble simply tossing Watney’s tubers into bins marked Large and Small. Everything in my field of vision indicates I’m in a Martian habitat. In reality, I am at the Twentieth Century Fox Innovation Lab in Los Angeles, comfortable in a leather D-Box motion-simulator chair, a game controller in each hand, an Oculus Rift on my head, breathing pleasantly air-conditioned Earth air as I test-drive The Martian VR Experience....

Inside the iPad Pro is Apple’s new A9X processor, which claims to be faster than 1.8 times faster than the iPad line’s previous processor and 22 times faster than the original iPad. This processor allows the newest iPad to multitask, running apps side-by-side on its relatively huge display. Apple also claims that the iPad Pro will get 10 hours of battery life, and packed with TouchID. There is also an LTE option available....

But experts caution those eager to jump in on the HBOT wellness trend. They say that there’s a lack of strong evidence showing this pricey treatment has any effects on aging. Plus, while hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be safe when done properly, when it’s not, it can be incredibly dangerous, and the emerging market for spa treatments and at-home devices is highly unregulated. HBOT isn’t new to the medical world—or, for that matter, to the so-called wellness world....

The robot, featured in a new study in the journal Science Robotics, learned not just with AI, but also through computer simulation on a desktop, a much faster approach than teaching a robotic new tricks in the real, physical world. In fact, simulation is roughly 1,000-times faster than the real world, according to the study. This isn’t the only arena for which simulation is important: In the world of self-driving cars, time in simulation is a crucial way that companies test and refine the software that operates the vehicles....

Dark matter, the mysterious theoretical substance that makes up 27 percent of our universe and doesn’t emit light, exerts a gravitational pull on regular matter. In scientists’ current picture of how a galaxy is born, dark matter is essential because it’s pull creates a base that galaxies form on. “In our current understanding of galaxy formation, and evolution, galaxies form in the center of very massive dark matter halos,” says Pavel Mancera Piña, an astronomer at the University of Groningen and the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) who led a recent project studying an “ultra-diffuse” galaxy called AGC 114905, to be published in the scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society....

Argo AI was founded in 2016 by former staff of Google and Uber’s self-driving car programs. After securing $1 billion in investment from Ford in 2017 (and a further $2.6 billion from Ford and VW a few years later), it quickly became one of the most promising operators of autonomous vehicles. Just this year it expanded its testing cities to cover Miami, Austin, Palo Alto, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., and internationally in Munich and Hamburg, Germany....

So, what is beer foam? At its most basic, beer foam is a thin film of liquid, stabilized by various molecules including hop-derived organic acids and glycoproteins, around a volume of gas. Those glycoproteins–proteins with attached sugar groups–come in many forms, but today we are primarily interested in those called mannoproteins. That is, each protein chain has many mannose–a six-carbon sugar very similar to glucose–molecules attached to it. The protein part of the glycoprotein is mostly hydrophobic, while the mannose side-groups with their myriad -OH groups are hydrophilic....

But a sleek new prototype from Bell partially fuses these concepts together, giving its new military helicopter a detachable wing that can help it achieve fast speeds of around 180 to 200 knots (207 – 230 mph). Bell’s aircraft, called the 360 Invictus, is a candidate to be the US Army’s next armed reconnaissance helicopter. It’s competing directly against an aircraft from Sikorsky, called the Raider X. Both competitors’ prototypes are part of an Army program called FARA, which stands for Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft....

Best overall: LG C1Best OLED: LG G1Best budget: TCL 6-Series Google TV (R646) Bestfor gaming: Vizio P-SeriesBest QLED: Samsung QN90A How we picked the best 75-inch TVs I’ve covered consumer electronics for more than 10 years for sites like TechnoBuffalo, XDA Developers, and iMore. During that time I’ve seen my fair share of TVs—especially when browsing the halls at CES, where TV displays go on for what feels like miles. I love to escape into a good movie, so finding the right TV is a big deal to me....

What to consider when buying a new candle warmer What are you burning? There are usually two ways to use a candle warmer: place a full candle on top of the plate, or place melts (cubes of wax) in a little bowl on top of the warmer. If you have a favorite candle that you restock regularly, get a candle warmer that essentially functions as a hot plate. But if you don’t mind switching to melts, you can get a warmer that looks a little cuter and only requires a few cubes....

Best dog slippers: PUPTECK Anti-Slip Dog SocksBest dog shoes for hot pavement: QUMY Dog ShoesBest dog rain boots: GGR Dog ShoesBest dog snow boots: ZEKOO Australian BootsBest budget dog booties: TEOZZO Dog Boots How to pick a shoo-in for best dog gear There are a couple of features that the best dog shoes should have across the board. Firstly, they should easily slide on and off of your dog’s paws when you’re putting them on and taking them off, but they should also stay on for the duration of your dog’s activity....