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7 ways augmented reality can change the way you use your phone

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7 ways augmented reality can change the way you use your phone

Pokémon Go’s augmented reality feature made a big splash, but the technology is good for even more than gaming. (John Kennedy/)

Augmented reality, or AR, is making big strides on mobile. Looking through your phone’s camera to see a bit of the digital world blended with the real one is exactly the kind of thing that makes us feel like we’re living in the future. But AR is not only about cute filters that give you doggy ears and tracking Pokémon as you try to catch ’em all at the park.

Apple, Google, and a growing list of companies and developers are all busy pushing the current limits of AR technology, so if you’re wondering how you can find new, practical uses for AR on your devices, you’ve come to the right place.

Measuring the world around you

Modern phones give a whole new new meaning to “drop a line.” (Google/)

Whether you’re wondering about the height of a tree or the size of your kitchen, AR can help you assess length, height, width, and volume without having to get a tape measure—or risk your neck climbing a ladder. Just keep in mind that even though AR measuring apps are constantly improving, real measuring tools will still be more precise if you need exact numbers.

Apple and Google, for example, each have their own similar measuring apps to help iPhone and Android users size up the world around them. Apple bundles its Measure app with iOS, while Google offers its identically named app to all Android devices that support Google’s ARCore platform.

They’re from different companies, but the apps work the same way. Just use the “plus” icon to drop a start point, move your device to measure in a straight line, and hit the icon again to drop an endpoint. If necessary, tap and drag any of the points you’ve created to reposition them. And if you’re the kind of person who’s likely to forget the measurements you just took, tap the photo icon in the bottom right to take a picture for future reference.

Designing your environment

No need to buy and assemble furniture before you see how it looks—just alter reality with your phone. (Ikea/)

Decorating can be stressful. Buying 5 gallons of paint without knowing if it will truly match the curtains in your dining room can be nerve-wracking, as can wondering whether that colorful new couch will be the item that sets your living room apart or just an expensive regret. AR is here to help. It’ll let you preview new colors for your walls or place furniture to see how it looks.

Ikea Place for Android or iOS will let you drop a host of AR-imagined pieces of furniture from the Swedish home store’s vast catalogue in whatever room you’re in. Doing so won’t only save you from buying something you don’t like, but also the pain of assembling it.

If you’ve ever fantasized about how your room would look painted black, give ColorSnap Visualizer for Android or iOS a whirl. It includes a feature called Instant Paint, which allows you to pick a color and see how it looks on your walls.

Learning about numerous topics

Human Anatomy Atlas lets you explore the body in 3D. (Visible Body/)

The possibilities for AR-enhanced learning are huge. Literally. See digital AR dinosaurs trample through a museum, put labels on your favorite stars when looking at the night sky, or learn about the different parts of an engine by breaking it down right in front of your eyes. This is an exciting area where we’re seeing AR being used in more creative and innovative ways every day.

At a $25 one-off fee, the Human Anatomy Atlas for Android and iOS costs way more than what you’d normally pay for an app, but it’s truly worth it. This app will show you a stunningly detailed rendering of the human body that you can explore both on your device and through crisp, accurately rendered AR. You’ll see the body like never before.

For astronomy lovers, the Big Bang AR app is available for Android and iOS, and is (fortunately) free. Watch as the universe is born and takes shape before your eyes, with every cosmic object visible from any angle through the camera on your smartphone. And it’s not just about seeing everything happening in front of you, but also interacting with it—you can rotate planets, get more information on stars, and even virtually join atoms together with taps and swipes, for example.

Navigating to your destination

Finally figure out the names of “the pointy one” and “that round one.” (ViewRanger/)

Finding your way around the world is easier when AR is riding shotgun. It can tell you which one of three similar-looking pathways to take, point out exactly where a restaurant doorway is, or help you work out which way you’re facing when you emerge from the subway.

Google Maps for Android and iOS, for example, recently rolled out AR-assisted walking directions. If you’re using the app’s navigation to walk somewhere, you’ll see a Start AR button that opens up the AR view. This includes big direction arrows and street labels that float in the air in front of you as you peer through your phone.

Another great example is ViewRanger, available for Android and iOS. This hiking app helps you navigate the great outdoors, and will identify each peak in a mountain range separately if you point your phone’s camera at it. ViewRanger is free, but the AR add-on requires a $5-a-year subscription.

Creating a masterpiece

No flowers in the park? Doesn’t matter. Just draw ’em. (Google/)

With AR, the real world is your canvas. Whether that means graffiting a blank wall without fearing potential arrest, or creating a 3D castle tower in the middle of your kitchen floor, this technology can help you unleash your creativity.

Just a Line for Android and iOS is a great example. Using your phone’s camera, you can sketch over the scene in front of you, view your drawings from any angle in 3D space, and share them with friends.

Something a little different is Inkhunter for Android and iOS. With this free app, you will be able to see what a tattoo will look like on your skin before actually committing to it. The app can help you get your design just right before application, and might even make you realize you’re not such a big fan of a particular sketch after all.

Socializing with your friends

Sure, the U.S. Capitol is cool and all, but like, what if it were also a confetti fountain? (Snapchat/)

Maybe you didn’t know it, but the biggest social networking apps in the business have built-in AR features that allow you to make casual communication with friends and family a lot more fun.

One of the apps leading the way is Snapchat, available for Android and iOS. When composing a snap, tap the little emoji face to the right of the shutter button and choose the AR object you want to drop into a scene. Whether that’s your Bitmoji character doing something absurd, or an overlay for one of the world’s biggest landmarks (like the Eiffel Tower or the Flatiron Building), you can change the world as you see fit.

Following in Snapchat’s footsteps, Instagram (for Android and iOS) also has plenty to offer fans of AR. You can access the ever-growing list of enhanced face filters by tapping the emoji face button at the top when composing a story. You can play with modern classics such as the kitten ears or heart eyes, or you can up your game by checking out all the new filters made by other Instagram users. Just go to the end of the filter menu and tap on “Browse more effects.”

Gaming, of course

Rude—who would chain up a hippogriff in a building lobby? (Niantic/)

Last, but not least, game developers are quickly taking advantage of the possibilities AR offers, building adventures that make use of the real world, as well as the worlds generated by your smartphone. The end results are often more immersive and memorable than your average mobile game.

You may have heard of Pokémon Go, but Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (for Android and iOS) takes the same idea and mechanics and transports them to the Potterverse. Find all the magical creatures, spells, and other oddities lurking in your neighborhood just by walking around and pointing your phone’s camera in different directions.

While not as elaborate, but still a lot of fun, Knightfall for Android and iOS really shows off how augmented reality can enhance one’s gaming experience. It’s a 3D tower defense strategy game that involves battles, bloodshed, and explosions, and it all takes place on your living room coffee table—or wherever you want to set it.

Written By David Nield

#DIY

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Techathlon podcast: Labor Day tech trivia special

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Techathlon podcast: Labor Day tech trivia special

iPad screen sizes are getting out of control. The water-proofing really has come a long way, though. (Stan Horaczek/)

It’s Labor Day here in the United States, which means summer is officially over and we’re headed into the heart of new gadget season. You can expect heaps of new devices appearing between now and the Consumer Electronics Show in January, including the new iPhone and some other, more surprising gadgets.

But, even though the temptation of a true long weekend is strong, we couldn’t keep ourselves away from the studio microphones. So, we present you with this bonus episode of Techathlon, which consists only of the 10-question Decathlon.

We’ll be back next week with a full episode of the show, but this week you can expect to learn about upcoming smartphones, self-driving cars, and a new era of Chromebooks.

You can listen in the player above, check us out on Stitcher, follow us on Anchor, subscribe via iTunes, or add the show on Spotify.

You can also follow the Techathlon Twitter account to brag about your knowledge or mock our failures. They’re both equally fun.

And just in case that’s not enough Techathlon for you, here’s last week’s episode just in case you missed it while you were scouring Trip Advisor to find the best beach hot dog stand to visit over the long weekend.

Written By Stan Horaczek

#Science

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A day on Batuu: How to make the most of your trip to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

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A day on Batuu: How to make the most of your trip to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

“Bright suns, traveler.”

As you wander through the winding streets of Batuu, a remote outpost on the edge of the galaxy, you’ll be greeted with this popular saying. The Batuuans, the inhabitants of this planet, are eager to meet new travelers and, of course, eager to entice them to spend some credits, the money of the realm, in their shops.

The second iteration of Disney’s expansive and immersive new theme park land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, opened on Thursday in Orlando, Florida. The 14-acre expansion to the Hollywood Studios park has a similar layout to the one that opened in Anaheim, California in May, save for a few small details.

Whether you plan on visiting Batuu in California or Florida, you’re going to need a plan to make the most of your trip to a galaxy far, far away.

The sun rises on the spires on Batuu at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Anaheim, California.

Sarah Whitten

Even before you enter the park, if you want to experience Oga’s Cantina or Savi’s Workshop, you’ll want to make reservations online. Those two experiences are extremely popular with guests and, therefore, do not often accept walk-ins. Reservations can be made through the app or website for each park and a deposit will be required.

For Oga’s, a fee of $10 per person must be placed when you book your reservation. However, Disney will only charge you if you do not check in for your time slot. Parkgoers will have 45 minutes in the cantina and at least one person in the group must be over age 14.

Drinks at the bar at Oga’s Cantina at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Anaheim, California.

Sarah Whitten

At Savi’s Workshop, where fans build custom lightsabers, the deposit is $199.99, or the full cost of the experience. Like Oga’s, the deposit at Savi’s will be forfeited if you do not show up.

“Reservations are nontransferable and may not be sold or bartered,” the company posted on its website. So, be prepared to show your reservation confirmation, a photo ID and the credit card you used to book the experience. Disney wants to prevent people from making reservations and then reselling them to other guests.

Bright suns

There are three suns that light up the Black Spire Outpost on Batuu, or so the locals will tell you if you complain that it’s a little too hot. So, lather up with sunscreen and drink lots of water during your visit.

There are several ways to enter Batuu at both parks, but regardless of which you choose, your experience will be similar. The park was designed so that visitors wouldn’t be able to see everything at first glance.

While some areas of Disney parks like Main Street or the Hollywood section at California Adventure have an open layout where you can see all the shops, shows and rides laid out in one space, Batuu is quite different.

Visitors to Black Spire Outpost fill the Marketplace on opening day at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, May 31, 2019.

MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images | MediaNews Group | Getty Images

“The whole village is laid out so you can never see the whole place at one time,” Scott Trowbridge, portfolio creative executive for Walt Disney Imagineering, said during a panel at Disney’s D23 Expo last week. “It’s intended to symbolize your role as a curious traveler and intended to invite moments of surprise and unexpected details.”

The design is meant to promote exploration and build a cinematic narrative, Trowbridge said. There’s a wide establishing shot when you first enter this area of the park where you can see all the spires and ships on top of the buildings. Then, as you weave through the park, you get close ups of Kylo Ren’s transport ship and, of course, the iconic Millennium Falcon.

This is a popular area for selfies and photos. Near the base of the Falcon, Disney cast members are available to take photos. However, if you’d just like to snap a quick picture on your phone, there are plenty of spots to do so. Head up towards Docking Bay 7, near the railing of the lookout, and you’ll get a wider shot of the Falcon and of the spires above.

Be on the lookout in this area for stormtroopers and their boss, Kylo Ren. The troopers like to survey the area looking for resistance members and will often stop guests to interrogate them. Also, it’s a great time to nab a photo or video.

The fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy

You may want to get in line for the Millennium Falcon ride early if you’re one of the first guests to adventure into Batuu. In California, the wait to ride fluctuated between 35 and 55 minutes, however during the opening in Florida, the wait time was significantly higher. Of course, that was opening day. So, the ride times will likely change over time.

Smuggler’s Run takes visitors on a mission to retrieve supplies for Hondo Ohnaka, an opportunist pirate who sometimes works with the resistance. Guests will work together to pilot Han Solo’s ship — yes, you get to flick switches and everything — to determine if they return to port unscathed or with a few dents in the hull.

There are six seats in the cockpit — two pilots, two gunners and two engineers. Each position has a different job during the mission from shooting down enemy ships to hitting the jump to lightspeed.

General view of the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ride at the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Walt Disney World Resort Opening at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on August 27, 2019 in Orlando, Florida.

Gerardo Mora | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

For those that don’t mind being split from their friends and family or are traveling solo, the single riders line is one way to get onto the Falcon quickly. However, during the dozen or so trips I took through this line, I was never placed as a pilot. You’ll likely be assigned the gunner or engineer position. So, if you are intent on getting your hands on the steering wheel, you’ll want to wait in the regular line.

Another great spot for a photo op is in the waiting room for the ride. Once you are assigned your position in the cockpit, the cast members will lead you to the interior of the Falcon. You’ll recognize the space as where Luke practiced using a lightsaber against a training droid.

General view of the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run ride at the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Walt Disney World Resort Opening at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on August 27, 2019 in Orlando, Florida.

Gerardo Mora | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

The second ride, Rise of the Resistance, is due to open in December in Florida and in January in California.

Although media guests were not taken through the whole ride, the walkthrough provided was jaw dropping. As the group stepped out of the transport ship after being captured by the First Order, there was an audible gasp. More than 30 stormtroopers were waiting in a massive hanger, all at attention.

Even without functioning animatronics or swelling music, the scene was awe-inspiring. Photography inside the space was prohibited, with media asked to bag their phones and video equipment before entering the space. Disney is keen to keep most of the surprises and secrets of this ride under wraps until fans can experience it themselves.

Promotional still of Rise of the Resistance, a new ride coming to Disney’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Orlando and Anaheim.

Disney

The Black Spire Outpost

In the marketplace, Star Wars fans can pick up a number of collectibles, costume items and snacks. From T-shirts and pins to toys and statuettes there are thousands of new pieces of Star Wars-themed merchandise to choose from and it’s all exclusive to these parks.

The Transportation Security Administration recently revised its ban on the thermal detonator-shaped Coke bottles and these items can now be brought in a carry-on or placed in checked baggage. Lightsabers and droids are also cleared for airport travel.

Coca-Cola, the official soda of Disney’s theme parks, worked with the company to create stylized Coke, Sprite and Dasani bottles that fit into the world of Batuu. The sodas are reminiscent of thermal detonators from the “Star Wars” films and feature the name of each brand in Aurebesh, the fictional language of Star Wars.

Disney

Additionally, certain costume items, like robes, are not permitted in the park. The no-costume policy has been a long-standing rule at Disney parks. Employees at Disneyland and Disney World often dress in costume, either at retail locations or for meet-and-greets with fans, and the company doesn’t want guests to be confused for employees.

The last thing the company wants is for someone to have a bad experience with a non-Disney employee and blame it on the park staff. It’s also for safety. Disney doesn’t want a young child to mistake a guest for a vetted staff member.

Tunics, robes and vests available at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Disney

Cast members in California told CNBC that items like Sabaac cards, Lothcat dolls and First Order flags were sold out and it wasn’t clear when the items would be back on shelves at the Black Spire Outpost. Kyber crysals and certain droid parts were also among items that were hard to find in the park. A bartender at Oga’s said the cantina has been sold out of its Rancor Teeth beer flights since the second week after opening and it hadn’t been restocked since.

Bob Chapek, chairman of parks, experiences and products at Disney, said that Orlando’s Galaxy’s Edge is fully stocked and ready for guests to arrive.

If you’ve scored a reservation at the popular Savi’s Workshop to make your own lightsaber, you’ll be able to choose from four different hilt styles and four different colored kyber crystals — blue, green, violet and red. However, yellow and white crystals can be purchased at Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities.

Building a lightsaber at Savi’s Workshop at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Orlando, Florida.

Sarah Whitten

The Droid Depot doesn’t have the same reservation system, but can get busy. Here you can choose between building an R unit droid and a BB unit droid. You pick the parts off the conveyor belt and piece them together with the help of some expert engineers.

Conveyor belt filled with droid parts at the Droid Depot on Batuu at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land.

Disney

The Droid Depot is also where fans will find R2-D2. He’s stationed near the registers and often beeps and boops around the shop to meet guests.

Fueling up

It’s usually a good idea to visit park restaurants outside of traditional eating hours. You can skip the lunchtime rush at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo and satiate yourself with Kat Saka’s Kettle popcorn and a glass of blue or green milk from the Milk Stand.

When you ask cast members and guests which colored milk is better, you’ll get a variety of answers. However, it seems that people are either in favor of one or the other, never both. You’ll have to take a sip to determine which one is more suited to your palate. I’m personally a big fan of the green milk.

Blue and Green Milk at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

Kent Phillips/Disney Parks

At Docking Bay 7, guests can sample the Braised Shaak Roast (beef with pasta) or the Felucian Garden Spread (vegan meatballs with hummus).

Ronto Roasters is home to the famed Ronto Wrap. It’s a grilled sausage and roasted pork wrap with a spicy slaw. Make sure you have a drink if you decide to bite into this one, it’s got a kick. You can wash it down with a glass of Phattro from the Docking Bay. It’s a play on a half lemonade, half iced tea drink and features a dash of pear juice.

Rising moons

Arguably, the most magical time on Batuu is when the suns go down. The purple-pink sky casts a colorful shadow on the spires and the whole outpost is transformed.

Warm yellow lights glow along the edges of the streets and in the marketplace. The air begins to cool and you can really hear all of the sounds the Imagineering team has integrated into the space.

The sun sets on the Millennium Falcon at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Anaheim, California.

Sarah Whitten

The sound engineers created nearly 3,000 unique musical notes and sounds for Batuu, from gurgling pots of blue milk to a screaming TIE Fighter doing a flyby over the planet.

As you wander the planet, keep an ear out. You may hear a Wookie, some alien species in the grass or the exotic, pulsing club music coming from the cantina. All of these noises were carefully curated for Batuu.

Then, once the land is dark, guests are treated to a fireworks show.

Fireworks at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Anaheim, California.

Sarah Whitten

The fireworks break right over the spires near the Millennium Falcon. Throughout the show, you can hear the buzz of ships and the Falcon will spit out engine exhaust.

As you exit the park, you’ll hear the traditional Batuuan good-bye, “Til the Spires.”

Share & Written By CNBC

#Top News

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How to protect yourself from nuclear radiation

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How to protect yourself from nuclear radiation

Sure, nuclear explosions are terrifying, but you’re more likely to be exposed to radiation through more mundane means. (U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency/)

On Aug. 8, residents of Severodvinsk, Russia, witnessed a tremendous explosion. Experts across the world are still trying to piece together exactly what happened—and Russian media outlets are demanding answers from the Kremlin—but it seems clear the explosion came from somewhere close to the Russian Navy’s nearby missile-testing range.

The current theory is that the blast, which killed five scientists and blanketed the immediate region with a still-unknown amount of radiation, most likely involved a missile equipped with a miniature nuclear reactor.

Though the incident doesn’t seem to have involved a live nuclear warhead, submarines armed with such weapons are a key component of Russia’s nuclear deterrence strategy—same as in the United States. And following the collapse earlier this year of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty that limited weapons-testing, the world may see more and more nuclear weapons tests. With them comes the increased likelihood of accidents and exposure to radiation.

As anyone who watched HBO’s Chernobyl miniseries this spring can tell you, massive releases of radiation are also possible in entirely peaceful scenarios. Maybe the next catastrophe will be the result of engineering mistakes and human error, like Chernobyl was. Or perhaps a natural disaster will lead to a nuclear accident, like the earthquake that triggered reactor meltdowns at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011.

Know your risk

Maybe the likelihood of being affected by a nuclear event seems too low for you to even consider worrying, but know that the most likely scenario involves exposure to radiation from a nearby source. So ascertain if there’s one nearby. If you live in Pennsylvania, for example, you probably already know if your home is one of the 40 percent of Keystone State residences exposed to radon gas. Those who live near an old uranium mine, a disused weapons-testing or weapons-assembly plant, or any of the nearly 100 radioactive locations on the Department of Energy’s “legacy management” list are probably equally well-informed.

The same is true with commercial nuclear power plants. If you’re one of the roughly 3 million Americans living within 10 miles of an energy-generating reactor, you’re inside an “emergency planning zone” designated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

But if there is actually a mishap at a reactor, the effects will be much more widespread, says Edwin Lyman, a physicist and nuclear power safety and security expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Some experts say anyone within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant or research facility should be prepared to take immediate action. That means 65 percent of Americans, including nearly every resident of New York City, could be at risk.

“You can’t count on the industry or the NRC to fully evaluate the potential consequences, because they put a lid on the events they actually worry about,” Lyman says. “That also puts people at risk.”

It’s easy to figure out if you live closer than 50 miles from a nuclear reactor. It may be a little more challenging to determine if there’s a weapons or enrichment facility nearby, but it can be done. Most weapons-assembly and research facilities, like the Idaho National Laboratory, are in relatively isolated areas and are not exactly open to the public. Though exactly what they do is a matter of national security, their existence isn’t a state secret.

Knowing whether you’re in an area likely to be targeted by a nuclear weapon is much easier: If you live somewhere populated, or with important military installations, you are.

And while understanding your risk doesn’t mean we should all be rushing to construct fallout shelters and stock up on Geiger counters, it’s still important to know how to react. The chance of a nuclear disaster may be low, but the cost is profound.

“They are events that may never happen, but if they do happen, the extent of the damage—in human, economic, and social terms—may be extraordinary,” says Alex Wellerstein, a professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology and an expert on the history of nuclear weapons.

Fifty thousand people used to live in this city. Now, it’s a ghost town. (Ilja Nedilko via Unsplash/)

In most natural disasters, the first rule is to stay informed and follow instructions from local authorities. But in the event of a nuclear threat, government officials may not be the best source for accurate information and appropriate measures, experts say. As the Russians are currently demonstrating, secrecy and obfuscation characterize every nuclear weapons program (including the United States’), and, according to experts contacted for this article, there remains an imperative to downplay the severity of commercial accidents—officials simultaneously want to avoid panic and preserve the industry’s reputation.

That means it’s largely up to you to protect yourself. Preparedness and awareness are key, but even if you’ve just moved and have barely unpacked, there are measures you can take to reduce your risk of radiation exposure and (hopefully) your likelihood of suffering radiation sickness or developing cancer.

Understand radiation

First, try to pierce through the confusion. Know the difference between radioactive material and radiation itself. Many natural things are radioactive—the granite at Grand Central Station in New York City, for example, has minute traces of uranium—but you’ll only be in danger if you are exposed to a constant level of radiation over a long period of time, or if the radioactive material emanates a significant amount of radiation.

Radiation is energy: the waves and particles cast into the environment by a radioactive object or nuclear event. Anything more than 50,000 millirem—a massive dose compared to the 620 millirem absorbed annually by the average American—tends to start to kill cells.

In short: Nuclear events are short-lived, but incredibly dangerous; radioactive objects are more common, but far less threatening.

Events like Chernobyl don’t last long, but their devastating effects can continue for decades. (Ilja Nedilko via Unsplash/)

About the only direct countermeasure you can take when exposed to radiation is to pop a tablet of potassium iodide. If you live near a reactor, your state might already stockpile the stuff, but not every state does. You can also buy your own. Taking a potassium iodide pill in the first few hours after an event may protect your thyroid gland from absorbing too much radioactive potassium, but it won’t be much help in protecting the rest of your internal organs.

Knowing how radiation works is also helpful. It’s invisible—you can’t see, smell, or taste it—but you can learn how it moves. Radioactive contamination travels by water—as in rain or streams—or air, so think of it like snow or ash and treat it the same way, Wellerstein says.

Which means…

Get inside and stay there

Even if you live in a major population center that’s hit with a relatively low-yield nuclear weapon of about 10 kilotons—smaller than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a tiny fraction of the nine-megaton Cold War-era bombs designed to destroy Soviet cities—you can survive if you take prudent action.

“And if you are very, very lucky,” says Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress, a professor at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

If you’re not already dead, on fire, or in a building that is—very likely outcomes of a nearby nuclear explosion—you’ve got work to do.

As quickly as you can, get inside and stay there. For days, if necessary.

Normally, you probably wouldn’t want to hang out in a place like this. But during a nuclear event, it might feel like a five-star hotel. (Isaac Jarnagin via Unsplash/)

Places like schools or government buildings are the best places to shelter. These are more likely to be built of concrete, masonry, and steel, which makes them better at keeping ionizing radiation away than, say, a wood-framed house. Even small American towns and cities have post offices or libraries made of stone. The more insulation between you and the outdoors, the better—a basement is preferable to a top floor, and a room away from windows or doors is superior to a balcony.

The good news is that the half-life of a nuclear event’s most dangerous particles is a few days—maybe a week. That means staying indoors for up to three days may be enough to significantly reduce your risk of absorbing a damaging or fatal dose, but it also means you ought to have stockpiled enough canned food and water for a long weekend’s worth of living-room camping.

Just in case, you should be doing that anyway: Experts say you should be prepared to survive on your own for up to 72 hours after a disaster—about the time it takes authorities to muster an “official” response.

Get clean

If you were outside when the event occured, you can reduce your radiation exposure by doing basic chores, like laundering your clothes and taking a shower. Radioactive material that beams damaging alpha, beta, and gamma particles into your body clings to clothing and skin, but it can be washed off, reducing your exposure. If you’re already the type who removes your shoes before entering your house and tracking dirt around, you’re a step ahead.

Improve your shelter

Aesthetics really don’t matter when you’re trying to hide from nuclear radiation. (Dan Meyers via Unsplash/)

Sure, a wood-framed house with drafty windows and cracks in the walls isn’t great shelter, but you can make it slightly better shelter by staying away from anything that’s letting air (and radiation) in, or closing them. Something as simple as hanging a sheet over a window or placing plywood over a door can still make a difference.

“Any space you can put in between yourself and the event, anything—even just air, or a few feet of wood—is going to absorb a little bit more of the radiation, and so what you’ll get is a much smaller dose,” Wellerstein says. Even if radiation levels are seriously high, you may reduce them by a factor of 10—so instead of increased risk of both cancer and radiation sickness, you may just slightly increase your cancer risk. Better!

Be prepared to leave and decide if you should

Now that you’re inside, in fresh clothes, and away from windows, you need to decide how long to stay and whether it’s a safe place to be.

If you receive an evacuation order from local authorities, you should pay attention to it, but know that such orders are sometimes issued prematurely, not at all, or too late. Since nuclear events are both rare and potentially catastrophic, as well as opaque and confusing, an incorrect response that triggers a mass panic could be worse than the actual event. “It’s really tricky for a government to figure out what to do,” Wellerstein says.

That leaves you with the responsibility of deciding whether to stay put or seek shelter elsewhere. Whether you choose to wait for an official evacuation order, or decide against it, remember you will still likely want to wait at least 72 hours after an event before you go outside again. That said, if you have reliable information that a radioactive plume is headed your way, you may wisely choose to grab your things and go.

Go shopping

Once the radioactive plume has passed, you should abandon that year’s garden. Don’t eat stuff that’s been outside, and if you had clothes drying on a clothesline at the time of the event, don’t wear them. It’s all likely to have been contaminated with radioactive material, so eating or wearing any of it would probably put a source of radiation directly on or in your body, raising the chance that you absorb a dangerous dose.

These are all viable options to protect yourself if the nuclear event is not too big and not a full-scale exchange of nuclear weapons. If the latter happens and you manage to survive the blast, society will most likely collapse and you’ll need a lifetime’s worth of DIY guides to rebuild civilization and survive in a post-apocalyptic hellscape.

Written By Chris Roberts

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Backyard fire pits to help you transition from summer to fall

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Backyard fire pits to help you transition from summer to fall

It may not seem very woodsy, but for the sake of convenience, it’s hard to beat a gas fire pit. They’re self-contained, can be placed just about anywhere from the front porch to a back deck, and light up with the press of button. On those late-winter or spring nights, a full tank of propane is all you need for hours of toasty reflection.

Written By by The Editors at Outdoor Life

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Banning mini shampoos from hotels won’t really reduce plastic or save the environment

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Banning mini shampoos from hotels won’t really reduce plastic or save the environment

The movement to ban miniature toiletries isn’t likely to make a dent in the global plastic crisis. (vaidehi shah/Flickr, CC BY/)

InterContinental Hotels Group will replace mini-shampoos and conditioners with bulk products by the year 2021. Marriott Hotels recently followed suit, vowing to ban miniature toiletries by next year.

But environmental activists shouldn’t rejoice just yet.

These announcements are yet another example—such as banning plastic straws, false sustainability claims, and corporate commitments that are far in the future—that seem to be more of a PR exercise than real attempts to move the needle.

I’m a professor of engineering and the director of the MIT Center of Transportation and Logistics. As I argue in my book *Balancing Green: When to Embrace Sustainability in a Business (And When Not To*), announcements of these kinds distract us from legitimate—and more challenging—measures we need to put in place to avoid environmental catastrophe.

Behind the headlines

InterContinental Hotels Group CEO Keith Barr says that replacing miniature bathroom products “will allow us to significantly reduce our waste footprint and environmental impact” at the conglomerate’s hotel chains, which include InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, and Holiday Inn.

It’s true that the British foundation Clear Conscience estimates that 200 million travel-size toiletries end up in U.K. landfills every year. But there’s another motivation: With 5,600 hotels, the savings for IHG can mount to over $11 million annually.

Additionally, studies we’ve carried out at MIT and elsewhere show that evaluations of a product’s environmental impact can mislead if economists don’t consider the entire supply chain management process.

For example, most of the carbon footprint of companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Cisco comes from the suppliers who actually make the iPhones, routers, and Xboxes, not directly from the company itself.

Additionally, the net reduction in discarded plastic could be minimal at best if the larger containers are filled from single-use plastic pouches. Also, we don’t know if the larger containers are recyclable, nor what the cost and environmental impacts of making, transporting, installing and maintaining them.

Even if replacing miniature toiletries does reduce waste somewhat—as other hotel chains join the movement and California moves to ban them—a transition to bulk products will barely put a dent in the plastic waste that now clogs the planet’s rivers and oceans. It is another “feel good” initiative which help avoid the move to more serious actions that can actually make a difference.

Banning plastic straws is another such example. While outlawing plastic straws makes for excellent public relations copy, it has virtually no impact on the global accumulation of plastic garbage.

McDonald’s and other organizations plan to replace plastic straws with paper ones. (Reuters/Toby Melville/)

Skin-deep support

At least the hotel chains are responding to consumers’ professed increasing support for green products and services, right?

Some studies find that more than 80 percent of consumers say they will make personal sacrifices to address social and environmental issues. However, when actually buying goods, consumer support for environmental products largely evaporates.

To try to explain the gap between what people say and how much they’re willing to pay, my students and I observed consumers’ choices in supermarkets in Boston.

These supermarkets presented sustainable choices in large green frames around the sustainable products—detergents, soaps, paper products and others—alongside “regular” products in the same aisle. Fewer than 10 percent of consumers chose the sustainable products, though the study found somewhat higher percentages among highly educated and higher income consumers. The sustainable products were, by and large, between 5 and 7 percent more expensive.

Given customer ambivalence toward paying for green products, companies engage in token measures that insulate them from damage to their reputations and the unwanted attention of environmental groups, which could lead to NGO and media complaints or consumer boycotts and lost sales.

Beyond that, brands will reclassify cost-cutting initiatives such as energy savings as sustainability initiatives.

One good way to green hotels is to restrict hotels’ use of energy-thirsty air conditioning. Another is to charge guests for not reusing towels rather than imploring them to reuse these items.

Granted, a slogan that states “our hotel will not keep rooms cooler than 75 degrees in the summer and no warmer than 65 degrees in the winter” may not increase a hotel’s market share. Even the replacement of the small shampoo bottles with bulk dispensers is leading to consumers’ apprehension.

InterContinental Hotels Group is considering flushing their mini-toiletries down the drain and replacing them with bulk items. (KR_Netez/Shutterstock.com/)

Futile gestures

Perhaps the most damaging fallout from symbolic corporate green “feel-good” initiatives is that they distract from actions that can make a difference.

More specifically, companies could focus their efforts on carbon-reducing technology. No existing technologies are available on a global scale, but a small example of such a successful international agreement is the Montreal Protocol to ban substances that deplete the ozone layer.

Governments could implement adaptation measures for the changing climate such as planning for changes in food production patterns and the massive migration that may follow. An example of a comprehensive adaption strategy is the work of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.

In a world where companies engage in tokenism to satisfy their customers’ false green preferences, the efforts by Marriott and InterContinental are perfectly acceptable. But that world is likely to be short lived.

Yossi Sheffi is a Professor of Engineering; Director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This article was originally featured on The Conversation.

Written By By Yossi Sheffi/The Conversation

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Healthy coffee alternatives for when you need a cup of warm something

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Healthy coffee alternatives for when you need a cup of warm something

Kick the coffee habit without losing the boost entirely. (Joanna Kosinka via Unsplash/)

There has been an endless debate on whether coffee is good for you. For some, not even the coffee’s science-backed association with longevity can overcome the downsides, like restless sleep, jitters, and withdrawal headaches. No matter where you stand on the ‘is coffee good or bad’ issue, coffee shortages are coming due to climate change. The good news is that there are plenty of healthy coffee alternatives out there for your morning (or afternoon) pick-me-up. Here are our favorites.

It’s a gooey black substance that packs a punch of energy. (Amazon/)

Shilajit is a resin formed by the decomposition of nutrient-dense plants that’s reputed to boost energy levels. For the people of Nepal and northern India, shilajit is a traditional breakfast staple, taken with milk in the mornings. Sherpas claim it as their secret for strength and longevity, but we like to drink it mixed in with tea in the mornings. It’s definitely a bit cult-ish and on the pricier side, but it’s a pleasant cup.

A morning buzz that’s also great for your gut health and immune system. (Amazon/)

For a kick of energy, add some bee pollen to a daybreak smoothie, or to your morning cereal, yogurt, or oatmeal. It boasts B complex vitamins, folic acid, proteins, lipids, and minerals that provides instant, natural energy. Unlike coffee, which can make cramps for women on their period worse, bee pollen also helps alleviate the pain. Some people actually just add it to their coffee, too. Just beware of potential pollen allergies—always test a bit out first.

Ceremonial grade matcha + mushrooms. (Amazon/)

While you probably shouldn’t take Four Sigmatic’s scientific claims too seriously, their mushroom matcha is a decent replacement for coffee. It boasts antioxidants, caffeine, and L-theanine, an amino acid they say gives you an energy boost without the crash. If you really want to lean into the adaptogenic craze, you could add the Lion’s Mane extract, which they say support memory, focus, and concentration.

A herb-infused brew with mushroom. (Amazon/)

This morning drink has all the properties and characteristics of coffee, without the crash: it has 5mg of caffeine, is fair-trade, organic, single-origin and is easy to make in a French Press. Founded by a mom who needed an energy boost without jitters or a crash, Rasa Coffee Alternative has an earthy taste, and some reviewers have claimed that it’s helped them quit cold turkey.

Culinary grade matcha green tea. (Amazon/)

Unlike other matcha powders, which can be too bitter, this Baatcha brand has a mild taste and is also organic. You can drink it hot or cold, with almond milk or coconut milk as desired. It’s also great to add into smoothies, shakes, and can even be used to make face masks or in baking if you feel so inclined to make green-tea flavored cupcakes.

A favorite from South America. (Amazon/)

Yerba Mate is usually meant to be steeped for hours and shared with friends—and is brewed in a gourd. The coffee alternative has a distinctive, slightly bitter flavor, but in addition to delivering all-natural energy, vitamins, and amino acids, Yerba Mate may also support a healthy gut. Pair it with your own gourd and bombilla (drinking straw) set so that you also cut down on daily cup waste.

Written By PopSci Commerce Team

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Become a portrait mode pro

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Become a portrait mode pro

A blurred background means a ton of likes. (Allef Vinicius via Unsplash/)

Portrait mode photos are everywhere these days. Some shots look great, others… don’t. So if you want your pics to really stand out, there are certain techniques you need to know.

Since it was introduced with the iPhone 7 Plus in September 2016, some kind of portrait mode has been available on most flagship phones, including the iPhone XS, Samsung S10, and Google Pixel 3.

Either the phone has two cameras and uses the slight differences between the images to determine how far everything is from the camera (like the S10 and iPhone XS) or it uses a single camera, some technical trickery, and a lot of machine learning to figure out what’s the subject and what’s not (like the Pixel 3). No matter the method, the purpose is the same: to replicate the blurry background look of a portrait taken with a wide-aperture lens on a professional camera, like the photo below.

An actual portrait from a 30-year old film camera. Portrait modes won’t be able to make something this good, but they’ll try. (Harry Guinness/)

But because every manufacturer’s portrait mode uses software to mimic an optical effect, they’re not always reliable. Your phone has to clearly distinguish between the subject of the portrait (normally a person, but sometimes a dog, cat, or superhero model) and, well, everything else. When there’s a clear separation in terms of distance, contrast, and color, that process usually goes well, but when there’s any ambiguity, the software struggles. Let’s look at an actual portrait mode shot.

Who’s that handsome devil? Oh, it’s me. (Harry Guinness/)

This one’s actually pretty good. For the most part, the iPhone 7 Plus that shot this image managed to work out what was Harry and what was not-Harry. Still, there are a couple problem areas.

I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to life than being really, really good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is. (Harry Guinness/)

If you compare my two shoulders, the one on the right is clearly separate from the white wall; it looks sharp, and as it should. The shoulder on the left, however, is off. My phone just wasn’t able to correctly distinguish between dark-Harry and dark-not-Harry, so it ended up blurring my black sweater into the dark background.

It’s the same story with the side of my face. Not only has the dark hair at my temple been blurred into the dark background, but there’s also a thin white line around my ear and sideburn, where the phone assumed some of the painting behind me was part of the foreground.

To be clear, I’m not trying to bash portrait mode. It’s incredible technology and the results can be super-good. I consider the photo above totally usable, but it’s a great illustration of where portrait modes can get things right, and where they can get them wrong.

How to make portrait mode work for you

Other than the slight blurring around Jeremy’s fingertips and a little weirdness around the edge of his T-shirt and left armpit, this is a great portrait mode shot. (Harry Guinness/)

Now that you have a better understanding of what portrait modes are trying to do (and where they’re likely to make mistakes), we can look at proper technique. You can’t just throw your phone in portrait mode, start shooting, and expect good results.

It’s all about the background

Because portrait modes blur the background, it’s the background you really need to focus on. You’ll want to pick one that contrasts your subject. If the person you’re taking a portrait of is wearing dark clothing, you’ll want to find a light background. If they’re wearing light clothing, put them in front of a dark one.

And it’s not just color contrasts we’re looking for. If you can find a contrast in textures, that’s even better. For example, if your subject has soft, floppy hair, you’ll get the best results if you use a plain background—a soft, textured background will end up blurring into their hair. On the other hand, if your subject is wearing a plain white T-shirt, have them stand in front of a hedge or another highly textured surface. Your phone will have an easy time figuring out the difference, and the background will look great in the final image.

Keep your distance

Portrait modes work best when your subject is between four and six feet away from you. Outside that sweet spot, the techniques used to separate the subject from the background won’t work properly.

The distance between your subject and the background is even more important. The bigger the physical separation between the two, the easier it will be for your phone to accurately gauge depth and take a better photo.

Vary the blur

The worst portrait mode shots are the ones where there’s just too much blur, and every transition looks soft and unnatural. The good news is there’s an easy fix: dial down the amount of blur.

Apple, Samsung, and Google all offer a way for you to adjust the amount of blur applied to your images. Use it to find the right amount for each image you shoot.

On an iPhone XS, open a Portrait mode photo in the Camera Roll, tap Edit, and then use the Depth slider to adjust the blur effect.

On a Samsung S10, you can adjust the depth slider while you shoot, or afterward by opening your photo in the Photo Gallery and selecting Change Background Blur.

On a Google Pixel 3, open an image in the Photo Gallery, then tap Edit and Depth. Use the sliders to adjust the blur, and even select a new focal point.

Remember that portrait mode portraits are still portraits

Okay, this wasn’t shot with a smartphone, but it nicely illustrates the tips for taking good portraits. (Harry Guinness/)

Images shot in portrait mode might look fancier than regular photos, but a bit of background blur can’t make up for bad technique. If you want to take a good photo with your phone’s portrait mode, you also need to take a good portrait. How? Glad you asked.

Use shade and windows

For portraits, you’ll find the best light either in the shade outside (like under a tree or in an alley) or coming through a big window. Both settings provide wonderful, flattering, soft light that still leaves enough definition for your subjects to look good. Hard light, on the other hand—like that from direct sunlight—creates nasty, harsh shadows, especially on people’s faces. Position your subject somewhere shady or looking at a window, and you can’t go far wrong.

Talk to your subject

The best portraits you’ll take won’t be the awkward, staged ones, they’ll be the natural ones; the ones where someone is smiling after they’ve just laughed or have thought of something witty to say. The easiest way to get photos like these is to talk to your subject, keep making jokes, and simply never stop chatting away. Don’t let it become some silent, fashion-esque shoot.

Shoot lots

And don’t stop shooting. The more photos you take, the better chance you have that at least one of them will be great. Portraiture is kind of a numbers game. I have thousands of photos of gorgeous people looking utterly ridiculous because they’ve just sneezed or I’ve caught them mid-word. Whenever you’re taking portraits, shoot a dozen pictures for each look, location, or pose, then choose the best one. Digital photos are basically free.

Don’t force it

Portrait modes don’t work in all situations, or with all subjects. If you’re trying to take photos of a moving subject, or in low light, it won’t work well, if it works at all—every manufacturer’s portrait mode kicks up a fuss if it can’t find a good subject to focus on.

Ultimately, portrait modes are a great technological solution to taking photos that isolate the subject, but because they rely on software, not optics, you have to work with them to get the best results. At least for the time being, they won’t replace dedicated portrait lenses—but they’re getting close.

Written By Harry Guinness

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When to give up on the food in your pantry

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When to give up on the food in your pantry

Your pantry either looks like this or like the place where expired food goes to die. Which one is it? (monicore via Pixabay/)

There are basically two kinds of people in the world: those who fervently abide by expiration dates, and those who don’t. The pantries of the former usually look more like a grocery store—neat and tidy. Those of the latter, however, are filled with stuff that could be exhibited in a museum, hoarded from time immemorial.

Deciding who’s right and who’s wrong depends on what type of person you are, but we’re here to tell you there is a scientific answer to the burning question: Is this ok to eat?

Spoilage vs. safety

All food can be classified in three large groups: perishables, semi-perishables and non-perishables. The first category has a limited shelf life and must be stored in a temperature-controlled environment. Foods such as meat, milk, vegetables, and some cheeses fall into this category. Semi-perishables, once opened, can have a shelf life of six months to a year, if handled correctly. These include grains, flours, and dried fruit. Finally, non-perishable foods are those that do not spoil. Ever. That could be canned food, sugar, salt, honey, or dried beans.

Knowing when to get rid of perishable foods is pretty easy—they look bad, smell worse, and usually have fungus, mold, or other types of microorganisms growing all over them. With non-perishables, it’s equally easy—they just don’t spoil. You can basically have them forever and they will always be good to go.

But things are more complicated with semi-perishables. It really depends on the product. “Most food that’s in a pantry has been manufactured such that it’s not going to support a lot of microbial growth,” says Renee Boyer, a professor at the Department of Food Science and Technology at Virginia Tech. “It’s tricky.”

This is when people who abide by expiration dates purse their lips and dismissively shake their heads at the ones who refuse to do so. But according to Boyer, it’s not that easy, because expiration dates have nothing to do with safety.

The myth behind expiration dates

“Wait… what do you mean these crackers are expired?” (RyanMcGuire via Pixabay/)

All the food you buy at the grocery store, no matter its lifespan, has some sort of “best by,” “consume by,” or “best used by,” date. Some people think this will prevent them from eating something that’s bad for them, but the truth is expiration dates are only there to ensure the quality of a product—its flavor and texture.

“[Manufacturers] choose to put a date there to give people an indication for how long that company is willing to confirm that product will be of good quality. It’s not a safety issue,” Boyer says.

Manufacturers pick these dates, and the process isn’t regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any other official authority. The only exception to this rule is baby formula. There, the expiration date is, in fact, an indicator of the product’s safety and is required by law to be clearly displayed on the packaging.

Time eventually kills flavor

In terms of safety, you’re good to use whatever’s in your pantry as long as there aren’t any pests in it. That 5-year-old canned tuna? Sure. That pack of basmati rice you bought two years ago when you wanted to mix things up a little bit? Go for it. That almond flour your ex-girlfriend bought earlier this year when she was learning to make macarons? No problem. Unless there’s something inherently wrong with the food from the start, you will not get sick from using any of these things long after you’ve purchased them, according to Boyer.

The real question here is: Will it taste good? That’s a whole other can of worms. If you have any questions about how long your pantry food will be good for, the University of Nebraska – Lincoln has a comprehensive list that will tell you the shelf life of your food at room temperature, in the refrigerator, and in the freezer. You can use this as a guide to make sure you’re not serving your guests stale crackers.

Make it last

Regardless of safety and expiration dates, there’s much you can do to give your food the longest shelf life possible. First, choose your pantry’s location wisely and make sure it is cool and dry. Boyer says a steady temperature between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal for keeping food at its best for longer.

Controlling your food’s exposure to the environment is also key to reduce oxidation and thus, staling. Products in their original packaging are good as-is, but once you’ve opened them, it’s smart to transfer any unused portion to a clean, tightly sealed container, Boyer says. Airtight containers are a good investment, and taking the time to label your food with its name and the date when you opened it will help you keep track of how long it will stay good for.

Written By Sandra Gutierrez G.

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The top 10 US colleges that pay off the most in big cities

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The top 10 US colleges that pay off the most in big cities

Geography is one of the first factors students consider when deciding where to go to college. Do they want the charm of a quaint college town? The bustle of a big city? Something in-between?

For students with their minds set on studying in a big city, the next factor to consider is cost.

The elevated cost of living can make going to college in a city a challenge for many students, but when CNBC Make It compared hundreds of colleges and universities across the country to create our first list of the U.S. colleges that pay off the most, we found that many of the top-ranking schools located in major cities were able to keep costs low for students and graduate high-earning alumni.

To develop our list of the top colleges that pay off, we identified the true net cost of each college for the typical American student — including tuition, fees, books, supplies and other expenses — after subtracting scholarships and grants. Using data from Tuition Tracker, we looked at the net cost for students from families making between $48,001 and $75,000.

Then, using data from PayScale’s College Salary Report, we divided net cost by graduates’ expected annual earnings. (You can read our full methodology here.)

To identify the schools providing the best value for students who want to study in a large city, we took a look at the 300 U.S. cities with the biggest total populations, according to the U.S. Census. Twenty-four schools on CNBC Make It’s list are located in one of these major cities. Fifteen are in cities with more than 250,000 people.

Several schools located just outside of city limits did not make the list. Harvard and MIT both enjoy close proximity to Boston, which has an estimated population of 694,583, but the schools are actually located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the population is 118,977.

Similarly, California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, did not make the list despite being relatively close to Los Angeles, the second most populated city in the U.S., and University of California, Berkeley, did not make the cut despite being relatively close to San Francisco.

Here are the 15 U.S. colleges in big cities that pay off the most:

Baruch College

CUNY Bernard M Baruch College

Ben Hider/Getty Images

Baruch College is one of 13 four-year colleges in The City University of New York school system. The public university is known for its business program and enrolls approximately 15,024 undergraduate students. The most popular majors at Baruch include accounting, finance and marketing.

Location: New York, NY Census population estimate: 8,398,748 CNBC Make It ranking: 10, public schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $11,473 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $57,100 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $107,600 Salary average, early and mid career: $82,350

Columbia University

Getty Images

Columbia University is a private Ivy League university in New York City. Founded in 1754, Columbia is the fifth-oldest college in the United States. Columbia students can choose from 80 areas of study but must take six required classes, such as Contemporary Civilization and Frontiers of Science, and must fulfill several requirements including taking a foreign language.

Location: New York, NY Census population estimate: 8,398,748 CNBC Make It ranking: 7, private schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $6,592 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $69,200 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $127,500 Salary average, early and mid career: $98,350

Duke University

Lance King | Getty Images

Located in Durham, North Carolina, Duke University is a private university. The southern school, known for its strong athletic program, offers 4,000 courses each semester. The most popular major among Duke undergrads is computer science and 83% of students study more than just one major.

Location: Durham, NC Census population estimate: 274,291 CNBC Make It ranking: 10, private schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $7,880 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $68,700 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $133,100 Salary average, early and mid career: $100,900

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Georgia Institute of Technology, often referred to as “Georgia Tech,” is a public university located in Atlanta. The school offers technology-focused education to more than 25,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six colleges and 28 schools focusing on business, computing, design, engineering, the liberal arts and sciences.

Location: Atlanta, GA Census population estimate: 498,044 CNBC Make It ranking: 5, public schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $12,284 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $70,800 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $131,900 Salary average, early and mid career: $101,350

North Carolina State University, Raleigh

North Carolina State University

DenisTangneyJr | Getty Images

NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, is a public university that enrolls roughly 35,479 students. The public university is known for its veterinary medicine program.

Location: Raleigh, NC Census population estimate: 469,298 CNBC Make It ranking: 22, public schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $13,244 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $55,800 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $104,700 Salary average, early and mid career: $80,250

Rice University

Craig Hartley | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Rice University is a private, nonprofit university located in Houston. Undergraduate students at Rice can study more than 50 different majors in the George R. Brown School of Engineering, the Shepherd School of Music, the School of Architecture, the School of Humanities, the School of Social Sciences and the Wiess School of Natural Sciences.

Location: Houston, TX Census population estimate: 2,325,502 CNBC Make It ranking: 15, private schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $10,080 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $69,200 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $133,600 Salary average, early and mid career: $101,400

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

Cooper Union Campus

Source: Mario Morgado | Courtesy of The Cooper Union

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Engineering, also referred to as “The Cooper Union,” is a private college located in New York City comprised of three schools specializing in architecture, art and engineering.

Location: New York, NY Census population estimate: 8,398,748 CNBC Make It ranking: 23, private schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $12,743 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $65,900 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $128,300 Salary average, early and mid career: $97,100

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago

Bob Krist | Getty Images

The University of Chicago is a private, nonprofit university in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. The school is known for its strong STEM programs, but the curriculum also requires students to complete courses in three areas: humanities, civilization studies and the arts; natural sciences; and social sciences.

Location: Chicago, IL Census population estimate: 2,705,994 CNBC Make It ranking: 3, private schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $4,536 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $61,600 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $117,500 Salary average, early and mid career: $89,550

University of California, Irvine

School of Biological Sciences, University of California at Irvine

Source: WikiMedia Commons

University of California, Irvine, is one of 10 campuses in the University of California school system. In 2018, the public university enrolled approximately 29,736 undergraduate students. UCI is known for its engineering and criminal justice programs.

Location: Irvine, CA Census population estimate: 282,572 CNBC Make It ranking: 15, public schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $13,820 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $57,700 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $121,800 Salary average, early and mid career: $89,750

University of California, Los Angeles

UCLA

Al Seib | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

One of the most selective schools in the University of California school system, the University of California, Los Angeles, is known for its strong athletics department. The most popular majors at UCLA are biology, business economics, political science, psychology and psychobiology.

Location: Los Angeles, CA Census population estimate: 3,990,456 CNBC Make It ranking: 9, public schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $12,416 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $60,000 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $118,500 Salary average, early and mid career: $89,250

University of California, Riverside

UC Riverside

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Part of the University of California system, University of California, Riverside, is a public university that offers more than 80 undergraduate majors across five schools. Located east of Los Angeles, UCR enrolls roughly 20,581 undergraduate students.

Location: Riverside, CA Census population estimate: 330,063 CNBC Make It ranking: 12, public schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $11,685 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $54,000 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $109,300 Salary average, early and mid career: $81,650

University of California, San Diego

University Of California, San Diego

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University of California, San Diego, is part of the University of California school system and is located in La Jolla, California. The public university enrolls approximately 30,285 undergraduate students and is known both for its fine arts program and its engineering program.

Location: San Diego, CA Census population estimate: 1,425,976 CNBC Make It ranking: 11, public schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $13,367 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $61,300 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $126,800 Salary average, early and mid career: $94,050

University of Pennsylvania

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The University of Pennsylvania is a private university known for its business program. Undergraduate students at this Ivy League school can choose from more than 90 majors across four schools: the College for Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Nursing and the Wharton Business School.

Location: Philadelphia, PA Census population estimate: 1,584,138 CNBC Make It ranking: 17, private schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $12,322 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $70,100 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $135,800 Salary average, early and mid career: $102,950

University of Washington, Seattle

University of Washington

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The University of Washington, Seattle, is the flagship school of the University of Washington school system. The large public university offers more than 180 majors and is known for its computer science program.

Location: Seattle, WA Census population estimate: 744,955 CNBC Make It ranking: 1, public schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $8,984 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $59,900 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $111,800 Salary average, early and mid career: $85,850

Vanderbilt University

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Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, is a private, nonprofit university. Undergraduate Vanderbilt students can earn bachelor’s degrees from the College of Arts and Science, the Blair School of Music, the School of Engineering and the Peabody College of Education and Human Development.

Location: Nashville, TN Census population estimate: 669,053 CNBC Make It ranking: 12, private schools

Average net cost (income $48,001-$75,000): $8,451 Median salary for alumni with 0-5 years of experience: $63,800 Median salary for alumni with 10+ years of experience: $118,400 Salary average, early and mid career: $91,100

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Don’t miss: Clayton Christensen Institute co-founder: This equation reveals how much you should borrow for college

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Devices that will elevate your watching to 4K Ultra Blu-Ray

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Devices that will elevate your watching to 4K Ultra Blu-Ray

The Sony Dolby Vision-enabled players provide more than just the ability to play 4K Blu-ray discs (which, yes, you do need a dedicated player for—they will not play on standard Blu-ray machines). They also provide a hub for an upgraded all-around entertainment system. The player improves contrast and color even when connected to a non-HDR TV, can internally stream Netflix, Hulu, and other platforms through a wireless connection, and comes equipped with Dolby Atmos immersive digital surround sound. It’s pretty much everything you’d want, unless you’re a gamer.

Written By PopSci Commerce Team

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Greta Thunberg crossed the ocean on a carbon-free sailboat. Can we do it too?

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Greta Thunberg crossed the ocean on a carbon-free sailboat. Can we do it too?

Greta Thunberg aboard the Malizia II. Her journey from Portsmouth, England, The teen set sail from England on August 14 and arrived in New York City on August 28. (Greta Thunberg Media Handout/EPA/)

I have travelled from Plymouth, England, to the UN headquarters in New York many times, often to discuss how to protect the oceans from climate change. The deeply uncomfortable irony was that the carbon emitted on my fossil fuel-powered journey directly contributed to the problem I was there to solve.

Greta Thunberg’s decision to travel the exact same journey to the UN Climate Action Summit on state-of-the-art sailing boat Malizia II shows that there are principled alternatives. But is there a way for the rest of us to cross the Atlantic without taking to the skies?

Thunberg’s 14-day voyage was significantly faster than the typical sail time of three to four weeks, but that’s still not for anyone in a rush. Speed comes at the cost of comfort, too. Pictures from inside Malizia II show a pared-down interior, even lacking a functional toilet on board. Such extreme measures are unlikely to interest most travelers and, at any rate, hopping on one of the world’s fastest wind-powered yachts isn’t an option for most of us.

But sailing is a more feasible option than you might think. Private boats cross the ocean constantly. New online services that match boat owners with travelers mean that hitching a ride is more plausible than ever. For those with the right skills, this could be as a member of the boat’s crew, and for those without, as a passenger. Some boats require payment; others don’t.

Malizia 2 is fitted with solar panels and hydro generators making it one of the very few ships in the world allowing trips like this to be emission free. Malizia 2 also has an onboard lab to measure ocean surface CO2 and water temperature in cooperation with Max Planck institute. pic.twitter.com/XKCDgaRYZt

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) August 22, 2019

The market is changing, too. Companies such as UK-based VoyageVert are actively exploring opportunities to develop sail-powered oceanic travel for groups of up to 200 people and envisage a fleet of transoceanic sail-powered passenger vessels. Traveling in such a way would drastically cut the carbon cost of crossing the Atlantic—though it’s not likely to be cheap. For climate-conscious travelers with time—and probably money—to spare, sailing is the only way to travel.

A transatlantic ferry service?

But what about travel for the masses? A potentially quicker and more cost-effective alternative would be to take a ferry. Many countries are connected by ferries, but a transatlantic ferry service does not yet exist—largely because of plentiful, faster, and cheaper flights. The closest alternative is to take a seven-day voyage in a cruise ship, which would set you back around $2,070 for a basic cabin and a return ticket.

This isn’t exactly cheap, nor will it save much on your carbon footprint. Cruise vessels are one of the most energy-intensive of all tourism activities, emitting significant quantities of greenhouse gases and health-damaging pollutants including nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide, and particulate matter. In fact, the carbon dioxide generated per passenger in a standard-class cabin on a seven-day cruise aboard a large modern vessel is approximately 1.5 times that of a single economy flight between London and New York.

Admittedly, some of these emissions will be from the many activities on the ship rather than fuel and basic power consumption. An alternative ferry service with many of the luxuries of the cruise ship experience stripped away would be more climate-friendly, though by how much is difficult to say as ferry companies don’t routinely disclose carbon emissions. And the isolation of a seven-day oceanic journey with few activities may not appeal to many travelers.

To make long-distance boat travel more plausible, hulking cruise vessels like this need to be reimagined in construction and design. (auphoto/Shutterstock/)

But the carbon cost of these journeys should come down significantly in the next 20 years. The traditional reliance of vessels on heavy fuel oil, which creates air pollution and contributes to climate heating, is reducing. Thanks to new International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations to substantially reduce air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions from ships in the next decade, greener fuels are slowly coming into use.

Like cars, hybrid vessels combining conventional engines with batteries are also becoming increasingly common. Cruise companies are considering even greater use of battery power in response to the new 2020 regulations, as well as to minimize pollution in the sensitive environments many of their boats disturb, such as coral reefs and fjords.

Other technologies such as solar collectors, conventional sails, and keel-mounted turbines are increasingly contributing to the propulsion, electricity, and heating of ships. My estimate is that collectively, these technologies could reduce carbon emissions by as much as 50 percent over the next 20 years.

But while these innovations will reduce both carbon emissions and damaging air pollution from vessels, if anything they’re likely to increase travel time. As such, transatlantic surface travel is likely to remain of limited appeal, even if prices become more affordable.

Hydrofoil technology that lifts a vessel’s hull out of water—thereby reducing drag and increasing speed—does have the potential to significantly reduce journey times. But for this to affect transatlantic crossings, the size and weight of ocean-going vessels would need to tumble, which means using much lighter materials that either don’t yet exist or are cost prohibitive.

Until then, journey time will remain the primary barrier to low-carbon ocean travel. For now, the only answer for most of us wanting to minimize our impact on the planet is to minimize how much we travel across it—especially when it comes to crossing vast expanses of water.

Steve Fletcher is a Professor of Ocean Policy and Economy, University of Portsmouth. This article was originally featured on The Conversation.

Written By By Steve Fletcher/The Conversation

#DIY

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Affordable, effective sheet masks for all your skin ailments

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Affordable, effective sheet masks for all your skin ailments

While they look otherworldly, sheet masks are pretty simple: paper or fabric drenched in serums and essences that give your skin a boost in just 10-15 minutes. They’re portable, effective, and facilitate incredible selfies. They come in the form of a thin mask with holes for eyes, nose, and lips. Place one over your face before bed, put on some relaxing music, and create a quick, rejuvenating spa-like experience right at home. You can use them as often as once a day, though two to three times a week is great too.

Written By PopSci Commerce Team

#Technology

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What it's like to eject out of a military jet

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What it's like to eject out of a military jet

A pilot ejects from a Harrier jet in Afghanistan in 2009. (Courtesy Martin-Baker/)

When things go terribly wrong in a military aircraft, the pilot’s last resort is the equipment they’re sitting on: the seat. And it cannot fail, ever.

The 200-lb ejection seat, with its 3,500 or so parts, is a remarkable piece of technology that not only gets pilots out of a crashing plane but also ensures they survive the experience more or less unscathed. If the pilot ejects above 16,400 feet where oxygen is scarce, sensors on the chair will let it free-fall to get its occupant down to breathable air as fast as possible, and only then will the parachute open.

British company Martin-Baker, and its French subsidiary Safran Martin-Baker France, control 56 percent of the world’s ejection seat market. Their seats equip the aircraft of 93 air forces worldwide, including the US’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the French-made Rafale, and the Eurofighter. Other major ejection seat manufacturers are American company Collins Aerospace (whose newest seat is the ACES 5) and Russian outfits NPP Zvezda and AO. All told, ejection seats have saved an estimated 12 to 13,000 lives since the mid-1940s.

Martin-Baker’s latest major in-service seat is the Mk16. Here’s how it works.

A complex explosive sequence

When the pilot pulls the yellow and black loop handle on the seat at knee level, that sets off an astonishing chain reaction that begins with three very quick sequential explosions. Seats designed 30 years earlier had just one ballistic explosion, the force of which crushed the pilot with 20 Gs or more (that’s 20 times your bodyweight pushing down on you). Today, the ejectee will “only” suffer from 18 Gs—still an enormous amount of force that would cause anyone to pass out if it were sustained. (Pilots flying fighter jets must cope with high G forces as they maneuver, even when not ejecting.)

Pulling the handle fires the ejection gun for .2 seconds, starting the ejection at 50-55 feet per second. Simultaneously the aircraft’s glass canopy either shatters, is blown off, or the seat breaks through it, depending on the aircraft model. The rocket motor then fires for .2 seconds with a 5,000 pound thrust, and then a top-mounted side rocket fires for .05 seconds at a thrust of 584 pounds. This side rocket (located to the left of the front seat, and the right of the back one for aircraft with two crew members) ensures the two ejectees hurtle different directions with the person in the back seat always ejecting first, to avoid being burned by the front seat rocket.

Straps tighten around the pilots’ arms and legs and an emergency oxygen supply is released. Then a drogue parachute at the back of the 214-pound seat opens. At the same time two small panels about 16 inches long and 8 inches wide open up on either side of the seat to keep it straight. And all of this happens in 1.35 seconds!

Then the small box at the top of the seat, which contains the main parachute (harnessed to the pilot) lifts away from the seat, the drogue parachute drops off and, as the main parachute opens, the pilot and the seat shell part company—apart from a section under the butt that contains the survival kit and a raft, which automatically inflates in water. These hang underneath the ejectee, deploying just 5.5 seconds after they’ve pulled the ejection handle.

In addition, the Mk16 seats designed specifically for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program have a 3-part airbag system, known as the Neck Protection Device (NPD). Steve Roberts, head of business development at Martin-Baker, says that the new Helmet Mounted Displays worn by the F-35 pilots are larger and heavier than previous ones, and their center of gravity is forward of their head axis—factors which increase the risk of neck injuries during ejection.

To counter this, two side air bags inflate just after the ejection handle has been pulled to stop the head from moving sideways. Then the third air bag, mounted directly behind the helmet, inflates. “The combination of the three air-beams act as a ‘pitcher’s mitt’ that supports the helmeted head to reduce the inertial loads applied to the neck,” Roberts says. Once the main parachute is deployed, those bags automatically deflate. In addition, this seat has an automatic arm restraint, rather than the passive one that features on previous ejection seats, to stop pilot arms from flailing during the ejection.

The Mk16 seat for the F-35 also has a “lightweight crew switch” which the company added when tests showed that lightweight pilots wearing the new, heavier helmets ran a slight risk of breaking their necks during ejection. “One of the first things the pilot will see when they climb aboard is a toggle switch which indicates ‘normal’ or ‘light.’’ If they’re in the ‘light’ category they choose that and it adds a few fractions of a second to the ejection but means they get a slightly more gentle ride out of the aircraft,” a spokesman for Martin-Baker says.

So what’s it like to actually eject?

Ejecting at up to 65,000 feet from an aircraft flying at 700 mph is a violent process. Despite the technology’s progression over the decades, you’re basically sitting on a small chair that has been rocket-propelled out of a malfunctioning aircraft, a parachute opens, you and the seat part company, and you land—hard. Legs may get broken, vertebrae may be compressed.

“It was inconvenient,” one ejectee says, dryly. He was in the backseat of a plane when it collided with a bird in June 1999. “The overhead canopy was smashed and there was blood and gore everywhere,” he recounts. “I didn’t realize it was the bird—I thought it was the pilot and when I looked in front he wasn’t there, so I ejected. I broke five vertebrae and so lost a few centimeters,” he says wryly. In fact the pilot was there, just bent over checking for damage, and later able to land the plane.

Another pilot, Paul Defoucaud, was 23 when he had to eject. “I wasn’t at all stressed, I remember being hyper-lucid,” he recounts.

But a trainee pilot who had to eject after his plane hit a large bird, says: “You are totally out of control when you eject and you drop super fast. I was sure I’d broken something.”

Another encounter with a bird caused Commander Matthew (French armed forces request that no surnames are given for those still in active service) to eject from his Mirage 2000-5. “The only thing I lost was my shoe,” he says, “but the decision to abandon the plane is not one that is easily made. I felt I’d failed,” he says.

Pilots hesitate to pull the ejection seat handle because “we know that we are condemning a multi-million dollar piece of equipment, paid for with taxpayers’ money,” Matthew adds.

Ejectees whose lives have been saved by Martin-Baker seats automatically become members of the Ejection Tie Club. At the induction ceremony during June’s Paris Air Show, French Air Force Captains Charles and Mikaël who ejected on September 28, 2017, from their Mirage 2000N just 200 feet off the ground, told Popular Science that they’d “both pulled on the handle at the same time.” Mikaël, who suffered a triple leg fracture, recounts that “when you eject, the right side of the brain just takes over and the adrenaline is pumping hard. My first thought when I landed was that I would see my kids again.”

A very few are double ejectees. Former French Air Force pilot José-Manuel Souvignet is one. He first ejected as a lieutenant in 1995. “My Mirage 2000 was shot down by the Serbs over Bosnia. We ejected at 3,000 meters [9,843 feet] altitude and 350 knots with our aircraft on fire. We both fell and broke a leg in enemy territory. We were held prisoner for 104 days,” he says, not wishing to elaborate further.

The second time was in 2008, when he was a lieutenant-colonel. “I was flying a Mirage 2000N when the fuel supply cut…. I directed it to a neutral zone and we ejected at 200 feet and 190 knots. The force on landing was as if I’d fallen out of the fourth floor of a building.”

But thanks to this technology he, and thousands of others, have lived to tell the tale.

Written By Christina Mackenzie

#Environment

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Humans started transforming Earth a lot earlier than we thought

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Humans started transforming Earth a lot earlier than we thought

Humans started farming and keeping livestock hundreds of years earlier than thought before. (Andrea Kay/)

Today, humans are changing the planet at an unprecedented rate. Despite the threat of climate change, we’re increasing our fossil fuel emissions. We’ve also imperiled up to one million species and altered over 70 percent of the land’s ice-free surface.

While the magnitude of global change today is unmatched in history, that doesn’t mean that ancient societies didn’t leave any impacts on the environment. In fact, humans have vastly altered the land they’ve inhabited for the last 3,000 years, a study published Thursday in Science suggests.

We don’t have an overabundance of archaeological data about how ancient humans lived and used their land. But the models we do have tend to underestimate the amount of land ancient civilizations used for foraging, agriculture, and grazing, the study reports. Those simulations used estimates of human populations in those times to predict land use. But, this “backcasting” is “essentially based on a lot of assumptions and a little bit of data,” says Erle Ellis, an environmental scientist at the University of Maryland and one of the study’s authors.

It’s not that we don’t have any information describing human activity back then—it’s that the information is scattered about in the work of hundreds of archaeologists worldwide. No one had taken the time to step back and look at the big picture. So Ellis and his team enlisted 255 archaeologists to complete a questionnaire about land use between 10,000 years ago to 1850. Their knowledge covered 146 regions spanning all continents except Antarctica.

The effort hasn’t gone unnoticed in the field. “I believe that large global patterns across space and time are the primary contribution that archaeology makes to the study of humanity,” says Robert Kelly, an archeologist at the University of Wyoming who wasn’t involved with the project.

“It’s an important paper,” John Williams, paleoecologist at the University of Wisconsin, told The New York Times. “Archaeology is moving step by step into the big data world.”

Putting all of this information together revealed that as far back as 3,000 years ago, farming, grazing and hunter-gatherer activities had transformed the planet. And 10,000 years ago, hunting and foraging was common across 82 percent of the regions surveyed. “We showed that hunter-gatherers are using the land basically globally 10,000 years ago,” says Ellis. “They’re just about everywhere and using a lot of land.”

This map of the global extent of foraging may be the first of its kind, according to Lucas Stephens, an archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania and lead author of the assessment. “There isn’t a model for foraging,” says Stephens. “That’s a big gap in our knowledge of land use.” Importantly, this lifestyle—which is sort of a catch all for a multitude of activities—can dramatically alter the land and environment. Many foraging-based societies used fire to clear forested areas for hunting, for example.

Around 6,000 years ago, agriculture and pastoralism (raising livestock) started to grow across the Earth’s lands, while foraging declined. At that time, 42 percent of study regions had agriculture. The surveys also found that intensive agriculture—that is, yearly crop production—began much earlier than previous estimates. In 27 regions, the onset of agriculture was over 1,000 years earlier than a model called the HYDE, or History Database of the Global Environment, had estimated. “We see hundreds to thousands of years of earlier onset of intensive agriculture in most regions of the world that currently have agriculture,” says Ellis. “It’s a much deeper view of when humans first began to run agriculture continuously over the landscape.”

The results can help sharpen models like those used to predict climate change, says Ellis. But what he finds most interesting is how these findings illustrate just how long human lives have been intertwined with the environment, an idea that informs conservation efforts. In some regions, plants and animals may have evolved within the context of human land use. “So, when we think about conservation we have to include the knowledge of local people,” says Ellis.

The findings may also add fuel to the fiery debate among archaeologists and geologists over the Anthropocene, a proposed geologic epoch defined by human influence. While it only constitutes about a millimeter of tissue on the entire toilet paper roll of Earth’s history, some scientists argue we’re so profoundly changing Earth that it demands a formal geologic description. In May, a panel called the Anthropocene Working Group voted to define this period as starting in the mid-20th century—a time of rapid population growth, accelerated use of fossil fuels, and the first atomic bomb blasts.

Ellis, who is a member of the working group, disagrees with that move. “There’s no question that we have a dramatic acceleration of human transformation of Earth around that time,” says Ellis. “But, that said, it took thousands of years for this freight train to get up to speed…You can’t understand the depth of our transformation of Earth without understanding this much deeper acceleration over the long term.”

Written By Ula Chrobak

#Space

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SpaceX hops toward the next generation of rockets with latest flight test

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SpaceX hops toward the next generation of rockets with latest flight test

SpaceX’s new engine, the Raptor, pushes a prototype vehicle above Boca Chica, Texas. (SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP./)

It was one giant leap for a silo-shaped prototype, one small hop for SpaceX’s Martian ambitions.

The 60-foot-tall “Starhopper,” a partial mockup of the vehicle Elon Musk hopes will one day land on other worlds, soared nearly 500 feet into the Texas sky on Tuesday afternoon. This second and final test flight represents the most significant trial yet of the company’s Raptor engine. While the trial frustrated residents in Boca Chica, many of whom evacuated their homes for safety concerns, it encouraged aerospace enthusiasts with its demonstration of a new type of rocket that runs on methane—an essential feature for a space program targeting the moon and beyond.

“People have talked about using methane engines for decades, and they’re finally here,” says Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and spaceflight historian.

Tuesday’s flight was the latest run in a sequence of increasingly demanding experiments for the Raptor engine. After years of development, SpaceX began test firings with the contraption on its side and locked in place. It then followed with two more tests of the prototype nose up and tethered. The six-story, stainless steel cylinder finally flew freely for the first time in July, hovering a few dozen feet off the ground—although a cloud of billowing smoke obscured the vehicle for most of the time.

Tuesday’s round marked SpaceX’s second flight attempt this week—a day after an electrical issue stopped the Raptor’s igniter (like a spark plug for rockets) from setting off the controlled explosion just as the countdown hit zero. The more recent, successful test showcased the engine’s capabilities in a clearer light. It rose about 50 stories into the air, appearing to hover above the mottled brown and green landscape before touching down on a nearby pad. The full flight clocked in at 57 seconds.

In addition to tens of thousands of online viewers following various livestreams, a number of Boca Chica residents watched the hop too—although not necessarily out of interest. Fearing that a “malfunction” such as an explosion could shatter windows in nearby houses, the police department handed out fliers asking people to leave their homes (with their pets) when they heard the wail of a siren, ten minutes before flight.

Rocket scientists and aficionados, however, embraced the display of technology that will likely power the next generation of spacecraft. The single-engine Starhopper is a baby step toward the full vision: a 35-engine booster rocket (the Big Falcon Rocket) and a six-engine “Starship” spacecraft that Musk hopes will someday carry people to the moon and Mars.

“This is a key test of the Raptor in flight,” McDowell says.

The Raptor replaces the company’s Merlin family of engines, which ran on a refined form of kerosene, like most traditional rocket engines. The oil emerged as the industry favorite in the 1950s because it offered the most push per pound of fuel. Methane, however, has other advantages. In addition to producing fewer toxins, it’s the obvious choice for anyone who wants to leave this planet—and its abundant stockpiles of energy—behind.

Even if Mars were somehow hiding an unexpectedly rich fossil record, petroleum, the source of kerosene, needs a lot of processing to be turned into rocket fuel. Future astronauts could manufacture methane on Mars, though, by shuffling around the carbon and hydrogen atoms in the planet’s naturally occurring ice and CO2-rich atmosphere, McDowell explains. Leftover oxygen atoms could be turned into liquid to make up the other half of the explosive formula. Looking even farther out into the solar system, the compound appears to be everywhere. “In the lakes of Titan,” McDowell says, “you can put in a teacup and scoop up some methane.”

NASA has fired methane rockets on the ground and with small aerial craft before, but this week’s SpaceX flight cues their debut on a large-scale vehicle intended for orbit—putting the commercial company on track to be the first to use them for suborbital and orbital flights, possibly as soon as 2020.

But Musk and his team will have competition. Blue Origin, an aerospace company run by Jeff Bezos that’s also developing reusable rockets, has similarly chosen methane as the fuel for its BE-4 engine. The company carried out firing tests at full power in early August and hopes to use the model to push its upcoming New Glenn vehicle into orbit in the early 2020s.

Now that SpaceX has gotten its Raptor off the ground, the next technical hurdle will be turning what looks like a “flying water tower” into a proper spacecraft that can withstand the heat generated by hurtling through the atmosphere at multiple times the speed of sound. The engine will also have to prove itself under various air pressures at different altitudes, as well as in the vacuum of space.

These environments aren’t likely to foil SpaceX’s veteran engineers, McDowell says. Instead, he thinks the real test of the Raptor’s design will be whether unforeseen bugs like corrosion or clogged fuel lines crop up during the longer firing durations needed for it to actually travel somewhere.

Nevertheless, McDowell expects that between SpaceX and Blue Origin, a new era of rocket engines is on its way. “Methane engines are coming,” he says, “and this is the first real serious free flight.”

Written By Charlie Wood

#Science

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