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You say you hate Instagram's changes, but your eyeballs say otherwise

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It's 2018 and UX designers know us better than we know ourselves.

Using Instagram feels increasingly terrible. But the numbers suggest the app is performing better than ever. What gives?

Lego blocks could be the key to detecting nerve gases in the field

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a pattern of colorful lego blocks

The worst toys to step on may yet be redeemed.

Lego blocks destroy the feet of parents around the world, but as a new study demonstrates, these mutable children’s toys can also be used for good.

Labeling GMOs might not actually make them seem scarier

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grocery shopping

Vermonters seem less averse to bioengineered food once it's identified.

America has never had GMO labels, and so all experts could do was make educated guesses based on polling data. But now we finally have some hints—thanks to the good…

These apps give you the best features of iOS 12 before the update rolls out

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iOS 12

Don't wait until September.

Apple's next-generation mobile operating system, iOS 12, won't roll out to everyone until the fall. But you can already access a lot of its features right now.

This Japanese fungus can dry-age a steak in 48 hours. Here's how.

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This barbecue season, try cooking with koji.

For the past two years, the Japanese culinary fungus koji has been colonizing the menus of America's top foodie establishments. Here's how you can use it to create a…

Immigrant children in U.S. detention camps could face yet another health hazard: contaminated water

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a young girl drinking water outside

Toxic chemicals common on military bases are especially dangerous for children.

And as the Department of Defense begins housing detainees on military bases, the children could face yet another health risk: contaminated drinking water.

How we discovered three poisonous books in our university library

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stack of green books

Arsenic and old manuscripts.

We found that three rare books in the University of Southern Denmark’s library collection contain large concentrations of arsenic on their covers.

'Waterproof' can have many meanings when it comes to gadgets

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Kindle in sink

Can your device withstand a dip in the pool? That depends.

Waterproof, weather-resistant, splash-proof, weather-proof, and all the other buzzwords that describe your liquid-friendly devices.

Our first contact with aliens might be with their robots

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bright multicolored stars against black background

Cyborgs, and interstellar probes and AI, oh my

SETI researchers are casting a wide net, tracking down as many promising leads as they can. But one thing they’ve started to realize is that if a civilization from…

Power-multiplying exoskeletons are slimming down for use on the battlefield

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lockheed martin adaptive exoskeleton kneeling

The technology has been long-anticipated by military commanders.

A raft of newly developed exoskeletons is starting to meet the slimmed-down, stealth requirements of today’s troop commanders. They see these power-assisting suits as…

Here’s some rare good news about coral reefs

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the great blue hole

Belize shows that a little local action can go a long way.

Coral reefs are a boon to biodiversity and marine ecology, and their declining health threatens our oceans with a loss of life that’s hardly comprehensible.

These charts reveal America's complicated relationship with exercise

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man running on street

New data shows just how few of us are meeting the recommended guidelines.

We all already know that America, as a country, is pretty inactive. Not nearly enough of us exercise nearly as often as we should.

For the closest shave, get naked—doctor's orders

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Dermatologists say to shave in the shower.

Want to get a good shave without hurting your skin? We asked dermatologists for their tips.

If we don’t want to run out of water, we should look to the sun

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Next generation solar technology could drive down the cost of scrubbing salt from seawater.

New solar thermal desalination techniques are making it a whole lot cheaper to scrub the salt from seawater.

Five rad and random games to play this Fourth of July

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The end-of-week dispatch from PopSci's commerce editor. Vol. 49.

My job is to find cool stuff. Throughout the week I spend hours scouring the web for things that are ingenious or clever or ridiculously cheap.

Two-by-fours are not actually 2-by-4—here’s why

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Lumber wood mistakes

We measure wood in a weird way.

Turns out, numbers actually do lie. Two-by-fours are actually 1.5-by-3.5s.

Can your smartphone stop you from getting hit by a car?

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A woman texting in a virtual reality experiment.

Scientists say, probably not.

Distracted walking might not seem as dangerous as distracted driving, but could be a factor in the surge of pedestrian deaths and injuries seen over the last four…

How to tell an asteroid from a comet, even when its from outside our solar system

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map of world with yellow and blue dots on it.

An ‘Oumuamua by any other name would still be as fascinating.

Wait, what’s the difference between a comet and an asteroid?

This self-driving grocery delivery car will sacrifice itself to save pedestrians

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Nuro

The vehicles will take part in a pilot program with Kroger in the fall.

In the fall, little robot cars will take part in a pilot program with Kroger to deliver groceries autonomously.

The potential for habitability on these exoplanets is tilting in the right direction

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an illustration of a planet

Life needs a stable climate.

Why do we have seasons on Earth? The planet’s axial tilt, of course. But the tilt does more than just push us from spring, to summer, to fall, to winter.
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