Natural Numbers

While medical exam gloves are commonly associated with hospitals and not the kitchen, they actually are unexpectedly useful for a number of cooking and cleaning uses that require handling extremely messy things. For example, you can avoid getting weird food gunk from getting ...more

The oven is arguably our most essential kitchen appliance (right alongside the fridge, freezer, and yes, even the microwave). But even though we've been using them for a few millennia, many of us know so little about our ovens that our cooking or baking can feel like a roll of ...more

Unless you're a bartender or a hardcore drink aficionado, understanding the different types of carbonated water and their best uses can get confusing. This is especially true since most people use the terms "club soda," "sparkling water," and "seltzer water" interchangeably wh ...more

For the vast majority of people, coffee is a must-have in the morning. It provides a stimulating effect that not only wakes you up, but sets your mood and attitude for the rest of the day. Personally, I wouldn't get anything done without coffee. Even just making coffee provid ...more

It's finally out. After months of testing, iOS 13 is available to install on your iPhone, which means over 200+ new features you can use right now. The update, released on Sept. 19, can be installed over the air or from a restore image using iTunes in macOS Mojave and older or ...more

Last week, I tried out StackAR, a puzzle app updated to support ARKit where the AR features felt mostly unnecessary. On the other hand, PuzzlAR: World Tour, available on the App Store for $2.99, demonstrates how a puzzle game should be played in AR. The objective of the game ...more

Disasters can happen at any moment, and when they do, it's often hard to find the right information to help you get to safety as quickly as possible. The internet is helpful for finding out safety information, but with so many people posting about it at the same time, it can ...more

Few companies have maintained such intense secrecy, in the face of such extreme hype, as Magic Leap, but the closer their mysterious Mixed Reality product comes to mass production, the harder it becomes to hide the details. Hopefully we'll find out way more details soon, as a ...more

Tell the truth. The bat picture creeps you out. You are not alone. But in reality, bats truly are some of our best friends. They gobble thousands of disease-spreading bugs a night. But they also carry viruses that can be deadly to humans. So, bats — friend or foe? There are o ...more

All fields of study have their own language. For people interested in learning about microbes, the language can sometimes be downright difficult — but it doesn't need to be. From antibiotics to xerophiles, we have you covered in an easy-to-understand glossary. Terms are liste ...more

While photography usually gets all the love, our phones have gotten really good at capturing video. Think about it — when was the last time you needed a camcorder for a vacation? With mobile cameras getting better each year, we're now at a point where smartphones can be used f ...more

When it comes to resistance to the elements, Samsung seems to believe in the old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." They've carried over the IP68 rating under IEC 60529 that was first found on the S8 all the way to their tenth-anniversary flagship, the Galaxy S10. While ...more

Welcome to the first annual Next Reality 30, our list of people who've made the biggest impact on the augmented reality space in the last 12 months — and what a 12-month roller-coaster ride it's been. Apple introduced ARKit-powered apps last fall, Google launched ARCore for An ...more

Crafting is an important aspect of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, as it helps you get animals to come to your campsite. However, it's also one of the best ways to get ahead in the game, and there are a number of reasons for this. Crafting serves as a necessary step in getting ...more

Just days after the launch of Google Poly, the marketplace for 3D virtual objects that developers can use for augmented and virtual reality apps, SketchFab, the current leader in the space, is firing back with a major enhancement to its platform. The company has announced an ...more

Apple's iOS 11 is finally here, and while they showed off several of the new features it brings to your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch back at WWDC 2017, they've only just touched the surface of what iOS 11 has to offer. There are a lot of cool new (and sometimes secret) feature ...more

Gonorrhea infections reached a peak in 1975, then decreased until 2009, when infection rate started rising and has increased each year since. With the rise of antibiotic resistance, those numbers are only going to get worse — unless we find new treatments against the bacteria. ...more

A recent case of Powassan virus has been reported in Saratoga County and may have been the cause of the infected patient's death. It's the 24th case in New York State since 2000, and will be reported to the CDC tomorrow, the NY Department of Health told Invisiverse. The tick-b ...more

The rumors have been confirmed by Samsung themselves: Samsung has developed a virtual assistant of their own, named Bixby. Bixby will makes its debut with the Galaxy S8 on March 29, with a "Bixby dedicated button" on the side of the new phone. Samsung senior vice president I ...more

Most people know atopic dermatitis by its common name, eczema—that dry, flaky skin that itches incessantly. Along with the scratching comes frequent skin infections, often with Staphylococcus aureus. S. aureus skin infections can look like pimples, boils, or red, swollen, and ...more

If you find yourself switching between Android devices frequently—for instance, your Nexus 6P and a Samsung tablet—you've probably noticed how the button placement can be different. Normally, it's back, then home, then the recent apps button, from left to right. But Samsung de ...more

If you want to keep the inside of your car smelling awesome, don't buy commercial air fresheners. They contain toxic synthetic chemicals which can be harmful to your health. Using recycled cardboard, fabric, a piece of string, a hole puncher, and some natural essential oils, ...more

The Calculator app is probably one of Apple's most-used iPhone apps, yet I always meet people who don't know all the little tricks there are to using it more efficiently. You may know most of them, but there's a chance you don't or at least forget about some of them. What a " ...more

If we were to assign a theme for the 2019 edition of the Next Reality 30 (NR30), it might be something along the lines of, "What have you done for me lately?" Many of the top names in the industry from the 2018 edition remain the same, but their positions have shuffled. The p ...more

Apple's iOS 13 has been available for beta testing since June, and the stable release pushed out to everyone on Thursday, Sept. 19. To help you make the most out of iOS 13 for iPhone, we've rounded up everything you'll want to know, whether a colossal feature, small settings c ...more

Cancer cells do a pretty good job of flying under the radar of our immune system. They don't raise the alarm bells signaling they are a foreign invader the way viruses do. That might be something scientists can change, though. A team of researchers has built non-infectious ar ...more

New research explores how the bacteria on the penis can leave men more susceptible to infection with HIV. Since 1981, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has infected more than 70 million people, killing almost 40 million. As research on a vaccine and treatments move forward, other studies ...more

Activating the body's own immune system to fight cancer is the goal of immunotherapy. It's less toxic than chemotherapy and works with our body's natural defenses. The trouble is, it doesn't work for most patients — only about 40% of cancer patients get a good response from im ...more

As headlines focus on melting glaciers and rising water levels caused by global warming, climate change is quietly taking its toll on the nearly invisible occupants of this planet, the microbes. In a study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, researchers fro ...more

In the ongoing search to find better ways to use antibiotics, an extract made from maple syrup has some surprisingly important medical benefits. As bacteria continue to outmaneuver antibiotics, our options for treating infections narrow. Plus, slimy bacterial communities call ...more

Responding to the emergence of Zika in the US, researchers investigated what type of repellent works best to reduce your odds of a mosquito bite from Aedes aegypti, the mosquito species that spreads the Zika virus. Scientists from the Department of Biology at New Mexico State ...more

Lighthouses and signal fires may have been the first social media. Without the ability to share language, a distant light meant "humans here." A new study from the University of California, San Diego, finds that bacteria can also send out a universal sign to attract the attent ...more

At an event in Mountain View, CA, and watched by fans via live stream on YouTube, Google announced a slew of new products today. Over the last few weeks, there was no shortage of rumors and leaks about what might be unveiled, but now the secrets are out. As expected, Google h ...more

It's the biggest day of the year for all things Google. Their developer conference, dubbed Google I/O, gives us a peak at what the guys at Mountain View have been working on over the course of the past year, and this year, Android was center stage. The central theme of this y ...more

Like Costco's price codes or the tags on your bread, the numerical codes printed on those sticky little fruit and vegetable labels can reveal a lot of information to us consumers. Once you understand the codes, you can look at that little label (also known as PLU, or "price lo ...more

Bees are the key to pollination and healthy vegetation, and wasps may help by assisting in pest control, but despite their benefits in the world, they're still a real pain in the ass if they're in your face. This would probably warrant an expression stronger than "pain in the ...more

After many beta builds, Apple has finally released iOS 7.1 to the public. It includes bug fixes for the old iOS 7.0.6, along with UI enhancements and even some new features. If you haven't gotten around to playing with iOS 7.1 yet, here are a few of the new features and impro ...more

Poison ivy, poison oak, and the lesser known skin irritator, poison sumac, can all cause a conundrum in the search of itch relief: to scratch or not to scratch. Fortunately, there are a number of home remedies one can try to help alleviate the itch(ing), with many like coffee, ...more

Augmented reality productivity software maker Upskill has expanded the reach of its Skylight platform with support for Microsoft HoloLens. Typically used with enterprise-focused smartglasses, like the Vuzix M300 or Google Glass Enterprise Edition, Skylight assists front-line ...more

On Thursday, waveguide maker WaveOptics announced that semiconductor and microelectromechanical systems supplier EV Group (EVG) will provide the manufacturing infrastructure for the production of its waveguide displays designed to support lower-cost, third-party augmented real ...more

With today's augmented reality experiences, we can see and hear virtual content, but Ultrahaptics wants you to be able to feel those experiences, too. The company has partnered with Meta Company to pair its ultrasound-based haptic feedback system with the Meta 2 augmented rea ...more

Life has many perils: parasites, predators, and pitfalls. Eventually, any organism will succumb, and if that organism has not first passed on its genes, those genes will face extinction. So, we are designed to procreate while young. Some genes will help us early in life, but ...more

This week's Magic Leap Lumin OS update contained a number of goodies, including iris authentication, and a way to stream to Twitch from the device. But one new feature really stood out to me, and that's voice control of the system's interface. Don't Miss: Magic Leap Used to ...more

If you have a taste for sweets, you have at least one thing in common with mosquitoes. While too much sugar is unhealthy for humans, a new product makes sweets deadly to mosquitoes. At a presentation at the 254th meeting of the American Chemical Society, in Washington DC, res ...more

Primarily caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, Lyme disease is the most common tickborne disease in the US. By all predictions, 2017 is expected to be a banner tick year in several regions. If you have children, it is important to know what to expect. Ticks can bite a ...more

Most people are familiar with the decline of honeybee colonies around the world. Among other threats, Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is eroding the capability of honeybees to maintain their hives and provide their services to human farmers. Not usually discussed as major driv ...more

The future of forests looks dreary in the face of a warming climate, but scientists are exploring the relationship between soil microbes and the ability of trees to move to higher altitudes, a key component of their survival. With the rate of ice melting and sea level rise ha ...more

We can add one more health effect of our gut bacteria to the growing list. Researchers from the UK have just reported that the gut microbiota plays a role, both directly and indirectly, on the toxicity and efficacy of chemotherapy. Their findings are published online in the j ...more

It won't come as a surprise to hear that your cell phone, tablet, and laptop are loaded with bacteria and other organic material. While most of these bacteria are harmless, there are good reasons to reduce the capability of your mobile devices to infect you—or other people. H ...more

Exposed to hormones, pharmaceuticals, and other chemicals, the beautiful wild fish in Canada's Grand River have taken on some pretty odd characteristics—they're turning into females. A long-term study suggests using bacteria to manage polluted water could turn the tide for fem ...more

The latest update to iOS 10 brought with it a number of great new features. Of these, the one that will likely have the most impact on people's iOS experience in the long term are the new apps and stickers for iMessage. Stickers make up the vast majority of what you'll find i ...more

Nothing gets me functioning in the morning better than strong coffee. And if I'm going to start my day with a dreaded workout, that steaming cup of caffeine is the exact motivation I need to get going. Although coffee might not seem like the best beverage to drink before hitti ...more

Are you someone who always struggles to wake up in the morning, no matter how much you've slept? For most, the thought of getting out of bed any earlier sounds horrific. Yet dragging yourself out of bed and towards the coffee maker a few hours earlier each day can have benefit ...more

If you have a good food processor or blender, there's no reason not to make your own nut butters, whether you like almond, cashew, sunflower, or the perennial classic, peanut. Not only can you control the taste, sweetness, crunchiness, and oiliness of the butter, you can also ...more

As the cooler weather starts rolling in your pet will need more than just his natural coat to keep the shivers away. Take him out in style by designing a simple yet elegant tailored coat that will fit him perfectly. Here is an easy lined tailored coat with a nice thick comfort ...more

Almost 20% of the US population (about 60 million Americans) live in rural areas where mobile reception is weak or nonexistent. In times of crisis, these Americans can't rely on the internet to communicate with loved ones or receive new information. This is why being able to i ...more

On Thursday, Mojo Vision, a startup comprised of former engineers from Apple, Amazon, Google, and other Silicon Valley mainstays, emerged from stealth backed by $50 million in funding for a hands-free augmented reality platform that runs without smartphones, tablets, or other ...more

The mainstreaming of augmented reality won't happen overnight, but it's becoming increasingly clear that traditional media is leading the charge in the effort to introduce the public to immersive computing. A recent example came from none other than USA Today via its 321 Launc ...more

As the week of the Game Developer's Conference hits the mid-point, we've already had some major announcements hit the AR space. The specific timing of these announcements are thanks in part to a conference within a conference called VRDC, aimed at VR, AR, and MR developers. An ...more

It finally happened! In a world of "go big or go home," Magic Leap has finally done something other than tease us with vague promises and rendered video concepts. Although, other than actually showing us what the developer's kit will look like, it seems little more than a slig ...more