What to buy if you want to start producing music at home

Justin DeLay, Director of Product and Category Marketing at Reverb, drives home just how important the computer is: "You can strip away everything else and as long as you have a computer you can still create music," he told me. He suggests you "spend the money on a good computer and get other gear --…

Continue Reading What to buy if you want to start producing music at home

The best pre-Super Bowl deals for 4K TVs and streaming

If you already have a 4K TV but don't have one with a built-in Fox Sports app or a 4K box from TV providers like Dish, Comcast, Verizon or DirecTV, then adding a set-top box or streaming stick will work as a shortcut. For cord-cutters, you can sign up with Fubo TV (or at least…

Continue Reading The best pre-Super Bowl deals for 4K TVs and streaming

Nintendo wins legal battle against one of Tokyo’s real-life ‘Mario Kart’ tours

The court order ends a multi-year legal battle between the two that started in 2017 when Nintendo sued Mari Mobility, then known as MariCar, for copyright infringement. In 2018, a court ordered the company to pay a 10 million yen (approximately $91,600) fine. While several other companies offered Mario-themed go-kart tours, MariCar was one of…

Continue Reading Nintendo wins legal battle against one of Tokyo’s real-life ‘Mario Kart’ tours

Lab-grown heart muscles transplanted into a human for the first time

These cells were then placed on small, degradable sheets, which were used to cover the damaged areas of the patient's heart. The patient who received the transplant suffers from ischemic cardiomyopathy, where the heart has difficulty pumping because its muscles don't receive enough blood. In some cases, this condition requires a heart transplant, but the…

Continue Reading Lab-grown heart muscles transplanted into a human for the first time

RIP Spitzer, the Coolest Heat Telescope in the Solar System

On Thursday afternoon, NASA operators will send a farewell missive to the Spitzer Space Telescope from the big antenna at the Goldstone Deep Space Communication Complex in Southern California. It will take the radio signal about 10 minutes to make the 165-million-mile journey across interplanetary space. When Spitzer receives the radio command, it will boot…

Continue Reading RIP Spitzer, the Coolest Heat Telescope in the Solar System

We Should Deescalate the War on the Coronavirus

The immediate reaction to the emergence of a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Wuhan, China, has focused on its challenges to the biomedical sciences. But the new infection is at least as big a challenge to the social sciences. If we continue to neglect this, there is a serious danger that we end up with mistaken…

Continue Reading We Should Deescalate the War on the Coronavirus

A Bionic Jellyfish Swims With Manic Speed (for a Jellyfish)

No disrespect, but roboticists have got nothing on the animal kingdom. Birds cut through the air with ease, while our drones plummet out of the sky. Humans balance elegantly on two legs, while humanoid robots fall on their faces. It takes roboticists a whole lot of work to even begin to approach the wonders of…

Continue Reading A Bionic Jellyfish Swims With Manic Speed (for a Jellyfish)

The US Is Losing Its Fight Against Huawei

The UK’s decision Tuesday to allow Huawei to provide noncritical components of its 5G network marked another critical win for the embattled Chinese telecom. It also raised a critical question about the multiyear, international campaign by the Trump administration and the US government to box Huawei out of Western cellular networks: Has Trump lost?The US…

Continue Reading The US Is Losing Its Fight Against Huawei

How to Nail a Front Flip in a Monster Truck

Monster trucks. You might think, hey, it's just a truck with giant tires. Oh, but no. These trucks are also incredibly powerful. They can jump and bounce and do wheelies. They can even do flips in the air. First it was a backflip, but at the Monster Jam World Finals XVIII, a truck known as…

Continue Reading How to Nail a Front Flip in a Monster Truck

The History of Food Photos—From Still Lifes to Brunch ‘Grams

Brunch looked great before your friends whipped out their iPhones, angling for perfect shots of their avocado toast as yours went cold. It’s 2020, and people still photograph their food, though by now such behavior is cringey enough to elicit some eye rolls. Everyone knows it isn’t really about the food.“It’s about them,” says photography…

Continue Reading The History of Food Photos—From Still Lifes to Brunch ‘Grams