Men's Health

• New research quantifies the use of binaural beats for the first time. • This sound technology pairs close frequency sounds to affect the brain. • Different types of binaural beats may have different effects. In the never-ending quest to either get high or feel better, people are using a sound technology, called “binaural beats,” to mellow their minds. This sophisticated recording technique uses tiny differences in frequency to generate two close tones and a third, phantom tone. Proponents s

• A viral optical illusion from Fact Factories can supposedly separate female brains from male brains. Spoiler alert: it’s definitely just for fun and by no means scientific. • Divisive claims help to drive “engagement” by making people upset or annoyed. • Men and women may think differently, but most of those differences are cultural and learned. In a new optical illusion, what you see in the picture supposedly reveals something about your gender. But much like other ambiguous images, this il

• Guinness World Records has credited Russian inventor Alex Burkan with the world’s first working, retractable lightsaber. • To make it work, an electrolyzer splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, then it is heated. A YouTuber in Russia has set a new world record for the first working, retractable lightsaber. The Star Wars-inspired technology uses white-hot elemental plasma, can run for up to 30 seconds at a time, and can even cut straight through steel. And even better: it’s mostly crafted fr

• A 50-page proof shows the new estimated answer to the n queens problem. • A chess board is a matrix, so it involves an entire field of math called linear algebra. • The n queens puzzle dates back over 150 years and is solved up to n=27. A mathematician from Harvard University has (mostly) solved a 150-year-old Queen's gambit of sorts: the delightful n queens puzzle. In newly self-published research (meaning it has not yet been peer-reviewed), Michael Simkin, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard

• This year's Illusion of the Year is an anamorphosis: a perspective-based illusion. • Anamorphosis dates back at least 500 years and is popular in the art world. The votes are in and there's an official winner for the 2021 Illusion of the Year: "The Phantom Queen." It's a clever—but also charmingly analog—optical illusion depicting a chess queen that's invisible from one side of the chess board. At play are some of the simplest, but most effective, mechanisms that fool our eyes. The Neural C

The thrill of victory. The agony of defeat. Commemorate the above (and the lesser-celebrated emotions in the middle) with these fantasy football prizes. From tokens of triumph designed to be flaunted to loser trophies meant to incite good-natured teasing, there's a prize for everyone in your league—whether they like it or not.

• Historian Yuval Noah Harari told 60 Minutes he believes human brains will be “hacked,” and soon, saying artificial intelligence will use data to manipulate users into doing its bidding. • Three principles can help ensure that humans are unharmed by mass data gathering. Speaking to CBS’s 60 Minutes, Yuval Noah Harari, author of the bestselling book Sapiens, says that human brains will be hacked soon if we don’t figure out how to regulate artificial intelligence. Harari’s comments certainly sp

• Some scientists believe life came from Mars. • If life spread from somewhere else in our galaxy, it's likely to have gotten to Mars first. • Scientists hope to find DNA scraps on samples of material from Mars. Could life as we know it have begun on Mars instead of Earth? A handful of scientists believe so, and even more think we should at least consider the possibility. This special case of the overall theory of panspermia, where life on Earth began somewhere else and traveled or was pla

• A new calculator helps you decide how many Halloween treats to buy. • What size candy should you hand out? Does it need to be candy at all? • A little thought and care could set your house apart as a Halloween destination. You don't want to end up with bags upon bags of extra candy this Halloween, especially considering our current economy of shortages; experts say costumes, decorations, and yes, candy, are all stuck at U.S. ports, as there aren't enough truck drivers to transport the goods.

• Bill Gates suggests synthetic beef like Beyond Meat is a key part of climate action. • Lab-grown meat still has extremely high costs, but taste-wise, it has passed muster. • Gates pushes meat alternatives because of meat’s high cost in global emissions. Bill Gates has a big idea to fight climate change. The Microsoft cofounder and chair of the investment fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures recently suggested that “all rich countries should move to 100 [percent] synthetic beef” in an interview

• People online are sharing videos of their attempts at the latest viral craze: the milk crate challenge. • The challenge involves stacking a series of milk crates to create a stairway, and attempting to climb up and down both sides without falling. • It turns out there are some basic rules of physics at play, and you can use them to your advantage in order to conquer the challenge. There's always a new viral sensation online, and this week, it's something called the "milk crate challenge." Wh

• Elon Musk admires the sun as an almost infinitely plentiful source of energy. • His solar projects reflect his interest, and the cost of solar is lower than ever before. • A strategic installation of the right solar panels could easily power the entire world. In a tweet yesterday, Elon Musk suggested we could all pay a little more tribute to the powerful orb that keeps our planet alive. Musk said the sun—that “free fusion reactor in the sky”—can power all of civilization. This content is

U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), the organization that administers America’s Spec Ops forces, says it will soon start clinical trials of an “anti-aging pill” that could halt some naturally degenerative effects of aging. “We have completed pre-clinical safety and dosing studies in anticipation of follow-on performance testing in fiscal year 2022,” Navy Commander Tim Hawkins, a SOCOM spokesperson, told Breaking Defense. The pill involves what Hawkins called a “human performance small mol

• The "Clock of the Long Now," which will tell time for the next 10,000 years, has cost $42 million to build so far. • The huge mechanical clock ticks once per year and chimes once per millennium. • Jeff Bezos and a millionaire scientist friend are building the clock on Bezos's property in Texas. Engineers and contractors are building a massive, multi-room clock inside a mountain in West Texas—a clock that will tell time for the next 10,000 years. And despite with a whiff of Blogspot template,

• The rotifers were frozen in permafrost in a long-term cryptobiotic state. • Lessons from these and other revived organisms could help farms on Mars. In news that’s a lot less sinister than it sounds, but no less exciting, Russian scientists have revived and cloned 24,000-year-old zombies. Don’t worry—this isn’t a Walking Dead situation. The undead organisms in questions are called bdelloid rotifers, or microscopic “wheel animals” named for their circular mouths surrounded by tiny hairs. Lik

• The analysis comes from statistical techniques, plus improved carbon dating. • The clusters show signs of causal links, like tectonic activity causing extinctions. Just like you, our planet has a ticker that keeps time: Earth’s geological “heartbeat” goes off on a regular schedule, albeit with millions of years in between, says a new study in Geoscience Frontiers. When scientists from New York University and the Carnegie Institution of Science in Washington D.C. analyzed 260 million years o

• Researchers say that outlawing some left turns will improve traffic. • Lots of car crashes happen because of left turns in busy intersections. • Many cities already have restrictions on some left turns. It might be time to give up your wild Waze: New research suggests eliminating at least some left turns will make roads a lot safer. For drivers in the U.S., turning left is one of the most dangerous moves on the road; approximately 61 percent of all crashes that take place at intersections i

• Is the universe a conscious being, like a gigantic widely dispersed human brain? • Scientists have long questioned how consciousness and science mix. • Two mathematicians have turned one theory into a crunchable math model. In upcoming research, scientists will attempt to show the universe has consciousness. Yes, really. No matter the outcome, we’ll soon learn more about what it means to be conscious—and which objects around us might have a mind of their own. What will that mean for how we

• Elon Musk says his rocket-powered Tesla Roadster will go from 0 to 60 miles per hour (mph) in 1.1 seconds. • That acceleration is a full second faster than any existing production car. • It's unclear how Musk will develop a street-legal, rocket-boosted production car. Elon Musk claims the new Tesla Roadster will go from 0 to 60 miles per hour (mph) in a mind-bending 1.1 seconds. This astonishing figure would shatter existing records for production vehicles, even among the highest tier of lu

• Russia’s Defense Minister suggested he wants to clone a group of ancient warriors. • That’s going to be tricky. To date, there haven’t been any human clones, and the odds are low for even non-human clones. • The legality of cloning is murky because of the medical uses for specific kinds of cloning. When you hold a job like Defense Minister of Russia, you presumably have to be bold and think outside the box to protect your country from enemy advances. And with his latest strategic idea—clonin

• The soaring cost of lumber could add $24,000 to the cost of a new house. • Blame a combination of supply chain disruptions and higher demand for the increase. • You should think about creative ways to change your DIY projects so you don’t need to use as much lumber. The global demand for lumber has skyrocketed since the world went into lockdown. Consider this stat: Lumber prices have risen by 130 percent since before the COVID-19 pandemic, which makes for an estimated $24,000 difference in t

You’re doing the work, you’re feeling the burn, but how long does it actually take to build muscle? Building muscle isn’t just a matter of showing up and working out however and whenever you want. Looking in the mirror doesn’t help either (sorry). You have to incorporate a few important strategies into your training regimen in order to trigger the physiologic response that leads to hypertrophy, the process that causes your muscles to grow.

You’re doing the work, you’re feeling the burn, but how long does it actually take to build muscle? Building muscle isn’t just a matter of showing up and working out however and whenever you want. Looking in the mirror doesn’t help either (sorry). You have to incorporate a few important strategies into your training regimen in order to trigger the physiologic response that leads to hypertrophy, the process that causes your muscles to grow.

• Elon Musk believes the first people on Mars will be explorers—not wealthy dilettantes. • Musk says Mars settlers are in for a trip filled with survivalism and resource management. Last year, Elon Musk caused a stir when he said something provocative, but ultimately correct: there’s a “good chance” the first Mars settlers will die. Now, the SpaceX mastermind, who is dead set on colonizing the Red Planet, is doubling down on that sentiment. In a recent livestream touting his $100 million XPri

• U.S. honey still contains radioactivity dating back to the 1950s. • Radiocesium from nuclear weapons testing continues to appear in local plants. • The radiocesium is absorbed because of its resemblance to potassium. Drizzle some radioactivity in your tea: Scientists say nuclear fallout from Cold War weapons testing is still showing up in U.S. honey today, and the secret to the lingering traces is a sneaky chemistry twist. It’s important to note the levels are not high enough to be harmful,

If you’ve never tried consensual spanking, whipping, or impact play before, how do you do it safely, and bring maximum enjoyment to you and your partner? In this article written for Men's Health Australia, I share key tips for safety and enjoyment that even Indiana Jones should read.

• New research suggests the universe is teaching itself physics as it evolves. • The researchers want to use this study to spin off a whole new area of cosmology research. • The “learning” of the universe is similar to evolution. In fascinating new research, cosmologists explain the history of the universe as one of self-teaching, autodidactic algorithms. The scientists, including physicists from Brown University and the Flatiron Institute, say the universe has probed all the possible physi

• A controversial, Bill Gates-backed sun-blocking experiment has been postponed for ethical reasons. • Concerned groups want a clearer understanding of consequences before the launch. • The test was originally scheduled for June 2021, but will be delayed until at least 2022. Just as quickly as it was announced, a controversial solar geoengineering experiment backed by Bill Gates has been postponed until at least 2022. Gates and other private donors are supporting Harvard University’s Solar Ge

• Neuralink cofounder Max Hodak says we have the tech to build a real Jurassic Park within the next 15 years. • Even if we could make something like a genetically modified dinosaur, should we? • Making an ersatz almost-dinosaur invalidates a lot of the arguments in favor of reviving dinosaurs. A cofounder of Neuralink—the brain implant startup that recently embedded a chip into a monkey’s brain, allowing the primate to play video games—has suggested we have the technology to build a real Juras