Secrets Of The Most Productive People – Florian Krammer

“Science is not a job. It’s somewhere between a hobby and a passion.”

waste watchers

YOU CAN TURN FOOD SCRAPS INTO FERTILIZER IN ALMOST ANY CONTAINER. THESE BINS USE THEIR OWN METHODS TO ENCOURAGE THE PROCESS, BUT BOTH KEEP BUGS AND STINK AT BAY.

why can't i forget how to ride a bike?

LEARNING TO PEDAL IS NO EASY FEAT.

the go-anywhere machine

GOODS

the little rovers that could

MATT KEUNEKE, MARS EXPLORATION ROVER MISSION OPERATIONS MANAGER AT NASA

sweat suit

YOUR MUSCLES DESERVE BETTER THAN YOUR RATTY OLD WORKOUT GEAR. DECK YOURSELF OUT IN THE RIGHT DUDS AND YOU’LL UPGRADE BOTH YOUR PERFORMANCE AND YOUR STYLE.

somethings run in the family

HUGOZEBERG, RESEARCHER AT THE MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY

sitting pretty

ICON

listening to trees

MARIANO MORALES, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST AT THE ARGENTINIAN INSTITUTE OF SNOW SCIENCE, GLACIOLOGY, AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

home stretch

A HARD WORKOUT SHOULDN’T LEAVE YOU WITH LINGERING PAIN. THE RIGHT RECOVERY TOOLS WILL HELP INCREASE BLOOD FLOW AND FIGHT FATIGUE TO SOOTHE YOUR ACHES.

Behind The Cover

Butterflies may seem delicate, but they are surprisingly tough.

Tales From the Field – A cold one on mars

Kellie Gerardi, bioastronautics researcher at the International Institute for Austronautical Science

They Might Be Giants

A photographer-and-ecologist team are on a mission to document the forests’ mightiest members.

Droplet Stoppers

Covid-19 made face masks a crucial part of every outfit, and we’re likely to don them in the future when we feel ill. Fortunately, there’s a style for every need.

Boston Dynamics' Spot Robodog Finds Work on a BP Oil Rig

Boston Dynamics’ four-legged canine-inspired Spot is by no means an old dog, but that doesn’t mean it can’t learn new tricks. The 55-pound robot, unveiled in 2016, has boarded BP’s Mad Dog oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, where it will master tasks including reading gauges, finding corrosion, mapping the facility, and sniffing out methane, according to Reuters.

CAN THIS AI HELP SMOKERS QUIT?

While COVID-19 remains an occupying force in our world, and a viable vaccine is still out of reach, dealing with the pandemic comes down to mitigating health risks while coping with stress. If you’re a smoker, that’s going to be tough on both accounts. This isn’t the Mad Men era; everyone knows the risks of tobacco use, but cessation of addictive substances isn’t easy.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla (for PC): Another Winner

The Assassin’s Creed series has taken us to numerous historical settings since its 2007 debut, including Ancient Greece, Renaissance Italy, and Revolutionary War-era America. The newest installment, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, details the Viking invasion of 9th Century England from the perspective of history’s most notorious raiders. Though Valhalla doesn’t introduce anything wholly new to the series, it’s an excellent PC game that follows in the footsteps of its equally exceptional predecessors, Origins and Odyssey.

Microsoft Xbox Series X: An Impressive Console

The newest Xboxes are here, packing plenty of power into boxier frames than ever. Microsoft’s entries into the latest console generation are the Xbox Series X, reviewed here, and the Xbox Series S ($299).

2020's Most Common Passwords Are Laughably Insecure

Chances are that if a password is easy for you to remember, a hacker can easily crack it. And despite years (and years) of tech companies warning consumers to use hard-to-crack passwords, plus two-factor authentication, people are still using laughably insecure codes.

THE BEST PRODUCTS OF 2020

It’s been a weird year.

Virtual Movie Night: How to Watch Netflix With Friends Using Teleparty

Many of us are facing a long winter indoors, thanks to the ongoing pandemic. And though we have video streaming to distract us, watching shows and movies is more fun with friends. You could get everyone on Zoom and press play at the same time, but there’s an easier way: Teleparty (formerly known as Netflix Party).

SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless Gaming Mouse: A Real Value

If, at first, you don’t succeed...make a wireless mouse? SteelSeries’ budget gaming mouse, the Rival 3, fell short of the competition earlier this year thanks to a small design flaw. You’d assume that a wireless version would fall into the same trap, but the Rival 3 Wireless stands out among basic wireless gaming mice thanks to a rich feature set. Like its predecessor, the Rival 3 Wireless has an imperfect shell, but the mouse’s upgraded sensor, incredible battery life, and multiple connection options make it a good choice for people looking to go wireless on a budget.

Apple Mac mini (M1, Late 2020): Most Polished, Potent Tiny Desktop

The Mac mini doesn’t get upgraded often, but when it does, it makes an impact well out of proportion to its trim dimensions. The 2018 Mac mini was a PCMag Editors’ Choice pick for its pep, connectivity, build quality, and limited upgradability. A slight variation on the same sheet music, played with little fanfare earlier this year, pumped up the two base models’ SSD capacity. The real update of this iconic little desktop is this one, and it’s a big-band extravaganza. Apple’s own highly integrated system-on-a-chip (SoC), the M1 brings the Mac mini to new performance highs, and while a few fundamentals have changed, the peppy performance, the reasonable mix of connectivity, and a new lower $699 starting price combine to make it one of the best values in compact computers, period. It easily earns our Editors’ Choice nod.

Apple iPhone 12 mini: The Best iPhone

The iPhone 12 mini is the smallest and most affordable phone in Apple’s late-2020 iPhone quartet. It’s sure to appeal most to owners of older iPhones (particularly the iPhone 5 through 8) as well as anyone fed up with a handset that doesn’t fit into their pocket.

GEAR GUIDE

Outdoor+Adventure Tech

hungry hungry hippos

IN 1981, NOTORIOUS drug lord Pablo Escobar imported four hippos from Africa to his estate near Medellín, Colombia. After his death in 1993, the herd meandered into the nearby Magdalena River.

the bulb that won't burn out

TOM BRAMELL, FORMER DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF FOR LIVERMORE-PLEASANTON FIRE DEPARTMENT

THE SWITCH

WHEN A NEW YORK CITY POWER PLANT SWAPS ITS DIRTIEST GENERATORS FOR BATTERIES, THE SURROUNDING NEIGHBORHOOD WILL BREATHE EASIER.

spacing out is good for you

A WANDERING MIND REAPS BENE- FITS YOU MIGHT NOT IMAGINE.

in remission

FOR MUCH OF THE 20TH CENTURY, cancer was an unspeakable diagnosis.