When AMD launched Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 earlier this year, it recommended that reviewers test with Windows 10’s power plan set to “High Performance,” as opposed to the “Balanced” configuration we typically prefer for testing and that Windows uses by default. Now, the company has released a new chipset …

Amazon’s Alexa personal assistant and the Echo smart speaker it runs on have been one of the company’s most popular products since it launched back in 2014. Today, Amazon unveiled a follow-up device, this time with an integrated camera alongside a microphone. This new product, dubbed the Echo Look, is …

Amphibian skin is an interesting thing, between the chemicals secreted by the animals themselves and the microbes that thrive on their skin. Poison dart frogs, those neon cuties of the rainforest, are thusly named because their skins secrete a chemical so poisonous that the indigenous people of the Amazon hunt …

When it comes to applied material science, it’s hard to beat NASA. Their solid-state wizards have been working on multiple ambitious projects, including silicon dioxide wafers and about a dozen kinds of ceramic composites. Now some folks at the JPL have debuted a new kind of engineered metallic fabric that …

Mobile applications saw a record number of downloads and revenue in the first quarter of the year, according to a new report from app store analytics firm App Annie out this morning. Across both iOS and Android, downloads grew by 15 percent year-over-year to reach nearly 25 billion worldwide – …

Photo: Pond5 Think of high-intensity interval training (aka HIIT workouts) — where you alternate short bursts of intense exercise and active recovery time — as the workout gift that keeps on giving. First, it’s designed to burn more calories and fat in less time, giving you that excuse-squashing way to …

Researchers digging at the Cerutti Mastodon site, an archaeological site from the early late Pleistocene epoch near San Diego, California, found animal remains and stone tools that show the first humans were living in North America much earlier than previously thought. A concentration of fossil bone and rock at the …

The International Barley Genome Sequencing Consortium, which is led by Dr. Nils Stein of the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Germany, has mapped the entire genome of barley (Hordeum vulgare), the world’s fourth most important cereal crop after wheat, rice and maize. The research appears in …

In two separate studies, researchers have demonstrated that both the structure of the brain and several memory functions are linked to immune-related genes. The thickness of the cerebral cortex is correlated with the epigenetic profile of immune-related genes. Image credit: University of Basel. The body’s immune system has a number …

On Wednesday, April 26, 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft successfully made its first dive through the narrow gap between the giant planet Saturn and its rings. This Cassini image shows features in the atmosphere of Saturn from closer than ever before. The view was captured by the spacecraft during its first …