theyre

Goodbye AirPods Max. It's been a good four years, but it's time to move on to something that's better for me.When Apple originally unveiled AirPods Max back in December 2020 I, like pretty much everyone else in the world, completely balked at that $549 price tag. Up until that time, the most expensive AirPods headphones were the AirPods Pro which came in at $249. The AirPods Max more than doubled that price. Ouch.Regardless, being the dutiful Apple fan and audio nerd that I am, I bought them. Three years later, I can now…

Humans have used light to trap insects for at least 2,000 years (thanks, Romans). Now, a team of researchers says they know why the animals are apparently drawn to the light—and it’s not a happy tale. Lisa Frankenstein's Crew on Casting the Right Stars The modern bug zapper has been around for about a century. It has killed countless mosquitos, dragonflies, moths, you name it. But, based on new data, scientists report that the insects aren’t attracted to the light, really; rather, they use light sources to orient flight…

Credit: CC0 Public Domain For young dads—those aged 25 or younger—sharing the news of their fatherhood may be more likely to bring raised eyebrows than congratulations. Young dads are often portrayed as irresponsible, absent or as "deadbeat dads." But our research has found that even when pregnancies are unplanned, the children of young fathers are…

Stretching thousands upon thousands of miles under your feet, a web of fibrous ears is listening. Whether you walk over buried fiber optics or drive a car across them, above-ground activity creates a characteristic vibration that ever-so-slightly disturbs the way light travels through the cables. With the right equipment, scientists can parse that disturbance to identify what the source was and when exactly it was roaming there.This quickly proliferating technique is known as distributed acoustic sensing, or DAS, and it’s…

The Food and Drug Administration is upping the urgency of its warnings for consumers to avoid purchasing or consuming tianeptine – commonly called "gas station heroin" – a synthetic drug typically sold in tablet or powder form and available for purchase online as well as in convenience stores, gas stations and smoke shops. It is the active ingredient in products such as Neptune's Fix, Za Za Red and Tianaa.Tianeptine, which is approved in some countries as a prescription drug for the treatment of depression, can mimic the…

The human brain is the body's most protected organ, and for good reason.To keep our body's 'control center' safe from pathogens and toxins, the brain and spinal cord sit in privileged exclusion from the rest of the body.But this ivory tower also poses a significant barrier to medicine.Today, virtually all large molecule drugs and more than 98 percent of small molecule drugs in the human bloodstream are unable to enter the central nervous system because of a 'locked gate' known as the blood-brain barrier.Scientists say…

In 2021, Meta restricted adults on Instagram from being able to message under-18 users who don't follow them. Now, it's expanding that rule to help protect younger teens from potentially unwanted contact. Users under 16 — or 18, depending on their country — can no longer receive DMs from anybody they don't follow by default, even if they're sent by fellow teens.This new safety measure applies to both Instagram and Messenger. For Messenger, in particular, young users will only be able to receive messages from their…

Hillary Clinton has offered her support to Barbie's Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie after the pair missed out on Oscar nominations in key categories.The pair had been predicted to be nominated in the best director and best actress categories.However, Robbie was recognised as a producer in the best picture category and Gerwig was nominated alongside her husband Noah Baumbach for best adapted screenplay."While it can sting to win the box office but not take home the gold, your millions of fans love you. You’re both so much…

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Misinformation is the number one risk facing society over the next two years, according to the World Economic Forum. With key elections due in the US, UK, and many other nations this year, an onslaught of political misinformation can be expected. Some of this material is distributed through paid advertising on social media,…

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETZDNET's key takeawaysBlackview BL9000 5G are both available from AliExpress for $300 and $200 respectively.These are two rugged Android 13 smartphones with excellent battery life, decent performance, and cameras that are perfect for social media.The rear display might be little more than a gimmick for some.One thing I really enjoy about the Android smartphone market is its diversity. Sure, it's a market that's dominated by Samsung. But if you look around, you can find fantastic smartphones…