Tag: Science

Welcome to Fav’d For Later, a Friday roundup of our favorite memes, trends, and all-around good internet content. This week IS A TEST. NO ACTION IS NEEDED.

On October 3rd, aka Mean Girls Day, the first FEMA Presidential Alert lit up phones across the US. Right on time! By that, I mean the memes. The memes were right on time.

The punchlines are pretty hit or miss, but what I love about this very predictable joke (if you text it, they will meme) is the unity, you know? We all got the text* so we all get the meme. How often does that happen? Usually, the teens do something funny to Kermit or SpongeBob, and we all sort of laugh and nod until we actually get it, at which point the wave is already long over, and we’re just reheating the…

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In a collision, a car’s airbag has a tiny fraction of a second in which to inflate—which is why airbags use explosives.

From an epic account of the online drug market Silk Road, to a poignant tale about a man seeking intimacy with his robot clone, these stories will blow your mind. Again.

This Sunday, SpaceX intends to launch a Falcon 9, with a souped-up block 5 booster, from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

An off-road e-bike that’s as beastly on the single-track as it is on paper.

Under current US safety rules, a motor vehicle must have traditional controls, like a steering wheel, mirrors, and foot pedals, before it is allowed to operate on public roads. But that could all change under a new plan released on Thursday by the Department of Transportation that’s intended to open the floodgates for fully driverless cars.

The department, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “intends to reconsider the necessity and appropriateness of its current safety standards” as applied to autonomous vehicles, the 80-page document reads. In particular, regulators say they will look to change those safety standards “to accommodate automated vehicle technologies and the possibility of setting exceptions to…

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After announcing some updates to the Google Assistant user experience yesterday, today Google is rolling out a new way of booking rides with your voice — or at least getting most of the way there. Starting this week, you’ll be able to say “Hey Google, book a ride to” or “Hey Google, get me a taxi to” your destination.

Assistant will then respond by listing off price estimates and current wait times for Uber, Lyft, Ola, Grab, GO-JEK, “and many more” ride-hailing apps, according to Google. You can avoid the longer list and specify your preferred service by using its name when requesting a ride. This works on Android, iPhone, Google Home, and all other smart speakers that have Assistant built in.

Previously, Assistant would kick you over…

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Volvo’s in-house performance arm begins constructing verification prototypes of the Polestar 1 hybrid super coupe.

Significant spoilers ahead for episodes of The Good Place that have already aired.

The Good Place is a rare television phenomenon: a show that suggests prison is evil and cops are bad.

Part of the way the show gets away with that thesis without getting the kind of pushback afforded to movements like Black Lives Matter is because it doesn’t seem to be about cops or prison at all. The show, which just launched its third season, is a high-concept fantasy sitcom about the afterlife. Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) is killed in a tragic shopping cart accident and wakes up in what she believes is heaven, aka “The Good Place.” She appears to be there because of a bureaucratic slipup: they think she’s a crusading human rights lawyer rather…

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Heart rate data from a Fitbit has been used to charge a man with the murder of his stepdaughter, reports The New York Times. Anthony Aiello had initially claimed that he had left his stepdaughter Karen Navarra’s home within 15 minutes of arriving. However, data from her Fitbit was later compared against security camera footage to prove that her murder occurred while Aiello was still at the property.

The data the Fitbit provided to detectives (in response to a search warrant) showed Navarra’s heart rate spiked at 3:20PM before rapidly declining and stopping completely at 3:28PM. Detectives later discovered bloodstained clothes at Aiello’s property, and he was arrested on September 25th.

Data from…

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