When was the last time you felt spangled? Even if you dont know the phrase, you know the feeling. Its grappling with realities while wrestling with fantasies. Finding grace in everyday grit. Not letting disrepair turn into despair. Becoming overwhelmed by the smallest details. Becoming so unfocused you see the bigger picture. Sharing smokes and whiskey-fueled hubris. Writing a history of the future in real-time.Great music lets you bridge the gap between insider and outsider. Great audio products let you walk the divide between going delirious and getting serious. Im thinking about this as I listen to songs of weariness and endurance. Im thinking of this as I listen to the new Focal Bathys MG.Building on 2022s Bathysan incisive pair of $699 Bluetooth ANC headphones that found immediate success among audiophilesthe Bathys MG introduces an even more premium experience. As with the Focal Clear MG headphones, the MG stands for magnesium (or Magnsium if youre French, like Focal). Whereas the original Bathys had an M-shaped driver made primarily of more affordable, less eloquent aluminum with a small percentage of magnesium, the dome in the Bathys MG is, you guessed it, pure MG. This material contributes to a lighter, more rigid membrane. And that, in theory, translates to unrestricted clarity and precision.Having spent a weekend with the Bathys MG, I can say the sonic signature is, in a word, effortless. In my first impressions, its not so much about greater separation as it is greater immersion. While the original Bathys may appear to hit harder, the Bathys MG feels like it reaches deeper. You can look at the frequency ranges and confirm (15Hz to 22kHz versus 10Hz to 22kHz), or think of it like the difference between a little edgy and more organic, linear vs. lithe. The soundstage of the Clear MG is more spatial, less confined to a single plane. I find myself paying close attention less and being present more. Its not that detail isnt present; its that the expression is so fluid Im not obsessed with flaws. Whether thats right for you depends on how much you like sweating the small stuff and how spicy you like your treble. Sometimes perceived purity is pleasing.As for the rest of the experience, its equally plush. New memory foam ear cushions and improved active noise cancellation help create your heady havenand the illusion that the headphone is actually lighter than the Bathys OG, though both are around 345g. Ive done my listening primarily with an iPhone 16 Pro through USB (yes, I wired a wireless headphone), which uses an internal DAC to decode hi-res, lossless material up to 24-bit/192 kHz. If you prefer to operate untethered, theres Bluetooth 5.2 with the SBC, AAC, aptX, and aptX Adaptive codecs. And if you have an external DAC/amp you like, an analog input is available. The Focal&Naim mobile app gives you access to EQ and other personalization options. As for battery life, the Bathys MG is rated at 30 hours wireless, 35 via jack, and 42 with the USB-DAC.The Bathys MG, only available in the Chestnut finish shown for the time being, will go on sale in May for $1,299.

This slice of semi-transparent wood is made with natural materials and could be used in applications from wearable sensors to energy-efficient windows. Credit: Bharat BaruahGlass is a vital component to construction projects, but its also one of the most environmentally troublesome. It isnt naturally biodegradable, often difficult to recycle, and sometimes more harmful to the environment than plastic. Experts have spent years experimenting with eco-friendly updates to glassmaking, but the basic manufacturing methods have remained largely the same for thousands of years. Instead of attempting to improve glass itself, researchers are testing how to replace it entirely with alternative transparent materialsincluding chemically modified wood.In the modern day, plastic is everywhere, including our devices that we carry around. And its a problem when we reach the end of that devices life. Its not biodegradable, Kennesaw State University chemistry professor Bharat Baruah said ahead of the American Chemical Societys spring meeting.Baruah, a woodworking hobbyist, recently wondered if his pastimes principal material could serve as a viable glass replacement. Of course, theres likely a glaring issue when you try envisioning a wood windowpane: its probably pretty opaque.This is where Baruahs chemistry expertise came into play. Wood consists of three main components: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. But if you remove the latter two parts from a sheet of wood, whats left is a paperlike, porous web of cellulose. To do this, Baruah and their undergraduate assistant Ridham Raval placed balsa wood into a vacuum chamber with an array of chemicals including the delignifying agent sodium sulfite, a type of lye, and diluted bleach.The final inspiration for transparent wood came from Baruahs childhood in northeastern India. Buildings there have stood for centuries thanks to an ancient form of cement made from mixing sand, sticky rice, and egg whites. Baruah theorized that applying the same ingredients to the balsa cellulose could harden and reinforce it enough to use in a small, test construction project. Get the Popular Science newsletter Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.The duos results were a selection of semi-transparent wood slices that maintained their durability while also remaining flexible. Bringing things full-circle, Baruah then altered a wooden birdhouse to accommodate a small window made from the augmented wood. After placing the birdhouse under a heat lamp, the team recorded an internal temperature 911 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than when the small home had a glass paneimplying similar material may one day offer an energy-efficient alternative.Transparent woods utility could expand beyond construction projects, too. In a separate experiment, Baruah and Raval threaded silver nanowires into certain samples to demonstrate their potential use in solar cells, wearable sensors, and coatings. While the silver nanowires arent biodegradable, replacements like graphene could keep the design eco-friendly.Wood window panes arent ready for home installation just yet. Baruah conceded that more work needs to be done to improve its transparency. And while the small amount of hemicellulose- and lignin-removing reagents used in the experiment ensured it remained environmentally safe, scalability may be an issue. Regardless, the advances offer a promising potential path forward for sustainable, cheap glass replacements.

NewsHealth & MedicineSurgeons transplanted a pigs liver into a humanThe gene-edited organ was hooked up inside the body of a brain-dead recipient This genetically modified miniature pig served as a liver donor for a brain-dead human recipient.K-S Taoet al./Nature 2025By Meghan Rosen17 seconds agoSurgeons have now published the first report ofa gene-edited pig liver transplantedinto a person.The liver, which came from a genetically modified pig, appeared to stay active, producing bile and liver proteins inside the brain-dead transplant recipient, researchers reported March 26 inNature. Such a transplant could one day buy time for people waiting on the liver transplant list. Doctors could potentially use the pig liver as bridge until a human liver is available or the patients liver has recovered, Lin Wang, a surgeon at Xijing hospital in Xi-an, China, said in a March 25 press briefing. It is our dream to achieve this, he said. Earlier this year his team also performeda different pig-to-human liver transplant, though the results from that surgery have not yet been published.

NewsSpaceJWST spots the earliest sign yet of a distant galaxy reshaping its cosmic environsThe marker is an unexpected bubble that could signal cosmic reionization earlier than thought The extremely distant galaxy JADES-GS-z13-1 is the small red dot in the center of this image from the James Webb Space Telescope. New observations show the galaxy is emitting a surprising amount of ultraviolet light, indicating it is radically reshaping the cosmic landscape around it.JWST/ESA, NASA, STScI, CSA, JADES Collaboration, Brant Robertson/UC Santa Cruz, Ben Johnson/CfA, Sandro Tacchella/U. of Cambridge, Phill Cargile/CfA, J. Witstok, P. Jakobsen, A. Pagan/STScI, M. Zamani/JWST/ESA)By Lisa Grossman19 seconds agoThe James Webb Space Telescope has caught a distant galaxy blowing an unexpected bubble in the gas around it, just 330 million years after the Big Bang.The galaxy, dubbed JADES-GS-z13-1, marks the earliest sign yet spotted of the era of cosmic reionization, a transformative period in the universes history when the first stars and galaxies began to reshape their environment, astronomers report in the March 27 Nature.It definitely puts a pin in the map of the first point where [reionization] very likely has already started, says astrophysicist Joris Witstok at the University of Copenhagen. No one had predicted that it would be this early in the universes history.

Nature, Published online: 26 March 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00553-xA Nature Index data set shows which countries, institutions and topic areas are making the greatest progress towards gender equity in research.

Nature, Published online: 26 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08758-wSTING agonist-based endoplasmic reticulum-targeting molecules can be conjugated directly onto antigens to deliver them to the cross-presentation pathway, improving CD8+ T cell responses against tumours and viruses.

The latest time crystal innovation may expand the known boundaries of quantum mechanics.

A study of thousands of people finds that neural connections in the brain start to break down quickly around age 44, but the research hints that ketone supplements could potentially help slow that brain aging.

The animation is rendering! I'm discovering so many new things, wonderful! submitted by /u/Careless_Message1269 [link] [comments]

Take a look at @AbyssEdits' WIP large, realistic explosion effect created with Houdini's Axiom.See more: https://80.lv/articles/realistic-explosion-simulation-made-with-houdini-s-axiom-solver/