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4 Things You Should Never Cook in a Nonstick Pan, According to an Expert

Nonstick cookware has its place in the kitchen, but its limitations should keep it from being your everyday pan. Nonstick cookware can tank a recipe when misused, leaving meat and vegetables without a proper sear. Some foods can damage the surface of your nonstick skillet, leading to a shorter lifespan or the release of nonstick materials into your food. As much as we love the easy cleanup, most foods fare better in a stainless-steel, carbon-steel, or cast-iron skillet. I turned to an expert fo

4 Things You Should Never Cook in a Nonstick Skillet, According to an Expert

Nonstick cookware has its place in the kitchen, but its limitations should keep it from being your everyday pan. When used in the wrong situations, nonstick cookware can tank a recipe, leaving meat and vegetables without a proper sear. Some foods can damage the surface of your nonstick skillet, leading to a shorter lifespan or the release of nonstick materials into your food. As much as we love the easy cleanup, most foods fare better in a stainless-steel, carbon-steel, or cast-iron skillet. I

An Annual Blast of Pacific Cold Water Did Not Occur, Alarming Scientists

Each year between January and April, a blob of cold water rises from the depths of the Gulf of Panama to the surface, playing an essential role in supporting marine life in the region. But this year, it never arrived. “It came as a surprise,” said Ralf Schiebel, a paleoceanographer at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry who studies the region. “We’ve never seen something like this before.” The blob is as much as 10 degrees Celsius colder than the surface water. In Fahrenheit terms, the wate

Liquid Glass in the Browser: Refraction with CSS and SVG

Liquid Glass in the Browser: Refraction with CSS and SVG Apple introduced the Liquid Glass effect during WWDC 2025 in June—a stunning UI effect that makes interface elements appear to be made of curved, refractive glass. This article is a hands‑on exploration of how to recreate a similar effect on the web using CSS, SVG displacement maps, and physics-based refraction calculations. Instead of chasing pixel‑perfect parity, we’ll approximate Liquid Glass, recreating the core refraction and a spec

A robot walks on water thanks to evolution's solution

Robots can serve pizza, crawl over alien planets, swim like octopuses and jellyfish, cosplay as humans, and even perform surgery. But can they walk on water? Rhagobot isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of a robot. Inspired by Rhagovelia water striders, semiaquatic insects also known as ripple bugs, these tiny bots can glide across rushing streams because of the robotization of an evolutionary adaptation. Rhagovelia (as opposed to other species of water striders) ha

Experimental Hook-and-Loop Attachment System for Walls and Floors

This ReCon Project, developed at Austria's Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), proposes a hook-and-loop fastening system for wall surfaces. While a true hook-and-loop arrangement (like that used in Velcro) isn't possible with rigid surfaces, the research team came up with a close approximation. Protrusions were cast into concrete, and a flexible sheet material was 3D printed with corresponding protrusions on one face, allowing the sheet to be non-permanently adhered to the concrete. "Such

Canada’s First Moon Mission to Fly Aboard Firefly Spacecraft

Canada’s first-ever Moon rover is going to hitch a ride aboard private space company’s Firefly Aerospace’s fourth Blue Ghost mission to our celestial satellite. The news comes after NASA awarded Firefly $176.7 million to deliver two rovers and three scientific instruments to the lunar surface. The Texas-based company pulled-off its first Moon landing on March 2, delivering payloads for NASA as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative (CLPS). Firefly is set to launch its

A robot walks on water thanks to evolution’s solution

Robots can serve pizza, crawl over alien planets, swim like octopuses and jellyfish, cosplay as humans, and even perform surgery. But can they walk on water? Rhagobot isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of a robot. Inspired by Rhagovelia water striders, semiaquatic insects also known as ripple bugs, these tiny bots can glide across rushing streams because of the robotization of an evolutionary adaptation. Rhagovelia (as opposed to other species of water striders) ha

Physically based rendering from first principles

Physically based rendering from first principles In this interactive article, we will explore the physical phenomena that create light and the fundamental laws governing its interaction with matter. We will learn how our human eyes capture light and how our brains interpret it as visual information. We will then model approximations of these physical interactions and learn how to create physically realistic renderings of various materials. Chapter 1: What is light? We are all familiar with li

Robotic bug literally walks on water

Robots can serve pizza, crawl over alien planets, swim like octopuses and jellyfish, cosplay as humans, and even perform surgery. But can they walk on water? Rhagobot isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of a robot. Inspired by Rhagovelia water striders, semiaquatic insects also known as ripple bugs, these tiny bots can glide across rushing streams because of the robotization of an evolutionary adaptation. Rhagovelia (as opposed to other species of water striders) ha

Creating 3D Worlds with HTML and CSS (2013)

Last year I created a demo showing how CSS 3D transforms could be used to create 3D environments. The demo was a technical showcase of what could be achieved with CSS at the time but I wanted to see how far I could push things, so over the past few months I’ve been working on a new version with more complex models, realistic lighting, shadows and collision detection. This post documents how I did it and the techniques I used. View the demo Creating 3D objects The geometry of a 3D object is st

Fallout S2 teaser brings us to New Vegas

Prime Video has dropped an extended teaser for the much-anticipated second season of Fallout, widely considered to be among the best TV adaptations of a gaming franchise. In our 2024 year-end roundup, Ars senior editor Samuel Axon wrote that the first season gave us "a specific cocktail of tongue-in-cheek humor, sci-fi campiness, strong themes, great characters, and visceral violence [that] came together into a fantastic show." The second season looks like it will bring us more of the same, alon

These Chunks of Ice Move All By Themselves, Thanks to a Cool Engineering Trick

It looks like something straight out of a Ouija board horror movie, but frosty—researchers have figured out how to make ice move by itself. A video capturing the creepy dynamic features an ice disk melting on a metal surface etched with an asymmetrical herringbone pattern. The ice and its small puddle slowly start to move sideways before suddenly picking up speed and slingshotting across the metal plate. The researchers suggest that this sort of independent movement could one day generate power

Ice discs slingshot across a metal surface all on their own

Scientists have figured out how to make frozen discs of ice self-propel across a patterned metal surface, according to a new paper published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. It's the latest breakthrough to come out of the Virginia Tech lab of mechanical engineer Jonathan Boreyko. A few years ago, Boreyko's lab experimentally demonstrated a three-phase Leidenfrost effect in water vapor, liquid water, and ice. The Leidenfrost effect is what happens when you dash a few drops of

Mesmerizing Hypnoloid, a Kinetic Desktop Sculpture

This Hypnoloid object is sort of the opposite of a spinning top. Whereas a top contacts the surface it's balancing on only at its point, the Hypnoloid contacts the surface with every square millimeter of its surface area. The shape is called an oloid, and it's a bit difficult to understand. The 20th-century German sculptor, inventor and mathematician Paul Schatz, who discovered it, describes it thusly: "If the distance of two centers of disk is equal to the radius, then the convex hull produce

Scientists Think They Have Found a Brand-New Mineral on Mars

Scientists have a fairly good idea of what Mars’ surface looks like. But exactly what that surface is made up of is more of a mystery. Now, scientists believe they have discovered an entirely new mineral on Mars from an unusual layer of iron sulfate with a distinct spectral signature. In a Nature Communications paper published on August 5, astrobiologists led by Janice Bishop at the SETI Institute describe the discovery of an unusual ferric hydroxysulfate compound around Valles Marineris, a vas

How to Season a Griddle and Keep It From Rusting

OK, so you've got a backyard griddle. Congratulations, it's a little like joining a cult—albeit one whose shrine is smashburgers, tacos, and pancakes. (Check out WIRED's guide to the best griddles here.) Each outdoor griddle lover has their own conversion story, one they can't stop telling friends and strangers about. But especially, the griddle has its own distinct set of rituals—a cycle of seasoning and cleaning and maintenance it's possible to love, but also maybe fear. On Reddit or Facebook

Dental Floss Could Deliver Next-Gen Vaccines, No Needles Required

Flu shot season is around the corner, and while injections remain the most common form of vaccination, scientists are working hard to find other ways to deliver inoculations that don’t involve shoving a needle into your flesh. And in a new study, researchers think they might have found another novel approach: dental floss. In the new work, a team of scientists based in the U.S. demonstrated how this might work on lab mice, finding that vaccine delivery via dental floss was more effective at sti

Microsoft’s unreleased Surface Duo foldable with Windows is on sale, but good luck trying to buy it

David Imel / Android Authority TL;DR An unreleased prototype of Microsoft’s dual-screen foldable phone, Surface Duo, was recently found listed online for sale. While Surface Duo ran on Android, the leaked prototype runs an unreleased version of the Windows Phone interface. Microsoft envisoned this as an intermediate between a regular phone and a Windows PC, but never realized due to the decline in Windows Phone’s popularity. Microsoft persistently dabbled with mobile phones for almost the en

Microsoft Needs to Make Affordable 5G Surface Laptops a Reality

Microsoft didn’t launch its 2025 lineup of Surface devices with a 5G option. Instead, it waited a few months for interest to die down enough to release its business-end version with a starting price nearly twice that of the one built for the average joe. It shows that if users want a laptop that can connect to the internet without relying on spotty public or Starbucks Wi-Fi, they need to pay through the nose. Hopefully Microsoft’s new tech will get cheaper later, though only if laptop makers rec

Gear News of the Week: Amazon Buys Bee, VSCO Has a New App, and CMF Debuts a Smartwatch

That trade-off lets the Watch 3 Pro purportedly last 13 days on a single charge, a slight bump over its predecessor (the new watch lasts 4.5 days if you have the always-on display enabled). There's a new dual-band GPS for more accurate route tracking, 131 sport modes with a personalized running coach, and a new heart-rate sensor that CMF claims is more accurate across workout intensities and skin tones. Naturally, there's a dose of “AI-powered” post-workout summaries. The CMF Watch 3 Pro can no

Jaw-Dropping Video Shows NASA’s Plan to Deliver a Helicopter Swarm to Mars Without Landing

It’s been more than a year since the Ingenuity helicopter broke one of its blades, ending its experimental stint on Mars. On the heels of this wildly successful NASA mission, a defense contractor has introduced a new design concept to succeed the iconic Mars chopper—one that would release multiple vehicles to spread across the Martian landscape at the same time, like a coordinated swim team diving into the water. Virginia-based AeroVironment (AV), in partnership with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labor

“Surface Laptop 5G” for businesses shows Microsoft isn’t done with Intel yet

Microsoft has gone all-in on Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X-series chips for its Surface PCs, including the less-expensive-but-more-compromised 13-inch Surface Laptop and 12-inch Surface Pro from this spring. But the company still hasn't quite given up on businesses and individuals who still want or require a traditional Intel or AMD-based x86 PC. The latest addition to the lineup is the "Surface Laptop 5G," an updated version of the Intel-based 13.8-inch Surface Laptop with built-in 5G cellul

Microsoft announces Surface Laptop 5G for Business

Microsoft has unveiled a new Surface Laptop 5G as part of its computing collection for business customers. The company said that a 5G option was in the works for its business line back in January when it unveiled other updates to the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop for Business, and this requested feature is intended to make the laptop an option that's both portable and connected. With a system of six internal antennas, the Surface 5G should be able to transition smoothly between WiFi and cellula

Microsoft's new Surface Laptop 5G can be your new hotspot with six antennas

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET Microsoft just announced another version of its Surface Laptop: this time, with 5G connectivity. The Surface Laptop 5G is a 13.8-inch laptop powered by Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) chips and an integrated 5G modem designed for business users to stay permanently connected. It comes with both NanoSIM and eSIM options, and Microsoft says it's compatible with over 100 mobile operators worldwide. Also: This split keyboard offers deep customization - if you're willing to go all

Microsoft’s new Intel-powered Surface Laptop 5G arrives in August

is a senior editor and author of Notepad , who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. Microsoft announced a new 5G version of its Surface Laptop today, which will start shipping on August 26th starting at $1,799.99. The Surface Laptop 5G is powered by Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 processors, complete with an NPU capable of providing access to Microsoft’s latest Copilot Plus AI features. The Surface Laptop 5G is very similar to the existing 13.8-inch Surface Lapt

Laminar Flow Airfoil

Laminar Flow is the smooth, uninterrupted flow of air over the contour of the wings, fuselage, or other parts of an aircraft in flight. Laminar flow is most often found at the front of a streamlined body and is an important factor in flight. If the smooth flow of air is interrupted over a wing section, turbulence is created which results in a loss of lift and a high degree of drag. An airfoil designed for minimum drag and uninterrupted flow of the boundary layer is called a laminar airfoil. The

Titan’s Methane Lakes Could Form Bubble-Like Structures Essential to Life, Scientists Say

On December 25, 2004, the Huygens probe separated from the Cassini spacecraft and landed on Titan’s sandy surface. The probe survived for 72 hours on Saturn’s largest moon, revealing a world that is chemically complex and more Earth-like than expected. For years, scientists have been intrigued by Titan as an alien world that might have the right conditions to host life, albeit in a very different form than on Earth. New research by NASA reveals that molecular precursors to life could form in Tit

Show HN: PlutoFilter- A single-header, zero-allocation image filter library in C

PlutoFilter PlutoFilter is a single-header, zero-allocation image filter library written in C. It applies fast, chainable image effects without any dynamic memory allocation. Compatible with SVG and CSS filter semantics, it makes it easy to reproduce visual effects consistently across platforms. Installation PlutoFilter is a self-contained, single-header library written in standard C99. It can be used in two modes: header-only or implementation. In header-only mode, simply include the header

Bold Mission to Hunt for Aliens on Venus Is Happening

A UK-based mission is aiming to settle, once and for all, whether life exists on Venus. The mission plans to send a probe to the planet in search of microbial life, not on the surface, of course, but in the Venusian clouds. Over the past half-decade, scientists have detected the presence of phosphine and ammonia—two potential signs of biological activity—in Venus’s clouds. On Earth, both gases are produced only by biological activity and industrial processes, and scientists are unsure of their