articles.csv

"Title","Link","Text","ImgUrl"
"Bye Bye, BlogNet","http://www.popsci.com/bye-bye-bloggy","Hey friends! the new Boxplot site is up! Point your browsers to Boxplotcomic.com and behold! I'm currently populating it with some of the better comics and will resume posting new content soon. Cheers!

Hello Boxplot readers, I'm afraid I have received some somber news: A couple weeks ago, Paul Adams informed me that Popular Science’s Editor-in-Chief has decided to wind down the Blog Network at the end of October.

I held off on posting anything earlier because A) I didn't want to be the first person to break the news, and B) I still kinda think I'm being punked. But here we are. This closure marks an end to what has been three of the most sublime years of my life. It was an honor to work for such a prestigious institution as Popular Science, and I’m truly sorry to see it all go.

The Blog Network (or BlogNet for short) launched quietly on October 2nd, 2013 with six blogs ranging in topics such as bats, diseases, space exploration history, and feminism in science/tech media. Since then, that number has nearly doubled, and the topics covered have only grown more eclectic. It’s safe to say there really wasn’t anything else like it.

At the time of the launch, I had just quit my full-time job earlier that summer, and entered the scary world of freelancing. I was nervous, clumsy, and very much inexperienced—though not enough to resist the urge to put a drawing of a butt in my first comic here. Three years and several butts later, I'm still just as nervous and clumsy, but as I look back, I can see how much being here has changed my work for the better. The BlogNet was more than just a place to host my comics or a soapbox for my passion projects: it was fertile ground for me to grow as an artist and a journalist. Being on PopSci.com gave me a platform from which I could reach beyond just drawing comics about science news, and instead pursue new stories. I could exhaust every blooming flower metaphor there is to describe the ways this job has helped me become a better science communicator. I can only hope I represented the organization to satisfaction.

I owe everybody involved in this journey a tremendous debt of gratitude. Having my comics backed by Popular Science was such a joy for me, and being asked to create the image used on the 404 page is one of my proudest achievements. Thanks to all of the BlogNet’s editors and contributors, both past and present, who are among some of the finest people of which I have had the pleasure of working. I wish everybody all the best of luck in whatever adventures await them. I also want to thank all of you readers, particularly if you reached out to me via email or twitter to tell me how much you enjoyed the comic. Even if you didn't enjoy it, I always appreciated the feedback. I also want to expresss my gratitude to all the scientists who reached out to me after seeing their research in comic form. Those emails are always my favorite part of the job. Special thanks to all the scientists who lent their voices to my comics. Boxplot would not be as good as it is without your expertise and guidance.

For now, Boxplot will be cast among the wind, looking for new soil. I've dusted off my portfolio, and filled my bindle with pens and paper. I’m not sure where I will end up, but wherever it is, you’ll be able to find it at boxplotcomic.com. While the blogs are closing down, all the comics here will continue to be visible (or invisible, if you live in Australia. Sorry that never got sorted out), and I'll update this post with any news. As always, you can follow me on Twitter or back my Patreon for regular updates and artwork.

Until we meet again, somewhere on the great digital expanse. It's been real.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/10/fallout_end.jpg?itok=CWX5R2b5"
"What is Replication Crisis?","http://www.popsci.com/what-is-replication-crisis","Psychology has a replication problem. Since 2010, scientists conducting replications of hundreds of studies have discovered that a dismal amount of published results can be reproduced. This realization by psychologists has come to be known as ""replication crisis"".

For me, this story all started with ego-depletion, and the comics I had drawn about it in 2014. The idea is that your self-control is a resource that can be diminished with use. When you think about all the times you've been slowly worn down by temptation, it seems obvious. When I drew the comics, there had been new research pointing to blood sugar levels as the font of self-control from which we all drew from. It also made sense—people get cranky when they're hungry. We even made up a word for it. We call it being ""hangry"".

Fast forward to July of this year when Martin Hagger and Nikos Chatzisarantis published the results of their multi-lab effort to replicate the results of a seminal ego-depletion study. The verdict? Over two thousand participants across twenty-three labs were not able to produce a statistically significant result. Alarmed by the implications, and looking to set the record straight on the comics I had drawn about ego-depletion, I reached out to Martin. Originally, I had planned to draw an erratum of sorts in comic form, but as I spoke with Martin about the issue, it became clear that there was something bigger that I had been missing.

I spoke with several scientists, and found out that this wasn't just an isolated event in one field. Reproducibility problems were arising wherever they were studied, and they all pointed to various systematic problems and creeping biases within the publishing process itself.

You can read my comic about replication crisis, Repeat After Me: Psychology's Reproducibility Problem, on The Nib.

But it hardly stops there. I had more material than I knew what to do with, and several interviews happened too late in the process to make it into the comic. As such, I'm going to start publishing the unused material here on Boxplot. Hopefully, together with my Nib piece, it will give people a greater understanding of this current problem in science, as well as how scientists are working to fix it.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/10/tease_crisis2.jpg?itok=FM1Gb8Sw"
"From Aphids to Varroa Mites, ""Awesome 'Possum"" promises to be a veritable science comic encyclopedia","http://www.popsci.com/from-aphids-to-varroa-mites-awesome-possum-promises-to-be-veritable-science-comic-encyclopedia","When I was growing up, my father had an immense collection of science books and periodicals. I remember going into the basement to read countless back issues of National Geographic or the colorful Time Life Science Library. It was a formative aspect in my road to becoming a science cartoonist. Imagine if all those books had been comics.

Running now on Kickstarter, is a campaign to fund the third volume of Awesome 'Possum, a natural science comic anthology exploring nature. Through comics, the creators travel all over the world, bringing to your living room everything from the depths of the ocean to extinct species to the resurrection powers of frogs.

Awesome 'Possum is put together by Angela Boyle, a natural science illustrator, cartoonist, and technical writer. She bagan the project in 2014, after finishing a natural science illustration certificate program.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/gpike_0.jpg?itok=GynMoJ4P"
"Who has seven thumbs and is up for a Philly Geek Award?","http://www.popsci.com/who-has-seven-thumbs-and-is-up-for-philly-geek-award","Let it never be said that drawing nerdy science comics won't get you anywhere.

I recently received word that I had been nominated for ""Comic Creator of the Year"" at the 2016 Philly Geek Awards . I'm in the running with fellow comic creators Emily K and Jamar Nicholas, who are both doing amazing work—not just in our field, but for the greater good as well.

The Philly Geek Awards recognize the achievements of Philadelphia-area creators, makers, entrepreneurs, leaders, and even scientists. For an example of what that involves, one of the nominees for ""Geek of the Year"" is Ariell Johnson, owner of Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse and the first African-American female comic book shop owner on the East Coast. I was also really excited to see Resistor_, a tabletop game by my friends Nicole Kline and Anthony Amato, was among the nominees.

Like most people, I suffer from a crippling case of impostor syndrome, so I can't begin to tell you what an honor it is to even be nominated for something like this, and I'm super thankful to everybody who has supported me along the way.

The Philly Geek Awards will be held on Sunday, October 16 and there are still tickets available. Hope to see some of you readers there.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/maki_thumbs3_0.jpg?itok=aCC3pMQn"
"Cards Against Humanity scholarship seeks to send women in STEM to college","http://www.popsci.com/cards-against-humanity-scholarship-seeks-to-send-women-in-stem-to-college","I haven't played Cards Against Humanity in years, but I still follow everything they do. In addition to peddling the controversial card game, CAH, the company, is known for its publicity stunts—such as raising prices on Black Friday or selling boxes of actual cow dung—as well as for some really cool humanitarian endeavors. My favorite being their new Science Ambassador Scholarship.

The makers of the ""party game for horrible people"" founded this program in 2014 with the aim of giving one woman studying science, technology, engineering, or math up to four years tuition money. The scholarship is funded by the sales of the game's ""Science Pack"" a 30-card booster written by fellow science cartoonist Zach Weinersmith and astronomer Phil Plait. At the time of writing this post, the decks have raised over $970,000 for the scholarship trust. That's right, a $10 pack of cards is helping get more women into STEM fields.

From the official press release:","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/cah_0.jpg?itok=LL0O5plU"
"Welcome to the official Boxplot FAQ","http://www.popsci.com/drawing-science-comics","Adventures is Time Travel Volume 1: How did I get here? Maki Naro

Recently I've had a few people contact me looking for advice on becoming a science comic person—which is awesome. If you ask me for comic advice, I will gladly talk your ear off. So, after about the third ear, I decided I should probably just make a series of posts about it. I've been preoccupied with freelance projects while I write the new OTP book, so it seemed like a good time to go into the nuts and bolts of being... me. I preface everything in this series with a giant ""your mileage will vary"". I attribute much of my journey here to dumb luck and fortuitous timing. The path I took to was much less of a career trajectory, and much more a series of career ricochets. Seriously, I took part in the #firstsevenjobs hashtag a while back and it looked like I had just listed off professions in alphabetical order. As such, I'll try to distill my aimless wandering into helpful nuggets of information. I'll gloss over the details of what I did, and instead try to focus on why it worked. Without further ado, here's the first part of this new series.

Q: What did you study in school? Comics or Science? A: Uh. Well, kinda neither. Q: What?

The first thing people ask me is about my background. This is not surprising, as having some sort of advanced knowledge about either comic-making technique or the subject of said comics seems like a smart idea. Its importance as question-number-one, is not undue, given how involved art and science degrees each tend to be on their own. People faced with this choice are usually forced to pick one over the other. Or study one to a lesser degree. Luckily, I had no such foresight, and I did neither. I have no background in science whatsoever, other than a irresistible gravitational attraction to it. I don't know where this love affair started, but it was fueled by my father's National Geographic collection and a retaining wall that I slowly ruined by turning over all the stones. I was probably the only kid in the 2nd grade that wanted to be an entomologist, or even knew what one was. Before I get any further, though, the answer I gave above is not quite true. I also drew a lot as a kid, and in 2004 I got a bachelor's in fine arts. Art school was like a giant playroom full of power wheels and easy bake ovens for a kid who had previously only played with sticks. Eager to explore every artistic medium, I studied pottery for a year before focusing on metal fabrication and foundry. My senior exhibition consisted of bronze and cast iron octopus sculptures.

Cephalopod mollusc in iron. Maki Naro

Other than the fact that all my work was cartoonish in some way, I didn't study comics at all. The closest I got to drawing comics in college was my junior and senior year video courses, where I taught myself Flash and Final Cut in order to make an animated short and build a few websites. Yeah, remember Flash websites? Ugh. Like I said, no foresight. Comics and illustration were things I had been doing my whole life, took a four year break from, and then fell back on after I graduated, because drawing and painting is cheaper than renting a studio space to make sculptures. Every now and then I wonder why it took me nearly thirty years drawing and lifting up rocks to see what bugs were underneath before I even considered putting them together. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret going to art school. It led to some opportunities that I wouldn't trade for anything. Not the least of which was that it introduced me to people and ideas that I would never have come in contact with otherwise. Do you need a science background to draw science comics? No. Can it hurt? No. If you have a path all planned out, that's fantastic. But remember that nothing is set in stone. Take any three science comic people and ask them how they got to where they are now, and I guarantee you’ll get three vastly different stories.

Q: Will my love for science make up for my lack of qualifications? A: Your love for science will totally make up for your lack of qualifications.

The beauty of science communication is that its much less about science and more about education, storytelling, and engagement. As a science communicator, your job is to bridge the gap between scientists and the public, and one of the best ways to do that is to be excited about it. Scicomm is one of those things you really have to want to do, and enthusiasm is contagious. Enthusiasm for science got me the most influential job of my scicomm career. Yes, this is the part where I tell you my super cliche story about how I believed in myself and shoot for the moon and ... just bear with me. In 2011, I was made aware that a web production assistant position at the World Science Festival had opened up, and applied immediately. It was a long shot. I had no professional experience as a copywriter or web producer. All I had going for me was that I eager to work in science communication and had a blog/webcomic. It worked, and I don't think there's a day that goes by where I don't mutter a silent prayer to my old supervisor for taking a gamble on me over another applicant that had more experience. I know this is all based on a sample size of one, and 90% of my exciting job applications have come back with no reply. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that it's okay to take risks. You might be surprised. I'll be discussing the science festival, job and the doors it opened in our next installment.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/08/rey-lightsaber_acwl5h.jpg?itok=iAK82lZt"
"How It's Made: Zika Edition","http://www.popsci.com/how-do-you-build-virus","I love drawing viruses. They're like tiny battle robots, where each one has a different technique or weapon it uses to complete its mission: bypass the host cell's defenses and reprogram it to produce more viruses. Some worm their way in through a back door in the cell membrane, others have spider legs and drill right into them, and many cloak themselves in envelopes made from their host's own cell walls in order to evade the immune system. So when I was drawing a comic about the Zika outbreak in South America, I naturally looked up the virus. I wanted to know what my enemy looked like.

I didn't expect it to be so pretty. The Zika virus surrounds its capsid (the protein shell containing its genetic code) in a soccer ball-shaped envelope. The proteins that make up the envelope are understandably complicated, but even I could appreciate their tessellated arrangement.

This structure was only recently revealed, as scientists rushed to combat the epidemic already in full swing in South and Central America. See, before a virus can be fought, we have to know how it's shaped. The virus structure can give scientists all sorts of insights into how it enters cells, how it evades the host's defenses, or how it can be broken. By knowing what proteins a virus uses to interact with the host cell membrane, antiviral medications can be developed to block these receptors. Viruses with a lipid envelope, like Zika, are vulnerable to alcohol-based hand sanitizers, which break apart its protective shell. If scientists can pinpoint its identifying markers, vaccines can be produced to help train the host's immune system into finding and destroying the virus.

Once I knew what my enemy looked like, all I had to do was draw it. Working from reference images, I struggled for a while to create a likeness of the virus. Drawing a pattern that wraps around a sphere is difficult. Luckily, I could cheat a little: The key is that the envelope proteins are arranged in icosahedral symmetry. All I really had to do was draw one triangular section. Like so:","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/08/zika_pattern_0.jpg?itok=7kH6KRJO"
"Explore an Infinite Library from Home","http://www.popsci.com/library-babel","Appropriately called the ""infinite monkey theorem"", it's one of the more visually amusing demonstrations of statistics and probability. It has been attributed to Émile Borel in 1913, but since that time, technology has advanced in leaps and bounds. Computers are now able to handle such fantastically impossible tasks, and it just doesn't make sense to have that many monkeys around. I do not envy the HR rep who has to give an infinite amount of exit interviews.

Enter The Library of Babel, a website based on the Jorge Luis Borges short story about an infinite library containing every possible combination of letters bound in 410-page volumes. In the story, hidden amidst countless books filled with nonsense, was not only every book that was ever written, but also every book that would ever be written. It was the sum of human knowledge.

The library's digital counterpart was made by writer and coder Jonathan Basile, and hopes to one day contain every combination of 1,312,000 characters. Arranged in hexagonal rooms, each with four walls that have five shelves containing 32 books each, it currently contains about 104677 books. It's massive. And while you're welcome to journey through the library book by book in search of the one that has your favorite Led Zeppelin lyric or the next science fiction masterpiece, it could be a long time before you stumbled upon one that contained a real word, much less a coherent sentence.

Luckily, you don't have to do that. Since the library is generated by an algorithm that creates each unique combination of 3,200-character pages, all assigned to—and generated by—the page number, every page already exists. The infinite library is searchable. With little effort, you can find your name, a Shakespearean sonnet, or even the first paragraph of this post—all assigned a page number in a book that you can go back and reference at another time.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/07/tease-type-monkey.jpg?itok=pgbOUQJK"
"Worst Game Ever","http://www.popsci.com/worst-game-ever","It's morning. You wake up to an odd sensation in your calf. Suddenly you realize what it happening.

Hurry! While still half-asleep, you have one second to remember which direction to point your foot before total annihilation.

Oops, too slow. WASTED.

Support Maki on Patreon","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/06/tease-charley.jpg?itok=5MM4BPHv"
"How The Iron Giant Can Still Teach Us All to Be Understanding Of One Another","http://www.popsci.com/how-iron-giant-can-still-teach-us-all-to-be-understanding-one-another","One of the things I struggle with often on my blog is how far Boxplot can veer away from science content while still maintaining science comic status. If you've followed me a while, you know my views on the nature of politics (mainly that everything is political because every aspect of human existence is shaped by the decisions of those in power). Nonetheless, I try to respect those who subscribe to this blog expecting science stuff by sticking to posting science stuff. Because I know that if I subscribed to a pizza blog and they kept writing about climate change, while I'd understand that climate change is a real and very important issue, I'd be scratching my head and wondering why there wasn't more pizza. On that note, here's something not strictly sciencey. Sorry. But I have to share this video about the animated classic, The Iron Giant by Gearbox Software creative director and pal Mikey Neumann. If you aren't familiar with his show, Movies with Mikey, I implore you to go subscribe to it. His library is quickly growing, and there are more than a few films in it that I've only seen because I saw he had an episode dedicated to them. The show is that good. The Iron Giant, if you haven't seen it, is also fantastically good. I consider it one of the greatest films ever made. This list, for me, also include Raiders of the Lost Ark, so you can judge my tastes from there. Take a look.

I wanted to share the video above with all of you not only because it's a great show and a great film, but also because of the greatness of the message it holds during these times. 2016 has been a doozy of a year with the election rapidly polarizing the American people and the emboldening of white nationalism in America thanks to the call to ""Make America Great Again"". The mass shooting (now one of so, so many) in Orlando forces us to answer for our country's serious homophobia and islamophobia problem. The recent Brexit decision not only raises alarm for scientists in the UK whose work is funded by the European Union, but the campaign to leave bears so much of the same rhetoric as the Trump campaign that the comparison between the two is not only undeniable, but even the two movements proudly admit it. On top of that, it was preceded by the assassination of Jo Cox, the first English MP murdered since 1990, for her pro-immigration views., In a year where politicians around the world are telling their followers to be frightened of those who are different from us, and succeeding. More than ever we need messages that teach respect and understanding, instead of fear and hatred.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/06/mv5bmtq5ntm4nty5mv5bml5banbnxkftztgwotg2mzc2nje._v1_.jpg?itok=v4xz7Jrs"
"Going Batty For Science","http://www.popsci.com/going-batty-for-science","Project: iBats, Bat Detective

For reasons I have never understood, bats have a bad reputation. Perhaps it is because some of them look a bit fierce, or perhaps it is because they have a habit of flying close when they are hunting; either way, their reputation is completely undeserved. Bats are a very important part of our environment.

According to the Nature Conservancy, there are more than 1100 species of bats around the world, and they make up more than a quarter of the worldwide mammal population. They range in size from the itty bitty 2-gram bumble bee bat, to the hefty, 1.5-kg ""flying fox."" They are very important for pest control as each one can eat more than 1000 mosquitoes in an hour. They're also an important pollinator; just like bees, some species feed on nectar or fruit, and they help spread pollen from plant to plant. Only three species are the so-called ""vampire"" variety, and none of them live in the US. And although we don't like to think about it, bat droppings, also known as guano, are a rich fertilizer, and it was once a major trade item.

Sadly, most bat mothers only give birth to one pup a year, and that makes bats especially vulnerable to changes in their environment. That's why two projects want to learn more about bats and how to protect then.

With iBats, volunteers load a free app onto their mobile device and record bat sounds. When combined with other data, this allows researchers to monitor changes in bat populations over time. So far, more than 600 people have collected recordings in several countries, and uploaded them to a bat database.

If getting close to bats just isn't your thing, then you can help by going to the Bat Detective site and listening to bat calls to help classify them. It turns out humans are really good at figuring out whether what they're hearing is a bat call or not.

According to Bat Detective organizers, ""The ultimate goal is to use your classifications to make a new automatic programme that researchers all over the world can use to extract information out of their recordings, making it really easy to track populations of bats. This will make understanding how bat populations are being effected by global change much easier.""

Both projects are a marvel of inter-organizational cooperation. iBats is a project for several national conservation groups in many different countries, as well as the Zoological Society of London and The Bat Conservation Trust. It is funded by The Darwin Initiative and The Leverhulme Trust. Meanwhile, Bat Detective is a partnership project between University College London, the Zoological Society of London, The Bat Conservation Trust, BatLife Europe, University of Auckland, and the Citizen Science Alliance.

Chandra Clarke is a Webby Honoree-winning blogger, a successful entrepreneur, and an author. Her book Be the Change: Saving the World with Citizen Science is available at Amazon. You can connect with her on Twitter @chandraclarke.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/southeastern_myotis.jpg?itok=oTkgrb9c"
"Save The Manatee","http://www.popsci.com/save-manatee","Project: Save the Manatee

Manatees, also known as sea cows, are gentle, slow-moving herbivores that like to paddle about in shallow, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals, and coastal areas. In the US, they can be spotted anywhere from Texas to Massachusetts, but they are mostly seen in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina in the summer, and Florida in the winter. Elsewhere, they can be found in the shallow waterways of Central America and along the north coast of South America.

As far as we know, manatees have no natural enemies... except humans. A significant number of the creatures die every year after being struck by watercraft. Others are crushed or drowned in canal locks and flood control structures, or die because they've eaten fish hooks, fishing line, getting caught in crab traps, or because they are forced out of refuge areas in the winter.

Save the Manatee is a non-profit organization originally started by singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett and former U.S. Senator Bob Graham (when he was was governor of Florida), and it advocates in various ways to protect the animal at the local, state, and federal level, as well as by assisting international efforts.

There are several ways to help this initiative. You can join the manatee sighting network, provide sanctuary for the creatures if you own waterfront property, lobby against fracking by supporting anti-fracking legislation, write letters to the editor and your government representatives, and spread the word on social media. You can also adopt a manatee by donating $25 to the organization.

""Since record-keeping began in 1974, more than 41% of manatee deaths where cause of death was identified were human-related – and almost 34% were due to watercraft collisions (the largest known cause of manatee deaths),"" say organizers. ""With increased awareness, education, regulations, and enforcement, manatee deaths caused by humans could be substantially reduced, and the eventual recovery of the species could be realized... Human activities are harming manatees, and only our compassion and action can protect them.""

Chandra Clarke is a Webby Honoree-winning blogger, a successful entrepreneur, and an author. Her book Be the Change: Saving the World with Citizen Science is available at Amazon. You can connect with her on Twitter @chandraclarke.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/hpim0279.jpg?itok=SocbWm36"
"Putting Christmas Gifts To Good Use","http://www.popsci.com/putting-christmas-gifts-to-good-use","If you're getting someone on your Christmas list a mobile device with a camera, why not also tell them how they can use it to do Earth science research? This week, I cover three projects you can join if you know how to take decent digital pictures.

S'COOL: If you're a fan of clouds, this project is for you. S'COOL is designed to provide ""ground truth"" observations of clouds and cloud formations. The data is correlated with overhead satellite imagery from the CERES instrument. CERES stands for Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy Sytem. It is now orbiting the Earth as part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise to study the ways in which clouds may affect the Earth's climate. Sign up as a school, a classroom, or as an individual citizen scientist.

Picture Post: Here's one for the woodworker/photographer on your list. Picture Post is a part of the Digital Earth Watch (DEW) network. DEW conducts environmental monitoring through digital photography and satellite imagery. In this project you use an 8-sided platform for taking overlapping photographs of the entire landscape around you and an “up” picture of the sky. To participate, you'll need to build a special, but simple octagon-shaped post, and to upload photos.

SatCam: SatCam is another project where you capture observations of sky and ground conditions when an Earth observation satellite is overhead. The apps works with the Terra, Aqua, and Suomi NPP satellites; whenever you make an observation, you get an image from the satellite above!

Chandra Clarke is a Webby Honoree-winning blogger, a successful entrepreneur, and an author. Her book Be the Change: Saving the World with Citizen Science is available at Amazon. You can connect with her on Twitter @chandraclarke.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/1024px-bluemarble-2001-2002.jpg?itok=evAwIdyd"
"Making Data Shareable","http://www.popsci.com/making-data-shareable","Project: CitSci.org

While the citizen science movement has grown by leaps and bounds in the last decade, there is still much untapped possibility. A special platform of tools seeks to extract as much value as possible from citizen science projects.

Called CitSci.org, the site hopes to standardize how data is collected, stored, and annotated. ""Citizen science projects have the potential to advance science by increasing the volume and variety of data, as well as innovation,"" said the site creators, Yiwei Wang, Nicole Kaplan, Greg Newman, and Russell Scarpino. ""Yet this potential has not been fully realized, in part because citizen science data are typically not widely shared and reused...We can increase confidence in (and reuse of) citizen science data by offering project coordinators improved and easy-to-use tools to document and generate associated metadata.""

The site allows you to create projects, datasheets, set your own protocols, create plots, do data analysis, and build reports. All of the tools and data storage are provided free.

The site has been growing in popularity, beginning with just a handful of projects added in 2006, to handling 200 new projects in 2015. It is now also a site for citizen science researchers to learn more about citizen science. ""Researchers in academia investigate the workings of CitSci.org in order to better understand the process of citizen science and the quality of data that emerges. In addition to learning more about citizen science, other researchers use the results found from posted projects to complete meta-analyses.""

To use the site, simply register at this page.

Chandra Clarke is a Webby Honoree-winning blogger, a successful entrepreneur, and an author. Her book Be the Change: Saving the World with Citizen Science is available at Amazon. You can connect with her on Twitter @chandraclarke.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/ncsr_researchers_calibrating_their_tools.jpg?itok=7DgN4B9a"
"The GMO Corn Experiment","http://www.popsci.com/gmo-corn-experiment","Project: GMOExperiment.com

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been around since the early 1980s, and have proven popular enough with farmers that by 2004, genetically modified crops were being grown by 8.25 million farmers in 17 countries. Although the general scientific consensus is that GMOs are safe, and have many benefits (including increased yield and better food security, especially for third world countries), GMOs have their opponents. Anti-GMO advocates are concerned that they have not been tested enough and may be harmful to humans and animals.

Meanwhile, on the Internet, all kinds of theories and claims abound, and unfortunately many of these are proclaimed as truth when they haven't been verified. Biology Fortified, Inc. (BFI), a non-profit organization made up of science communicators, has decided to test one such claim (that wild animals avoid eating genetically modified corn) by launching a massive citizen science experiment.

For the experiment, registrants will receive four ears of corn, which will be enough to do two experiments. The ears will be placed on a special stand, and then placed outside on a dry day, in a place where squirrels, birds, etc., are likely to find them. Citizen scientists will take measurements, and send pictures and the data with an easy-to-use web portal. The ears themselves will be barcoded and double-blinded to safeguard the results of the experiment.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/gmoexperiment-teaser-withurl.jpg?itok=xOxCdTcR"
"You Can Now Do Science In 'EVE Online'","http://www.popsci.com/gaming-meets-science","Project: Project Discovery in EVE Online

EVE Online is what's known as a MMORPG ... a massive multiplayer online roleplaying game. In progress now for more than a decade, the game is science fiction's answer to World of Warcraft. Set some 21,000 years into the future, the game backstory suggests that humans have branched out to colonize space, and being humans, immediately started competing with each other for resources. You can play as an explorer, skirmisher, industrialist, or colonizer.

In an exciting development that brings real life and art together, EVE Online has announced that it is working with a Swiss startup called Massively Multiplayer Online Science (MMOS), and students of Reykjavik University to bring a real science project into the game. Inserted as a mini-game that pays out in the game's internal currencies, players will be asked to help categorize and classify beautiful images from the Human Protein Atlas. The latter is a project to map out protein distribution in the human body, to give us a better idea of how our bodies work, and what happens when they stop working properly, leading to diseases like cancer.

""This new feature brings the opportunity for EVE players to help solve real world science problems through their in-game activity,"" say organizers.

For more information on the project, check out the presentation at EVE Vegas 2015, just last week.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/377_h2_1_blue_red_green.jpg?itok=opHXYFx8"
"Codifying Your Health","http://www.popsci.com/codifying-your-health","Project: The Human Diagnosis Project

We live in the age of Big Data, or so the pundits would have you believe. And yet, amazingly, very few projects have tried to apply a big data approach to one of our most fundamental concerns: our health. That is, until now.

The Human Diagnosis Project is a global effort to map any health problem to its possible causes. The goal is to get a dataset that will present a patient, a caregiver, or a patient advocate with the smallest possible number of diagnoses to help someone get treatment faster.

""This is conceptually similar to an online map,"" states the backgrounder on the website. ""Just as an online map helps you get from one location to another, the Project gives patients, family members, doctors, hospitals, and others a shared path to helping any person.""

The project is being organized by a team of medical professionals from around the globe, including representatives from entities such as World Health Organization, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Facebook, Amazon, McKinsey & Company, Goldman Sachs, the Blackstone Group, Creative Artists Agency, Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, and Yale. The main contact for the project is Dr. Shantanu Nundy, an M.D. with Alpha Omega Alpha distinction from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Medical professionals can contribute to the project by adding anonymous case studies. ""Similar to how people around the world contribute encyclopedia articles to Wikipedia, or engineers contribute code to open source software projects like Linux, the global medical community contributes clinical cases to Human Dx. The Project extends upon the ideas of open technology efforts like Wikipedia and Linux by bringing together multiple other communities (including the patient, scientific, and technology) with the medical community to ensure the creation and validation of clinical case data that can help anyone, anywhere.""

Members of the public will eventually be able to have access to the anonymized, aggregated data under a Creative Commons license. Meanwhile, anyone can check out the Case of the Week. As of this writing, the case is a 34-year-old male presenting with chest pain. Reading the case data gives members of the lay public insight into just how much goes into a medical diagnosis in the 21st century.

For more information, check out https://www.humandx.org/context/background.

Chandra Clarke is a Webby Honoree-winning blogger, a successful entrepreneur, and an author. Her book Be the Change: Saving the World with Citizen Science is available at Amazon. You can connect with her on Twitter @chandraclarke.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/laparoskopische-chirurgie.jpg?itok=7Sq8vImn"
"Start Your Own Citizen Science Project","http://www.popsci.com/start-your-own-citizen-science-project-0","Called Anecdata, the first version of the software was developed at MDI Biological Laboratory’s Community Environmental Health Lab, and used to document eelgrass decline in Maine.

A new platform billing itself as ""next-generation citizen science"" is promising to make it easy for anyone who wants to collect or share environmental data.

""Anecdata works with reports of organism presence and absence, habitat quality data, and reports of manmade events, and we've made it easy to search, analyze, and download data."" ~ Anecdata site.

Using the site is free, but the organization behind the software offer a number of paid services, such as custom site development, maintenance and hosting, supported development, and citizen science consultation. This is the same kind of model used by places like Automattic, the organization behind the WordPress blogging platform.

To get started in using the site, you can simply register with an email address and password. There is a development blog, and a related Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CommunityEnvironmentalHealthLab.

You can also see other projects already on Anecdata on their projects page. Current projects include the Acadia Learning Snowpack Project, the King Tides Project, and Green Crab Studies.

Chandra Clarke is a Webby Honoree-winning blogger, a successful entrepreneur, and an author. Her book Be the Change: Saving the World with Citizen Science is available at Amazon. She also runs a proofreading business. You can connect with her on Twitter @chandraclarke.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/northwest_wildlife_07_6872905665_0.jpg?itok=qIu-SG0V"
"White House Hosting Forum on Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing","http://www.popsci.com/white-house-hosting-forum-on-citizen-science-and-crowdsourcing","Watch the forum live at 8:10 a.m. at www.whitehouse.gov/live

The US Federal Government is reaffirming its commitment to both open government and open science, as it announces new policies on citizen science and crowdsourcing today. The announcement will be discussed at a forum on citizen science.

The forum is a joint effort between the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Domestic Policy Council. Entitled ""Open Science and Innovation: Of the People, By the People, For the People,"" the forum will bring together senior administration officials, federal agencies, academic researchers, and non-profit organizations to discuss how citizen science can be used to support federal agency missions and achieve broader societal benefits.

In a memorandum from John P. Holdren, Director of the OSTP, the executive office seeks to encourage "". . . the use, where appropriate, of citizen science and crowdsourcing by federal agencies.""

Specifically, the OSTP is asking each agency to select a dedicated coordinator for citizen science and crowdsourcing projects within 60 days. Agencies are also being asked to catalogue their existing projects and list them in a public database of federal citizen science and crowdsourcing projects within 180 days. The goal of the database is ""to make these projects easier for the public to discover, to help improve collaboration within and across agencies, and to reveal opportunities for new projects.""

The memo coincides with the launch of a Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Toolkit. The kit contains information on best practices for setting up a citizen science project, a resource library, and links to relevant law and policy. The toolkit is publically accessible at https://crowdsourcing-toolkit.sites.usa.gov/.

Momentum Building

In an exclusive interview with Popular Science, Jenn Gustetic, Assistant Director for Open Innovation at the White House, said that the memo and the forum are the result of a groundswell of support across the government for using citizen science as another tool to improve innovation.

""A number of agencies have been experimenting with citizen science and crowdsourcing for a few years, but there has been some uncertainty about the clearest path,"" she said. ""Early adopters have been wondering, is this viable? Is this worth the resources? But it has become clear that we've now got a big community of passionate and dedicated federal employees, a great group of connected people, and some big success stories and we want to build on that momentum."" Gustetic cites the more than two dozen case studies provided in the toolkit, many of which have not been previously released.

But What About The Data?

Gustetic acknowledges that citizen science is not without its skeptics. ""A big point of concern for many is data quality,"" she explained. ""In many ways, this memo and forum will be a way to address that head on.""

Gustetic said that the memo outlines three key guiding principles for agencies engaging in citizen science and crowdsourcing. ""We want data quality to be of paramount importance in the design and execution of projects from the outset,"" she said. ""We also believe that openness is critical, and it should be the default position, to spur innovation. And we would also like to see public participants as valued partners who deserve some kind of recognition.""

The memo and especially the toolkit are designed to help agencies design good projects from day one, and these resources should also prevent agencies from having to reinvent the wheel, she added.

Citizen Science Gaining Importance Worldwide

With other regions around the world moving quickly to adopt citizen science and crowdsourcing methodology, Gustetic noted that it is important that the US foster similar developments at home.

""We see these tools as feeding into the overall drive to stimulate innovation in America,"" Gustetic said.

Beyond the timelines stated in the memo, the US government's role in citizen science initiatives is still under discussion. ""We'll be finding out from the community of users as to how we can help by streamlining policy and procedure. We want to help practitioners use these tools as they would other tools, to ensure good use of taxpayer dollars.""

Gustetic said that it was really notable that the toolkit on citizen science and crowdsourcing was itself a crowdsourced project.

""We convened teams to create the toolkit,"" she explained. ""We had developers, UX designers, subject matter experts . . . more than 125 people across more than 20 agencies. I'm very impressed and very proud of how that happened.""

Chandra Clarke is a Webby Honoree-winning blogger, a successful entrepreneur, and an author. Her book Be the Change: Saving the World with Citizen Science is available at Amazon. You can connect with her on Twitter @chandraclarke.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/opt-monkey.png"
"Smile! Your Garden Is On Camera","http://www.popsci.com/smile-your-garden-is-on-camera","Project: Naturebytes

If you have ever watched the BBC Planet Earth series (and if you haven't, why not?!), you know that some of the really interesting bits are the ones that show you how the cinematographers got their shots. If those adventures made your pulse quicken, a new DIY project may help you take your first steps in wildlife photography.

Called Naturebytes, the project is a ""digital maker"" initiative that combines a wildlife camera, a computer, and a bird feeder to allow you to build a heat-sensitive camera trap. The waterproofed camera will take pictures whenever a warm critter strays into its field of view. These are the same sort of cameras used by professional research scientists on projects like Snapshot Serengeti.

Putting the kit together will combine learning in electronics, photography, and coding. Moreover, it will demonstrate a practical use for the skills in the field.

The project is the result of a successful Kickstarter campaign held earlier this year (you can see the original here). You can preorder your kit at the main website. Give that the development timeline of the final product may be subject to change, I wouldn't count on this as a potential Christmas gift, but definitely one worth reserving anyway.

Chandra Clarke is a Webby Honoree-winning blogger, a successful entrepreneur, and an author. Her book Be the Change: Saving the World with Citizen Science is available at Amazon. You can connect with her on Twitter @chandraclarke.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/1024px-i_love_my_birdfeeder_8525511863.jpg?itok=8ZRybUT4"
"Come see China's new hexacopters and self-detonating drones","http://www.popsci.com/china-new-drones-army-hexacopters","CH-901 This display at the Military Museum indicates that the 20-pound CH-901 drone, which can be used as a loitering munition, is in service with the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Behind it is a smaller recon unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that's launched from the smaller tubes on the 4X4 launch armored fighting vehicle (AFV). Oedo Soldier

As part of its celebration of the People's Liberation Army, the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing is showing off a range of exciting exhibitions, offering a peek into the PLA's new self-propelled artillery, cruise missiles, ballistic missile launchers, and—perhaps most notably—tactical unmanned aerial systems. First up, there's official confirmation that the CH-901 ""kamikaze"" loitering attack munitions (a short-ranged mini-drone) is in use by the PLA. First publicly displayed at the DSA 2016 arms fair, CH-901 is a 20-pound, fixed-wing drone with a flight speed range of 9 to 90 miles per hour. It's got a 1.2-mile-range electro optical camera for reconnaissance (it can be recovered this way) and/or it can crash into enemy targets, detonating its warhead. It is comparable to the American Aerovironment ""Switchblade"" used by Special Operations. At the Military Museum, a 4X4 armored fighting vehicle (AFV) is armed with a pop-up hatch that carries eight CH-901 pneumatically launch tubes. The launcher also has four launch tubes for a smaller fixed-wing reconnaissance UAV. The CH-901 launcher is likely to be used by lighter units like Special Operations, or amphibious and airborne troops, which cannot always count on conventional air and artillery support.

Slide and Launch These tactical hexacopters can be deployed for launch by sliding their rack on the AFV backdoor, and use them to support company/battalion operations. Oedo Soldier, via Weibo.

Another 4X4 AFV had an even more interesting cargo: three large hexacopter drones, with collapsible rotor-housing struts. Carried on a slide-out rack deployed out of the rear infantry exfiltration door of the vehicle, each hexacopter is about 4 feet tall, with a wingspan of about 6 and a half feet and a large dome camera mounted on the main body. Judging by the performance of other similarly-sized hexacopters—like the 33-pound JSSG hexacopter—this reconnaissance vehicle would have a range of about 6-9 miles, a flight altitude of over 3,000 feet, top speed of 50 miles per hour and enough battery life for 1 hour of flight time. The setting suggests that the hexacopters would likely be deployed at the battalion or company level, and be used for communications and reconnaissance purposes.

Tactical Drones The hexacopter, like the fixed wing UAV in front of it, are both used for tactical information gathering by Chinese troops. Oedo Soldier","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2017/07/hexacopters_2.jpg?itok=FzX5b-d4"
"China just deployed to its first overseas base","http://www.popsci.com/china-deploys-first-overseas-base-djibouti","The joint military base will act as a logistics hub for the Middle East and North Africa.

For the first time in modern Chinese history, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is setting up a joint military base on foreign soil. On July 11, 2017, the Chinese Navy dispatched two ships—the Jingangshan and the Donghaidao—to Doraleh, Djibouti.

The Jingangshan (999), a Type 071 LPD, sets off from Guangdong province with a contingent of marines to man the new Chinese military base at Doraleh.

Doraleh is the first overseas base for the PLA, making this the first deployment of China's military forces there. Djibouti is a pretty strategic location, too, given its placement on the Horn of Africa near the Indian Ocean entrance to the Red Sea.

The base—roughly half a square kilometer—is reported to be soon be staffed by about a battalion-size formation, or about 1,000 people.

As a logistics hub, it could support Chinese naval task forces making voyages to Europe through the Suez Canal, or supervise the evacuation of Chinese nationals from nearby countries. It is also likely to initially support Chinese anti-piracy operations and African peacekeeping missions,","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2017/07/donghaidao_djibouti.jpg?itok=RezG5F0O"
"Meet KJ-600, the aircraft that could help China's navy rival America's","http://www.popsci.com/kj-600-china-plane","KJ-600 The XAC KJ-600 AEW&C, when deployed on future, catapult equipped Chinese aircraft carriers, will enhance the combat effectiveness of Chinese fighters, and possibly the long-range fire of warships and missiles. OedoSoldier

China's aircraft carriers are getting plenty of press lately. China's shiny new carrier, Liaoning, visited Hong Kong last week, and the nation launched the Type 001A aircraft carrier in the spring. There's been less talk, however, of the aircraft on those carriers. In addition to the J-15T fighter's catapult flight testing, China's making strides with its airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) plane for future catapult-equipped aircraft carriers.

AEW&C aircraft like America's E-2 Hawkeye are a essential for a fully capable carrier air wing. They provide the ability to detect incoming threats and manage complex operations. Without them, an air wing will remain comparatively limited in its capability to undertake complex operations. The challenge for China now is that its AEW&C aircraft are too heavy and slow to operate off of ski ramp-equipped carriers. It's one big way China's navy lags behind America's.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2017/07/liaoning_hksar_visit_2.jpg?itok=tIZLasv-"
"China launches Asia's biggest post-WWII warship","http://www.popsci.com/china-launches-asias-biggest-post-wwii-warship","Christening Minister Zhang Youxia, the procurement chief of the Central Military Commission, presides over the first Type 055 DDG's christening on June 28, 2017, inaugurating a new epoch in Chinese naval power (The pennant number and name of the first Type 055 are currently undisclosed). CNR via Weibo

On June 28th, the first Type 055 ""Renhai"" guided missile destroyer (DDG) was launched in the Changxing Jiangnan Shipyards in Shanghai. Measuring about 180 meters long and over 20 meters wide, the Type 055 destroyer displaces about 12,000-14,000 tons at full load, which was last matched in Asia by the Japanese Tone heavy cruisers, built in 1937-8. Currently, the Chinese Navy has seven other Type 055s under construction and under order, at both the Changxing Jiangnan and Dalian shipyards. The Type 055 has stealth features, including a fully enclosed deck, integrated mast, and stealth shaped superstructure to reduce its radar and infrared signature.

Big Radar for Big Ship The Type 055 has four Type 346x AESA radars positioned around its bridge for detecting aircraft, missiles and ships in nearly a 1 million square kilometer area. Ahead of the superstructure is the multipurpose 130mm H/PJ-38 cannon. MMMarble via Weibo

The Type 055 is a modern, multi-purpose warship, with four enormous Type 346X AESA radars and an integrated mast containing intelligence equipment, electronic countermeasures, and fire control radars. The radars are positioned around the superstructure to provide 360 degree coverage up to 500-600km away. The system can track several hundred targets including ballistic and cruise missile, satellites, aircraft, and warships. It may also have some level of anti-stealth capability. The Type 055's extensive combat management center process onboard sensor inputs, and fuse data from other Chinese warships, aircraft and, unmanned systems to create a common battlefield picture.

Cruiser Weapons This fanmade CGI shows a variety of weapons that can be launched from the Type 055's modular VLS, which includes a YJ-18 antiship missile (left), an HQ-9 long range surface to air missile (third from left), and CJ-1000 land attack cruise missile (second from right). www.junshicg.com

In addition to its 130mm H/PJ-38 cannon and Type 1130 CIWS, the Type 055 DDG will have around 112-128 vertical launch system (VLS) cells. Each VLS can hold four smaller surface to air missile (SAM) like a DK-10 medium range SAM, or a single larger missile, such as a HHQ-9 long range SAM, CJ-10 land attack cruise missile, and YJ-18 anti-ship missile. The modular nature of the large Chinese VLS means that the Type 055 in the future can be armed with weapons that are currently in development, like a hypersonic scramjet missile, two stage long range SAM, and HQ-19 anti-satellite/anti-ballistic missile.

The Biggest Warship Looking at the assembled naval crew and shipyard worker ranks, one gets a sense of the sheer gigantic scale of the Type 055 destroyer, which matches the size of WWII heavy cruisers (the 2017 US Defense Department report on China actually calls the Type 055 a ""cruiser""). PLAN

Another unique feature is the Type 055's stern hangar, which is large enough hold two Z-18 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters. The hangar's also has enough space to give the Type 055 the ability to operate a range of vertical takeoff UAS. Its ASW capability is also enhanced by a forward bow mounted sonar, decoys/torpedo countermeasures, and variable depth and towed array sonars deployed from the stern. The Type 055 may presumably be equipped with surface and underwater unmanned systems for missions including mine countermeasure, ASW and reconnaissance.

Sejong the Great The 11,000 ton Sejong the Great destroyer is the AEGIS warship (larger than even the Ticonderoga cruiser) which comes closest to matching the Type 055 DDG in size and armament. ROKN

In comparison to the massive Type 055, the Arleigh Burke Flight IIA DDG, the USN's main surface combatant, displaces 9,800 tons and has 96 VLS cells. The Japanese Kongo and Atago DDGs respectively displace about 9,500-10,000 tons and also have 96 VLS. The only comparable US and allied ships in size and armament are the Ticonderoga cruisers, which has a 9,600 ton displacement but 122 VLS cells, and the 11,000 tons South Korean Sejong the Great DDG, which has 128 VLS. All of those warships are equipped with the AEGIS combat system, which like the one on the Type 055, has four large radars, the AN-SPY-1, and sophisticated computerized command systems to operate its missiles against a range of air and sea threats

Type 055 The second batch of Chinese Type 055 destroyers will likely feature railguns, starting in the 2020-2025 timeframe. A 32 megajoule railgun on the Type 055 destroyer would be able to launch a ten kilogram projectile over a 100 nautical miles, with the impact energy of medium artillery. Railgun ammunition can be guided, and programmed to explode over a target, destroying soft targets like parked aircraft and missile launchers. lt.cdjby.net","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2017/06/type_055_renhai_ddg_3.jpg?itok=Zf4MItzF"
"American and Chinese aircraft could be flying 4,000 miles per hour by 2030","http://www.popsci.com/hypersonic-arms-race-china-united-states","The Future? TRCC engines mean China could fly Mach 6 airplanes—like the one shown in this fan art—that could fly anywhere in the world in under three hours. It would mean speeds and altitudes not yet used by modern air defenses. Grassroots (artist)

American and Chinese defense giants are moving quickly to reach the edge of space, aiming to launch hypersonic aircraft that can cross continents in under an hour. What exactly does hypersonic mean? Speeds of over Mach 5, or more than 3,835 miles per hour. It's an arms race well worth watching. Developments have the potential to revolutionize access to space and transform transcontinental travel for civilians. It could also transform national security, making existing air and missile defenses obsolete.

SR-72 With recent technological breakthroughs, Lockheed Martin hopes to fly the Mach 6 SR-72 unmanned hypersonic aircraft by 2030. Lockheed Martin

China is home to two companies reaching for the hypersonic prize, the Chinese Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and the Chinese Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC). Meanwhile, in America, Lockheed Martin is making waves, having told aviation journalists that its hypersonic technology is about ready for flight testing. Lockheed Martin's progress almost certainly refers to the turbine rocket combined cycle (TRCC), an engine that switches between turbofan, ramjet and scramjets for subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flight. The TRCC engine will be tested on a fighter-sized flight testbed by 2020. If all goes well, it'll shortly thereafter power the SR-72, a Mach 6, unmanned twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft that is targeted to start flight by 2030. That aircraft is designed to enter highly contested and defended airspace at altitudes of 18 and 62 miles, using its speed to outrun enemy defenses, like the SR-71 Blackbird before it. Executive Vice President and General Manager at Lockheed Martin Rob Weiss also suggested that hypersonic planes could fire hypersonic missiles. That suggests that the SR-72 could join the B-21 stealth bomber in the USAF's future global strike arsenal.

XS-1 The ""Phantom Express"" XS-1 is a DSTO space-launch vehicle, consisting of a rocket-powered launch plane and a second-stage rocket that will separate from the plane to launch 1.5 tons into low-earth orbit. Boeing

Another key U.S. project is the ""Phantom Express"" XS-1 spaceplane, which is being developed by Boeing and funded by DARPA. It's a dual-stage-to-orbit (DSTO) vehicle. Stage one: a hypersonic plane powered by liquid fueled rockets. Once the XS-1 is in near space (18- to 62-mile altitude), we reach stage two, when an expendable rocket attached to the plane's back will detach and fly into orbit to deploy its 1.5-ton payload. The carrier rocket plane then will be able to return to a runway, where it will be prepped for another launch within 24 hours. The plan is that it can undertake at least 10 launches in 10 days, providing the U.S. space system more resilience to replace satellites in the event of a conflict.

Teng Yun The Teng Yun, which CASIC intends to deliver by 2030, uses a TRCC-engined hypersonic carrier aircraft to carry the second rocket-powered stage into near space. Both stages will be reusable; the hypersonic carrier airframe could also be used to hypersonic strike and reconnaissance roles. WeChat

China, however, is developing some major competition in this same hypersonic race. There are two separate projects. For one, CASIC debuted the Teng Yun spacecraft design during the Global Space Exploration 2017 (GLEX 2017) conference in Beijing. The DSTO Teng Yun would have a combined weight of 100-150 tons. The first stage is a Mach 6 hypersonic 'carrier' aircraft, with TRCC engines that can fly to altitudes of 18 to 25 miles. Unlike the XS-1, the Teng Yun's second stage is a reusable, 10-15-ton rocket-powered spaceplane capable of carrying either 2 tons of cargo or 5 passengers. CASIC Vice President Liu Shiquan said that company has finished technology demonstration of key Teng Yun flight technology (like, you know the engine), and looks to have the two-stage space plane flying by 2030, as part of a $16 billion research effort.

Manned and Unmanned The Teng Yun's second stage can either be a launch rocket, or take five taikonauts to a future Chinese space station. CASIC

Much like the U.S. systems, the CASIC hypersonic carrier could have other applications besides space launch. It's big enough to carry significant payloads (10-15 tons), which could include sensors and weapons. With modifications, like additional fuel tanks for increased range, its hypersonic speed and near-space flight altitude could fit with Chinese military needs for fast, global reconnaissance and strike. As CASIC manufactures most of China's missiles, its experience with rocket motors, ramjet engines (and future scramjet engines) means that it likely has the resources to build the complex TRCC engines for the hypersonic carrier, and by extension a hypersonic recon and strike plane.

Chinese Hypersonic Spaceplane The Chinese hypersonic spaceplane, with a combined cycle engine that hops between jet, scramjets, and rockets, promises to be the ultimate form in reusable and easy space travel. In theory, it could cross the Pacific Ocean in one hour. China hopes to have these fast birds in the sky (with people onboard!) by 2030. CCTV 13

China's second innovation is CASC's hypersonic spaceplane, which was announced in August 2016. Its engine and other critical technology are slated for completion by 2020, and a full-scale hypersonic spaceplane is expected to fly by 2030.

TRRE The turbo-aided rocket-augmented ram/scramjet engine (TRRE), which uses rocket augmentation in order to aid in the transition into the supersonic and hypersonic flight regimes, could be the world's first combined cycle engine to fly in 2025, paving the way for hypersonic near space planes and single-stage space launchers. Beijing Power Machinery Research Institute

CASC's ambitions match the projected timeline for the rocket-assisted scramjet being built by the Beijing Power Machinery Research Institute for near space strike and reconnaissance, as well as dual- and single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicles. BPMRI will commence full-scale testing of the technology demonstrator in 2020, followed by the flight of a full scale afterward. Further improvements will lead to a scramjet engine powerful enough for an SSTO hypersonic plane to fly directly to orbit in one piece, as opposed to the DSTO model, where only part of the spacecraft makes it to orbit. Compared to the smaller and cheaper DSTO, a sufficiently fueled SSTO spaceplane could depart from and reenter orbit on multiple occasions during the same flight, traveling at greater speed compared to a near-space-only hypersonic aircraft.

Three Phases of Reusability CASC's DSTO program has three planned stages: (1) a reusable carrier rocket plane, (2) both a reusable rocket plane and second stage, and (3) a TRCC hypersonic carrier aircraft. CASC via xyz

CASC also has more conservative plans for its own DSTO program. Its GLEX 2017 presentation showed a three-phase DSTO approach. The first phase involves a reuseable hypersonic rocket plane with an expendable upper stage rocket. In September 2016, CASC had also announced plans for a vertical-takeoff, rocket-powered spaceplane known as the Scaled Suborbital Vehicle. This Mach 8, 20-passenger, 100-ton rocket plane can reach an altitude of 81 miles and carry a second-stage rocket with a 2-ton payload. It is likely that Phase 1 of the CASC DSTO is the Scaled Suborbital Vehicle.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2017/06/sr-72.jpg?itok=XfU4bGK4"
"This new ramjet engine could triple the range of Chinese missiles","http://www.popsci.com/chinas-new-ramjet-engine-triple-range-missiles","Kills of the future This 2014 computer-generated image shows a J-31 stealth fighter launching a long-range ramjet BVRAAM (beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile). lt.cdjby.net via errymath

China's developing a hypersonic weapon that has triple the range of existing Chinese air-to-air missiles. The premise: a ramjet engine that can turn already deadly missiles into weapons that have greater range, maneuverability, and speed.

Long shots China's PL-12 and PL-21 are long-ranged missiles usually mounted on aircraft. But with ramjet engines to improve maneuverability (not to mention some covert modifications), the PL-12D and PL-21 would make deadly ground- and drone-launched surprises. CASIC

In a May 31 report, the Science and Technology Daily announced that the 4th Research Institute of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has twice successfully tested a ramjet engine aimed to power air-to-air missiles. Song Zhongpin, a former PLA Rocket Force expert, told the Global Times that the engine was hypersonic, which suggests a speed of at least Mach 5, or 3,835 miles per hour.

J-31 This Zhuhai 2014 Airshow graphic shows the J-31 carrying four long-range PL-21 BVRAAMs, which use ramjet engines (the PL-21 has a diameter of about 250-300mm, while the smaller PL-12 and PL-15 BVRAAMs are about 203mm in diameter, so the J-31 can carry 6 of them). Chinese Military Aviation

The 4th Research Institute been looking into solid-fueled ramjets since 2000. This type of ramjet is preferable for use on aircraft because they can be launched on demand, without having to fill up their fuel tanks before launch, as some liquid fueled ramjets demand. The speed and burn rate of the engine are controlled by manipulating the ramjet's air intakes.

Ramjet Ramjets make longer-range rockets, since they don't need to store oxygen onboard to combust the fuel; they scoop it in from the air. Wikipedia

Song said the ramjet engine could more than triple the range of Chinese BVRAAMs. The PL-12's range, for example, could increase from 62 miles to over nearly 200 miles. If so, this would be a key factor in any future conflicts, as CASC ramjet engine would be both faster and longer-ranged than most BVRAAM rocket engines like the AIM-120 AMRAAN and PL-12, which have a top speed of about Mach 4. To increase range, ramjets can carry more propellants than rockets of the same size, since they use atmospheric oxygen to burn fuel instead of carrying onboard oxidizers. The greater range and speed also implies a larger ""no escape"" zone, or the maximum range at which a target maneuvering at a speed of, say Mach 2, cannot outrun the missile.

T3 Terminator The T3, a ramjet missile built by Boeing and funded by DARPA, used its ramjet engines to extend its maneuverability and range in order to effectively target aircraft, cruise missiles, and even surface-to-air missiles. Unfortunately it was apparently cancelled, probably due to budget constraints. DARPA

A ramjet BVRAAM would provide a huge overmatch against existing and even planned U.S. air-to-air missiles. For example, the most modern U.S. BVRAAM—the AMRAAM AIM-120D—has an active radar seeker, two way datalink, Mach 4 top speed and a range of more than 100 miles. DARPA's Triple Threat Terminator (T3) ramjet missile was about the size of the AMRAAM, and would have been targeted against both enemy aircraft and radar systems. Despite four test flights by Boeing before 2015, the T3 missile does not appear to have lead to an actual development program (hence United States Air Force General Herbert Carlisle calling January 2017 for Congress to fund an AMRAAM replacement). However, the USAF does intend to introduce the Small Advanced Capabilities Missile in the 2030s, which will be half the size of the AMRAAM but has the same 100-mile range. What's especially dangerous for foreign fighter jets is that the CASC's larger ramjet BVRAAM (with a highly efficient engine, and similar dimensions to the 203mm diameter and 13-foot-long PL-12) could outrange the world's only other ramjet BVRAAM, the 175mm diameter, 12-foot-long MDBA Meteor.

PL-12 The PL-12 BVRAAM is China's front-line, long-range air-to-air missile. With a range of over 62 miles, active radar seeker, and Mach 4 speed, it's plenty lethal already—a ramjet engined version would make it even more deadly by increasing its range, maneuverability, and speed. Sinodefence

This new missile would give Chinese fighters like the J-20 and J-31 stealth fighters (both of which can carry 6 BVRAAMs in their central weapons bay) long-range but very compact air-to-air missiles. If cued by long-range radars from airborne early warning and control aircraft, a ramjet BVRAAM could even do some of the stuff that the long-range, rocket powered PL-XX does, namely attacking enemy airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) and tanker aircraft. (Though the BVRAAM wouldn't be able to match the PL-XX's near-space flight profile to avoid interception and detection). When coupled with AESA radar seekers on modern Chinese BVRAAMs, a ramjet BVRAAM—like the PL-12D, PL-21 or a PL-15 variant—would be a long-range threat even to stealth fighters and bombers. A key factor for CASC's ramjet engine to reach its full potential, though, is a network of sensor fusion and data provided by other fighters and the growing Chinese fleet of AEW&C aircraft, electronic intelligence assets, high-altitude UAVs, and surface radars—all of which China is actively working on.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/pl-15_j-31.jpg?itok=toTty-EX"
"China is building the world's fastest amphibious fighting vehicle","http://www.popsci.com/china-building-worlds-fastest-amphibious-fighting-vehicle","The Iveco/BAE SuperAV, an amphibious armored fighting vehicle proposed by the United States Marine Corps, has a top amphibious speed of about 6 miles per hour.

While there are many amphibious armored vehicles in the world, most of them, whether tracked or wheeled, move very slowly in the water. China's new amphibious armored car will leave the competition in its wake.

The amphibious AFV uses its high powered water jets and streamlined hull to speed across water at 50 kph (about 31 miles per hour). Even with armor and weapons on a production version, it would still likely reach amphibious speeds of at least 12 to 18 miles per hour.

The North China Institute of Vehicle Research has built a 4X4 armored fighting vehicle (AFV) that can reach a top speed of 31 miles per hour when traveling in calm waters. That speed would make the amphibious AFV the fastest amphibious military in the vehicle in the world (the cancelled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle was capable of 29 miles per hour on water).

The amphibious AFV can retract its wheels against the underside of its hull. (The picture is pixelated to hide details of the hydropneumatic suspension and retraction mechanisms.)

The amphibious AFV has a v-shaped hull to minimize hydraulic drag (though a v-shaped hull is also good protection against improvised explosive devices, or IEDs). It achieves its record-high speed with compact pumpjets, as well as retracting its wheels toward the hull to reduce drag.

China's ZTD-05 amphibious tank, armed with a 105mm cannon that fires both high velocity shells and guided missiles, is the world's fastest amphibious vehicle, speeding through the water at over 20 knots. In the future, it could be accompanied by amphibious wheeled AFVs, which can keep up with it in the water and speed ahead of it on land for recon duty.

While it's only a proof-of-concept vehicle, it's still pretty impressive. As a technology demonstrator, it has a light weight (about 5.5 tons without armor or installed weapons) that allows it to be particularly speedy. But even with additional armor to protect against small arms fire and an autocannon, it could potentially travel at amphibious speeds up to 18 miles per hour, which is faster than the amphibious speeds of the 6 miles per hour Terrex 2 and BAE SuperAV, the contenders for the United States Marine Corps' Amphibious Combat Vehicle AFV.

If a wheeled Chinese amphibious AFV enters service, it'll deploy from Chinese hovercraft like the Type 726, as well as the Type 071 landing platform dock assault ships, speeding through water and onto beaches.

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"China just flew a 130-foot, solar-powered drone designed to stay in the air for months","http://www.popsci.com/china-solar-powered-drone","CH-T4 While it has a wingspan of over 130 feet, the CH-T4 only weighs about 880 pounds—with payload. China Daily

Meet China's huge solar-powered drone, a 130-foot-wide machine designed to fly at more than 65,000 feet, for days on end. How? A super lightweight body and renewable energy tech that can power all eight of its electrical propellers. Oh, and it can reach speeds up to 125 miles per hour.

Flight The CH-T4 is propelled by eight electrical propellers, allowing it to reach speeds of about 125 miles per hour and a height of over 65,000 feet. China Daily

The ""Caihong-T 4"" (CH-T4), built by the Chinese Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA), has a double-bodied fuselage, cranked wing, and twin tail. It's got a wingspan of 40 meters—or about 130 feet, which means its wider than a Boeing 737 jetliner. Despite the large size, it weighs between 880 and 1,100 pounds. It owes its this lightness to its carbon fiber and plastic components.

Near Space The CH-T4, flying 12 miles up into the atmosphere, has line-of-sight radio and visual coverage over 400,000 square miles—an area the size of Egypt. China Daily

In size and flight altitude, that's second place to only the NASA Helios Prototype, another solar-powered flying wing, which boasts a 246-foot wingspan, and a elevation of 96,863 feet. CAAA scientists told the China Daily that the CH-T4 has a flight time design goal of several months, needing only minimal human supervision. Flying up to 65,000 feet means that the CH-T4 will fly above almost all cloud cover, so it will enjoy almost unlimited access to sunlight during its operations (during night, the CH-T4 will draw from onboard batteries to power its motors).

A Big Start The CH-T4 can use its high altitude and long endurance for a variety of long-term surveillance and communications missions. China Daily","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2017/06/ch-t4_2.jpg?itok=BEpBrvKR"
"China and Russia are teaming up to create the next generation of jumbo jet","http://www.popsci.com/china-russia-develop-jumbo-jet","This is the first official concept art of the new Sino-Russian jumbo jet, which can seat up to 280 passengers. The stretched versions can carry 350 passengers.

China and Russia want to build a jumbo jet similar to those offered by Airbus and Boeing. Last month they officially launched the China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corporation (CRAIC), a group that will spend between $13 billion and $20 billion building a 280-passenger, twin-aisle, wide-body jet.

This partnership between China's COMAC (Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd.) and Russia's UAC (United Aircraft Corporation) is aiming for a first flight in 2022 or 2023, and service entry in 2025-2027, according to Aviation Week. While the Boeing/Airbus duopoly is projected to take 90 percent of the projected 9,100 jumbo jet market up to 2025; Reuters says that CRAIC aims to develop take the remaining 10 percent of market share. As a 250-300-passenger jet, the C929 will compete with the similarly sized Boeing 787 and the Airbus A330neo, both of which use advanced engines and composite fuselages for high fuel efficiency. All three jumbo jets will rely on a global supply chain to provide engines, fuel systems, avionics, electrical power systems and life support systems.

The CRAIC headquarters and factory will be located in Shanghai, while the majority of initial research and development—as well as subcomponent assemblies—will happen in Moscow and other Russian cities.

Both COMAC and UAC each own 50 percent of CRAIC, and each company can appoint four persons to the board of directors.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/c929_jumbo_jet.jpg?itok=jNccWviO"
"China's new submarine engine is poised to revolutionize underwater warfare","http://www.popsci.com/china-new-submarine-engine-revolutionize-underwater-warfare","The Red October, a fictionalized version of the Akula (NATO reporting name Typhoon) submarine, has two pumpjets built into its rear for silent propulsion (though implausibly stated to use a noisy magnetohydrodynamic drive in the movie). According to Chinese state media, the nation's new nuclear submarines will soon use a similarly silent, cutting-edge pumpjet.

In Tom Clancy's book (and, later, the 1990 film) The Hunt For Red October, a Soviet submarine debuts a revolutionary, ultra-quiet engine that uses pumpjets and electrical propulsion technology to elude its foes. Chinese state media has reported that the nation is fitting its newest nuclear sub with an engine that sounds a lot like Clancy's imaginings in the real world.

During his interview on state television, Admiral Ma Weiming, developer of the rim-driven pumpjet, shows off a laboratory, with a schematic of the pumpjet visible in the background, at right.

This month, Chinese state TV channel CCTV 13 broadcast an interview with a top Chinese naval engineer, Rear Admiral Ma Weiming. The admiral is notably responsible for the development of multiple Chinese naval electromagnetic programs, including the electromagnetic catapult and railguns. In the interview, he stated that the PLAN is fitting its newest nuclear attack submarines with a ""shaftless"" rim-driven pumpjet, a revolutionary and silent propulsion system.

The Type 095 SSN, seen in this speculative fanmade CGI, will likely have VLS cells for launching a wide range of cruise missiles, pumpjet propulsion, and improved quieting technology. (This earlier CGI shows the Type 095 with a more conventional pumpjet, though.)

If the system is being put on the latest vessels, it is likely to be used on the first Type 095 nuclear attack submarine (SSN), which is under construction.

Shown here is a Schottel built rim-driven thruster, used to propel surface ships like yachts with minimal noise (the Chinese miltary rim-driven pumpjet would look similar but much larger).

A rim-driven pumpjet has a ring-shaped electrical motor inside the pumpjet shroud, which turns the vane rotor (a vane rotor has the fan blades attached to a rotating band built on a cylinder interior, as opposed to a propeller shaft) inside the pumpjet cavity to create thrust. Previous submarine pumpjets are ""shrouded propellers,"" which consist of a tubular nozzle covering the propeller. By removing the shaft of the propeller, the reduction in the number of moving parts decreases the noise made by the pumpjet, as well as saving hull space. Civilian manufacturers also claim that rim driven pumpjets are easier to maintain, and have less cavitation (bubbles that form during propeller movement), making them even more quiet.

Rear Admiral Ma presents a component of the new Chinese IEPS for naval warships; the Chinese variant is the world's first IEPS to run on a medium-voltage, direct-current system.

Also in the video background was a large piece of electrical machinery, which is part of the PLAN's Integrated Electrical Propulsion System (IEPS). IEPS turns all the output of the ship's engine into electricity, unlike traditional propulsion designs, which convert engine and reactor output into mechanical action to turn the propeller shaft.

The high electrical output can be used to power motors for the propellers or potentially high-energy weapons. Additionally, IEPS has far fewer moving parts, making them quieter, and thus ideal for use on submarines. When coupled with quieter reactors like the Type 095's reported natural circulation reactor, the rim-driven pumpjet and IEPS can drastically reduce the acoustic signature of any SSN.

This combination, if it works, would be a significant gain for China's naval power. As China has gained in surface fleet numbers, stealthy planes, and longer-ranged missiles able to target U.S. carriers and air bases, America's submarine force has become viewed as its key advantage in any comparison. In turn, Chinese nuclear submarines have lagged behind competitors in their noisiness. Said another way, these innovations have the potential to strengthen a historic weakness.

The reporting is significant for two more reasons. First, it illustrates the new openness in Chinese state media to discuss the technology behind previously secretive nuclear submarines, suggesting a greater confidence in showing off new military technology in order to impress domestic and foreign audiences.

Secondly, if the system works, the Chinese may have stolen a march on the Americans and British, whose Columbia and Dreadnought nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) have the option for rim-drive pumpjets, but will not enter service until 2030. While the system would be on China's attack submarine, Chinese SSBNs could also use the rim-drive pumpjet to enhance their stealth and survivability—and, by extension, the credibility of China's second strike nuclear capability. These new submarine propulsion systems may not just power China's submarines of the future, but give Beijing a true superpower's underwater armada.

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"How Bats Find Their Way Through The Clutter","http://www.popsci.com/how-bats-find-their-way-through-clutter","This is the image that came to mind when I read a new bat study coming out today . Like ridiculous Elwood, hunting bats effortlessly avoid trees, power lines, and each other, appearing insanely unhinged but in fact behaving very carefully. They do this in total darkness, too. They have sonar, but it turns out the way it works is actually pretty simple, the new study says.

There’s this scene in one of the greatest movies of the 80s, ""The Blues Brothers,"" that makes me laugh and cringe every time I see it. Jake and Elwood are careening through Chicago, sunglasses on, at 120 MPH, fleeing every representative of Illinois’ law enforcement community. Elwood doesn’t flinch as he dodges every pylon on Lower Wacker Drive, narrowly missing bicyclists, pedestrians and delivery trucks. Surely he’s about to crash in a horrible spectacle, you can’t help but think, even though of course he doesn’t.

Scientists have assumed bats must use some kind of complex echo interpretation to figure out where they are relative to their prey, relative to each other, and relative to any trees or other obstacles in their paths. But inferring everything from simple ultrasonic echoes is hard, to say the least, and might actually be impossible. Could bats really be sending and receiving that many signals that quickly?

Researchers from the University of Antwerp in Belgium and the University of Bristol in the UK tried to find out. The team used lasers to scan a chunk of forest, and used this information to build three-dimensional models of horseshoe bat habitat. Then they modeled bats flying through two-dimensional and three-dimensional versions of this environment. They came up with an algorithm that can model what the bats are doing — and it’s not complex computation of dozens of point sources simultaneously.

Rather, bats use a simple binaural trick: They compare the loudness of the echoes from each ear, and turn away from the side that gets a louder echo. This requires ultra-sensitive hearing capable of distinguishing minute differences in the time it takes to make an echo. But on the whole, it’s not that hard, and it is pretty intuitive. When it takes less time for a bat’s call to bounce back, that means an object is closer. When it takes a little bit longer, that object is farther away.

In repeated computer simulations, bats following this algorithm steered away from obstacles, demonstrating this simple input is enough.The key distinction here is that the bats don’t necessarily figure out where obstacles are located. They just know where to turn to avoid them — or, based on the echo signature, where to get a meal.

This simpler signal processing allows bats to respond more quickly, turning on a dime at high speeds to snatch moths and mosquitoes while avoiding each other. And that’s good news for researchers building drones and other robots based on bat behavior — programming them might not be nearly as complex as we thought. The work appears in PLOS Computational Biology.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/10136048683_819342581a_z.jpg?itok=6H2tScCq"
"How Zombie Spiders Are Enslaved As Wasp Nursery Builders","http://www.popsci.com/zombie-spiders-are-enslaved-nursery-construction-workers-wasp-masters","Parasitic wasps are horrible things. They inject their quarry with chemicals that turn them into zombies, forcing the host animal to do their bidding. A new study has some insight into how a species of spider is forced to build a nursery for tiny wasp babies, ensuring their survival after the spider is killed.

Along with its lovely, large webs designed to catch flying insects, the orb-weaving spider species Cyclosa argenteoalba builds itself a “resting” web, where it hangs out before molting. Its decorations reflect UV light, which may help protect the web from destruction by birds or predator insects. This web doesn’t have a sticky spiral to catch insects, hence the resting moniker.

A species of parasitic wasp takes advantage of this innate ability, and forces the spider to use the same methods to build a very safe wasp nursery. The pupating larvae are protected from the elements and enemies after they kill the spider.

The wasp,* Reclinervellus nielseni*, injects its young into the body of the spider, which now not only hosts the larvae but also sets to work. In an experiment published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Keizo Takasuka from Kobe University, Japan and colleagues watched some parasitized, zombified spiders build special “cocoon webs.” They determined these are related to the spiders’ own resting webs.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/golden_orb-weaver_and_parasitic_wasp_5634637705.jpg?itok=G3Bsl21p"
"Finding Out How Boa Constrictors Kill (It's Not How You Think)","http://www.popsci.com/finding-out-how-boa-constrictors-kill-its-not-how-you-think","It’s a nighmarish situation: A gigantic snake slowly curls around your body, enveloping you in its slithery embrace. You begin seeing stars, and start gasping for breath. But your life will not end because you’re suffocating. Actually, it’s more like you’re having your insides squeezed shut.

A new study confirms that boa constrictors and other crushing snakes don’t suffocate their prey after all. They cut off blood flow, resulting in rapid organ shutdown and a quick (though likely not painless) death.

About 20 years ago, herpetologist Dave Hardy and colleagues theorized that a crushing snake’s prey dies much too rapidly for suffocation to be the cause. But nobody had tested what actually happens in the body of a crushed prey. Scott Boback of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Penn., set out to prove it once and for all.

In a new study, he and colleagues report measuring blood pressure in rats in the process of being squeezed.

To prevent each sacrificial rat from suffering, they anesthetized it first. Then they inserted heart and blood pressure monitors and offered the rat to a hungry boa constrictor. Within six seconds of being bitten and wrapped up, the animal’s arterial blood pressure dropped by half, and its central venous pressure — the return supply — increased six-fold, the study says. The blood couldn’t flow, and the animal’s internal organs started shutting down.

“I remember being in the room and the students were looking at the data in disbelief that it happened that fast,” Boback says in a statement. “We could see the arterial pressure go down, the venous pressure go up and we could see this right when the snake was doing it.”

In repeated experiments, using 24 rats in all, some of the snakes also looped their bodies around the rats’ abdomens. Pressure around the abdominal cavity has been shown to dramatically diminish the heart’s output, the researchers say. Either direct pressure on the heart, via constriction of the thoracic region, or constriction of the abdominal cavity induces the 6-fold increase in venous pressure.

As soon as circulation effectively stopped, the team watched the rat’s heart begin beating irregularly. They surmise that the pressure of constriction stops blood from flowing to vital organs, which begin shutting down.

In previous work, the same team noticed that snakes can apparently detect their prey’s heartbeat while constricting, and can gauge how much work they have to do to finish it off. This work suggests “snakes may actually be inducing pulseless electrical activity and therefore release prey precisely when they have achieved irreversible cardiac failure,” they write. This trait — quickly dispatching lunch while expending the minimum required effort — enables snakes to eat prey much larger than themselves, the authors note.

“By understanding the mechanisms of how constriction kills, we gain a greater appreciation for the efficiency of this behaviour and the benefit it provided early snakes,” Boback says.

The research appears in this month’s issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Reference: Boback, S. M., McCann, K. J., Wood, K. A., McNeal, P. M., Blankenship, E. L. and Zwemer, C. F. (2014). Snake constriction rapidly induces circulatory arrest in rats. J. Exp. Biol. 218, 2279-2288.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/haiti-boa.jpg?itok=obQAjaLc"
"How Ancient Spiders Weaponized An Arachnid Version of Insulin","http://www.popsci.com/how-ancient-spiders-weaponized-arachnid-version-insulin","Venom contains powerful and highly targeted neurotoxins, allowing spiders, snakes and other predators to immobilize their prey and make for an easier meal. In many snakes, venom jump-starts the digestive process along with keeping the predator safe from a wriggling, often larger quarry.

Spider venom isn’t thought to play a major role in helping arachnids eat. But a new study shows it evolved from a hormone involved in eating — more specifically, hormones that helped the spiders regulate their metabolism.

Because venoms cause immobility, prevent blood coagulation and can break down proteins, they’re useful for developing drugs that can treat pain, blood clots and other problems in people. Understanding how a venom evolved can help researchers develop new helpful compounds based on similar proteins.

Aiming to build better toxin-based compounds, biochemists and structural biologists at the University of Queensland in Australia and Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., set out to look at the physical structure of spider venom. They screened for similarities between the proteins found in funnel-web spider venom and other proteins, using a computer algorithm called BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool). The algorithm can find genetic sequences that look similar among different compounds.

The BLAST search didn’t come up with anything, but then the team, led by Glenn King of the University of Queensland, searched according to physical structure instead. They found it had a very similar shape to a hormone that helped spiders regulate their sugar metabolism, like the way insulin works in humans. Somehow over evolutionary time, the proteins that make up this hormone became weaponized, the researchers say. It may have had some adverse effect on prey, King theorizes. The researchers call this new structural class HAND toxins, for helical arthropod-neuropeptide-derived.

Interestingly, centipedes also developed a toxin based on the same hormone, but it has a slightly different structure than that of the spiders. The centipede version is one of the most stable ever described, which will allow King and his colleagues to conduct experiments on it that remove its toxicity.

The research is reported in the journal Structure.

Citation: Structure, Undheim et al.: “Weaponization of a Hormone: Convergent Recruitment of Hyperglycemic Hormone into the Venom of Arthropod Predators” DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2015.05.003","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/funnelweb.jpeg?itok=d3PQHlmQ"
"How A Tiny Bat Might Interrupt A Massive Oil Pipeline","http://www.popsci.com/how-tiny-bat-might-interrupt-massive-oil-pipeline","A bat that may soon be added to the Endangered Species List could interrupt plans for a new oil pipeline in the Midwest. The proposed Sandpiper oil pipeline, intended to carry crude oil from South Dakota to Wisconsin, is nowhere near as big or controversial as Keystone XL. But it’s another flash point in the fight between sensitive wild animals and the oil and gas industry.

The potential pipeline would run 150 miles through the habitat of the northern long-eared bat, which has been decimated by white nose syndrome. Federal officials are about to determine whether it should be listed as threatened or endangered, after a series of meetings and public-comment periods last fall. Their deadline is April 2, but officials think the decision might come sooner, according to a report by Minnesota Public Radio.

This little bat, which is about the size of a one-dollar coin and weighs just 5 to 8 grams, used to be commonplace in the northeastern US. But white nose syndrome has killed about 99 percent of the population, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said in conference calls last fall. The bats hibernate in caves during winter, where they can easily spread the fungus that causes white nose. In the spring, they migrate 50 miles through forests to roost in trees, where the females give birth. The mothers go out at night to hunt insects, and the pups stay in trees until they can fly.

The pipeline would require removing some of those trees, so if the feds declare the bat as endangered or threatened, the project might be delayed or forced to choose a different route that avoids them. The company building the pipeline started its own study to examine the bats’ habitat, and has already modified its planned route, according to MPR.

They’ve also turned up some more intriguing findings — they argue the bats are more common than wildlife officials thought. From MPR: “The study's nets caught hundreds of bats of various species. Long-eared bats were the most common, even more than little brown bats, which the DNR lists as the most common bat in Minnesota.”

Based on those findings, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources applied for a grant to do more research through this summer. Meanwhile, the oil company, Enbridge, is sharing its findings with wildlife officials. Will the company’s data show the bats don’t need protection?

All this comes on the heels of not only the Keystone XL debate, but a 50,000-gallon oil spill into the Yellowstone River Jan. 17. The river flows north from the national park to North Dakota and is a source of drinking water for some nearby towns. The EPA called it a “significant spill” not only because of its effect on human populations, but wildlife, too. It’s worth noting that bats, which fly and don’t live on the ground, can be just as affected by oil production as any other animal.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/import/2014/Myotis_septentrionalis_1870.jpg?itok=LR11eT6O"
"Students Engineer Help For Bats Fighting White Nose Syndrome","http://www.popsci.com/students-engineer-help-bats-fighting-white-nose-syndrome","Kevin Keel would rather not infect bats on purpose. A veterinary pathologist at the University of California at Davis, he studies white nose syndrome, a disease that is decimating bat populations across the United States. To do it, he needs to take tissue samples from healthy bats and study them later in the lab.

But how to collect the samples? Biologists can catch a bat and snip a slice of wing with a hole-puncher of sorts — but this is really tricky. Keel and colleague Barbara Shock, a wildlife disease ecologist at UC Davis, needed a simpler, specialized device that any biologist can use.

They turned to the university’s 3-D printer lab for help, and its manager suggested they ask the students. The problem turned into a student engineering competition held in mid-January. During a frantic 30-hour Make-a-thon, student teams came up with designs, sketched them in computer-assisted design software, and built them on 3-D printers.

“To understand this disease, we really need to be able to do experimental infections,” Keel says. “But we’ve already lost so many bats, and it’s so difficult to work with bats in artificial hibernacula, that we were looking for another approach that would be powerful.”

White nose is caused by a fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, which colonizes the bodies and wings of cave-hibernating bats. Scientists aren’t totally sure how it kills them, but one theory is that bats wake up from hibernation to groom themselves too frequently, depleting their fat reserves and starving to death. Keel studies how white nose spreads by inoculating bat skin samples, called tissue explants, with the fungus.

This means cutting a piece of wing tissue in the field, and simultaneously stretching it across some sort of adhesive membrane. This is tough work — imagine holding a tiny, squirming, bitey bat and trying to clip part of its wing without damaging it.

“A bat wing is so thin and so elastic that it’s like wet toilet paper, and you can never get it to go back into its native shape,” Keel says. “You can imagine how frustrating it is to hold the bat on the cutting board, pull the bat wing, and if you are sampling for diagnostic purposes, trying to see where the fungus is with ultraviolet light. We wanted something that would make it ultra simple that we could use with one hand, allowing someone to restrain a bat with one hand and snip a biopsy with the other hand.”

Keel and Shock pitched their problem to 60 student members of UC Davis’ Biomedical Engineering Society on Jan. 16, and the students worked around the clock to draw designs and build CAD files for each part.

“They came up with some designs that would not have occurred to us,” Shock says.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/wet_bat.jpg?itok=PSUYf1TB"
"Artificial Spider Silk Might Be Better, and Easier, Than Milking Spiders","http://www.popsci.com/artificial-spider-silk-might-be-better-and-easier-milking-spiders","Spider silk is amazing stuff. Its strength-to-weight ratio is second to none, and it’s biodegradable to boot, making it a great material for a whole range of biomedical uses. But you have to get it from spiders, for the most part. This is hard, because spiders are notoriously territorial and murderous, which makes them difficult to farm and to milk.

Scientists have come up with creative ways to substitute for the real thing, from inserting orb-weaving spider genes into silkworms to introducing silk proteins into the milk of lactating goats. Another new approach seeks to manufacture it from scratch using spider silk’s own ingredients. Scientists are using the molecular structure of spider silk as a template.

In yet-to-be-published work, researchers from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia describe the molecular structure and function of a specific type of spider-silk protein, used to make tough aciniform silk. Spiders use this type to wrap up freshly caught prey, and it’s tougher than other forms like gossamer, which they use to float in the air, or the sticky kind they use to build their webs.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/7-bps-spider-rainey-dalhousie.png?itok=-gH4Irto"
"5 Ground Animals That Are Cooler Than Groundhogs","http://www.popsci.com/5-ground-animals-are-cooler-groundhogs","It's Groundhog Day! Why is this a holiday? (And why isn’t it called Whistle-Pig Day instead?) We celebrate groundhogs in February in part because these squirrel relatives are still in deep hibernation at this point, living off their copious fat reserves until it’s warm again. Their stirrings remind us of spring and warmer times to come. But groundhogs are hardly the most interesting animals that go dormant in cold weather — nor are they even close to the most interesting ground animals. Why not celebrate Pallid Bat Day, or San Francisco Garter Snake Day? In that spirit, here are 5 animals that you might find more interesting than the lowly groundhog. San Francisco Garter Snake

This is arguably the prettiest snake in the country — it has a strikingly patriotic blue-red pattern, a red-turquoise head and a long, slender body, up to 51 inches long. Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia are completely harmless to humans and have been on the Endangered Species List since it was established in 1973. These snakes are found in thick vegetation near ponds, where they hunt several types of frogs. They also need south- or west-facing slopes with thick grass where they can shelter during the cold season, notes the EPA. Snakes and other cold-blooded animals (ectotherms) don’t technically hibernate — they brumate, which is a little bit different. Snakes might move to shelters where temperatures remain above freezing, like basements, crawl spaces, caves and ground burrows. Turtles sink to the bottoms of ponds, and toads and tree frogs hide in loose soil and fallen leaves. Like hibernating mammals, brumating animals also experience decreased metabolism and a semi-conscious state that’s not quite the same thing as sleep. Micrathena spiders

Micrathena sagittata Tim Ross/own work, [licensed under Wikimedia Commons]

This genus of spiders in the orb-weaver family has about 100 species, but only a few live in the U.S., mostly in wooded areas. Female Micrathena — whose name comes from the Greek word for small and the goddess Athena, who wore armor and was also a weaver — are all distinguished by some combination of pointy, conical tubercles on their abdomens. This makes them look much more interesting than other spiders, and is thought to help them ward off predators or help them conceal themselves. Their very tightly woven, one-foot-diameter webs help them catch small prey, like annoying mosquitoes, so these are good spiders to have around. Plus, what other animal looks like a Gibson Flying V guitar? So metal. Pallid bat

These bats roost in caves, mines and hollow trees, but they eat ground-dwelling insects. They fly low to the ground, diving briefly to grab prey. They might also land and crawl on the ground to grab larger meals, like grasshoppers, cicadas, crickets and beetles. Pallid bats are distinguished by their huge ears, almost half as long as their entire bodies, which help them find their insect meals. They do use echolocation to find flying insects, but they have such good hearing that they can listen for the footsteps of their prey walking on the ground. Pallid bats hibernate in canyons and caves in the southwest. Jumping Spiders

These furry, doe-eyed arachnids are an [Eek Squad favorite] (http://www.popsci.com/blog-network/eek-squad/jumping-spiders-are-cutest-and-you-can-catch-your-own)for several reasons, from their ornamental appearance to their elaborate courtship rituals. The Salticidae family has about 5,000 species, which makes them the largest family of spiders. Most of them are ground-dwellers, living on rocks, dried leaves and soil on nearly every continent — species of jumping spiders have even been found on Mount Everest. They have excellent vision in a couple of their four pairs of eyes. They can jump several times their own length, often carrying a small dragline in case of a fall. The guy above is a peacock spider (Maratus volans) in a mating display — woohoo! Watch one dance in this amazing video.

Eastern indigo snake

Eastern Indigo Snake Courtesy USFWS","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/malepeacockspider.jpg?itok=UvB3a6pQ"
"Humans, Not Climate Change, Caused Caribbean Bat Extinctions","http://www.popsci.com/humans-not-climate-change-caused-caribbean-bat-extinctions","About 25,000 to 3,000 years ago, land mammals died out in massive numbers from the Arctic to the Caribbean, which scientists have attributed variously to climate change and human activity. Bats weren’t as susceptible as their non-flying cousins — in the Caribbean, about 18 percent of bat species died out, compared to about 80 percent of land mammals — but still, several species disappeared from entire islands.

Without good radiocarbon-dating evidence, it’s been difficult to peg just when these die-offs occurred, which makes it harder to pin down what caused them. But a new study says it was probably our fault.

This challenges previous research that suggests natural climate changes were a culprit. Earth 25,000 years ago was a cooler place, with huge amounts of water locked up in glaciers. As temperatures increased in the transition between the Pleistocene and Holocene eras, the glaciers melted and the oceans rose, turning big islands into small islands and shrinking animals’ habitats.

J. Angel Soto-Centeno of the American Museum of Natural History and David Steadman, a University of Florida ornithologist, set out to unravel this story. If extinctions were driven by climate change, they would expect to see radiocarbon-dated fossils of extinct bats from the era known as the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition, and paleoclimate evidence should clearly show changes in available habitat — like the submergence of caves.

They excavated bat wing bones from a cave on Great Abaco, an island in the Bahamas, and dated them along with more than 2,000 bat fossils from 20 different sites in the Caribbean.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/soto-centeno-with-bat-skull.jpg?itok=vSgtYNSj"
"Bats Listen For Others' Snacking Sounds to Help Them Find Food","http://www.popsci.com/bats-listen-others-snacking-sounds-help-them-find-food","When the guy in the cubicle next to you microwaves his tikka masala or tears open a bag of chips, your nose and ears perk up — food. Your senses trigger your brain to, maybe, head for the break room searching for a snack of your own, or even steal some of his chips. (Or maybe you just get annoyed and tell him to eat elsewhere.)

For bats, the sounds of others’ eating is a benefit, not an annoyance. Bats follow other bats’ signals to find food of their own, a recent study says.

""When you sit in a dark cinema theater and someone opens a bag of chips, everyone in the theater knows that someone is eating chips and approximately where that someone is,"" says prolific bat researcher Yossi Yovel of Israel’s Tel Aviv University, in a statement. ""Bats work similarly.""

Bats evolved echolocation to help them hunt, a unique ability rare in the animal kingdom. But it’s good for more than just the bat that’s using it. Other bats can eavesdrop on their companions’ echolocation calls, using them to zoom in on a food source they otherwise might have missed.

Yovel and colleagues developed tiny GPS trackers capable of recording ultrasonic calls. They attached these to greater mouse-tailed bats (Rhinopoma microphyllum), which roost in huge colonies numbering into the thousands and often hunt as a group. They found that bats tended to stick together while foraging for food, staying within 150 meters (about 490 feet) of other bats 40 percent of the time. This happened even though such close proximity could hinder the hunt.

When too many bats flew close together, foraging wasn’t as successful, suggesting bats were interfering with each other’s sonar. They weren’t jamming each other, exactly, Yovel and colleagues write. It’s more like they were crowding each other out. Instead of chirping to find insect prey, bats had to echolocate each other to avoid collisions. “Such dense situations would probably require sensory attention, making the detection of tiny insects difficult for short periods,” they write.

So why would they continue to stick close together? Echolocating bats constantly chirp ultrasonic calls, which get faster as a bat closes in on an insect. All these calls provide constant information, allowing the bats to effectively work as a sensor array, Yovel and colleagues write.

A single bat’s sonar can track objects within about 10 meters (32 feet), but a bat can hear another bat’s sonar from 160 meters (525 feet) away. So eavesdropping improves a bat’s hunting ability, even though it might have to employ some temporary aversion tactics to avoid crashing with other bats.

This a sensory trade-off is probably not unique in the animal kingdom, the authors note. In birds that search for seeds on the ground, the visual detection range of a seed is much shorter than that of seeing a pecking fellow bird, they write: ""Birds can thus gain from searching together."" Maybe that's why we're so finely tuned to hearing when someone else is eating.

The paper was published in the Jan. 8 issue of Current Biology.

Citation: Current Biology, Cvikel et al.: ""Bats aggregate to improve prey search but might be impaired when their density becomes too high."" DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.11.010","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/bat.png?itok=JinTDTkG"
"Kindergarteners Who Share May Be Successful in the Long Run","http://www.popsci.com/kindergarteners-who-share-may-be-successful-long-run","Kindergarteners who can share and cooperate are more likely to be employed, out of legal trouble and not abusing drugs when they're 25, a new study shows.

For decades, researchers and parents have wondered which attributes for kids led to a happy, successful life and which put kids on a path to a darker future. Now, they may be one step closer to figuring out how to set young children on the path to attainment – and it looks a lot like sharing, listening and cooperation.

Researchers analyzed what happened to nearly 800 kindergarteners from four locations after their teachers measured their social competency skills in 1991. The children were evaluated on a range of social behaviors, such as whether they resolve peer problems, listen to others, share materials, cooperate, and are helpful. Each student then received a composite score representing his or her overall level of positive social skills, on a scale from 0 (“not at all”) to 4 (“very well”).

The research team monitored these students and monitored how they were doing – with employment, substance abuse or run-ins with the law – until they were 25.

What they found surprised them: for each point higher on the scale of social skills, a child was twice as likely to attain a college degree in early adulthood; 54% more likely to earn a high school diploma; and 46% more likely to have a full-time job at the age of 25. The results were published last week in the American Journal of Public Health.

Moreover, the results show the predictive power of social skills independent of other factors like neighborhood quality, socioeconomic status or early academic ability. The researchers note while these variables are predictive of some adult outcomes, there is a special power to social competence.

So what exactly are these skills? Study author Damon Jones says that social competence is more than just behavior. The items on the scale include: how well the child resolved peer problems, understood feelings, acted helpful to others or cooperated. “These early skills are vital, not just in school but in life – and kindergarten is a critical time for developing social competence,” he said.

When looking at the class as a whole, teachers tend to create a bell curve with these ratings, with some kids falling low and others high, with the majority somewhere in the middle. One potential challenge of the study was that it relied on self-reported data from the kindergarten teachers, who could have biases against certain students.

The good news is the skills are malleable, and there are programs that help kids boost their ratings of social competence. Money put into programs that help at-risk kids get better at sharing and cooperating may save society the costs of incarceration or substance abuse treatment.

In the future, Jones hopes to untie the paths that kids go through between kindergarten and age 25. How do the social skills translate in middle school, for example? “It’s a very complicated process, where you can think that each year of development, something will influences the next step.”","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2015/07/338385210_04eef7b24f_b.jpg?itok=APSSjIIH"
"Nurturing a Baby’s Microbiome, Before and After Birth","http://www.popsci.com/nurturing-babys-microbiome-and-after-birth","As humans, we’re more bug than person – 90% of the cells in our bodies are microbes – and those bacteria help create good immunity and lower risk for allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases. It’s not surprising, then, that getting good bacteria right before and after birth is critical.

So how do babies start to get good bugs? Mostly from mom, in one form or another. Before birth, babies are basically sterile in the womb, but as soon as they pop out, bacteria start to colonize them.

Babies delivered vaginally are covered in a film of microbes as they pass through the birth canal. Included in the mix are bacteria that help babies digest their first meal. Babies delivered by cesarean section are colonized mainly by skin microbes from the hospital environment -- a very different set of species.

Researchers have started looking into ways to effectively transfer mom’s bacteria – the kind a baby would get when squeezing through the birth canal – to babies born via C-section. In one study, doctors “incubated” gauze in a mother’s vagina for an hour, then wiped it on their mouth, face, and the rest of their body.

Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, an associate professor in the Human Microbiome Program at the NYU School of Medicine, should that the procedure doubled the number of bacteria that the C-section babies were exposed to. (Vaginal delivery still exposes the baby to six times as much bacteria). The results were presented last year at the meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

Other scientists are diving into strategies to restore optimal microbiota before birth. Rodney Dietert, an immunotoxicologist at Cornell, said that in order to “seed and feed” a microbiome, certain probiotics can be given during pregnancy. “This may be important if the mother has microbial dysbiosis associated with one or more non-communicable diseases or conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, asthma,” he says. “Here probiotic administration could help to optimize her microbiome which she would then pass on to here baby.”

Breastfeeding also helps a baby’s microbiome settle into its optimal state. Babies who are breastfed have a more diverse gut bacteria population than their formula-fed friends.

Antibiotics can also send bacteria into disarray, when given at birth or after. A study out this week in the journal [Cell Host & Microbe](Cell Host & Microbe ) found a three-way link among antibiotic use in infants, changes in the gut bacteria, and disease later in life. Imbalances in gut microbes have been tied to infectious diseases, allergies and other autoimmune disorders, and even obesity later in life.

Cornell’s Dietert says that getting a good ecosystem of bacteria is important in a world that is dominated by illness. “Seed and Feed is a preventative strategy that has the potential to help that baby avoid a life filled with ever-increasing drugs, hospital visits, and medical procedures,” he said.

More reading:

The Microbiome and Sustainable Healthcare

The infant microbiome development: mom matters","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2015/05/8102899936_718d60ba14_k.jpg?itok=9M26OhLX"
"Learning to Hear With Their Brains","http://www.popsci.com/learning-hear-their-brains","Angelica Lopez uses an auditory brain implant to hear the world -- even though she doesn't have an auditory nerve.

Angelica laughs, and holds a small shaker near her ear – noting its sound. The bubbly three-year-old looks like any other child, but the simple act of reacting to sound is new to her. The curly-haired girl was born without working auditory nerves.

She’s part of a clinical trial happening now to test auditory brainstem implants – electronic devices implanted into the brain that deliver stimulation to the brainstem itself, completely bypassing the ear.

So far, the trial, based at the University of Southern California, has enrolled five children from 2 to 5 and implanted the devices in four of them as part of a three-year study into how the kids develop language after the surgery. They plan to test the procedure in 5 more over the next few years.

Audiologist Laurie Eisenberg points out that with the device, the child still needs to undergo a lot of therapy and support from their families. “The initial activation of device is analogous to a newborn hearing for the first time,” said Eisenberg. The kids hear a garbled mix of sounds, but their brains haven’t been primed to understand them – a skill that takes time and effort to develop.

Doctors have to do surgically implant the device – including a 21-electrode array that measures 8mm by 3mm -- deep in the skull, on exactly the right spot on the brainstem. Auditory brainstem implants are approved for kids over the age of 12, but this is the first time they’ve been used for younger children in the U.S. The kids in the study couldn’t use cochlear implants because of their particular anatomy.

In order for the language centers of the brain to develop normally, children need tons of input – studies have shown that children who hear fewer words per day are slower to develop vocabulary skills than kids who hear more. And for deaf children living in households with parents who hear normally, the amount of sign language they get can be small.

Brain surgery isn’t to be undertaken lightly, especially in such young patients. But if the child were not implanted at all, the children are incredibly disadvantaged by their deafness, Nan Ratner Bernstein, professor of Hearing and Speech Sciences at the University of Maryland, told a group of journalists at the AAAS meeting in San Jose last week. “We have to remember that without these kinds of technologies, this is a child that faces an uphill battle in life.”

If it proves safe and useful, the device could open up the opportunity to hear to hundreds of children in the U.S. and thousands more around the world, the team said.

In addition to helping people, auditory brain implants are shedding light on how sound works in the mind. The kids’ brains have to map out the sounds and unscramble them – something which points to the incredible plasticity of the brain. “It’s like learning how to see x-rays or detect electrical fields -- something you can’t even imagine because you can’t do it,” said Robert Shannon, a professor at the Keck School of Medicine and investigator for the trial.

After only five months of having the ABI, Angelica is able to distinguish different sounds – for example, a cough from a dog’s bark. And she is starting to find her own voice.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/maxresdefault-1.jpg?itok=JA-fB63m"
"What’s that, again? How short, repeated phrases may further your tots’ speech","http://www.popsci.com/whats-again-how-short-repeated-phrases-may-further-your-tots-speech","Ball! Look at the ball! The ball is blue!

When parents talk to babies, it can sound like a mind-numbing repetition of words and terms – but research is starting to show that the repetition of short words may be a part of the larger constellation of language development.

Lots of research has shown that the amount of language kids hear in the first few years of life is vitally important to their own verbal abilities later. But few have started to hone in on the quality and characteristics of this language.

Nan Bernstein Ratner, a language scientist at the University of Maryland, presented a study on short repeated utterances at this year’s American Speech–Language–Hearing Association meeting in Orlando, Florida last month.

The number of words kids year, Bernstein Ratner says, has to be combined with what’s inside the utterances, to help the kids find the words within the input the example of the conversation about the ball – first naming it, then describing it – is a good way to prime kids’ brains.

“Kids may understand the word ball first, and then look at the,” she says. “The repetition helps them to pull the language apart. Whereas if you have this huge blurb of stuff, it’s much tougher for the kids to unlock the words.”

Bernstein Ratner’s lab has been researching 125 families with kids, starting when the babies were 7 months and following them until the kids were 2 years old. She says that including the parents’ interactions with the kids was a no-brainer.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/558538200_f575564150_b.jpg?itok=miBAKwQg"
"Pretty Big Liars: How Kids Tell Who’s Telling the Truth","http://www.popsci.com/pretty-big-liars-how-kids-tell-whos-telling-truth","You might be lying, but how do I know?

Remember that uncle who convinced you that your nose was actually in his hand? Or your conviction that you definitely heard reindeer hooves on the rooftop? Kids are gullible – at least that’s the conventional wisdom. But new research pinpoints the time that a child’s sense of truth and fiction becomes acute: around age 5.

“Young children have a reputation for being gullible but that’s not true,” said Patricia Brosseau-Liard, a psychologist at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, and co-author of the new report. “Even young kids are able to pick up on cues on what makes information good and not so good to learn.”

Think about it: kids are presented with an abundance of information. While some of it is verifiable (there aren’t any more cookies in that jar), other types of information is impossible to learn on their own (the distance from earth to the sun). The researchers knew that kids gauged past performance as an indicator of a trustworthy source, but they also used the confidence of the source. So they designed an experiment to test how those two factors interacted.

Brosseau-Liard and her colleagues showed 96 4- and 5-year olds videos of women talking about familiar animals.

One of the adults made true statements about the animal in a hesitant voice: ""Hmm, I guess whales live in the water?"" The other adult made false statements in a confident voice: ""Oh, I know! Whales live in the ground!"" Next, the kids watched videos of the same two adults speaking about unknown animals. The speaker who was confident before remained confident, and the hesitant person remained hesitant.

Then the researchers asked the children: Which person do you believe?

The four-year-olds were as likely to choose the confident liar as the hesitant truth-teller, but the five-year olds were able to choose the accurate but hesitant adult.

Parents may not realize that kids are actively evaluating the information displayed to them, Brosseau-Liard pointed out. “It’s good to know, that in your parenting, you can help their children to become better learners — they can help children build on these skills they already have and become better at determining who a credible source is,” she said.

For example, parents could explicitly point out when they are in a situation where child exposed to info that is misleading – and how that information is misleading. This could be a good way to build early critical thinking skills. The researchers hope to investigate different aspects of confidence – in different situations and confidence that comes across differently.

Source: Brosseau-Liard P, Cassels T, Birch S. You Seem Certain but You Were Wrong Before: Developmental Change in Preschoolers’ Relative Trust in Accurate versus Confident Speakers. PLoS ONE. 2014.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/8569339336_7637893c4b_z.jpg?itok=6YZjSxlH"
"Brains, Brains (Piglet) Brains!","http://www.popsci.com/blog-network/kinderlab/brains-brains-piglet-brains","Baby braaaaaaains are difficult to study, given the fact that they reside within baby skulls. Scientists have long wondered about the effects of infections, nutrition, or birth weight – but they are left to do studies that report on associations, not causation.

A new tool to get deeper into the questions of human infant development is coming – through the oinky lens of piglet development.

That’s right: baby pig brains will help scientists unravel the mysteries of human development. That’s the idea behind an on-going project at the University of Illinois.

Professor of Animal Sciences Rodney Johnson and UI colleagues have developed a magnetic resonance imaging based brain atlas for the four-week old piglet that offers a three-dimensional averaged brain and 19 different anatomical regions. The researchers used 15 piglets to create the online atlas, which is freely available.

The researchers first knocked the 4-week-old piglets out with anesthesia, then put them into an MRI machine, where pictures were taken of their brains. Then they combined the pictures into a three-dimensional atlas, which will be used as a template for future studies.

Knowing the ins and outs of piglet brains could help answer some interesting questions for humans. The group hopes to find out the effect of viral infections, pneumonia, iron deficiencies, birth weight and early-life nutrition on brain development, Johnson told me. “Since some insults can result in developmental delays, understanding the underlying mechanisms is critical for prevention and treatment,” he said.

It helps that baby pig brains have remarkable similarities to baby human brains. At birth, the human brain is about 25 percent of adult size. In the first two years of life, it reaches 85 to 90 percent of adult size. The piglet brain grows in a similar way in a shorter time. “Brain growth in the perinatal period is very similar, as is overall structure,” said Johnson. His MRI study was published last month in the journal PLOS ONE.

Johnson told a website that the idea for one of the studies, which will look the brain impacts of nutrition on piglet brain development, came to him when a former student, who was working for an infant formula company, asked about finding ways to determine differences in cognitive development between breast-fed infants and infants fed on formula.

It’s not easy to do fine-grain brain studies in human babies, but finding the answers may be far more feasible in piglets.

Citation: An In Vivo Three-Dimensional Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Based Averaged Brain Collection of the Neonatal Piglet (Sus scrofa). September 25, 2014 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107650","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/import/2014/images/2014/10/sagittal-pig.jpg?itok=X5sUWW1d"
"What Makes A Child Prodigy?","http://www.popsci.com/blog-network/kinderlab/what-makes-child-prodigy","Little Wolfgang Mozart was born to a musical family, but even they were impressed by his young talents. At age 3, he was following along in his older sister’s piano books, and soon surpassed her, even though she was 5 years older.

When he was five, he was already performing in international venues and composing music. At 8, British naturalist (and awesomely-named scholar) Daines Barrington decided to give the young Mozart a test. He took a recently-composed five-part manuscript to him. The boy sat down at the piano and sight-read the piece. As Barrington put it in his diary:

The score was no sooner put upon his desk, than he began to play the symphony in a most masterly manner, as well as in the time and stile which corresponded with the intention of the composer...

Talented and gifted are labels that are casually tossed to children who are bright, but a prodigy – that’s what Mozart seemed to be at the tender age.

And that's the kind of kid that Joanne Ruthsatz, a psychologist at Ohio State University, has chosen to study.

A Mozart or Doogie Howser doesn't come around often: “I would say for a true prodigy it’s as rare as 1 in 5 million or 1 in 10 million,” Ruthsatz says.

She has studied and followed more than 30 child prodigies – the largest cohort ever studied -- over her academic career. Finding them hasn’t always been an easy task. “I started out as kind of a stalker,” laughs Ruthsatz, “but once people started to work with me, floodgates opened.”

The first prodigy she studied was a 2-year old who appeared on the cover of People magazine in 1990. He was able to play music he had only heard in church. Ruthsatz tested his IQ and it was in the range of a gifted child, but not extraordinary – what was unusual, though, was the toddler’s working memory.

Prodigies are usually defined as kids who have professional abilities before age 10, and those abilities are most often in the rule-based fields of music, mathematics, art, and chess

Different researchers have proposed theories about the origins of prodigies: Are they the products of intense study, or are they biologically gifted? Ruthsatz cuts a line in the middle, and has a few parameters that she believes creates a child prodigy.

- An exceptional memory. In a study of eight prodigies published earlier this year in the journal Intelligence, each had a working memory ability in the 99th percentile.

-Attention to detail, which aligns with people on the autism spectrum. Although prodigies aren’t on the scale, more than 50 percent of them have a family member on the scale, Ruthsatz’s research shows.

-Elevated general intelligence. Ruthsatz says that the prodigies have a range of IQs from 100 to 147, with a mean of about 128.

There’s one more thing that sets prodigies apart from the rest of us: altruism. Ruthsatz says that her subjects tend to be far more altruistic than the general population. In watching her cohort grow up, she says they continue to do well and be well in society: “They’re just benevolent souls.”

Citation:

Joanne Ruthsatz; Kimberly Ruthsatz-Stephens; Kyle Ruthsatz. The cognitive bases of exceptional abilities in child prodigies by domain: Similarities and differences. Intelligence. 2014;44(1):11-14.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/import/2014/images/2014/10/doogie-howser-cast-s3.jpg?itok=NVWWeliX"
"Brain-Training Toys for the Baby Crowd?","http://www.popsci.com/blog-network/kinderlab/brain-training-toys-baby-crowd","Long before goos and gah turn into recognizable words, baby brains are hard at work distinguishing the sounds of their home language, and creating connections that will support future language production. Now, new research appears to show that all the hard work could be accelerated with a little specialized training.

Researchers, based at Rutgers University, tested 4-month-old babies, bringing them into the lab once a week for 10 weeks to play a specialized game. They listened to non-language bleeps and bloops that became increasingly complex with time. As the babies shifted their eye gaze to anticipate the sound, they were rewarded with an animated video.

When the same babies were tested at 7 months, scans showed that they were quicker to react to language sounds than babies who hadn’t gone through the specialized game. The results of the study were published this month in the Journal of Neuroscience.

April Benasich, a Rutgers researcher and director of the Infancy Studies Laboratory, said in a press release that it’s very likely that one day parents at home will be able to use an interactive toy-like device – now under development – to mirror what she accomplished in the baby lab and maximize their babies’ potential.

She points to the number of babies – between 8 and 15 percent – who are at high risk for poor acoustic processing and delayed language development, and says that this tool could be an intervention to help them.

As I have written in the past, most toys that claim to teach a baby to speak or read are pretty much worthless. I asked Susan Neuman, a professor of Educational Studies specializing in early literacy development at the University of Michigan about the potential for language-training toys for young babies, and she said, “it sounds a bit wild to me.” Benasich says that prior research shows that tiny differences in the speed of acoustical processing in early childhood – even a tenth of a millisecond – has the ability to predict real-world language abilities when kids are starting school.

Before any brain-training tools are created, there’s more research to do. The researchers plan to continue following the babies through the time they are 18 months old to see if they retain and build on the skills with no further training.

Citation: The Journal of Neuroscience, 1 October 2014, 34(40): 13349-13363; doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0972-14.2014","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/import/2014/images/2014/10/Screen%20Shot%202014-10-17%20at%2012.13.49%20PM.png?itok=yBpYLdzS"
"Winter Babies Are On the Move","http://www.popsci.com/blog-network/kinderlab/winter-babies-are-move","It has nothing to do with astrology, but babies born in the winter do have some special qualities: they crawl on average a month earlier than babies born in the summer months.

The reason may be that winter-born tots reach crawling age in the warmer months, when there is more daylight and clothes are less constraining than babies born in hot times, who start to crawl in colder months.

Researchers at the University of Haifa in Israel, looked at the motor development of two groups of babies in a small study of 16 babies born from June-November, and 31 babies born from December-May. They observed the motor development of the babies when they were seven months old, and conducted follow-up studies when they began to crawl.

The researchers found that babies born in the winter and spring began to crawl at an average of 30 weeks, while those born in the summer began to crawl at 35 weeks. The overall average was 31 weeks, as they published in the journal Infant Psychology.

The authors point out that other studies have documented the constraining effects of heavy bundled clothing on babies – for example, babies who wear tight leggings had fewer upright movements than babies who wore less clothing. Even ubiquitous diapers change the way babies learn to move. In addition, cold floors in the winter may deter parents from placing babies prone in tummy-time.

Though the study was done in Israel, where winters are mild, the results showed a clear difference in the summer and winter crawlers. “We were not surprised by the result but surprised by their magnitude,” said study author Osnat Atun-Einy, a physical therapy professor at the University of Haifa.

This isn’t the first time that researchers have discovered unusual effects of a baby’s season of birth. Research has linked food allergies to fall birthdates, higher rates of anorexia to spring birthdates, and short-sightedness to babies born in summer. One study even found that boys born in the winter are more likely to be left-handed (they say it’s due, again, to sunlight exposure in utero in early stages of pregnancy, which can boost testosterone, in turn increasing the likelihood of lefty-ness).

Babies born June through October are bigger and have heavier bones, probably because of their moms’ sun exposure in the summer months – one study showed that moms with the highest levels of Vitamin D in their blood had babies that were 0.5 cm longer than babies born in dark months.

A 2010 Vanderbilt study showed that mice pups exposed to different amounts of light at birth had different reactions to changing light conditions later in life – the ones born in the summer had better ability to regulate their own internal clocks.

As researchers unravel the mysteries of sunlight, seasons and babies – one thing remains certain: more babies are born in August and September than any other months, around the globe.

Citation:

Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology (2013): Season of birth, crawling onset, and motor development in 7-month-old infants, Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/02646838.2013.826347","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/import/2014/images/2014/09/andrew%20vargas.jpg?itok=x8PG_z8M"
"The Keyboard’s Strange Impact On Your Baby’s Name","http://www.popsci.com/blog-network/kinderlab/keyboard%E2%80%99s-strange-impact-your-baby%E2%80%99s-name","How can typing impact your decision to name your kid Leo instead of Sam?

Parenthood is filled with emotional, semi-rational decisions, and none of these is more visceral than naming a baby.

Today’s most popular names have a weird commonality – they’re mostly written with the right hand on a typical keyboard.

For the past few years, researchers have been developing theories about the QWERTY effect, where letters typed with the right hand are considered more positive than those typed with the left hand (take that: W-R-I-T-E-R is left-heavy). In 2012, Daniel Casasanto, a psychologist now at the University of Chicago and colleagues tested this phenomenon in three languages, and that even made-up words and words that are rarely typed are rated as more positive when using right-hand keys on a keyboard.

That’s because there are fewer keys on the right side of the keyboard, so typing on that side is easier – even for lefties.

All this bias is having subtle influences on the way our language changes over time, say the researchers. “People responsible for naming new products, brands, and companies might do well to consider the potential advantages of consulting their keyboards and choosing the ‘right’ name,” they wrote.

It’s also having an impact on the names we choose for babies. In a follow-up study, the researchers showed that the QWERTY effect seems to be biasing names chosen for babies.

Using data from the Social Security Administration, Casasanto and colleagues examined 788 names given to 100 children or more in the years between 1960 and 2012. They found that around 1990, when the QWERTY keyboard became popular, names started to creep into the right hand letters. Names invented after 1990 “have significantly higher RSAs [right side letters] than names used during the previous three decades,” they write.

Olivia, Jacob, William, Mia… many of the names on this Social Security website follow that pattern.

All this points to how our perceptions are shifted by subtle things that we may not even be aware of. Language used to be something that was spoken – yet now, for millions of people, most communication is mediated through a keyboard. “As people develop new technologies for producing language, these technologies shape the language they were designed to produce,” write the study authors.

Citation:

Casasanto, D., Jasmin, K., Brookshire, G. & Gijssels, T. (2014). The QWERTY Effect: How typing shapes word meanings and baby names. In P. Bello, M. Guarini, M. McShane, & B. Scassellati (Eds.), Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/import/2014/images/2014/09/103668720_9f5b3a63b1_b.jpg?itok=fCCxiSyL"
"So Long, And Thanks For All The Plagues","http://www.popsci.com/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-plagues","Over the past few months, I took a break from Our Modern Plagues. It wasn’t because I don’t love it here — I do! — but because my writing life got very busy. In February, I started a year-long fellowship with the Alicia Patterson Foundation, and I had lingering features due for various outlets, including Popular Science. I also had to review the last stages of my next book, which just wrapped up this week.

With so much going on I didn’t feel like I could dedicate the time needed to write interesting and well-reported posts here at the blog.

But during my hiatus, I realized that I need a much longer one. So, after two-and-a-half years here at the Popular Science Network, I’ve decided to make the break more permanent. This will be my last post for the foreseeable future.

Our Modern Plagues has been a fun personal laboratory to try new things, occasionally break news, and write stories that I may have otherwise had trouble pitching as a freelance writer. I’m interested in how we humans identify specific flora and fauna as pests and threats, and how we use science and technology to control the natural world (or try to, anyway). Having the space to explore these ideas in various forms was a gift — in fact, it’s what led to my Alicia Patterson proposal.

I’ve written about insects— including bed bugs, of course—as well as our history of killing them with poisons or trying to build weird bug traps.

I’ve covered various infectious diseases, from the Black Death to polio to Zika. Sometimes I’ve even written about insects and disease at the same time — for example, in a post about a doctor who in the 1900s falsely claimed that bed bugs spread smallpox.

I’ve also covered new antibiotic discoveries and invasive species, and scoured the web for the most interesting plague-related news and features — at first weekly and then monthly, when I realized I couldn’t keep up every single week. There are just too many plagues. (In retrospect, narrowing the scope of this blog may have made my life a little easier.)

I’ve written about agriculture, too, including the thorny issue of genetically-engineered crops, a topic where my reporting and perspective have evolved over the years, and one that I hope to continue to delve into in more nuanced ways. I’ve also wandered into other territory, talking about conflicts-of-interest in science reporting, a challenging and ongoing issue in my field.

Overall, it’s been a great experience. I’d like to thank the Popular Science team for the opportunity — and in particular, Carl Franzen, Paul Adams, and Dave Mosher, who were there to help troubleshoot buggy posts and lend the occasional editorial advice at various points over the years, as well as Suzanne LaBarre, who oversaw the blog's launch back in October 2012.

It’s possible I’ll revive Our Modern Plagues in the future, whether here at PopSci or somewhere else. In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter or at my website. And of course, you can catch my writing in its various forms, both in print and online.

So, that’s that. Farewell for now. And thanks for reading.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/goodbye_spelled_out_in_blocks.jpg?itok=KkwwkP5c"
"The Month In Plagues: Sexually-Transmitted Zika, New Lyme Disease Cause, And More","http://www.popsci.com/month-in-plagues-sexually-transmitted-zika-new-lyme-disease-cause-and-more-plague-links-from-around","In infectious disease news:

The first case of Zika virus transmitted in the U.S. was confirmed earlier this month, and it was transmitted through sexual contact. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced confirmation on 9 new sexually-transmitted cases, as well as an investigation into 10 more. There’s still a lot we don’t know about the virus, including whether or not it causes birth defects.

Meanwhile, some Ebola survivors are struggling with neurological problems.

And new research suggests that a previously unknown bacterium may cause Lyme disease, in addition to the bacterium we already knew causes the illness. Read more from Melinda Wenner Moyer at Scientific American.

In agriculture news:

Stephen Hall has a great longread at Scientific American about how gene-editing tools—particularly the much-hyped CRISPR-Cas—may be used in agriculture (paywall).

Speaking of Scientific American, there is also a good feature on curbing antibiotics on the farm. And speaking of antibiotics on the farm, Maryn McKenna has a frightening write-up about agriculture’s role in last-ditch antibiotic resistance at her NatGeo Germination blog.

And here’s a good piece on how complicated the GMO food fight can get—particularly in Boulder, Colorado. It's by Luke Runyon for Harvest Public Media.

In creepy crawly news:

The Zika outbreak led to a series of think pieces on whether or not we should eradicate mosquitoes once and for all. Daniel Engber argued for total obliteration at Slate. Melissa Cronin explained why that’s not such a great idea at Motherboard.

Meanwhile, Rose Eveleth imagined a future totally devoid of mosquitoes at her podcast Flash Forward.

And two teams of scientists sequenced the bed bug genome, which may eventually (as in, probably not any time soon—sorry) help point to new ways to kill the pest. For more, read my piece at The Verge.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/deer_tick.jpg?itok=b7Wwq71a"
"Combating Zika Conspiracy Theories","http://www.popsci.com/combating-zika-conspiracy-theories","The Zika virus continues to spread. Just this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added new countries to its travel advisory. The total number of cases is predicted to be between 3 and 4 million, although those figures are far from certain.

There are a lot of other unknowns about the virus. There’s some evidence, for example, that it may be linked to an increase in microcephaly cases in Brazil (although as Christie Aschwanden points out at FiveThirtyEight, that link will be hard to prove). And there are a lot of conspiracies, too, as Sarah Zhang points out at Wired: some claim the microcephaly cases are actually due to genetically-engineered mosquitoes, vaccines, and even the Rockefellers.

Perhaps the most explosive of these conspiracies is the one that says the microcephaly cases are caused by a larvicide called pyriproxyfen (which, by the way, is misspelled in the report that launched this conspiracy—not exactly a vote of confidence for accuracy). The report also claims the larvicide is sold by a Japanese subsidiary of Monsanto, which also isn’t true. In reality, pyriproxyfen is fairly benign for humans. It acts as a hormone disruptor in insects, including Zika-spreading mosquitoes, screwing up their development. The Japanese company Sumitomo produces the chemical, and the company is not owned by Monsanto (and, by the way, “Sumitomo” is also misspelled in that original report).

Still, the conspiracy has legs, as conspiracies about Monsanto do, and since then outlets including On the Media, USA Today, and more (as well as Zhang’s piece) have provided context for the claim, doing a good job of debunking it.

But another piece came out this week that makes me wonder about how the media—especially science journalists, including me—cover stories like this. It’s an essay by Maggie Koerth-Baker at Aeon, and it explores some of the assumptions and realities of vaccine-hesitant parents. These lines especially struck me:","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/conspiracy.jpg?itok=9bXoexph"
"The Bugs Behind The Bed Bug Genome","http://www.popsci.com/bugs-behind-bed-bug-genome","Bed bugs only eat blood, and this particularly species, Cimex lectularius, primarily feeds on humans. The easiest way for Harlan to keep his new research subjects alive was to let them feed on him. He took a pair of his wife’s old nylons and stretched them across the mouths of the jars, so the bugs couldn’t escape, and then held the jars against his arms and legs.

In 1973, an army medical entomologist named Harold Harlan stumbled upon a bed bug infestation in some barracks at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Bed bugs were quite rare in the U.S. at the time—so rare that Harlan, in all his years of training and work, had never seen live specimens in person. It was his job to hire someone to wipe out the population, so the army recruits who were staying in the barracks could get a break from the bites. But he found the bugs so intriguing and novel that he wanted to save some to study in his spare time. He collected a couple hundred into some Mason jars and took them home.

For this post, I want to talk about the actual bugs in the bed bug genome projects, because they have a story as well.

Still, two papers published today that describe the bed bug genome, which I personally think is exciting. ( Can you blame me? ) The work comes from two separate groups: one led by the American Museum of Natural History and Weill Cornell Medicine , and the other by i5K , a consortium of researchers who plan to sequence the genomes of 5,000 insect species. The groups published simultaneously in Nature Communications. For more on the papers and why they are interesting—and why I don’t think they’re YAG—check out my story at The Verge .

At this point, it isn’t necessarily news when a genome publishes—even six years ago, Carl Zimmer pointed out the Yet-Another-Genome Syndrome (YAG) in science journalism. The technology for genome sequencing, after all, continues to get cheaper and faster, making it increasingly easier to find the time and funding to sequence increasingly obscure research organisms.

Harlan continued this for decades (even today he has an estimated 5,000 bugs, which he still keeps in jars and feeds every month or so). When entomologists began encountering bed bugs again in the late 1990s, in the earliest days of the resurgence, they asked Harlan for bed bugs so they could build up populations in their own labs.

Harlan’s bugs have been sequestered from pesticides since he collected them four decades ago; unlike bed bugs in the “wild” (aka our homes), his are completely vulnerable to the chemicals. This has proven handy for entomologists who are trying to figure out just how insecticide-resistant bed bugs have become, because they have a baseline for comparison. For example, research that published last week revealing the bed bug’s resistance to neonicotinoids used the Harlan strain.

Harlan’s bugs are also good for genome sequencing. For starters, the fact that the bugs are susceptible to insecticides provides another baseline, this time for genetic comparisons. Now that researchers have the whole genome of the Harlan strain, they can sequence insecticide-resistant strains to see how the genes responsible for the resistance have changed. This could hint at new ways to control the bugs. Harlan’s bed bugs are also quite inbred, since they haven't mingled with other populations since he collected them in 1973, which also helped the genome work. Bed bugs are so small that it’s not possible to pull their genome from a single specimen, so researchers crush up many bugs together and figure out the genome from that genetic soup. The more closely-related these bugs are, the easier it is to stitch together their genetic material into a complete genome.

I caught up with Harlan, who is now retired, last week to see what he thought of the new papers. He pointed out some differences in how the two groups fed their populations. The bugs from the i5K group were raised on modified rabbit blood with custom artificial feeders. The AMNH team used bugs raised by Louis Sorkin, an entomologist at the museum who, like Harlan, feeds the bugs on his own blood. Harlan pointed out that the differences in feeding may have led to slight differences in the genomes: “The blood sources they used may have affected the expression of certain proteins and enzymes.""

As for the fact that his bed bugs were the first in the world to have their whole genome sequenced, he was pretty modest. “I’m pleased they were helpful, and I was pleased to be able to provide them,” he said. “Other than that, I haven’t done any of the work.”

As if hand-raising bed bugs for more than 40 years isn’t work.

Additional reading:

Borel, How the Bed Bug Infiltrated Our Bedrooms and Took Over the World, University of Chicago Press 2015

Bartley and Harlan, “Bed Bug Infestation: Its Control and Management,” Military Medicine, November 1974

Benoit et al, “Unique features of a global human ectoparasite identified through sequencing of the bed bug genome,” Nature Communications, February 2, 2016

Rosenfeld et al, “Genome assembly and geospacial phylogeny of the bed bug, Cimex lectularius,” Nature Communications, February 2, 2016","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/bed_bug_microscopic.jpg?itok=CswocQ6v"
"The Month In Plagues: Zika Virus, Bugs In Your Home, And More","http://www.popsci.com/month-in-plagues-zika-virus-bugs-in-your-home-and-more","Your monthly roundup of infestations, contagions, and controls.

In infectious disease news

Zika virus is all over the news, thanks to a pandemic spreading across South and Central America. Most symptoms are relatively benign, but health officials worry the virus may be linked to rare birth defects and other complications, although the connection is far from certain. For now, mosquito control is the only way to curb the virus, although it isn’t necessarily easy to thwart the suckers. Vaccine R&D is underway but may take years. For more, read Maryn McKenna at her Germination blog; Helen Branswell at Stat; David Quammen at National Geographic; and Julia Belluz at Vox.

Flint, Michigan can’t catch a break. In addition to revelations about lead in the drinking water, the city also had a spike in Legionnaires’ disease.

The World Health Organization declared West Africa Ebola-free earlier this month, but another case then popped up in Sierra Leone.

Kai Kupferschmidt has a piece at Science about a scary, little-known infection from a soil bacterium called Burkholderia pseudomallei, sometimes called the “Vietnamese time bomb.”

And another little-known disease called mycetoma got some much-needed attention. Read Amy Maxmen’s piece at NPR (actually from late December). The WHO recently announced it’s considering adding the “flesh-eating, bone-destroying disease” to the organization's neglected disease list.

In vaccine news

Brian Resnick has a nuanced piece at Vox about the complications in eradicating polio. It turns out that, as cases dwindle thanks to vaccination programs, the biggest threat of infection actually comes from those same vaccines.

Scientists may be making progress on a universal Ebola vaccine.

And a whooping cough outbreak raises questions about the effectiveness of the pertussis vaccine. (Although these questions aren’t exactly new.)

In agriculture news

The Environmental Protection Agency published work suggesting a neonicotinoid called imidacloprid may be hurting bees. Nathanael Johnson has a good take at Grist.

Our bananas are still under attack from a fungus called Tropical Race 4. Read more from Dan Charles at NPR.

And agricultural giants including DuPont Pioneer are investing in CRISPR technology, which will have applications for pest control. Read more by Katrina Megget at ChemistryWorld/SciAm.

In creepy crawly news

New research shows that we have a lot of six-legged roommates. Check out this infographic at Vox breaking down what’s there, as well as this piece by Ed Yong at the Atlantic. But don’t worry: most of the insects aren’t pests and won’t bother you too much.

Bed bugs are getting even harder to kill: new research shows that the suckers have now developed resistance to neonicotinoids, one of the few insecticides that can be legally sprayed in bedrooms in the U.S. Read more at BBC.

And the ticks that spread Lyme disease are spreading across the U.S. Great. Check out the disturbing trend on this map at Stat.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/zika_virus_0.png?itok=SMZr3ice"
"Curbing Zika Virus: Mosquito Control","http://www.popsci.com/curbing-zika-virus-mosquito-control","Over the past several weeks, there has been a flurry of media coverage on Zika, an illness spread by mosquitoes that was previously assumed to be relatively benign. The most common symptoms are fever, rash, achy joints and red eyes, but more recently public health experts have suggested that the virus may cause a severe birth defect called microcephaly, a neurological disorder that causes abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains, as well Guillain-Barré, a syndrome that can cause temporary paralysis.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Zika used to be found mainly in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands, but since last spring it was detected in Brazil. Now it has spread throughout South America and Central America. Cases have also popped up in the United States, although they were contracted elsewhere. A recent study at The Lancet predicts that the virus will continue to spread.

In a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Anthony Fauci and David Morens from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, call the spread of Zika virus an “explosive pandemic” and point out that Zika follows a recent trend in mosquito-borne viruses that have spread across the world, including dengue, West Nile, and chikungunya.

While it isn’t entirely clear how—or if—the virus is truly responsible for the birth defects and other complications, the CDC has issued travel alerts for the affected countries, advising women who are pregnant or who are trying to get pregnant to postpone any trips to the regions or, at the very least, consult a doctor before travel. El Salvador has taken particularly extreme and unprecedented measures, reportedly telling its population to hold off on having babies until 2018.

Depending on where you live or travel, these precautions may not be necessary. “There has been some hysteria associated with the news of the recent Zika virus activity, particularly with regard to the potential role in increasing rates of microcephaly in Brazil,” says Cameron Webb, a Medical Entomologist at University of Sydney. “The critical issue is that people should not panic and there may not necessarily be a need to cancel travel to these regions. However, you should take care to avoid mosquito bites.”

""People should not panic.""

Fighting mosquitoes is, as of now, the only way to curb the virus, as there is no current treatment or vaccine (although according to Time, the U.S. launched a “full-court press” for Zika vaccine development).

The main known vectors for Zika are Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, which are widespread and feed on humans. Some researchers are focused on high-tech ways to control the mosquitoes. For example, Oxitec, a U.K.-based company working on genetically engineered A. aegypti to help control dengue fever, announced last week that it will open a new factory in Brazil to help combat Zika.

Such technologies may not be enough. “There is little doubt that the ever increasing arsenal of ‘high tech’ solutions will play a key role in future mosquito and mosquito-borne disease control,” Webb says. “However, it is important to remember that, despite the attention many of these approaches attract, none are likely to be the silver bullet that will beat outbreaks of mosquito-borne pathogens such as Zika virus.”

“I believe that a critical issue here is that these ‘high tech’ solutions shouldn’t be embraced at the neglect of traditional mosquito control and mosquito-borne disease risk management strategies,” Webb adds. Traditional options for the Zika-carrying Aedes species include getting rid of standing water in flower pots, buckets, and the like, which is where the mosquitoes like to breed; spraying with insecticides; and using repellents to keep the insects from biting. (For advice on picking a mosquito repellent, see this piece I wrote for Slate a couple of years ago.)

Unfortunately, as Fauci and Morens note in their NEJM piece, even preventative measures such as these are “luxuries often unavailable to impoverished residents of crowded urban locales where such epidemics hit hardest.”

Additional reading:

Zika Virus, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Zika Virus Infection, Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization

Helen Branswell, “Everything you need to know about Zika virus,” STAT, January 14. 2016.

Maryn McKenna, “Zika Virus: A New Threat and a New Kind of Pandemic,” Germination/National Geographic Phenomena, January 13, 2016","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/aedes_aegypti_mosquito.jpg?itok=45nlFlMo"
"How To Keep Your Backyard Chickens Bug-Free","http://www.popsci.com/how-to-keep-your-backyard-chickens-bug-free","It’s hard to pinpoint the start of the American backyard chicken trend (or the bogus media-hyped trend, according to Slate). But, whether the practice has truly grown in popularity or not, one thing those trend pieces tend to gloss over is parasites.

Just like most other animals, chickens can fall victim to ectoparasites—freeloading critters that live outside their hosts, such as fleas, lice, and mites. Now, researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have surveyed chicken parasites that lurk in yards and coops across southern California. The work published this week in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

The researchers examined five randomly selected chickens from twenty properties last summer, and found six species of chicken lice, three mite species, and one type of flea. According to the authors, both the range of different parasites and the numbers found on the birds were higher than is typical of a commercial chicken flock.

None are known disease vectors for chickens, nor are they a major health threat for people. Rather, these parasites may simply cause the chickens stress and discomfort. Most of the louse species don’t feed on blood, but on feathers, which may also cause aesthetic damage.

Since the survey only included parts of California, it’s hard to say how well it represents backyard chicken operations across the country, although the farms did vary in climate and setting. “I think we did a very good job with what we had—we were all over southern California, and there are a lot of different microclimates here,” says Amy Murillo, a PhD student in entomology at UC Riverside and the first author. “Some places were closer to the coast, some were more inland. Riverside itself is starting to see more desert. So we got a fairly good representation of the different microclimates, yet we saw a distribution of lots of different parasites.”

The research is “a nice, preliminary study,” says Warren Booth, a molecular biologist at the University of Tulsa who studies bed bugs and swallow bugs, and who wasn’t involved in the research. “But it does not provide some potentially important information that might inform us as to where these extoparasites came from,” such as where the birds were purchased, the geographic distribution of the parasites, and which nearby wild bird species may be contributing to their spread.

""I think that this study will certainly provide the motivation for other researchers to consider assessing backyard flocks across other regions in the U.S. and abroad,"" Booth adds.

Operation: Chicken De-Bugging

Depending on where you chicken farm, there may be some variation in the bugs you encounter. Still, it’s reasonable to assume that your backyard chickens could be susceptible to some sort of ectoparasite.

So, what can you do to stop it?

The best option, Murillo says, is to prevent the parasites from getting onto your property in the first place. Inspect new chickens before you introduce them to your flock and don’t visit multiple farms or backyard operations on the same day, as the parasites can hitchhike on your clothing or shoes. Wear rubber boots that can be easily washed with soap, water, and bleach. And keep your chickens’ feed and water out of reach of wild birds and rodents, which can also introduce parasites.

After parasites are already in your flock, control gets a little harder. Still, there are options. For urban farmers who aren’t averse to pesticides, chemicals like pyrethrins and pyrethroids—the natural and synthetic versions of a very similar chemical, which is a relatively mild insecticide—can do the trick. Just be sure to follow the label instructions. (UC Riverside has a database that tells you which products are legal in your state, although it’s still under construction.)

Some parasites, including chicken mites, have already proven resistant to such chemicals, and it isn’t always fun to chase a chicken around the yard with a spritzer or duster. Another option, Murillo says, is to use food-grade diatomaceous earth (DE)—a fine powder that cuts up and dehydrates insects and mites. Add the DE to a box of sand, and the chickens will use it when they take their dust bath, killing unwanted parasites in the process.

There you have it. Happy chicken farming.

Additional reading:

Murillo and Mullens, “Diversity and Prevalence of Ectoparasites on Backyard Chicken Flocks in California,” Journal of Medical Entomology, January 11, 2016

Walker, “Backyard Chickens Harbor Greater Diversity of Ticks, Mites, and Lice than Farm-raised Chickens,” Entomology Today, January 11, 2016

Martin and Mullens, “Housing and dustbathing effects on northern fowl mites (Ornithonyssus sylviarum) and chicken body lice (Menacanthus stramineus) on hens,” Medical and Veterinary Entomology, 2012","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/chickens.jpg?itok=AkBuqLxs"
"The Year In Plagues: The Last Antibiotic, The Gene Editing Era, And More","http://www.popsci.com/year-in-plagues-last-antibiotic-gene-editing-era-and-more","Bacteria is proving resistant to the last-resort antibiotic--used to treat infections from E. coli (pictured) and other gram-negative bacteria.

I know, I know: Another end-of-the-year list. But what can I say—it’s tradition. Here are the top plague stories from 2015, in no particular order:

1) Scientists discovered new drug-resistant bacteria in China that can withstand colistin—the last antibiotic that could fight dangerous resistant bacterial strains. For great reporting on the findings and their implications, check out this piece by Mary McKenna at National Geographic and this one by Helen Branswell at Stat.

2) New biotechnologies that allow for gene editing and gene drives—a precise way to alter an organism’s DNA and a method to spread genes quickly through a population, respectively—are poised to make unprecedented changes to infectious disease control, agriculture, and more. Check out Amy Harmon’s New York Times piece on gene-edited livestock; Kat McGowan on the same at Mother Jones; Nicholas Wade’s NYT overview on applying gene drives to disease and pest insects; and Ewen Callaway’s piece at Nature on using gene drives in malaria mosquitoes.

3) Ebola fell and then flared up again—sometimes within the same country. Here’s Sarah Zhang at Wired on what went wrong with the global response to the 2014 outbreak and an insightful interview on how to prevent the next one by Julia Belluz at Vox.

4) Meanwhile, the World Health Organization put together a list of the viruses that are most likely to inflict the next global-scale outbreak. Read more from Erika Check Hayden at Nature.

5) While not as deadly a threat as Ebola or the viruses on the WHO list, other diseases popped up in new places, like dengue fever in Hawaii, and we learned new things about Zika and Chikungunya.

6) Several scientists were awarded Nobel Prizes for their contributions to anti-parasitic drugs. Read more at Nature and here at Our Modern Plagues. (And here is good context on how we might cure some of these diseases in other ways, from Ed Yong at the Atlantic.)

7) Nigeria hit a key milestone in the global effort to eradicate polio: the country is more than a year free of wild strains. Many challenges stand in the way of ridding the two remaining countries—Afghanistan and Pakistan—of the virus, according to Maureen Taylor at Quartz.

8) The FDA approved the first GMO animal for human consumption. Read more at the New York Times, NPR, and here at Our Modern Plagues.

And that’s that. Happy New Year.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/e_coli.jpeg?itok=Tq8Mf1hk"
"How To Avoid Giving Food Poisoning To Your Holiday Guests","http://www.popsci.com/how-to-avoid-giving-food-poisoning-to-your-holiday-guests","The holiday season is upon us—that is, of course, if you celebrate Christmas or capitalism. Regardless, the season brings homemade treats and feasts, and the crushing paranoia of new home chefs who were perhaps too ambitious with their menu and guest list. So much can go wrong. For example, you may accidentally give your guests food poisoning.

I haven’t found good data on how many such poisonings occur this time of year, but there are annual estimates. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 48 million people get food-borne illnesses every year. Out of those, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die.

So, how do you feed your hungry friends and family without feeding them nasty pathogens? Our Modern Plagues has your back. And, fair warning: You might not want to read this if you're eating.

Turkey

Ah, the Christmas poultry that we love to hate. According to the National Turkey Federation, the most common turkey food-borne pathogens are:

Not every turkey will be carrying all of these pathogens, of course. Still, that’s a lot of diarrhea. Plus, the CDC reports that when it comes to food poisoning, poultry accounts for more deaths than any other food. If you must eat turkey, make sure to handle it carefully before you cook it—if it's harboring pathogens, these may contaminate anything it touches. Keep the raw turkey separate from other food and use dedicated utensils and cutting boards (clean them with hot water and soap after use). As for washing the turkey itself: Don’t do it. When you plop a turkey in your sink and rinse it off, you can splash pathogens all over the place. (Here’s a good FAQ on the topic at NPR’s The Salt.)

Also pay attention to the turkey’s temp. Don’t let raw birds sit out at room temperature for too long, even when thawing, as pathogens such as C. perfringens and S. aureus flourish in these conditions and can withstand high cooking temperatures later on (in particular, avoid the so-called ""danger zone"" of 40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit).

Invest in a meat thermometer and make sure the interior of the bird hits 165 degrees Fahrenheit when it’s cooked. Here’s a guide from the USDA with cooking times and tips for turkeys that are fresh, frozen, and more.

Stuffing

If you’re gonna stuff the bird, do it right before it goes in the oven and make sure it cooks all the way through—all those turkey juices seeping into the stuffing could otherwise make someone sick. A safer option is to cook the stuffing separately to make sure it cooks all the way through. Here are more tips from the USDA.

Salad

It may be surprising, but leafy greens cause more outbreaks than any other food, according to a 2013 CDC report. A wide range of pathogens may end up on the salad from any point in the production chain. Recent examples include E. coli, the parasite cyclosporiasis, and norovirus, a virus that’s the most common source of food-borne illness in the U.S. and—surprise surprise—causes diarrhea, as well as nausea, vomiting, fever, headache, and body aches.

Be sure to use a dedicated a knife and cutting board for lettuce and vegetables so that juices from turkey or other meats don’t get tossed in. The Food Poisoning Bulletin also has some reasonable tips on picking lettuce and keeping it clean.

Green bean casserole

Like lettuce, a range of nasties could contaminate green beans and other fresh vegetables. Unlike lettuce, if you’re cooking these vegetables, you should be able to kill off most pathogens. If you’re using canned green beans, check the can for unusual bulges or major dents and toss out any cans that contain foul-smelling or frothy contents. These are all potential signs of Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that produces the dangerous botulism toxin. While relatively rare, this neurotoxin is among the most dangerous in the world and can be deadly.

The good news is that deaths from botulism have dropped drastically over the past 50 years. The other good news is that C. botulinum is very sensitive to heat: according to the CDC, boiling food for just 10 minutes will destroy the pathogen. (Of course, if you see obvious signs of contamination, it's better to just throw the food out and wash contaminated areas with bleach.)

Eggnog

According to the CDC, dairy caused more hospitalizations from food poisoning than any other type of food from 1998 to 2008, and raw eggs are a well-known risk for salmonella (although, in reality, that risk may be pretty small. Still, homemade eggnog made with raw eggs and lots of cream—and also lots of booze—may be safer than the store-bought variety, at least according to one admittedly small study at the Rockefeller University. Here, I even have a recipe for you at this old blog post.

Take-out

If you want to avoid holiday feasts altogether, there’s always take-out. But beware: restaurants and fast-food joints have food poisoning outbreaks, too. Just ask Chipotle.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/raw_turkey.jpg?itok=jCj_WcrE"
"Genetically Modified Fish Approved For Dinner Tables: A PopSci FAQ","http://www.popsci.com/aquadvantage-salmon-8-faqs","On November 19th, the Food and Drug Administration announced its approval of AquAdvantage salmon, a farm-raised fish from the company AquaBounty Technologies that’s genetically engineered to grow more quickly than conventional fish. The regulatory decision took nearly two decades, and marks the first GMO animal approved for human consumption in the United States.

The move has, unsurprisingly, raised questions among consumers (and it’s drawn at least one lawsuit).

Here are eight of those questions, answered.

How does it work?

The AquAdvantage is an Atlantic salmon engineered with a growth hormone gene from a Chinook, a Pacific salmon, and a promoter from an ocean pout. The hormone produced by the Chinook gene is actually the same that would appear in an Atlantic salmon—the Chinook just happened to be on hand when scientists first made the fish back in the late eighties. The promoter essentially triggers the growth hormone and keeps it turned on year-round (most Atlantic salmon only grow under certain environmental conditions, and would usually stop growing in the cold dark days of winter).

The AquAdvantage grows about twice as fast its conventional counterpart on around 20 to 25 percent less feed. According to Ron Stotish, AquaBounty’s president and CEO, this accelerated growth makes it possible for the fish to be raised entirely in land-based aquaculture.

Is it safe to eat?

In 2010, the FDA determined that the fish is as safe as regular Atlantic salmon. To reach this conclusion, the agency considered data from AquaBounty, as well as peer-reviewed research. FDA spokesperson Juli Putnam says of the review: “The data demonstrated that the inserted genes remained stable over several generations of fish, that food from the GE salmon is safe to eat by humans and animals, that the genetic engineering is safe for the fish, and the salmon meets the sponsor’s claim about faster growth.” The original application for the fish is available here.

Is it safe for the environment?

Under the narrow limits set by the FDA approval: probably. The main worry is whether the AquAdvantage salmon could escape and, if so, would breed or compete with wild Atlantic salmon or closely-related fish like the brown trout.

AquaBounty does have several redundant barriers to prevent that, which are geographical, physical, and reproductive. The fish are produced far from the waters where wild Atlantic salmon typically live; the facilities have multiple screens and filters to thwart escape; and the fish are, for the most part, sterile females that wouldn’t be able to reproduce. AquaBounty accomplished this last feat by engineering the fish to be triploid (three copies per chromosome set, rather than the usual two), which means it can't produce reproductive cells.

Still, there are some potential flaws. The sterilization isn’t perfect, and roughly one percent of the females will still be able to reproduce. “If these fish were to escape from aquaculture operations and breed in the wild, they could pass on their genes to a new generation of Atlantic salmon,” says Eric Hallerman, a population geneticist and fish expert at Virginia Tech who consulted on the potential environmental impact for the FDA. “And that’s not something that we want—many Atlantic salmon are imperiled to various degrees.”

Hallerman points out that this is why the FDA only approved the fish for the specific, multi-barrier facilities that AquaBounty currently has in place. Still, the possibility of future unfettered expansion is a concern critic's of the way the FDA handled the fish’s approval, including Anne Kapuscinski, a sustainability scientist and expert in fish genetics and aquaculture from Dartmouth College. “I’m quite worried that the weak standard set here will open the floodgate in other countries, where the regulations won’t be all that rigorous, and the fish could escape from those places,” she says. “And it would be initially hard to detect.”

Stotish says the company has no current plans to open new facilities or license its technology.

Wait a minute. Why is the FDA involved in environmental safety regulation?

Good question. The fish, like any other genetically-engineered animal, is regulated under the animal drug provisions of the FDA’s Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. It may not make sense, but it’s one of many such head-scratching aspects of biotechnology regulation, which were slapped together starting in the eighties—a result of lawmakers looking to regulate the products under existing laws, rather than tailoring new ones. This may change. Last summer, the White House announced a review of this system, which many experts believe is insufficient and outdated.

Will the fish be grown in the U.S.?

For now, no, it won’t. The FDA’s approval is limited to two facilities: a hatchery in Canada and a production facility in Panama. In order to expand to new facilities, AquaBounty will have to submit a supplemental application to the FDA, which essentially asks to make a change to an existing approved application.

During the original application, the company asked the FDA to open part of the process to public comment—a step that isn’t legally required by the FDA drug approval process. The company decided to do this, says Stotish, “in the spirit of transparency and political correctness in the hope that it would engender public confidence.""

""And guess what?"" he adds, ""It was a useless exercise.”

Whether the company will choose to keep the process public for the supplemental applications, should it decide to expand into the U.S. or elsewhere, is unclear. “We would do whatever is required, and we would do the right thing,” says Stotish.

Will the fish be labeled?

Much to the outrage of label-advocates and anti-GMO activists, the FDA will not require a special label indicating that the fish is generically engineered. As for voluntary labeling, it’s too early to tell. The company may eventually opt for positive labels, according to Stotish. For example, the AquAdvantage salmon won’t need antibiotics, a treatment that many consumers want to avoid. And don’t be surprised if you see a flurry of GMO-Free salmon labels on competitor’s products, even before AquAdvantage hits the market.

Okay great, then how will I know if I’m eating this fish?

You probably won’t have a chance until at least 2017, because it’s going to take awhile for the company to ramp up production (the approval took the company by surprise). Even then, the fish will likely only be a specialty item. To put it in perspective, from 2000 to 2004, the most recent data I could find, Americans ate an average of 284,000 metric tons of salmon each year. In 2005, according to the same source, we were importing around 200,000 tons of farmed salmon. The Panama facility can produce around 100 tons of AquAdvantage salmon.

What does the FDA’s decision mean for more other genetically-engineered animals—are we going to see faster FDA approvals?

Maybe. Most experts I spoke with think this will be the case. But the FDA was tight-lipped on the topic. Putnam responded: “The agency reviews each application on a case-by-case basis, and its own merits in order to determine whether the product is effective, safe for the animal and, in the case of applications for GE food animals, is safe for humans and animals to eat.”","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/hres-aquadvantage_salmon-aquabounty_technologies.jpg?itok=ZF91XGyA"
"Tesla Cars Will Now Have The Hardware Necessary To Drive Themselves","http://www.popsci.com/all-tesla-models-will-be-able-to-drive-themselves","Tesla announced today, in a blog post on its website, that all of its vehicles -- the Model S, the Model X, and the forthcoming Model 3 -- will have the hardware in place to allow them to be fully autonomous in the future. The vehicles will have eight cameras with 360-degree vision up to 250 meters (about 275 yards). They will also be equipped with 12 ultrasonic sensors that detect ""both hard and soft objects,"" (obstructions like cars and human bodies) at twice the distance of the current Autopilot as well as forward-facing radar that can detect traffic and events through fog, rain, dust, and even the car in front of you.

These vehicles won't be self-driving from day one, but they will be fully autonomous, without need of human input, very soon.

All of this information requires a huge amount of processing power to make sense of the world. Tesla is using a new onboard computer that's 40 times more powerful than the previous generation. This sensing and processing will come at a price: The current Autopilot costs about $3,000, company head Elon Musk said in a question and answer session after the announcement, but the self-driving system costs a hefty $8,000.

Though, Tesla learned its lesson about releasing powerful new software into the wild where drivers might not use it as intended. According to the company's blog post:

We will further calibrate the system using millions of miles of real-world driving to ensure significant improvements to safety and convenience. While this is occurring, Teslas with new hardware will temporarily lack certain features currently available on Teslas with first-generation Autopilot hardware, including some standard safety features such as automatic emergency breaking, collision warning, lane holding and active cruise control.

But Musk elaborated in the Q&A, saying that it wouldn't make sense to turn off features that are preventing accidents and increasing safety. The company will update even the oldest autopilot systems over the air as further testing of the self-driving system yields improvements.

So these vehicles won't be self-driving from day one, but they will be SAE Level 5 fully autonomous, without need of human input, very soon. ""The hardware is capable of the highest level of autonomy,"" Musk said. Adding this hardware now achieves one of his goals in the Tesla Master Plan Part Deux, released in July: ""All Tesla vehicles will have the hardware necessary to be fully self-driving with fail-operational capability, meaning that any given system in the car could break and your car will still drive itself safely.""","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/10/autopilotnew.jpg?itok=bD-uJVW5"
"Quadriplegic Driver Gets the First Autonomous Vehicle Driver's License","http://www.popsci.com/quadriplegic-driver-gets-first-autonomous-vehicle-drivers-license","A few months ago, Sam Schmidt drove more than 150 mph in the semiautonomous Arrow SAM Car during demonstration laps at the Indy 500. Now, he's been granted the nation's first autonomous vehicle-restricted driver's license by the state of Nevada. That means he can drive the SAM Car, which was built for him by Arrow Electronics, on public roads under restricted conditions.

Arrow designed the SAM car for Schmidt in 2014, and in 2015, they began working with Schmidt's home state of Nevada to revise regulations to allow him to drive on roads in addition to race tracks. The vehicle is not entirely autonomous; Schmidt does control the car, a modified Corvette Z06, using his voice, head, and breath to steer, accelerate, and brake. But it qualifies as autonomous according to Nevada law because Schmidt does not have ""full active control"" of the car, according to an email.

Schmidt received his license today and celebrated with a few laps at Exotic Racing track and on public roads near the facility. And sure, you could say it's a publicity stunt, but the stunt is increasing access to all kinds of transportation through technology. As Jude Hurin of the Nevada DMV said in a statement:","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/sam_and_the_arrow_sam_car.jpg?itok=3CIyIqxV"
"People Want to Interact -- Even with an Autonomous Car","http://www.popsci.com/people-want-to-interact-even-with-an-autonomous-car","Semcon, a product development company specializing in how humans actually use things, conducted a study on people's attitudes toward self-driving cars. People in Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany responded, and nearly half said they had very little trust in autonomous vehicles.

Here's a clue why there might be so little trust: 80% of all respondents said that, as pedestrians, they seek eye contact with the driver of a car at an intersection before they cross. Self-driving cars don't have eyes to contact or a nod of recognition to give. How do pedestrians know the sensors see them?

So Semcon tried an experiment. They rigged a car to seem as if it were autonomous, with a driver reading a newspaper in front of his face. (In fact, a second, hidden human was controlling the car.) Even though the car stopped for the pedstrians, they frowned and skittered across the street, uncertain of the car's next move.

Semcon developed a prototype in response to this lack of pedestrian-to-car communication called the Smiling Car. A set of LEDs in the grilled light up a wide smile when the sensors pick up on a human, and the human then knows they're seen. This is similar to the Mercedes-Benz F 105 Luxury in Motion concept, shown at CES 2015, which also had a light-up grille that could communicate with people outside the car.

It's interesting that companies are already thinking along these lines. The NHTSA guidelines for autonomous vehicles that were just released on Monday state that companies working on highly autonomous vehicles (HAVs) ""should consider how HAVs will signal intentions to the environment around the vehicle, including pedestrians, bicycles, and other vehicles."" It specifically mentions situations just like the one Semcon tested, when a vehicle recognizes a pedestrian and is waiting for her to cross before proceeding.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/11_-_the_smiling_car_interacts_by_smiling_-_a_message_that_is_readily_understood_by_everyone.jpg?itok=gk6EubwW"
"Solar Tuk Tuk Arrived in the UK This Week","http://www.popsci.com/solar-tuk-tuk-arrived-in-uk-this-week","We've got an update on Naveen Rabelli and the solar-powered tuk tuk that he drove from India to the 2016 WAVE Trophy Rally in Germany this summer. He was scheduled to triumphantly arrive at his final destination in London on September 8, but there was a setback. And the cause wasn't entirely electrical.

Rabelli ran into a McDonald's about 30 miles outside Paris, on his way to Calais near the border, on September 6 to use the restroom and connect to wifi for about 10 minutes. But he forgot to lock the tuk tuck, and someone stole his wallet and passport from it. In an email, he said, ""Till yesterday I had zero bad experiences! People were absolutely loving my project/mission. Especially for them to imagine a guy from India to do this is exciting for them."" He also noted on his Facebook page that by this point, two out of three battery packs were ""dead beyond repair.""

Other close calls Rabelli had on his travels were less logistically annoying and more harrowing: ""One narrow road in Turkey was up in the mountains at the height of 1200 m (4000 ft). It was steeply inclined sideways too. On one side you see mountain; on the other you see cliff. My one set of tires was close to the wall of mountain, and the other end of the was inches [from falling off] the cliff. That day there were hailstones, my tires were not gripping, and having this sideways incline was a terrifying experience. To add [to the experience], my battery was very close to dead.""

Rabelli originally bought the tuk tuk for $1,500 and spent an additional $11,500 on customizing it to make its all-electric, 6000-mile journey. His budget for travel was 5 euros a day ($5.50); he slept in the tuk tuk unless he was offered a bed by a local. He cleaned up in rivers, lakes, police stations, and gas stations -- not that he needed to spend money on fuel, given that the tuk tuk is solar powered. His only regular expense, he said, was food, which he often either worked to earn or was donated to him along the way.

Rabelli visited the embassy in France to see if an emergency passport could be issued, and on September 13, he added a short video to his Facebook page letting supporters know that he made it safely to the United Kingdom.

Note: Rabelli's emails were lightly edited for spelling and punctuation.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/naveen_rabelli_his_solar_tuk_tuk_on_a_serbian_highway_photo_naveen_rabelli.jpg?itok=XwsWKX0U"
"Classic Cars Get An Electric Upgrade From e-Drive Retro","http://www.popsci.com/classic-cars-get-an-electric-upgrade-from-e-drive-retro","Imagine a world where your vintage vehicle doesn't leave lakes of oil and plumes of smoke everywhere it goes. E-Drive Retro can turn that gas-guzzling vintage vehicle into a clean, green electric machine. The company has developed a plug-in electric drivetrain of its own design that can replace the internal combustion drivetrain of cars built from the 1950s through and 1970s. The company's goal is to create a whole new category of cars: Electric Vehicle Classic Car Conversion.

Enthusiasts have been converting vintage cars to run on electricity for years. Some did it for the fun of it, like the 1972 Datsun 1200 that became the drag racing White Zombie. Some did it because for decades commercially available electric cars were few and far between. Lightweight vintage Porsches were popular conversion cars, as were old Volkswagen Beetles.

But e-Drive Retro says it can swap out a gasoline engine for an electric drivetrain without changing the original driving feel or the look of the car. Prep for the conversion includes 3D scanning of the car to fit the new drivetrain precisely into the sometimes quirky space provided by a vintage car. The drivetrain is modeled, fabricated, and 3D printed as necessary and then installed in the car.

The company doesn't stop at electrifying the car, though; it also promises to ""future-proof"" your vintage car. The proprietary control system adds sensors, wireless technology, and Big Data capabilities that allow for updates and performance monitoring.

What's the catch? Well, for now anyway, e-Drive Retro's services are only available in northern Europe. The company is based in Helsinki, Finland, so if you can get your car there, you can swap that cranky, old combustion engine for a new emissions-free EV without losing a single style point.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/esa5204-grey.jpg?itok=4r__QmTO"
"DevBot Brings Roborace One Lap Closer to Real","http://www.popsci.com/devbot-brings-roborace-one-lap-closer-to-real","Roborace, the entirely autonomous electric car race that will run on the same courses as Formula E, took a big step toward reality when the series unveiled DevBot at the Formula E open practice sessions in Donington, UK. Devbot may not look like much -- it certainly doesn't look like the sexy green Robocar designed for the series by Daniel Simon -- but this test sled has everything but the skin of that car.

And DevBot has a driver.

The bare-bones car was built to test the technology that will be used by Roborace, so it has the exact same drivetrain, sensors, communication technologies, and processing capabilities as the race car will have. But it's still in the testing stage, so there is a driver inside a custom-built ""standardised safety compliant racing cabin"" while DevBot is on the track.

The DevBot team has reached this point in the development of an autonomous race car in about 9 months, and Roborace is scheduled to begin during the 2016/17 Formula E race season. Teams for the series will come from motorsports, research laboratories, and universities. These teams will have a chance to experiment with DevBot before a pre-qualifying process next month, according to Roborace organizers.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/08/sam_christmas_4_1024.jpg?itok=i_k6HiTq"
"Oxbotica's Software For Self-Driving Cars Doesn't Need GPS Signal","http://www.popsci.com/software-for-self-driving-cars-without-gps","The software, called Selenium, was designed to work with any vehicle's sensors and safety systems. It can use the 3D maps it creates to perform tasks autonomously, like navigating and braking. One of the challenges for GPS-based autonomous cars is mapping in real time and in enough detail that the vehicle can react appropriately in its environment. The 3D point cloud created by Selenium is almost spooky in its detail, and it can color the image with information from the cameras. It's also able to remove or ignore non-permanent features from a map, like parked cars that might not be on the street next time the autonomous car drives by.

The software relies on a unit within the vehicle that has two stereo cameras that look a bit like Wall-E eyes and two laser scanners like stubby antennae. These gather data about the vehicle's environment; the software then creates 3D point clouds to map everything around the vehicle.

Oxbotica , a company spun off from the Oxford University Mobile Robotics Group in the United Kingdom, has developed software that allows driverless vehicles to get around--even when there's no GPS to be found.

While this sounds like the stuff of the future -- and if you watch the video, it looks like it too -- it's being put into practice in 2016. The GATEway Project in London will use Selenium to control 8 autonomous, all-electric shuttles at Heathrow Airport. Oxbotica is also providing the cloud-based management software for the project, which will allow registered passengers to book a ride on the pod-shaped shuttles as well as allow the pods to find the best routes and communicate with other pods.

Oxbotica's software will also be part of the UKAutodrive project in 2017, which puts as many as 40 self-driving low-power electric pods on the streets of Milton Keynes. They'll be joined by a small fleet of regular passenger vehicles from Ford, Tata Motors, and Jaguar Land Rover made increasingly autonomous with the addition of Selenium on the roads of Milton Keynes and Coventry. Those vehicles will be driving at normal speeds along the M1 with everyone else. The passenger vehicles will only operate fully autonomously in ""some controlled circumstances,"" according to the project's website. The pods, however, are designed to drive fully autonomously. The goal is to allow them, over the course of the three-year project, to drive without human help. Like, without anyone inside the vehicle. (Though someone will always monitor the pods, even if it's remotely.)

Oxbotica's website notes that not relying on GPS signals means the software can operate anywhere: in tunnels, underground, or inside vast warehouses. While we wait for our autonomous commuter cars to take to the streets, autonomous vehicles that work best in limited circumstances like these will probably be available first.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/08/news-blog_gateway-blog-1-1.png?itok=6mLghzPV"
"Nissan BladeGlider Prototype Points To The Future","http://www.popsci.com/nissan-bladeglider-prototype-points-to-future","The Olympics aren't the only thing going on in Rio right now -- Nissan's BladeGlider is also making an appearance in the Brazilian city. Nissan brought a pair of working prototypes, based on the static concepts shown at the 2013 Tokyo Auto Show, to the Museu do Amanha (Museum of Tomorrow) as evidence of its commitment to the future of zero-emissions vehicles.

The pointy-nosed, open-topped car has two 130-kW motors and a 220-kW battery with cooling systems developed just for the BladeGlider. According to Nissan's technical partner for this project, Williams Advanced Engineering, the BladeGlider has a top speed of 115 mph and can do 0-62 mph in under 5 seconds.

It seems that the hallmark of concept cars in the twenty-first century is to do away with rearview mirrors. The BladeGlider's rearview cameras are mounted just behind the front wheels, and the images they capture are shown on two screens flanking the central display in front of the driver. When engineers are maximizing aerodynamics to eke every mile out of an electric car, removing mirrors is an easy way to streamline a vehicle. And it's super futuristic. Plus, the doors open up--from the rear.

Another common occurrence in concept cars is the the three-seater formation, where the driver sits alone up front and two passengers sit behind on either side. Nissan says that this allows passengers to ""enjoy extended legroom,"" but there's probably a reason this design element hasn't yet made it from concepts to production cars. For instance, it seems like it would be hard for the driver to talk to the passengers. But it does make possible the narrow front and wide rear, which enhances the car's aerodynamics--and looks cool.

Unlike many other recent concept cars, the BladeGlider is not an autonomous car. It's meant to showcase the company's ""Intelligent Mobility"" technologies, which combine eco-friendliness and sports-car capabilities in one car. The BladeGlider is meant to be as fun to drive as it is eco-friendly.

As Daniele Schillaci, VP at Nissan, says in the video, ""This is the EV for car lovers."" But will those car lovers ever get the chance to buy one in the future? Maybe, according to Nissan's chief creative officer Shiro Nakamura: ""This could be a future automotive design.""","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/08/nissan_bladeglider_05-source.jpg?itok=idoG9qjp"
"Continental Upgrades the Steering Wheel in One Swipe","http://www.popsci.com/continental-upgrades-steering-wheel-in-one-swipe","We've all become pretty accustomed to having the functions we use most embedded right in the steering wheel. We can crank the radio volume up when our favorite song comes on, or slow down our cruise control setting when the speed limit drops. We can even take calls at the press of a button. But automotive supplier Continental has created a steering wheel that needs nary a button or lever -- it can read hand gestures.

In the prototype, there are clear, curved panels on either side of the center of the wheel, a bit like paddle shifters, but larger and more forward. The driver can touch or swipe these panels the same way she'd touch the screen of her phone. The panels aren't where the technology is, though; they don't even have any electronics in them. They just keep your hands where the ""time of flight"" sensor embedded in the instrument cluster in the dash can see them. They also keep the sensor from reading your every hand gesture as a command.

The sensor uses a 3D camera system with an integrated 3D infrared imaging sensor to detect how your hands are moving on the panels. The system creates a 3D image to determine what you're trying to do -- swipe up or down, tap, or even use some limited touch-free gestures. If you flick your fingers with your hands still on the wheel, for instance, you can accept or reject a call. So far, the steering wheel allows the driver to set navigation, browse apps, start playing music, answer calls, and control the vehicle's onboard computer.

There are a couple of advantages to this particular gesture system. Other gesture-based controls have been centered in the console, near the screen, which still requires the driver to take his eyes off the road to make sure his hand is in the right place for swiping and poking. Even the buttons on the steering wheel can require the driver to look at them to use them, especially as more and more functions get buttons on the wheel.

Earlier this year, Volvo released the results of a study showing that even in autonomous cars, 9 out of 10 people still want to be able to take control. The steering wheel of the future is going to need to accomodate advanced technology and engaged humans, and a gesture-based wheel may be a step toward doing just that.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/08/img_2016_05_10_hands_on_wheel_0_en-data.jpg?itok=kgiwyLOq"
"Tesla's New 4-Item To-Do List","http://www.popsci.com/teslas-new-plan-is-so-simple-and-so-so-complicated","A decade ago, Elon Musk wrote a master plan for Tesla. Musk wrote in a recent blog post that the company has checked everything off that ten-year to-do list:

Create a low volume car, which would necessarily be expensive Use that money to develop a medium volume car at a lower price Use that money to create an affordable, high volume car And... Provide solar power.

So Tesla needed a new to-do list to take it into the future. Again, it boils down to four concepts, which seems easy enough, but these are some complicated goals Musk is aiming for:

Bring together solar energy generation and storage. Tesla and SolarCity will combine to create a seamless personal utility company for customers. Create energy with solar panels and use it immediately to charge your Tesla vehicle or store it in your PowerWall for later household use.

Quickly scale up production on more kinds of vehicles. Tesla already has sedans and an SUV; it plans on adding a compact SUV and a pickup truck. The company is also developing a heavy-duty truck known as the Tesla Semi as well as urban transport that can move more people, both expected to debut in 2017. Tesla also predicts that autonomy in public transport will reduce the size of buses and relieve traffic congestion.

Speaking of which: Teslas will become fully self-driving and fail-operational. That translates to SAE level 5 autonomy, where the vehicle requires zero driver input, even if something goes wrong. Musk points out in the post that this will require more than just installing sensors and upgrading cameras and refining software, and there will be even more lag time based on the fact that regulators are not likely to jump on the autonomous bandwagon very quickly. He also notes that Tesla's current level of autonomy with Autopilot (SAE level 3) is still safer than no autonomy. Musk says the ""beta"" label will be removed when Autopilot is 10 times safer than US vehicle average.

Autonomy will dovetail with shared fleets of personal vehicles. Owners will be able to add their Tesla to a shared fleet when they're not using it, whether that's during the workday or while on vacation. Those cars could earn income for their owners when they would otherwise be parked, which is often 90-95% of the day.

Just as with the first master plan, some of these steps are easier than others. Tesla is well on its way to achieving the integration of energy generation and storage. It's also made strides toward autonomy, but that's not a hurdle the company can clear on its own. It will require regulations being put in place, and probably some V2X or IoT communications technology with other vehicles as well as cities' infrastructure, to be as robust as we'd all like to see autonomous cars be.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/07/red_tesla_model_s_p85d.jpg?itok=cQjX-VrT"
"The Future of Medicine May Involve Music","http://www.popsci.com/future-medicine-may-involve-music","Thirty years ago in Hope Duarte, California, a researcher by the name of Susumu Ohno wished to explore an intriguing parallel between two very divergent phenomenon. Both music and genes possessed repetition. While the number of options differed – twelve for music and only four for genes – he believed the two could be aligned such that we could make music from our genome. In the years since, several researchers have undertaken the task of translating biological data into musical notation, known as sonification. Genes and proteins have now been transformed into audible passages. When played, they convey a unique perspective on the nature of the fundamental molecules of life. The efforts of researchers to sonify genetic and protein data have spawned many interesting, if perhaps discordant, compositions. Unfortunately, the end result is limited in usefulness. Despite the ability to hear data, little has been done to find ways to utilize this information in medicine. Sonification essentially has been relegated to a diversion rather than a valid branch of science.

But for two researchers in the US and UK, the value of biological music was too great to set aside. They wanted to go even deeper into science-to-art translation to find a veritable means to use music for medicine. In doing so, they both published a fascinating perspective on sonification as well as opened the door to possible medical applications, such as diagnostics. For the authors, the general use of sonification – data to sound – was simply too basic for any real use. The real value existed not in individual notes, but in melody. This meant examining the target – in this case, proteins – not as a string of individual amino acids, but instead as a collective entity comprised of folds. The folds contained the melody and as such, could provide an audible composition unlike any other. They set up an experiment where they tested the ability of individuals to hear discrepancies in melody based on changes in protein structure. Three different types of compositions were developed based on three different means of sonification. The goal was to identify whether melody could provide more information and possibly identify even minute changes. The first method was a direct assignment of musical notes to amino acids. They accomplished this by examining the ability of each amino acid to interact with water, known as hydropathy. After calculating a number for each amino acid, musical notes could be assigned. Due to a mismatch in numbers of notes to amino acids, some repetition was seen based on the similarity of the hydropathy values.

The amino acid musical scale Source: doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2016.e00175","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/10/protein-music.jpg?itok=bjDtVvTl"
"The Sinister Way Staph Avoids Arrest During Infection","http://www.popsci.com/why-staph-infections-are-so-hard-to-control","How exactly the bacterium manages to accomplish this task hasn’t been entirely figured out. But the answer now may be at hand thanks to an American team of researchers. They have identified how the bacteria keep those antibodies at bay and prevent this branch of the immune system from being effective. The answer lies in the ability of the pathogen to stall the effects of the antibody-producing B-cell.

The bacterium also appears to have an ability to evade the immune system. This hinders the body’s ability to prevent the bacterium from spreading and worsening the conditions of disease. Most of these appear to involve blocking the ability of immune cells from attacking the bacterium and killing it. Yet, one of these mechanisms involves protection against our most potent line of defense: antibodies.

For years, researchers have been learning about how Staph causes infection. The bacterium has a variety of mechanisms to injure the human body. Most of these chemicals arise quickly and have a drastic impact on the way our ability to function.

Normally, Staph is a common member of our microbial population. Our bodies can safely co-exist with this bacterium as it poses no immediate threat. However, if the bacterium can find its way into tissues and the bloodstream, troubles are likely to occur. These include diseases such as acne, mastitis, impetigo, and the life-threatening conditions known as toxic shock syndrome and sepsis. Making the situation worse is the potential for antibiotic resistance, which can hinder treatment and increase the chances for unwanted outcomes.

Of the 1,450 or so human pathogens, only a few have the ability to rapidly cause disease and kill. While most are exotic and rarely encountered by Americans, such as Ebola virus and plague bacteria, one on this list is commonly found in the US and more importantly, on up to one-third of its residents. It’s known as Staphylococcus aureus - commonly referred to as Staph.

The team worked with both Staph and another member of the genus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, which also may be called Epi. This species made for a great control as it is a member of our natural human microbial flora, and usually harmless. This allowed the researchers to identify any differences between the two in relation to the immune response.

The process was relatively straightforward. The team acquired blood samples from individuals for use in laboratory tests. In the lab, either Staph or Epi was used to ‘infect’ the blood. The effects of the two on immune function were then examined. The hope was that Staph would somehow act differently than Epi and shed light on the mechanism of evasion.

When the results came back, the researchers had found an incredibly significant difference between the two species. Epi bacteria seemed to be controlled quite easily as it was tightly bound to B-cells. In contrast, Staph seemed to be free floating in the blood without any worry of being nabbed. In essence, Epi was quickly apprehended and jailed while Staph continued to be on the lam.

For the researchers, this revelation suggested Staph was producing something allowing it to remain free. To find it, a series of mutation experiments were performed to find the one gene responsible for this action. Using a combination of UV light and also genetic mutation, they eventually found the culprit. But the source wasn’t a single gene or protein. Instead, it was an entire system.

The culprit system was a group of genes known as S. aureus exoprotein expression (abbreviated to SaeR/S). This was not a surprise as this collection produced proteins necessary for proper immune evasion. But for this study, the researchers wanted to venture even deeper into the system to uncover which of the molecules arising from this system were involved.

The authors first found the target of attack. It was a protein known as Complement Receptor 2, or CR2. This molecule is found on B-cells and is required for proper performance of antibodies in immune defense. The molecule could easily bind Epi to B-cells and form antibodies. Staph, on the other hand, could prevent CR2 from functioning properly.

This clue pointed the finger at one particular Staph molecule: Extracellular Fibrinogen-Binding Protein. Back in 2008, this molecule was shown to inhibit the ability of CR2 to function properly. Based on all the evidence from the previous experiments, this one molecular appeared to be the reason for effective evasion.

This discovery reveals how Staph is quite likely one of the most proficient pathogens. The results also offer up the opportunity to find a means to block the evasion mechanism through treatment. While at the moment no such medicine exists, the door is now open to finding potential candidates. This in turn may help to reduce the chances of injury and death in those unfortunate enough to suffer the wrath of this rather common yet at times vicious bacterium.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/10/staphylococcus_aureus.jpg?itok=mHtfjp6P"
"Gaining A New Perspective On The Cause of Obesity","http://www.popsci.com/we-may-have-new-perspective-on-cause-obesity","There’s little doubt the United States has an obesity problem. At the moment, over one-third of Americans are considered to be obese and the numbers continue to rise. Public health officials have been trying to figure out how to combat this growing concern yet there appears to be few answers. Most people may believe obesity is simply the result of eating too much or not choosing healthy food choices. While these factors do play a role, inside the body, the situation is far more complex. Researchers have been examining the molecular mechanisms of obesity for years and identified a variety of reasons for significant weight gain.

Obesity is a concern worldwide but the US is leading the way Source: Wikipedia

Over the years, one central factor has come to light with respect to this disease: inflammation. This branch of the immune system is designed to respond to cellular injury in the body. It’s especially important in fighting off infection and healing wounds. However, these are acute forms of inflammation. When this condition becomes chronic, usually due to a lack of immune balance, the body undergoes several changes. One of them is a more rapid accumulation of fat. The link between inflammation and fat has been researched for well over a decade and some interesting theories have come about. One of the more intriguing suggests fat is actually an ancestral immune organ. When chronic inflammation occurs, fat levels increase in order for the immune system to remain balanced and ready to act when needed. The notion is not without merit as fatty tissue does have quite a number of immune cells, including those responsible for maintaining a balanced immunological state. But along with those harmony-inducing cells are significantly high numbers of natural killer cells, better known as NK cells. These are responsible for defending our bodies against several threats including cancer. The cells also help to drive inflammation through the production of various molecules. During obesity, NK appear to act as a training coach for future challenges from infectious diseases and cancers. The cells act as if they are at war and maintain inflammation in the fat tissue. This happens due to a change in the way the cells behaves at the molecular level. This continues a vicious cycle of fat cell production and as a result, increased weight. What exactly causes NK cells to change from sentinel to war game moderator in fat tissues has been an enigma. What is known is that these cells can be brought back to normal when transplanted into a healthy body. This has led to a list of possible suspects but none have gained the credibility needed to move ahead with treatments.

Natural Killer Cell Source: NIAID","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/10/obese-mouse.jpg?itok=p7YCdBma"
"Could A Chemical Found in Marijuana Be A Treatment For Alzheimer’s Disease?","http://www.popsci.com/could-chemical-found-in-marijuana-be-treatment-for-alzheimers-disease","This type of discovery occurred recently to a group of American researchers. They had been working on the mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease progression in the hopes of finding possible routes for treatment. As expected, the work ended up revealing significant information on the molecular mechanisms occurring within the brain. Yet as their published article reveals there was a significant surprise in store.

Sometimes researchers come across a discovery purely by accident. They develop a hypothesis, perform a number of experiments and expect to see a series of results. However, at times, surprises happen within the petri plate or culture dish. This in turns opens up an entirely new avenue of curiosity and future experimental design.

The going hypothesis was that one of the major factors in the development of disease, the amyloid-beta protein, Aβ, plays a role long before onset of clinical symptoms. The team believed this molecule accumulated inside neurons and prompted an inflammatory response. This in turn worsened the state of the brain eventually leading to a decline in brain function.

To prove the theory, the team worked with cell cultures in the lab known to produce Aβ under certain experimental conditions. They grew up the cells and at the right moment, started the production of the amyloid protein. After the process was initiated, the team looked for any signs of trouble.

The first expected result was a rise in inflammation. Twelve markers of a cell’s struggle with its environment were increased. Most of these chemicals were either recruiters or activators of immune cells, particularly those known to kill pathogens. These signals would then allow for the immune system to recognize a problem is ongoing and intervention is needed.

The team also noticed another disturbing trend in the reaction to Aβ accumulation. One of the factors involved in cell death, known as caspase-3, was also activated. This suggested the cell understood it was in trouble and set a path to suicide. From a purely neurological perspective, this would inevitably harm the brain and possibly lead over time to the decline in mental function seen in Alzheimer’s patients.

There was one final observation that initiated the path to discovery. The team also noticed a rise in arachidonic acid. This molecule is a known marker of inflammation in the brain and is also another trigger for cell death. While this might have been regarded as yet another mechanism in Alzheimer’s pathogenesis, the group saw it as a possible opportunity.

The chemical structure of arachidonic acid is similar to a group of chemicals known as endocannabinoids. These molecules are distributed throughout the body and have several different functions. Depending on the type of cannabinoid, cells may either head towards inflammation, such as with arachidonic acid, or help to reduce stress, as seen in the case one particular molecule, tetrahydrocannabinol, better known as THC, the same molecule known to be the active ingredient in marijuana.

The team decided to test out whether THC would have any effect on the cells during Aβ accumulation. They added the chemical and looked for any changes in the cell’s function. If they were right, the cell would reverse its path to inflammation and possibly stave off cell death.

When the results came back, their theory was not only correct but also hadn’t gone far enough. The addition of THC to the cells had indeed reduced the levels of inflammation and helped the cells stay alive. But what the group didn’t expect was a reduction in the levels of Aβ inside the cells. In essence, THC had protected the cell and gave it the opportunity to heal itself.

The observations were astonishing. Of all the potential endocannabinoids tested, only THC seemed to be able to accomplish this reversal of cellular fortune. As to how this might have happened, the team wasn’t entirely sure. However, based on results from a study in 2008, THC may have interfered with the production of Aβ allowing for the cell to break down the protein naturally. This relief from stress would then reduce the production of arachidonic acid giving the cell a greater chance at survival.

The effect of THC on the cells during Aβ accumulation is indeed remarkable. However, this study, are momentous as it is, provides little more than a first step. The results are reflective of a cell culture and as such cannot be extrapolated to any living animal or human. For that to happen, many questions need to be answered including the optimal concentration for effect and also, the route of delivery. While many might hope for a respiratory option – i.e. smoking – the most likely path forward is intravenous in a means similar to chemotherapy.

What this study does show, however, is a new possible path for Alzehimer’s treatment in the future. In light of the fact this disease affects nearly 44 million people worldwide and over 5 million Americans, the hunt for a treatment and possible cure is a true priority. Although this discovery may take years to become useful, they can at least provide individuals with hope that an answer may very well be in sight.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/thc.jpg?itok=4f2LDjz5"
"Tracking A Viral War In Real Time","http://www.popsci.com/tracking-viral-war-in-real-time","Now that elusive goal may be possible. A group of American researchers have found a method to observe the viral war in the mouse. Their efforts have provided a glimpse of the strategy the immune system uses to fight an infection as well as offered perspective on why it takes so long to rid ourselves of one particular viral invader.

Most research has been accomplished in the laboratory through indirect analysis of molecules such as cytokines, reactive oxygen species, and antibodies. But visually, there has been a gap in knowledge. Though we may know how the immune system responds over the course of an infection, finding a way to see the fight in real time has been difficult at best.

But at the microscopic level, the battle is complicated. A number of different immune cell types are involved in the campaign served with the purpose of killing the opponent without doing too much damage to the surrounding cells. Researchers have been examining this process for decades and have gained some understanding of the art of this war.

Viral infection may seem to be rather simple. A virus gets into the body and starts to make a home. In turn, the immune system responds to the unwanted inhabitant. Usually, after a period of days, the immune system finally gains the advantage and resolves the problem.

The area of the mouse chosen for visualization was the trachea. This was found to be accessible through non-fatal surgery and provided the right translucent properties necessary for real-time imaging. In addition, opening up this area allowed for the use of a ventilator to maintain oxygen levels in the animal.

The virus chosen was influenzavirus. Although this virus primarily infects the lung, the trachea is also at risk for invasion. Influenza also is one of the most common viral pathogens of humans suggesting the technique could have value in understanding how humans deal with infection.

The cell is known as a CD8+ T-cell – or CTL – and it is responsible for producing toxins and other molecules capable of killing infected cells. These cells are known to migrate throughout the body and tend to gather when a virus is detected. But what happens during the fight has been a bit of a mystery.

When the team ran the experiments, they were greeted with no surprises. As expected, when the virus was introduced into the trachea, infection initiated. To get to the real heart of the battle, the team waited for five days while the infection took hold. At this point, the CTLs were migrating toward the attack area meaning the fight was about to get interesting.

By Day 7, the movement of CTLs slowed significantly. The cells had reached their destination and were beginning the assault. The engagement in battle was apparent on Day 8. The cells moved in short bursts, going from cell to cell finding the infected victims and killing them off. The troops were moving in a coordinated fashion making sure to leave no stone unturned. The virus was most certainly doomed in this area.

As the cells gained ground, movement in the local region increased. On Day 9, the cells were highly motile but remained in the confined area. This suggested the campaign had moved from the direct battle to surveillance. This continued for several days as the cells maintained their hold on the area. The only difference, however, was the state of attack. The cells began to calm in their activity. By Day 14, they were arrested. They had done their job and were ready for some rest.

With the campaign visualized, the team wished to learn one more aspect to the wartime strategy. They lowered the dose of the virus and wanted to see if there would be less infiltration of immune cells. Their theory was partly correct. In two of the three tests, there were fewer immune cells. But this wasn’t absolute, suggesting the immune response may be affected but not driven by the virus.

For the authors, this study represented the first step in understanding how the immune system reacts to a virus. For the most part, the CTLs acted as expected. They swarmed the area, fought off the attack, and then maintained their position long after the threat had dissipated. The results gained from years of molecular study had been given credence through this visual means.

Of course, CTLs are only one part of the immune response. There are many other cell types involved in fighting off a virus and their contribution does play a role in battle. For the authors, this information is just waiting to be found in future studies. As these roles become visually clear, we will have a much better understanding of how our immunity responds to a viral threat. We may also be able to use this information to develop better treatments to help fight off this all too common infection.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/popsci-cd8.jpg?itok=8jr3z3sj"
"The Losing Battle Against Bacterial STDs","http://www.popsci.com/losing-battle-against-bacterial-stds","Yet that may change thanks to the World Health Organization. They have unveiled a new set of guidelines for the treatment of these three infectious diseases. It comes just weeks after the health authority released a document outlining the effort to reduce all forms of STDs in the coming years.

While the spotlight on sexually transmitted Zika is important to raise awareness, it has distracted from other more prevalent infections. In particular, attention to bacterial causes of disease has waned and for the most part disappeared. Familiar names such as gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia continue to spread without much mention or concern.

There’s little doubt Zika has become the infectious disease of 2016. Since the beginning of the year, public health officials have warned of the two routes of transmission. The first, mosquito bites, is fairly well known although in America has not yet become a major route of spread. The other route, sexual transmission , has become a major focus leading the CDC and other health authorities to sound the alarm.

While this action may not seem to have any relevance to the general public, one particular statement stands as an ominous outlook for the future. Antibiotic resistance is rising and in the case of gonorrhea, resistance to the last line of defense has been seen. In other words, some strains of the bacterium can no longer be treated with these drugs.

The announcement is particularly important for Americans. In 2014, more than 350,000 people were diagnosed with gonorrhea. This represents a ten percent increase since 2010. Making this even more troublesome is the age of those most likely to be infected, namely teenagers and those in their early twenties. This suggests the bacterium is spreading in populations generally possessing fewer details on sexual health. Moreover, the potential for resistance to authority makes spreading awareness and recommendations less likely to succeed.

In terms of antibiotic resistance, over one-third of the isolates demonstrate resistance to more than one antibiotic. While the existence of pan-resistant strains has not been seen in the US, the threat is clear. Though there are no time estimates on the arrival of this particular type of gonorrhea, few will doubt it will be all that long if the rate of spread continues to climb.

Gonorrhea may signal the worst of the STDs but the World Health Organization included two other bacteria in the new guidelines. One is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection while the other is an old world pathogen resurging today. Like gonorrhea, they too are demonstrating a significant challenge due to increased spread and also the threat of resistance to treatment.

Chlamydia is a hard infection to track as most of the time there are no symptoms. But without treatment, the bacterium can grow and eventually cause significant pain in women. The bacterium can also be transferred to the fetus causing birth defects and pneumonia. It’s one of the reasons why annual screening is important.

In America, more than 1.4 million infections are diagnosed each year. This is over 2.5 times higher than it was just twenty years ago. The rise has meant a greater need for antibiotic treatment and unfortunately, an increase in resistance. While the WHO suggests only a few cases of resistance have been identified in humans, in animals, resistant strains are increasing in prevalence. This means caution is needed to be sure treatment is effective and does not inadvertently lead to troubles.

In contrast to chlamydia, syphilis is well known and is easy to spot. The development of bumps and sores is a telltale sign and should be investigated. However, the real trouble arises later when the bacterium spreads throughout the body. The body becomes covered in a rash, the eyes can be affected, and eventually, the brain may suffer, leading to dementia.

The disease was a scourge centuries ago and in America, was a significant concern in the early 1990s as more than 100,000 people were infected each year. That dropped by almost two-thirds by the turn of the 21st century. However, the bacterium is on the rise again and now affects over 63,000 people per year. This is troubling as the rise suggests a greater risk for infection and also for resistance.

At the moment, there is an effective antibiotic treatment for syphilis. However, there is a shortage of this particular drug in America leaving medical professionals with the need to find alternate options. Thankfully, at the moment, resistance has only been observed against one particular antibiotic type called a macrolide. Yet the potential for wider resistance patterns exists and as such, proper treatment is essential.

The state of STDs in America is without a doubt worsening. Yet, as with many infectious diseases, these three are all preventable. All one needs to do is become aware of the means to safer sex and then follow through on these recommendations. Based on the data at hand, those under 25 years of age are most at risk and need to be sure to stay safe. Figuring out how to convince them to click, read, and heed, however, may be more difficult than dealing with antibiotic resistance.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/gono.jpg?itok=lHxldwDH"
"The Possible Link Between Bacteria And Chronic Disease?","http://www.popsci.com/possible-link-between-bacteria-and-chronic-disease","One of the most common triggers of inflammation is a toxin known as lipopolysaccharide, or LPS . It’s produced by a large number of bacterial species and acts as an outer coating for the organism. However, when the immune system comes into contact with this molecule, the local area goes into an immediate defensive posture. While infection hasn’t initiated, the immune forces ready themselves for an attack. If LPS is sensed for an extended period of time, the effects may become systemic and affect the body as a whole.

Chronic diseases are complex and may arise from a number of different triggers. But one common factor seems to be the development of long term inflammation. This shift in immunity has drastic effects on the body and may increase the risk for diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and neurological conditions.

The most common place to find LPS is the gastrointestinal tract. Here, hundreds of microbial species can be found, many of which produce the toxin. However, the gut is prepared for this type of antagonism and has mechanisms in place to avoid widespread inflammation. Yet, at times, there are cracks in the system and LPS-carrying bacteria may be able to find its way into the bloodstream.

But while the potential for bacteria in blood appears to exist, there has not been much evidence to suggest this occurs, other than in sepsis. However, back in 2015, a duo of researchers from Great Britain and South Africa attempted to investigate whether LPS could be found in the blood. They attempted to review articles examining LPS in blood in the hopes of learning more about the phenomenon.

The team found several examples of the toxin in blood. Even more interesting was the fact numerous studies revealed higher LPS levels in those suffering from certain diseases such as HIV infection, liver disease, and diabetes. This provided the basis of a postulate proposing LPS may be partly responsible for chronic disease onset.

Yet, even with this information, the duo could not describe an actual mechanism. They had some ideas including another hallmark of inflammatory diseases, a phenomenon known as hypercoagulability. The term refers to a tendency for blood to clot. The condition does have a genetic basis but also can be triggered by LPS. For the duo, this appeared to be the best path to evidence. The results of this investigation from the duo and a larger team of colleagues were published last week.

The group required several different procedures to visualize the process of clotting. They used electron and confocal microscopy, calorimetry, and thromboelastography, which determined the viscosity of whole blood. In each case, the experiments were performed on the target of LPS-induced clotting, the protein fibrinogen, as well as blood samples from either healthy individuals or those with platelet-poor plasma. The latter choice was made as these individuals tend to have higher concentrations of fibrinogen. The actual experiments involved adding LPS from one of two species of Escherichia coli to the samples and then observing clotting over time.

When the results came back, there was little doubt LPS was causing hypercoagulability. In each case, the toxin caused clotting of the fibrinogen. While this was expected, there were some surprises in store.

The first was the nature of the clots in the presence of LPS. They were not homogeneous but seemed to be netted in appearance with both dense and light areas. The LPS molecules were having a significant effect on the natural process of clotting and as such, led to this strange formation. For the authors, this observation seemed to parallel the same types of clots seen in those with diabetes and stroke.

While this information was beneficial to the postulate, another result of the experiments was even more valuable. The actual concentration of LPS used was similar to that found in the human body. These levels, which are in the billionths of a gram range, could be reached with less than 10,000 bacteria. This number is normally found in a in the lining of the gut and could easily make its way past the intestinal barrier in the event of a leaky gut event.

The results of the study provide solid evidence to suggest LPS plays a role in the development of chronic diseases. For the authors, the incredibly small amount of the molecule needed to cause a reaction makes this postulate more likely to be true. Yet, this will need to be tested in a more clinical manner in order to prove the culpability of the toxin beyond a reasonable doubt. In the meantime, public health officials may want to consider looking for bacteria and LPS in the blood to determine whether this factor may be playing a role in numerous chronic diseases.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/ecoli-1184px.jpg?itok=3fgL77ee"
"A New Microbial Challenge in The Intensive Care Unit","http://www.popsci.com/microbial-challenge-intensive-care","Prevention of infections in the ICU is a daunting task. From an environmental perspective, cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization procedures are in place to minimize the risk. Hand hygiene also plays a major role in keeping patients safe.

The Intensive Care Unit, of ICU, is one of the most critical areas of the hospital. Patients are in a dire state and require numerous interventions to say alive. Ensuring survival is not easy task as a variety of complications may occur, including infection.

These interventions are solely focused on preventing the introduction of pathogens to the patient. Yet, every single person already has an extensive population of microbes in the form of microbial flora. Hundreds of species are present in and on the body; some of these are opportunistic in nature. If they are allowed to grow out of control, the potential for an infection on the inside may be higher than any risk coming from the environment.

While the risk from one’s own microbial population is apparent, little attention has been given to this concern. But that may change thanks to an American and Canadian collaboration of researchers. They have undertaken the task of examining the bacteria in several ICU patients during admission. What they have found could be the beginning of a new branch of infection control focused not on the environment, but human ecology.

The team collected a variety of samples from 115 ICU patients in four different centers. The sources were from areas known to be rich in microbes, such as the skin, oral cavity, and the feces. Collections occurred within two days of admission and then again either at discharge or, after ten days of stay. The team then attempted to identify the various species in the hopes of gaining an ecological view of population dynamics.

The choice to focus on ecology as opposed to species-specific identification akin to diagnostics may seem odd. Yet it is important in terms of microbial health. The bacterial population normally is quite diverse such that opportunistic infections cannot gain hold and cause trouble. If that population somehow shifts towards those suspicious species, then the risk rises for a variety of problems ranging from inflammation to infection. Any signs of this reduction in diversity – also known as dysbiosis – may serve as an early warning sign for future worries.

When the testing was done and the results came back, the worst fears were realized. Although the team expected to see dysbiosis occur over the course of the stay, they were not prepared to see the change occur so quickly. The shift in population happened within the first 48 hours and progressively worsened over time. Diversity was completely skewed and in some cases, individuals presented with unexpected bacterial species, including one associated with human decomposition.

There was more bad news. Many of the bacteria known to calm the immune system were depleted while those known to cause inflammation increased. This meant the bacterial shift was adding immunological insult to injury. Patients would become more susceptible to infection both on the inside and from the environment.

The study clearly showed there was an ecological shift, however, the cause was not investigated. The authors did address the issue by suggesting one contributing factor was antibiotic use. As they noted, more than two-thirds of patients in ICU are on some type of prescription. Yet this could still not account for some of the findings such as the discovery of that bacterial species from decomposing bodies.

The results of this study are eye-opening and also troubling. Infection control experts may need to deal with another difficult challenge using a perspective not usually seen in the hospital environment, ecology. For example, if antibiotics are involved in the shift, as the authors suggest, then the situation becomes an ecological catch-22. These drugs frequently are essential for survival yet may alter a healthy diversity.

Despite the study's obviously negative health implications for ICU patients, there is some hope. As the authors point out, there are currently routes to restore diversity through the introduction of helpful microbes. Beneficial bacteria, such as probiotics, may help to maintain balance during those dire moments. These species also help to maintain immune function to increase the defense forces such as antibody production and the formation of antimicrobial peptides.

In addition to their suggestion, other options currently in development may also come to the rescue. Bacteriophages, antimicrobial peptides, and possibly traditional herbal medicines may one day be part of the infection control plan. These are still years away but this study may provide even more reason to speed up the approvals process.

In the meantime, the results of this study, albeit preliminary in nature, should lead to more discussion in the infection control world on maintaining ecological harmony in patients. With over 37 trillion human cells and tens of trillions of microbial counterparts, every patient is much more than an individual. By focusing on microbial diversity and systemic balance, patients may be given a better chance of recovering from the ICU without infection such that they can begin the journey back to health.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/05/icu-wiki.jpg?itok=-A9_OPl0"
"The Tenuous Tale of Contraceptive Hormones and HIV Risk","http://www.popsci.com/tenuous-tale-contraceptive-hormones-and-hiv-risk","It’s been over thirty years since the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, became a worldwide concern. This infection-turned-pandemic continues to spread making it a priority for public health officials. Globally, there are nearly 40 million people living with HIV. In the United States, more than 1.2 million people live with the virus, and the latest estimates suggest over 40,000 new cases occur annually.

Much has been learned about how the virus spreads including a list of factors known to increase the risk of infection. While most know of the two major routes of infection – unprotected sexual intercourse and intravenous drug use – researchers have also examined the potential of other factors in increasing the risk of infection during these activities. However, this challenge can be quite daunting and in some cases, may lead to more questions than answers.

Such has been the case with hormonal contraception. Most people may not know the term but they probably have heard of some of its various forms, such as contraceptive pills, injectables, and implants. Hormonal contraceptive use is one of the most effective ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies. It also reduces other public health concerns such as maternal and infant morbidity and mortality.

Yet these methods are not designed to prevent sexually transmitted infections including HIV. In addition to this caveat, some studies have suggested that some specific types of hormonal contraception may increase women’s vulnerability to HIV. Unfortunately, determining if this any particular form of hormonal contraception causes a higher risk for HIV infection is extremely difficult to determine.

But we may be moving closer to clarity on these questions thanks to researchers such as Dr. Chelsea Polis. She’s a Senior Research Scientist at the Guttmacher Institute and has quite the publication record in the area of reproductive health. A few weeks ago, she and a number of colleagues from around the world released a systematic review examining the potential links between various forms of hormonal contraception and HIV acquisition in women.

I reached out to Dr. Polis to find out more about this debate, and was surprised to learn the conversation has been going for several years.

“The first study suggesting a potential link between hormonal contraceptive methods and HIV was published nearly a quarter century ago. But those older studies had severe limitations in their methods, and couldn’t confidently conclude whether the contraceptive method was responsible for causing the increased HIV rate. Over time, studies on this issue have gotten much stronger methodologically. These days, we have better evidence to base policy and program decisions on, although even the strongest studies available today have limitations that make it difficult to draw conclusions with 100% certainty.”

As I learned from Polis, one of the hardest parts about studying this issue is the potential for confounding. Women’s decisions to select and use specific methods of contraception are influenced by other factors, such as her background and social environment.

“Things like age, education, marital status, and other characteristics might influence a woman’s choice of contraceptive method, and simultaneously, those same factors might also impact her underlying level of HIV risk. So, it can be difficult to tell if higher HIV rates are because of the contraceptive method itself, or other factors associated with choosing to use that method.”

Polis described one particularly tricky example of confounding in the relationship between hormonal contraceptive methods and HIV risk. “Take condom use. People using hormonal contraception tend to use condoms less frequently. So the million dollar question becomes: if we observe higher rates of HIV among hormonal contraceptive users, is that due to less condom use, or to the hormonal contraceptive method itself? Those “human behavior” factors can significantly complicate any efforts to determine the true relationship, especially since condom use is notoriously hard to measure accurately. For example, study participants might be embarrassed to admit unprotected sex to the person interviewing them.”

Despite the hurdles, Polis revealed that studies can use different techniques to try to determine whether higher rates of HIV are due to the contraceptive method itself. But she admitted this is incredibly complicated. For that reason, she spearheaded the development of guidelines to assist scientists wishing to perform these types of studies. For her, this helped in several ways.

“When studies take into account various confounders more carefully, the results can provide a clearer perspective. Over time, studies have become more sophisticated at tackling confounding, which permits development of policies based on more robust evidence. That’s great, because at the end of the day, we want to be sure women are as confident as possible in knowing the risks and benefits of the contraceptive method that they choose to use.”

As for bringing about that confidence, Polis and her colleagues managed to get closer to the answers women and policy-makers need. “Our new review suggests that evidence for oral contraceptive pills and implants does not seem to show an increase in HIV risk, although additional data on these methods would still be useful.”

The picture is less clear, however, when discussing injectable hormones. “There are two main types of injectable contraceptive methods that have been studied with respect to HIV acquisition– depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, better known as DMPA (and commonly sold as Depo Provera), and norethisterone enanthate, better known as NET-EN (commonly sold as Noristerat, and used primarily in South Africa). None of the studies in our review suggested a statistically significant increased risk of HIV acquisition with NET-EN. On the other hand, evidence overall for DMPA is far more concerning for suggesting a potential increase in HIV risk.”

Polis will continue her tireless efforts to obtain clarity on these issues, in order to inform evidence-based policies that maximize health and well-being. In fact, the World Health Organization has noted that before the end of the year, they will hold a meeting to examine these new data and make a decision about whether global guidance for use of DMPA should be modified.

While the global health community awaits the results of that meeting, Polis appreciates there are people looking to make a decision about hormonal contraception today. “The bottom line is that all individuals should be informed about the risks and benefits of any medication–including contraceptives–that they choose to use. We need to ensure that people all over the world have access to a wide array of contraceptive options so that they can select the one that best meets their needs. And for all people at risk of HIV, and particularly those who may still choose to use a method like the injectable DMPA, we need to ensure that they are informed about and empowered to use HIV preventative options, such as using condoms or newer HIV prevention tools like Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). Investing in the development of brand new products – such as “multipurpose prevention technologies” - products designed specifically to prevent HIV, other sexually transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancy simultaneously, could be a real game-changer for women’s health around the world.”","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/08/depoprovera.jpg?itok=QI5btZNs"
"A New Human-Based Ecological Test May Help Keep Patients Safe","http://www.popsci.com/an-ecological-test-may-help-keep-patients-safe","When a person enters a healthcare facility, such as a hospital or dental clinic, the goal is to improve well-being, not get sick. Unfortunately, there is always the risk of acquiring an infection. Preventing this unwanted occurrence is no easy task and thousands of professionals in America work diligently to ensure patients get better, not sicker. They even have an association, known as APIC , devoted entirely to keeping patients safe.

The vocation, known as infection prevention and control, is multidisciplinary in nature as the routes of infection in a healthcare facility are numerous. Infection preventionists need to focus on a variety of potential infectious disease sources. But the most important source of pathogens happens to be one of the hardest to control: humans.

People are naturally shedding millions of microbes and many species pose a health risk, particularly to those with compromised immunities. Methods are already in place to minimize the risk, such as hand hygiene, environmental disinfection, and surveillance for specific pathogens, known as point prevalence testing.

A significant problem in auditing is the time required to ensure the approach is being done properly and effectively. Most require the use of microbiological swab and culture systems, which can take days to weeks to complete. This is simply too long a wait and may not keep up with the real-time demands of the situation.

The conundrum is particularly important when dealing with reusable medical devices, such as scopes and dental instruments. They need to be analyzed quickly such that they can be returned into the regular flow of procedures. Without a rapid testing method, the risk for infection is present.

Now there may be a way forward thanks to the results of a recent study from a group of Italian researchers. They have figured out a rapid means of analysis to identify potential problems arising from medical instruments. But, instead of focusing on pathogens, they have widened the scope to an ecological level.

The human body is essentially an ecological environment. Amid the 37 trillion human cells, there are tens of trillions of microbial organisms from hundreds of different species. Depending on the niche of the body, such as the mouth, the eye, or the gut, several species can be found living in the biological fluid. For the researchers, these individual types, known collectively as the microflora, offer the perfect base for a rapid, real-time audit of cleanliness. All that’s needed is to identify the genetic material of these species, known as microflora DNA, or mfDNA.

The researchers focused on the dental setting for their study. They used swabs to collect samples from dental mirrors either experimentally contaminated in the lab, or freshly used in the dental office. The mirrors then underwent the standard cleaning protocols using disinfectants and sterilization. After each stage of the process, the mirrors were swabbed again.

After samples were collected, they were then examined for any presence of mfDNA. As the ecological niche in this study was the mouth, the team looked for any signs of bacteria known to reside in this area including Streptococcus salivarius and Streptococcus mutans. The group also tested for bacteria from other niches, including the gastrointestinal tract and the vagina. If the test was going to be useful, only the oral bacteria tests would be positive.

When the results came back, the group found over three-quarters of the samples detected mfDNA in the oral test. There were only a few positives in the gastrointestinal tract test and there were no positives in the vaginal test. For the authors, this suggested the test had shown itself to be useful in principle.

As to whether it could help determine cleanliness, the results showed nearly 60% were positive for oral mfDNA after disinfection. But all samples acquired after the sterilization step were negative. The results suggest the disinfection practice wasn’t entirely effective yet the addition of the sterilization step ensured safety for the next patient. For the authors, identifying mfDNA appeared to work quite well as a rapid means to audit cleanliness. There were, however, some false negatives meaning optimization would be necessary. The team also admitted the method cut some corners as genetic identification does not actually prove the bacteria were alive. Yet as a quick audit, this method showed promise.

While the mfDNA test may still require time to work out the kinks in the system, the promise for infection prevention and control is apparent. Having a rapid test to identify common microbial signatures within an ecological niche may provide the information needed to determine the effectiveness of a cleaning regimen. Moreover, the identification of common species ensures the test will have a universal scope. Considering the importance and difficulty of maintaining patient safety, this surely is a step in the right direction.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/08/skin_microbiome2.jpg?itok=_RPZfu8c"
"Vintage Space is Moving!","http://www.popsci.com/vintage-space-is-moving","A couple of weeks ago I got some sad news from our fearless leader, Paul: PopSci's Editor-in-Chief decided to shut down the blog network at the end of October... so today is the last day. I won't lie, I was mildly devastated when I got the email, and I've held off posting anything because I kept waiting for the decision to be reversed.

We're two weeks shy of Vintage Space's 6th birthday. When I started this blog in 2010 I never dreamed it would spawn all the things it has, namely an amazing career I am still thankful for every single morning when I get up. Vintage Space helped me sort out topics and ultimately the main narrative of my first book, Breaking the Chains of Gravity. It spun off into my YouTube channel that has grown remarkably fast and in turn led to all kinds of interesting and fun on camera work. It's what people cite when they invite me to speak at conferences. And it's all because Vintage Space is my weird little baby. It's the place where I can explore the things I love and share my passion with like-minded space nerds, so when it was picked up my a major name I was beyond excited. Having PopSci behind Vintage Space has been like a continuous thumbs up in my corner for almost two years. And I've loved every second of it.

So even if this incarnation of Vintage Space is soon to be no more (though I've been told the archive will live here indefinitely), Vintage Space isn't going away. I don't know how to exist on the internet without it! I'm looking for a new home for my blog, but in the meantime I'm moving back to my old Wordpress site. I'll be blogging there for the time being, and as soon as I have any news I'll post an update there as well.

I want to thank everyone I've worked with at PopSci, for all the technical support and thoughtful replies to ranty emails, but mostly for giving my little blog an amazing home in an amazing network alongside amazing people. You guys have made an awkward nerd writer feel more at home in the weird world of online writing.

I also want to thank everyone who's been reading Vintage Space over the years, those who knew me before my time with PopSci and those who found me through this site. You can keep up with my content on my YouTube channel, the new-old blog over at Wordpress, and of course on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for daily random updates. You can also support my ongoing work - including the podcast that I'm about to launch! - over at my Patreon page. See you guys all around the Internets!","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/10/new_yt_channel_banner.jpg?itok=CXU_jQzO"
"How The Noise Of Big Rockets Breaks Apart Buildings","http://www.popsci.com/how-big-rockets-break-apart-buildings","The engineers who designed and built the Saturn V rocket knew it was a behemoth, but no one was totally prepared for what it would be like to actually witness it leaving the Earth. As Apollo 4’s five F-1 engines roared to life on the morning of November 9, 1967, it shook the ground and rattled windows miles away. Onlookers could feel the Saturn V launch, and even though they’d planned for it that physical feeling still amazed engineers. The Power of Sound Every rocket launch makes noise, and that noise is a form of power; we don’t necessarily think about it too often but sound is a mechanical wave that we hear because it vibrates the molecules of the medium through which it travels. Properly called ""sound power,"" in the case of a launching rocket this is the mechanical energy of the exhaust plume defined as the thrust of the rocket multiplied but the exit velocity. That noise is spread across a range of frequencies concentrated in the low to mid frequency range, exactly the range where the waves can damage a building or hurt a human. This acoustic environment of a launching rocket comes in two stages. The first is holddown, when all the first stage engines are firing but the arms are keeping the rocket in place so it builds thrust. The second is lift-off when the rocket actually starts to fly. The specifics are different but both cases produce a dynamic load on the exposed facilities like the launch tower, ground support equipment, and even nearby buildings like the firing room. Pressure waves fluctuate, generating structural vibrations that can be enhanced or transmitted through structures and even the atmosphere. And with a rocket launch the sound waves tend to be in the low to mid frequency range, which are just right for the transmitted energy and power to cause damage. Basically everything shakes, and if it shakes hard enough or in the right frequency as a structure, there’s a real chance for damage. Well before the Saturn V was built, engineers knew the intense acoustic environment associated with a massive rocket launching would be sufficiently significant that it couldn't be ignored. Especially if that rocket flew straight from the Earth to the Moon.

Saturn vs. Nova Comparison An early Saturn C-1, what became the Saturn V, and the Nova side by side for comparison. NASA

Nova Before NASA settled on the familiar lunar orbit rendezvous mission mode for Apollo, the one that sent a modular spacecraft to the Moon such that the heavy command-service module could be left in Earth orbit, the agency considered the straightforward brute force approach of direct ascent. Exactly as the name suggests, this mode had the rocket fly directly from the Earth to the Moon without pausing in orbit around either body. The full spacecraft would land on the Moon's surface then follow the same direct path home after the crew had finished surface operations. The rocket to support this mission was a concept called Nova and it dwarfed the Saturn V. The Saturn V had five F-1 engines in its first stage to generate 7.5 million pounds of thrust at launch. Nova was designed to use eight F-1 engines for a total of 12 million pounds of thrust. It was so big and powerful that when the concept was first imagined engineers were really concerned about the acoustic profile of its launch.

From Land or From Sea In the late 1950s, the Saturn family of rockets was just coming into being when engineers started troubleshooting how best to deal with the acoustic environment of a massive rocket launching. Engineers took data from early Atlas launches and scaled it up to get an estimate of the sound power of a Saturn rocket. And it was significant. It looked like the relatively small Saturn C-1 would be powerful enough to generate acoustic levels as high as 205 decibels 1,000 feet from the launch pad and peaks of up to 140 decibels, the threshold of pain, within 10,000 feet of the launch pad. There was some concern, too, that the Saturn would create a shock wave low enough to the ground to damage surrounding residential areas. One engineer from the Army Test Office's Facilities Branch, Livingston Wever, came up with a novel solution. Rockets had been launching from Cape Canaveral for years, but they were small. If launching bigger rockets from the Cape was going to be a problem, why not move the launch site offshore to use the ocean as a means to dampen the acoustic profile of a launch? Wever proposed using a modified Texas Tower as an offshore launch platform for Saturns and other big rockets 105 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral and a little under 35 miles north of Grand Bahama Island. Other ideas included creating a landfill, isolated island of sorts to serve as the launch site. This idea was eventually studied in a report for Kurt Debus, the man who directed launch operations at Cape Canaveral and became the first director of the Kennedy Space Centre. The survey came back favouring the Texas Tower. This was a kind of structure that could be built in deep water where launch acoustics wouldn’t be a problem. It would also be remote enough that facilities could be easily expanded to accommodate other, bigger rockets in the future. There was a cost benefit to keeping fuel stores on barges rather than facilities on land.

A sample offshore launch platform An early concept for an offshore launch platform. NASA

There was some question as to what exhaust vented into the ocean would do, whether it would create waves big enough to damage the pad. But ultimately the bigger worry was the high cost of marine construction, the logistical problems of launch support at sea, and issues of stability for erecting and handling delicate rocket stages pre-launch. There was also the danger posed by storms. In 1961 an USAF early warning system on a Texas Tower was destroyed in a storm taking 28 lives in the process. In spite of benefits, the idea of offshore launch sites didn't last. When NASA chose the smaller Saturn rocket over Nova for the Moon missions data came back saying the acoustic profile of this rocket was not so damaging as to necessitate an offshore launch site so long as there was adequate space. Then compromise was to use Merritt Island as an acoustic buffer zone. But it wasn’t as simple as that. There would still be structures on and near the launchpad that had to be designed with the acoustics of launch in mind. Namely the Vehicle Assembly Building. Acoustic pressure and vibrations associated with a Saturn V launch was something engineers had to think through because even though the launch complex was three miles from the VAB the anticipated sound power of about 145 decibels could damage the structure. The solution was to build the VAB using insulated aluminum panels fastened to steel girders to protect it and anything inside from the acoustics of a launch.

Apollo 11 Rollout Apollo 11's Saturn V rolls out from the VAB. NASA","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/10/acoustics-small.jpg?itok=GQ-bEC5J"
"This Rocket Failed to Put Soviets on the Moon","http://www.popsci.com/this-rocket-failed-to-put-soviets-on-moon","It was so cold on February 20, 1969, that the launch was delayed; even the biggest of all Soviet rockets wasn’t immune to the frigid winters in Kazakstan. Conditions had warmed enough the next day, and at 3:18pm the mammoth N-1 rocket left the Earth for the first time. The combined thrust of the 30 engines powering the first stage shook the ground, and the fire pouring from the bottom of the rocket was an awe inspiring sight for the people who had spent years bringing the rocket to life. Then, just 70 seconds later, all 30 engines shut down. Momentum carried the N-1 to about 17 miles before gravity brought it crashing back to Earth. The escape system separated the modified lunar spacecraft that was its payload, sending it about 21 miles away from the launch pad. The rest of the rocket landed some 10 miles further. In less than two minutes, the Soviets’ last valiant effort to beat America to the Moon was reduced to piles of twisted and burnt metal.

Two N-1s on launch pads The N-1 rocket on the launch pad. NASA

Genesis of the Mega Booster Like so many large-scale programs of the space age, the N-1 rocket has its roots before the space age formally began with the launch of Sputnik. As was happening in the United States in the mid-1950s, Soviet scientists and planners were beginning to turn their attention towards space. In 1954, one mission up for consideration was a manned flyby of Mars or Venus, something simpler than a landing mission but not a mission that could be done with the existing R-7 rocket. To get to our planetary neighbours, the Soviets would need something much bigger. This need begat proposals to chiefs of design bureaus in military and research institutions in July of 1957, one of which was a heavy lift interplanetary rocket called TMK, a transliteration of the Russian for Heavy Interplanetary Ship. It ultimately fell to the OKB-1 design bureau at the NII-88 research centre, which was part of the Space Technology Institute, to build this rocket. As the chief designer and head of OKB-1, the program fell specifically to Sergei Korolev. The Mars/Venus flyby mission parameters dictated specifics for the rocket.Mission planners figured the minimum payload for these missions would be 75 tons. Only 15 tons of that would be the interplanetary spacecraft; the remaining 60 tons would be the mass of the rocket. Don't forget: rockets have to lift themselves off the Earth along with their payload. A rocket with this much lift capacity was going to need powerful engines, so Korolev when to the man with the most experience with big rockets: Valentin Glushko, the head of the OKB-456 design bureau. Glushko presented a plan using nitric acid and UDMH in the first stage engines, and Korolev flat out refused. He didn’t want to further complicate the already challenging N-1 by using toxic chemicals. Glushko was unwavering, and this disagreement over engines began a long-standing conflict between the engineers and their design bureaus, and also Glushko’s campaign to stop the N-1 from flying. With Glushko out, Korolev turned to OKB-276 with Nikolay Kuznetstov at the head to develop the N-1’s engines. Kuznetstov didn't have Glushko's experience with big engines, so his solution was crude: get the necessary power by using more smaller engines. The solution suited Korolev and the N-1 started the slow process of moving from concept to reality.

From Venus to the Moon Korolev’s mega booster program moved steadily forward until 1964 when a strange Soviet decision suddenly derailed years of work. To this point in the space race, the Soviets had been in the lead — it had launched the first satellite, the first animal, the first man into orbit, the first woman, and done the first spacewalk. But the United States was starting to pull ahead with promises from the Gemini program, and Apollo was (metaphorically) already on its way to the Moon. NASA was, effectively, racing against itself to the Moon. But then on August 3, the Soviet Union decided to take on the American challenge of landing a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. Three years after the America officially started its lunar landing program, Soviet leadership endorsed its own. To spare the N-1 being cancelled in light of this new goal, OKB-1 presented a proposal to go to the Moon with this rocket rather than build a new one. The plan was ultimately accepted and in 1965 the burden of getting a cosmonaut to the Moon before the Americans fell to Korolev and his N-1. But there was a problem. The N-1 was powerful enough the launch a Mars or Venus flyby mission, but it couldn't send a landing mission to the Moon. A landing mission is heavier than a flyby mission, especially a free-return trajectory mission. With a flyby, you don't need to carry fuel for an orbit insertion burn, for a transearth injection burn, and you certainly don't need a landing vehicle with its own complicated life support and propulsion systems. But these are all things you absolutely need on a landing mission. So by design the N-1 was a poor Moon rocket. Consider as a comparison the Saturn V, which was honed for Apollo’s lunar orbit rendezvous mission architecture. The Saturn V could put 130 tons into low Earth orbit, enough for even the long-duration Apollo missions that took rovers to the Moon. The N-1 was limited to 75 tons. This left Korolev’s bureau with a choice: either assemble the lunar spacecraft in orbit with multiple launches or make the N-1 more powerful. They chose the latter to avoid losing a mission from a launch failure. The solution was to decrease the temperature of the Kerosene and overcool the liquid oxygen to store more in the existing tanks, upgrade all the rocket engines, and add six more to the first stage. To get to the Moon the N-1 would have 30 engine powering its first stage, but it could still only take 95 tons into orbit.

The N-1 rolling to the launch pad The N-1 rolling towards its launch pad, about to pass over a flame trench. Energia

**Structure of the N-1 ** The final arrangement of the N-1 emerged after this decision. At the bottom of the stack was Block A, the first stage powered by 30 engines, all of which were managed by a system called KORD. This was a realtime diagnostics system that monitored the crucial parameters for all the engines that was also capable of making the decision to shut down individual engine should it show signs of pending catastrophic failure. This took advantage of the redundancy of a rocket with 30 engines; losing one engine or even two wouldn’t completely ruin a launch. The others could compensate. But power isn't all you need for a launch. That rocket also has to be directed in flight. Pitch and yaw control in the N-1 were achieved through differential thrust. Rather than use a complicated and heavy system to swivel the engines, the N-1 was used differential thrust; less power from one side of the rocket would tilt it in the desired direction of flight. Roll control came from six small nozzles outside the main engine cluster could swivel to move the stack around it’s vertical axis. Like the Saturn V, the N-1 was a multistage rocket. There were two stages above Block A. The second stage was Block B, powered by eight engines. Block V was the third stage and ti was powered by four engines. On top of Block V was the payload, and for the lunar mission this was the L-3 complex consisting of four parts. Block G sat directly above Block V, and this was the translunar injection stage that would send the crew to the Moon. Above that was Block D, the stage that would perform any midcourse correction burns, the lunar orbit insertion burn, and the burn to start the crew’s descent to the lunar surface. And then there were the two spacecraft, the Block I LOK lunar orbiter and Block E LK lunar lander.

Leaving Earth When Korolev died in 1966, the N1-L3 program was transferred to his successor Vasiliy Mishin, and under new leadership the rocket got ready for its first flight. A directive called for the N-1 to fly in the second half of 1967 to keep pace with the Americans, but this proved impossible. The rocket was eventually erected on the pad in May of 1968, and everything was finally ready in February of 1969. By this time Apollo 8 had already orbited the Moon but NASA still had a ways to go before attempting the landing. There was hope that the Soviets could still beat the Americans if this first N-1 launch was trouble-free. N1-3L — the third N-1 rocket not to be confused with L-3 as the lunar spacecraft — left the Earth at 3:18pm on February 21, 1969. At T+70 seconds, all the engines shut down, and within another minutes it was in burning heaps on the ground. Preliminary data said engines 12 and 24 hd shut down, and instead of firing longer to compensate the remaining 28 had all shut down early. The investigation deepened to focus on KORD. It turned out that electrical interference manifested as an erroneous signal from KORD to shut down engine 12, triggering shutdown of its opposite, engine 24, to retain symmetry. As the rocket flew higher, vibrations tore off a gas pressure-measuring pipe in the turbo pump and broke a fuel pressure pipe in engine number 2. This sent hot kerosene flowing into the base of the rocket, triggering a rise in temperature in engines 3, 21, 22, 23, and 14. The fire destroyed insulation covering power supply cables. This was interpreted by KORD as pulses in the turbo pumps, which sent the command to shut down all engines. The signal traveled up the rocket to freeze the engines in Blocks B and V, too. Finding the root of the problem didn’t mean it was easy to fix. KORD’s designed admitted that a fire could result in KORD sending faulty commands, and it wasn’t an easy fix. This team was eventually told to keep this matter to themselves as the Soviets hurried to prepare a second N-1 before America landed on the Moon.

The N-1 takes flight The first N-1 takes flight... before crashing back to Earth. Energia

The Second Failure At 2:18 in the morning on July 4, 1969, the second N-1 rocket left the earth. In an attempt to avoid a second round of premature engine shutdowns, new thermal insulation covered KORD’s wires and transmission lines were isolated from one another to prevent erroneous signals. There were also more sensors in each engine, so more data points for engineers, and KORD, to read. The rocket began to rise, but just 10.5 seconds later bright pieces could be seen falling from the tail section. The stack seemed to hover, then tilt, then it fell back to the launch pad and collapsed, triggering a series of explosions that engulfed the whole area in flames. It was the largest disaster on a launch pad the Soviet program had experienced, and amazingly no one was killed. The accident investigation studied telemetry, photos, and film to find that all 30 Blovk A rockets had been firing with the rocket still on the launch pad.Then, a turbopump supplying liquid oxygen to engine number 8 had exploded just before liftoff. The other engines kept working, but just 650 feet above the launch pad engines started shutting down. Within 12 seconds, every engine but number 18 was shut down, and that lone engine pitched the rocket on its side, sending it crashing nearly broadside and adding to its destructive power. It seemed debris in the turbo pump for engine 8 was the root of the problem. It caused an explosion, the force of which severed feedlines to other the engines and started a fire. This sent a signal to KORD that the pressure and turbopump rotation rates were dangerously high in engines 7, 19, 20, and 21, and it shut them down, followed by the rest, except 18. Debris, a problem with an oxygen sensor, and erroneous signals from KORD had brought down another N-1.

Lost Moon While the Soviet space program was picking up the literal and metaphorical pieces of the second N-1 disaster, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. The rocket that had been ripped from its interplanetary program and forced into a lunar mission was now without application. But the program wasn't cancelled. Changes were made and the directive came from national leadership to ready another N-1 for launch. A little more than two years later, the third N-1 left the launch pad on June 27, 1971. This rocket started off better than any other launch but quickly developed roll stabilization problems. This put strong torque forces on the rocket, damaging and ultimately destroying Block B. Then at T-51 seconds KORD sent a signal to all 30 first stage engines to shut down. The rocket broke apart in the air and crashed down to Earth. The final flight of the N-1 came on November 23, 1972. For the first 77 seconds, the rocket actually behaved as designed. As it flew further than any of its predecessors, KORD shut down the central cluster of six engines right on time at T+90 seconds,. But fourteen seconds later an explosion erupted in the tail of the Block A, and the mission was over. This was the last hurrah for the N-1 program. After more than a decade of development and eight years of high priority as a lunar landing program, the N-1 mega booster was cancelled by decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1974.

SpaceX's Interplanetary Transport System first stage The 42 engines of SpaceX's Interplanetary Transport System's first stage. SpaceX","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/10/724270main_n-1_rockets.jpg?itok=92XNFB_N"
"How Little Vibrations Break Big Rockets","http://www.popsci.com/how-little-vibrations-break-big-rockets","At 7 o’clock on the morning on April 4, 1968, Apollo 6 thundered off the launch pad. Everything looked perfect until the rocket started vibrating in flight so hard it was almost bouncing up and down. The so-called pogo effect (it’s almost like the rocket is bouncing on a pogo stick) increased g-forces in the spacecraft and shook the rocket’s frame so hard that loose structural panels on the lunar module adapter section fell off. The irregular launch also destroyed the flight path, leaving the spacecraft in a highly elliptical orbit rather than the planned circular one. Luckily Apollo 6 was unmanned, but the problem was bigger than one mission. NASA had spent years solving the pogo problem only to see it return, this time threatening manned lunar missions.

Apollo 6's Launch Pogo oscillations on Apollo 6 dislodged panels of the lunar module adapter. NASA

Pogo is, properly speaking, a thrust axis vibration response seen in liquid fueled rockets that can have devastating effects on the vehicle’s whole structure and, by extension, a crew on board. Think of a rocket upright on a launch pad. For that rocket to get off the ground, propellant and oxidizer have to flow down into the combustion chamber at a high enough pressure to burn with enough power to propel the whole stack off the ground. That sustained reaction, usually with multiple stages, maintains that momentum to put the rocket into orbit where the engines shut down. As the rocket rises, g-forces start pushing down on it; it’s analogous to feeling a slight increase in your weight as an elevator moves upwards. That upward motion can force more propellant into the turbopump, increasing the pressure and causing a surge. This slightly increases the rocket’s velocity adding to the downward force on its stricture, but also increases back pressure against the incoming fuel. This reduces engine pressure, which in turn causes more fuel to flow into turbopump, which can cause another surge. This self-excited vibration becomes a cycle. The engine vibrates up and down with the direction of the rocket’s travel, and if these vibrations match the resonant frequency of the rocket’s structure, which varies as the tanks empty, the whole vehicle will “bounce.” And this bouncing motion can not only damage hardware, it translates to alternating positive and negative g-forces in the cockpit. Couple this with the g-forces associated with a nominal launch and a crew can be in for a painful and potentially dangerous ride.

Gemini 5 The Titan II launched the Gemini program. Gemini 5 was the first manned mission to experience some pogo. NASA

The pogo problem first manifested on March 16, 1962, the first time the US Air Force tested its Titan II missile, the same missile NASA intended to modify to launch its Gemini missions. The missile vibrated in flight between 10 and 13 hertz for half a minute, an amplitude that translated to about 2.5 positive and negative g’s (+/-2.5 g’s). NASA’s research said those g-forces would not only be painful for an astronaut — particularly to his eyes, testicles, and brain — it could impair his ability to react to an emergency. This wasn't something Gemini could afford; astronauts on these missions would have far more active roles than on Mercury missions so he needed to be conscious and alert. NASA set the limit of acceptable g-forces from pogo at +/-0.25, so one-quarter the force of gravity. Clearly the pogo problem would have to be solved before a Gemini mission could fly. As the owner of the Titan II, the Air Force set about troubleshooting, starting with figuring out exactly what was causing the pogo effect in the Titan II. A launch in July of that same year gave the first clues. Increased pressure in the fuel tank decreased the pogo amplitude slightly, suggesting the problem lay in the feedlines. This raised the potential solution of adding standpipes partially pressurized with nitrogen into both the propellant and oxidizer feedlines to damped the vibrations. But this ended up having the reverse effect. A Titan II with this modification launched in December and doubled the amplitude of the pogo. The unsolved pogo problem took its toll on the Gemini program by delaying launches, an inevitability since there wasn't an alternative rocket. But ongoing troubleshooting eventually turned up a solution: increasing the pressure in the fuel tank, adding a standpipe in the oxidizer feedline, and adding mechanical accumulators in the fuel lines. Titan missile N-25 was fitted with these fixes and launched on November 1, 1963, and it looked like the problem was solved. Pogo vibrations were the lowest ever recorded on a Titan II, peaking at just one-ninth the force of gravity, which was well within NASA’s safe range. This cleared the space agency to move ahead with Gemini launches, and over the course of 10 manned missions only a few experienced noticeable but mild pogo. NASA thought the pogo problem, fairly well understood at this point, had been solved and a solution worked into the design of the Saturn V rocket. So when pogo dogged the Apollo 6 launch it was a bit of a shock. Oscillations on this mission translated to +/-0.3 g’s in the unmanned Apollo command module, which was above the safe limit for NASA. Again, the pogo problem had to be solved before a manned launch.

Challenger Launches into Orbit The shuttle's main engines had a pogo suppression system that prevented dangerous vibrations. NASA","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/pogo_large.jpg?itok=ZdLQv0uz"
"How NASA Goes to Space Without Leaving the Earth","http://www.popsci.com/how-nasa-goes-to-space-without-leaving-earth","On June 16, 1968, Joe Kerwin, Vance Brand, and Joe Engle climbed into and were sealed inside their Apollo command module. Over the next seven days they lived off their onboard systems and consumables as they slowly rotated to ensure even heating across the spacecraft’s skin. They emerged seven days later bearded and tired but happy. Their mission had been, by and large, successful, though they hadn’t left the Earth. The crew of 2TV-1 had “flown” their mission in a massive vacuum chamber.

Genesis of the SESL Vacuum chambers are extremely useful for pre-flight testing because space isn’t just a harsh environment for astronauts, it’s harsh for the hardware that keeps those astronauts alive. NASA knew this early on and also knew that vacuum chambers can replicate the lack of atmosphere, extreme temperatures, and lighting conditions of space on Earth. In 1962, after successfully using vacuum chambers testing during the Mercury program, NASA started planning a larger facility to test Apollo hardware before sending it to the Moon, a facility ultimately named the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory. On February 20, 1962, the day the nation watched John Glenn become the first American in orbit, the working group behind the SESL met for the first time. They reasoned that a four-part laboratory would give them the right amount of space to test individual systems and full spacecraft in space-like conditions. And one chamber, Chamber A, would be man-rated. It would be able to replicate the frigid temperature of space and the heat of unfiltered sunlight, have holding areas for emergency personnel, include an emergency pressurisation systems, and complete biomonitoring for everyone involved. A contract for preliminary studies was awarded to the Bechtel Corporation of San Francisco, and this helped refined Chamber A. It gradually took shape as an upright cylinder 75 feet in diameter (the chamber was eventually only 55 feet in diameter) with 97 foot tall straight sides, a hemispherical top, an ellipsoidal bottom, and a 45 foot tall door on one side. The whole thing would be made of carbon steel covered in stainless steel panels and reinforced with carbon steel stiffeners. Construction began on May 7, 1963, and days shy of a year later Chamber A was ready for the first trial pump down to check for leaks. As they ran the test, controllers heard creaking and popping sounds before seeing the extent of the damage. It turned out that the lowering pressure inside the chamber caused the doorframe to buckle inward, and once it was distorted the adjacent stiffeners, o-rings, and panels. They buckled inwards, taking the supporting columns with them. It turned out that the chamber’s octagonal frame just couldn’t support the stress of the vacuum pumpdown, but luckily fixing the problem was a simple matter of repairing the damage and reinforcing the overall structure. In May of 1965, the repairs were done and Chamber A passed its qualifying structural integrity test. Two banks of carbon arc modules that could simulate the light and heat of unfiltered sunlight were installed in following year. The massive vacuum chamber was ready for a spacecraft.

Vacuum Chamber A The massive Chamber A is still in use today. NASA

Block I Testing Spacecraft 008, a first generation Block I Apollo command module, was stacked in Chamber A on May 17, 1966. Two months later, a 94-hour vacuum test revealed a handful of problems -- the hatch failed the seal properly, moisture built up in the cabin, ice built up on the heat shield, and water lines froze. On August 1, 1966, spacecraft 008 went through a second test with a volunteer crew: engineers from the Flight Crew Support Division Donald Garrett, Joel Rosenweig, and Neil Anderson went through a problematic eight-day thermal-vacuum. There were issues with the emergency repressurization, the cabin atmosphere sampling system, the sunlight simulation banks, and the urine dump system which meant they had to store it in bags for the duration of the test. They also ran into the odd problem of their underwear outgassing poisonous lithium fluorine gas forcing them to take them off. And because the test didn't simulate weightlessness, the eight days lying supine on couches left the crew with sinus and lung congestion. A second “mission” between October 29 and November 1 with astronauts Joe Kerwin, Ed Givens, and MSC engineer Joseph Gagliano replicated the urine dump problem and a fuel cell failure that was eventually traced to a procedural error. The tests were far from perfect, but that meant the chamber was doing its job. The two missions uncovered issues that ultimately forced 14 design and 14 procedural changes to the Block I spacecraft. But the Block I never flew. Spacecraft 012, another Block I model, was the spacecraft that claimed the lives of the Apollo 1 crew, and after the accident NASA decided it would only fly later Block II spacecraft. That meant the new vehicle was on deck for vacuum testing.

Testing in Chamber A Astronauts prepare for a manned Apollo test in Chamber A. NASA","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/screen_shot_2016-09-15_at_6.59.37_pm.png?itok=iwhhF6Hn"
"Meet the Creepiest Android NASA Ever Built","http://www.popsci.com/meet-creepiest-android-nasa-ever-built","In the name of getting Americans into space and to the Moon in the 1960s, no research program was too weird, not even a mess of wires, motors, and hydraulic lines hanging from a bar in the rough shape of a man. Properly called the power driven articulated dummy, it was NASA's failed attempt to develop spacesuits without human test subjects, and it might be one of the creepiest things the agency ever developed.

Handshake with the dummy An engineer shakes hand with the power driven articulated dummy. IIT/NASA

There are a lot of things to consider when designing and building a spacesuit, not least of which is how easily an astronaut can move inside the suit. For engineers building the suit, this means they have to know things like how much resistance a design has, or more simply how much force it will take an astronaut to move against the pressurized layers of bladders and fabric. But sometimes a suit can be so hard to move that the astronaut or engineer testing it can get hurt, NASA wanted to take the man out of the equation and gather some key data points with a robot. This need begat contract K6051. Eventually awarded to the Illinois Institute of Technology, the resulting program ran from May 22, 1963 to July 31, 1965 and saw creation of the power driven articulated dummy for spacesuit testing. The 230-pound dummy was a specially designed force gauge shaped like a man so it could measure torque and resistance forces inside a spacesuit. It wasn't a robot; it couldn’t move on it’s own and it didn't have a balance system so couldn’t stand. It hung from a bar and was controlled by an operator at a console. But that didn't mean it was a simple machine. The dummy was a mess of wires, electrical components, hydraulic lines, and motorized joints arranged into the shape of a man. Together, the hardware was responsible for articulation of the joints, control of limb movement, sensing and measuring the torque forces associated with each movement, and giving the dummy structure. And everything had to work together.

Even without any coverings, the dummy looks humanoid. And creepy. IIT/NASA

Every time the operator at the console made the dummy move, a rotary hydraulic actuator provided power for the motion. As it moved, the torque force of the motion was transmitted by a cantilevered beam to an adjoining member. That member was fitted with a strain gauge that measured the force, and that measurement became the baseline for engineers. When calibrated against known torque levels, it would tell them how much force the dummy was exerting to move. In the right test conditions, they could determine how hard a spacesuit would be for the astronaut inside to move it. But it wasn't that simple because human movements and human joints are pretty complicated. We have simple hinge joints that work like door hinges, but we also have more complicated ellipsoidal, saddle, ball and socket, and pivot joints. Initial studies found that there was just wasn’t enough space inside the dummy to replicate these complex human joints, not to mention miniaturized components weren't quite small enough in the 1960s to fit everything inside the dummy. Try as they might, engineers couldn't get the dummy to truly replicate a human’s full range of motion so they made some allowances a picked the simplest way to mimic 35 of the most common human movements. The dummy was designed such that a single joint could move on its own or the dummy could do up to four simultaneous rotations for a more complex movement; the limit of four was set by the operator's abilities at his console. It also fell to the operator not to move the dummy in such a way that joints would get kinked. The head and shoulders, for example, could get stuck if they moved the wrong way at the wrong time, so there was some finesse involved on the human's part. But moving was only half the battle. If the dummy was going to test spacesuits for future astronauts, it had to approximate not only the shape of man but his size as well. So the designers took pains to make it adjustable. To fit anywhere from a fifth percentile to a ninety-fifth percentile male, the torso, limbs, and neck could be elongated so the dummy could stand anywhere between five foot five inches (think a little shorter than Gus Grissom and Pete Conrad) and six foot two inches (John Glenn was among the taller astronauts).

The dummy with it's skin on The outer covering of the dummy made it look like a man in a wetsuit. IIT/NASA","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/09/3363347_6_0.jpg?itok=pk0nX9p5"
"Why Did the Mercury 13 Astronauts Never Fly in Space?","http://www.popsci.com/why-did-mercury-13-astronauts-never-fly-in-space","Jerrie Cobb kicked off her black pumps and crossed her stockinged feet on the floor. It was an unusual thing to do during a public hearing before a special subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, but natural for Cobb. And it was a relaxed gesture that belied her stress. That July day in 1962, she was fighting tooth and nail to claim her rightful place in space alongside the Mercury astronauts.

Cobb and a Mercury Capsule Jerrie Cobb poses with a Mercury capsule. NASA

Jerrie Cobb Three years earlier on April 9, 1959, the world had met the Mercury astronauts. Seven men, all military test pilots with extensive experience flying jets, were handsome, married with families, somewhat religious, and yet embodied the roguish bad-boy nature that made them absolutely irresistible to men and women alike. They were, NASA announced, the brave men who would take America’s first steps into space. They had done nothing in their capacity as astronauts but appear at a press conference and already the nation was in love. Three days later, Jerrie Cobb took off from McCarran Field in Las Vegas in an Aero Commander. Her route that morning was a 1,242 mile (2,000 km) triangle with Reno, San Francisco, and San Diego as the corners. Cobb has designed the route herself to take advantage of the west coast currents. Her goal was to make the run in less than five-and-a-half hours, stealing the record from a male Soviet pilot to become a national hero in her own right. Cobb ran into trouble almost immediately. Instrumentation problems left her flying by dead reckoning with a map balanced on her knee. The flare gun installed next to her seat jammed, so instead of safely alerting judges on the ground that she’d arrived she ended up flying with a lit flare hanging out from under her plane. Then her radio failed; she could only hope someone on the ground would know it was her when she passed over San Francisco and log the time. Cloud cover over San Diego forced her to slow down and descend, again to be logged by judges. Finally onto the last leg of the flight, Cobb pushed the Aero to its limits while manually topping off her fuel tanks from canisters in the cockpit, but made it safely back to McCarran Field. Twenty agonizing minutes later, the official ruling came back. Cobb had covered 1,242 miles in 5 hours, 29 minutes, and 27 seconds, a full 26 seconds faster than the Soviet record holder. Cobb added this successful speed run to a growing list of records she held, including records for altitude and distance. She also held the distinction of being one of the few professional female pilots in the United States. Like so many young women -- she was 28 at the time -- she’d worked odd jobs to pay for flying time then honed her skills with hours in the air only to find there were few opportunities in a post-war America suddenly flush with military trained male pilots. But Cobb was unique in her willingness to take dangerous, long-haul jobs few pilots wanted. She eked out her place aviation, but with the dawn of the space age, started looking towards the stars.

Dr. Lovelace Dr. Randy Lovelace. NM Space Museum

Lovelace Space came calling five months later when Cobb was out for a walk along the Florida surf one morning. Talking with her boss Tom Harris, her boss at Aero Commander who’d sanctioned her speed run, two men emerged from the water. Harris knew them both but Cobb only knew of them. They were Brigadier General Donald D. Flickinger, a leader in aerospace medicine, and Dr. Randy Lovelace, the somewhat infamous physician who had poked, prodded, and peeked inside 31 astronaut hopefuls before whittling the group down to the seven Mercury astronauts. The shoreside chat turned to Russian aeronautics, and when Cobb weighed in about known problems Russian planes pose to pilots, she got the doctors' attention. Lovelace asked if she was a pilot. She replied with a modest yes, then Harris added that she was a substantial record holder with more than 7,000 hours in the air. Lovelace, already interested in the potential of female astronauts, asked Cobb if she would be willing to submit to the same testing he'd put the Mercury astronauts through. In an era when rockets were taxed with lifting a spacecraft, a smaller, lighter occupant consuming fewer resources could be a benefit to the burgeoning American space program. Cobb was more than willing to volunteer to give the doctors a benchmark for women in space. Five months later, Cobb’s medical records were scrutinised, her flying history vetted, and leave from work granted. She was officially ready to begin her astronaut testing.

Cobb in Astronaut Training Cobb training in the gimbal rig at NASA. NASA

Unit One, Female Cobb arrived at Lovelace’s New Mexico clinic on February 15, 1960, identified as “unit one, female.” Over the course of one intense week, Cobb went through the same medical testing as her male counterparts. The only difference was the addition of a gynaecological exam. Not only did Cobb pass the tests, she matched the Mercury astronauts across the board, and even performed better in some instances. Dr. Lovelace kept Cobb’s results secret until the 1960 international symposium of space medicine in Stockholm, Sweden. There he publicly discussed her performance and the possible role women might play in spaceflight. And then the world knew all about Jerrie Cobb. Life magazine seized on the story, and suddenly news outlets across the nation wanted a piece of the woman who was apparently poised to become the first female astronaut. Days later, the eager media met Cobb in a press conference. Eschewing a chic french twist hairstyle for her familiar ponytail, she told the gathered reporters that she was more afraid of grasshoppers than spaceflight. She even admitted that she was less scared of being alone in space than she was being in a room full of reporters. Media attention soon brought sponsorship offers, but on this point Cobb was firm. She would endorse no product. She wanted the woman in space program to be a serious one, not a stunt backed by a corporate sponsor. And besides, she had to focus on the serious business of her second round of testing. Psychological exams in Oklahoma brought Rorschach tests and isolation experiments. More testing with the Navy in Pensacola Florida, included tests like airborne EKGs that mapped her brain activity while flying in a jet. Once again Cobb matched or outperformed compared to the Mercury astronauts.

The Mercury Astronauts The original Mercury 7 astronauts in Texas. NASA

The Mercury 13 Cobb’s testing might have attracted the interest of the media, but it was far from a proper program. Lovelace needed more subjects to figure out whether Cobb was exceptional or whether there really was a cohort of incredibly talented and able female pilots ready to train as astronauts. In the first half of 1961, Lovelace extended invitations to twenty-five accomplished female pilots. Those that were able to take time way from work and family made their way down to Lovelace's clinic to go through the testing. Twelve passed, giving Lovelace a total of thirteen potential female astronauts. These were all women willing and ready to take steps into space. But one famous aviatrix was left out of the group, Lovelace's long-time friend and financial benefactor for the women who couldn't afford their own travel costs, Jackie Cochran. And she wasn't going to give up without a fight.

Jackie Cochran Jackie Cochran emerging from a cockpit. Eisenhower Archives

Jackie Cochran Unlike Cobb, Cochran learned to fly later in life. A licensed beautician, she developed her own cosmetics line in the 1930s, but it didn't really get off the ground until she made a powerful professional and personal connection in Floyd Odlum. Odlum was an astute businessman who not only survived the stock market crash of 1929 but emerged from the depression as one of the ten wealthiest men in the country. He and Cochran wed in 1935. Odlum helped finance Jacquline Cochran Cosmetics, then suggested his wife learn to fly so she would have an easier time traveling for work. Cochran earned her pilots license after just three weeks of instruction and fell in love with flying. With her finances taken care of, she pursued advanced instruction and honed a natural talent. Before the decade was out, Cochran set three speed records, won the Clifford Burke Harmon trophy three times, and set a world altitude record flying to 33,000 feet. At 33,000 feet, the air is sufficiently thin that pilots need supplemental oxygen to stay alert in the cockpit. Cochran knew this. She'd flown to high altitudes with sub-par oxygen masks that failed to deliver a constant flow of the vital gas. So when she heard there was a doctor working on a better oxygen masks for pilots she was very keen to meet him. The doctor was Dr. Lovelace. The pair met at the National Air Races in 1937 and three years later Cochran used her position on the selection committee for the Collier Trophy to secure Lovelace’s place in history. The Collier Trophy, awarded annually for a major development in aviation, is almost like a timeline of aviation. In 1940, Lovelace along with Dr. Walter Boothby and Captain Harry Armstrong of the US Army Medical Corps were shortlisted for their work in aviation medicine. Cochran campaigned hard for her friend and his colleagues to win the award. She solicited letters from giants in the industry, had powerful friends vouch for the doctors, and personally ensuring reports got into the right hands. She successfully convinced the whole selection committee to award the trophy to Lovelace, Boothby, and Armstrong. The men were thrilled. They acknowledged Cochran's role in their win, and it solidified the friendship between Lovelace and Cochran.

Glenn in training John Glen training in the gimbal rig. NASA

Boys Club But Cochran’s (arguably) greatest achievement in aviation was yet to come. In 1941, a friendship with General Hap Arnold of the Army Air Force and her successful ferrying of a bomber across the Atlantic for the British Ferry Command put Cochran in charge of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots. Beginning in 1942, the WASP program trained more than 1,000 pilots for non combat military roles. They ferried planes overseas, towed targets for aerial and ground-based gunnery practise, flew demonstration flights, and served as flight instructors. But never militarized, the WASP program was quietly disbanded towards the end of the war. Nevertheless, it was a huge success for Cochran who was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for her work. A commonality in her private and professional flying life was that Cochran was the lone woman in the boys club, and she leveraged that role into power. Serious as she was about flying, she was equally serious about her image and was often seen touching up her lipstick before emerging from the cockpit after a record-setting flight, making the men in charge wait in the process. It was a subtle but strong show of power. Now, Cochran found herself on the outside looking in, and was not happy about it.

Jackie Cochran Jackie Cochran during the Second World War. USAF

The WASP of Space The media surrounding Cobb made ample use of attention-grabbing, provocative headlines touting her as the future first woman in space. And while the articles did mention Cochran, they tended to play up her role as a key advisor. In reality, her involvement was largely financial, but she hoped to change that. She advised Lovelace to accept a wider variety of candidates, specifically some older women like herself for the sake of gathering a full data set. When it turned out she was, in her fifties, too old to train, she urged Lovelace to consider making the women’s program a large, long-term one akin to the WASP program with her in charge rather than some crash effort like the Mercury program. But all the while Cobb’s name was appearing more and more in the press, and Cochran started to feel that this younger pilot was getting preferential treatment, that she was being groomed for spaceflight and no one was telling Cochran. Finally, in May of 1961, Odlum wrote Lovelace a letter. In it, the wealthy benefactor expressed his wife’s displeasure at not being at the centre of the female astronaut program and threatened that she might walk away completely if something didn't change. Lovelace replied apologetically. He promised to give Cochran a more prominent role in the program. But Cochran seemed to have lost her enthusiasm for the women in space program and took a very different approach to the cause.

President Kennedy President Kennedy promising America a man on the Moon. NASA

**NASA Gains a Consultant and a Goal ** Around the same time on May 17, 1961, Lovelace sent a letter to the women who had passed his medical exams. After congratulations, he urged them all to prepare mentally and physically for the next phase of testing at the Naval base in Pensacola. These would be gruelling mental, psychological, and physical tests involving centrifuges and airborne EKGs. He wanted them all ready. Again, Cochran would be funding the women who could not afford the travel costs on her own. Meanwhile, Cobb campaigned NASA. Aware of reports from the Soviet Union saying the nation was preparing to launch a woman, she wrote to NASA Administrator James Webb expressing her willingness to join the astronaut corps immediately. The letter’s subtext was that she personally would secure the “first” of a woman in space. And it seemed as though NASA listened. On the evening of May 26, 1961, a conference on the peaceful use of space in Oklahoma ended with a banquet. Webb got up to speak, and though he and Cobb hadn't talked much that night she was clearly on his mind. After introducing Cobb to the attendees, Webb announced her appointment as a consultant to the agency for the role of women in space. Cobb was shocked and thrilled. She finally had an in to NASA, and a strong way to represent her cohort. Three days later, each of the Lovelace women received a letter form Cobb. It began with “Dear Fellow Lady Astronaut Trainee;” they took on the informal nickname of the FLATs from then on. Cobb echoed Lovelace's earlier letter, congratulating the women on the upcoming Pensacola testing. But another thing happened in May of 1961. President Kennedy was reeling from a double blow, the orbital flight of Yuri Gagarin on Aril 12 and the failed invasion at the Bay of Pigs between April 17 and 19. Al Shepard’s suborbital flight on May 5 was good for NASA, but it was clear the Soviets were leading in space. Kennedy wanted to level the playing field, and after consulting with NASA managements seized on the Moon as the new goal in space. Since neither nation was ready for such a mission, it put them on equal footing. On May 25, before a Joint Session of Congress, Kennedy promised America a manned lunar landing by the end of the decade. Securing congressional funding and support for the Moon landing was Webb’s job, and the program he was selling was one with astronauts who were the epitome of masculinity: rough and crass but nearly super human in strength and bravery. It was a program with national heroes as the face. He wasn’t selling a program led by a shy, petite woman with a blonde ponytail. As Webb’s work with Apollo ramped up, Cobb began to feel like the least consulted consultant in history.

Pensacola On September 12, 1961, the FLATs preparing for Pensacola got a telegram from Lovelace. It was short and to the point. The testing had been canceled, he informed the women, and would probably not continue. They could return their travel and board stipend to Cochran through him. The short note ended with a promise that he would contact them with should the situation change. Upon hearing the news, Cobb too a more active tact. She started knocking on doors in Washington but could not get to the bottom of the Pensacola cancellation; there was no paper trail. It seemed that no one had officially ordered the tests not be done, but no one had approved them either. The Navy passed the buck to NASA saying it needed agency approval to do any kind of spaceflight testing program. NASA said the lack of approval was due to there being no official requirement to pursue the program, a similarly evasive answer. As Cobb worked, she dutifully kept the agency apprised of her progress and that of the FLATs, but NASA was busily laying the groundwork for the Gemini program. For the agency tasked with landing a man on the Moon, the program dedicated to solving problems like orbital rendezvous, spacewalks, and developing the technologies that would facilitate long-durations missions was more important than a woman in space program for the moment. At the end of 1961, Webb wrote Cobb to tell her her consultancy position would not be renewed.

Cobb and Hart Cobb and Hart testifying at the subcommittee hearings. via neatorama.com

Face Off But Cobb did not lose her drive. As 1962 dawned she continued her campaign. Even with a Moon landing on the horizon, there was still a chance for NASA to launch the first woman into space. Unbeknownst to Cobb, Cochran was also campaigning for a woman in space program, only hers was a very different one. The two women, and the whole issue of women in space, came to a head in July of 1962. The three-day hearing was called by the House of Representatives Committee on Science and Astronautics to investigate the qualification of astronauts. Unofficially, the goal was to investigate whether NASA was unduly discriminating against women. There would be six witnesses: three representing the women and three from NASA. On the first day, Cobb and fellow lady astronaut trainee Janey Hart took the floor. The women were firm. Cobb argued that NASA should work to put a woman in space before the Soviet Union, that she and twelve other exceptionally accomplished female pilots had all passed the same tests as the Mercury astronauts and were ready to fly on a moment’s notice. She went on to challenge NASA’s requirement that astronauts have jet training. Surely the FLATs, who had more hours in the air than the Mercury astronauts, had equivalent experience. They would be just as successful in spaceflight training as the men had been. The third woman to take the floor that day was Cochran who arrived midway through Cobb and Hart's testimony. She took the floor last, and presented a very different argument. There was no need to rush a woman in space program, she argued. The time would come when women were needed in space, but that time was not now. For the moment, space was a man's game, like flying had been, and eventually it would be open to women. In the meantime, the FLATs should be patient and let NASA focus on the Moon. Cochran's remarks were well received by everyone save Cobb and Hart. Which was no surprise. She had cleared the statement with NASA management before the hearings and was dutifully towing the agency's line knowing it also promoted her interest of leading a long-term program. The following day NASA had the floor. Following pointed questions from congressional representatives, George Low from the Office and Manned Spaceflight acknowledged that a woman in space program would likely derail the national effort of the Moon landing program. John Glenn, just months after securing his hero status after his orbital Friendship 7 flight, reiterated NASA's position. The agency, he said, couldn’t afford a whole new training program in light of the lunar landing goal. Hiding behind this same approved line Cochran had given, NASA representatives continually pointed out that the nation was on its way to the Moon with Apollo. The ladies would have to wait their turn. The hearing was unceremoniously cut short at the end of the second day. It was an abrupt end to Cobb’s three-year fight for a place in space.

The FLATs FLATs Gene Nora Jessen, Wally Funk, Jerrie Cobb, Jerri Truhill, Sarah Rutley, Myrtle Cagle and Bernice Steadman with the shuttle Discovery in 1995. NASA","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/07/141158main_image_feature_492_ys_full.jpg?itok=cTETeMR-"
"Why You Should Be Really Excited That Juno is at Jupiter","http://www.popsci.com/why-you-should-be-really-excited-that-juno-is-at-jupiter","On July 4, NASA’s Juno spacecraft fired its engines for the 35-minute orbit insertion burn. The spacecraft’s nearly five year trek to Jupiter ended and its orbital mission began. It was an exciting moment for space nerds, but the casual observer might not have been thrilled. After all, we’ve been to Jupiter a number of times, and most people can recognize its characteristic red spot and know at least a little about its major moons. But as familiar as Jupiter might seem, Juno is only the second ever dedicated mission we’ve sent to the gas giant, this time around we stand to learn as much as Jupiter as how the elements for life ended up on Earth.

Jupiter Jupiter as seen from the Earth. NASA/Damian Peach

Jupiter is huge, well big enough to spot with the naked eye in the night sky. Because of this, astronomers been studying it for millennia, though we didn’t really start learning about the planet until the 17th century when Galileo turned a telescope on the planet in 1610 and found it hosts multiple moons. At the time, this was compelling evidence in favour of a heliocentric rather than geocentric system. Earth-based observations of Jupiter continued into the 20th century. Astronomers were able to resolve spots, colourful cloud bands moving around the planet, and even more moons. They also found of ammonia and methane in Jupiter’s absorption spectra and evidence of a formidable magnetic field around the planet. But Earth-based observations could only see so much. To really understand Jupiter, astronomers and scientists needed to take advantage of the burgeoning space age. After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, exploring space with satellites and probes moved from the realm of science fiction to science fact, though planetary science came later. The 1960s were dedicated largely to landing a man on the Moon, which meant the first probes were sent to explore our own satellite. Among the first American lunar launches was the retroactively names Pioneer 0. It launched on August 17, 1958, and didn't get anywhere close to the Moon because its launch vehicle exploded. The Pioneer program went on, and though later probes also failed to reach the Moon they did gather data on solar wind, radiation, and cosmic rays. Then the eleventh mission of the program did something different. It went to Jupiter. Pioneer 10 launched on March 3, 1972, on a trajectory that would have it fly by Jupiter and then Saturn on its way out of the Solar System. Traveling at about 82,000 miles per hour, Pioneer 10 passed within 81,000 miles of Jupiter’s cloud tops on December 3, 1973. A year later, the twin Pioneer 11 spacecraft followed suit, passing just 13,005 miles above Jupiter’s clouds. The Pioneers were the first to see Jupiter up close. It also gathered data. The Pioneer missions told us about Jupiter’s magnetic field, it’s tilt, its strong gravitational pull, the strong ring current distorts its magnetosphere, found that radiation in Jupiter’s environment is far greater than any radiation around the Earth, measured the depths of its cloud layers, and also found that Jupiter emits more heat than it receives from the Sun. These missions also found traces of a fine ring of particles around planet. All this was incredible, but it only scraped the surface.

Pioneer 10 at Jupiter Pioneer 10's closest approach to Jupiter. NASA

Even before the Pioneers reached Jupiter, NASA had approved the next major Jovian mission: another pair of flybys with the twin Voyager spacecraft as part of their Grand Tour of the Solar System. Nearly two years after launching in the fall of 1977, the Voyagers reached Jupiter. Voyager 1's closest approach came on March 5, 1979, and Voyager 2 followed on July 9. The Voyagers discovered 3 new Jovian moons, found auroral zones at the planet’s poles, and confirmed that Jupiter does have very scant rings. This mission also revealed that Jupiter's moons are just as enticing as the planet. As Voyager 1 turned around the take a parting shot of the gas giant, it caught active volcanoes erupting on Io. Not only was there more to Jupiter, there was more to its huge system of moons, too. The problem with Pioneers 10 and 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 was that all these missions were flyby. Not one could stay, falling into orbit around the planet to really get a good look at the gas giant. That dream wasn't realized until the 1990s with the Galileo mission.

Jupiter's Red Spot A Voyager view of Jupiter's red spot. NASA

Galileo launched in the payload bay of the space shuttle Atlantis and was released on a winding trajectory to Jupiter on October 18, 1989. This was a two-part. The probe was designed to fly right into Jupiter, sending back data on the planet's chemical composition and atmospheric structure, heat balance, lightning environment, and movement of energetic particles along its upper cloud layers as it plunged to its death. The Orbiter would have a longer lifetime, studying the surface morphology, composition, and magnetic and gravitational fields of Jupiter's moons to ultimately understand how the system as a whole works. Galileo revealed a lot of things including an intense radiation belt about 31,000 miles above Jupiter's cloud tops and winds traveling faster than 400 miles per hours in the atmosphere. It also found less lightning than expected, though what it did find was significantly more powerful than anything on Earth. Galileo also found Io was still volcanically active; its face had been resurfaced by erupting volcanoes since the Voyagers flew past it decades earlier. Galileo also evidence that Europa might have a subsurface ocean. But Galileo also revealed that we really didn't know Jupiter as well as we thought we did. The spacecraft found less water on Jupiter than the Voyager probes detected, which meant there was more to learn about its composition and makeup. This also meant that some leading theories about planetary formation were wrong, but without knowing what Jupiter was really made of there was no way to know which were right. Sadly, Galileo couldn't stick around indefinitely. Communications with the spacecraft ceased on February 28, 2003. The spacecraft came back to life briefly to transmit some final data as it plunged into Jupiter’s thick clouds on September 21. The Galileo mission left us needing to know more about Jupiter, but NASA set its sights elsewhere and we were left with flyby missions. The Ulysses, Cassini, and New Horizons spacecraft all gathered data about Jupiter during flybys that sent them on trajectories to their primary targets of the Sun, Saturn, and Pluto respectively. But the next phase of Jupiter research wasn't far behind.

Juno at Jupiter An artist's concept of NASA's Juno spacecraft at Jupiter NASA","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/07/juno20130307a_1024-768.jpg?itok=ftpR9L79"
"Why Does a Rocket Need to Roll Going Into Orbit?","http://www.popsci.com/why-does-rocket-need-to-roll-going-into-orbit","By the time the Sun rose a little after 7 o’clock in the morning on December 21, 1968, people were already gathered on beaches and stopped on backroads near NASA's Kennedy Space Centre. The crew of Apollo 8 was already strapped into their command module, and as sunlight spread over the scene the launch countdown moved steadily forward. The voice over the loudspeaker told the crowds that the guidance computer was making its final checks for the flight azimuth, then, at T-minus eight seconds announced that the ignition sequence had started. At 7:51 that morning, the Saturn V lumbered off the launch pad, gaining speed as it climbed higher. Fourteen seconds later, commander Frank Borman called “roll and pitch program.” Astute viewers would have seen the rocket rolling around its vertical axis and wondered why - the rocket looked symmetrical, so why did it have to roll before pitching over into orbit? Those observers would have asked themselves a very interesting question.

Apollo 8 Viewing Crowds gathered to watch Apollo 8 leave the Earth for the first manned mission to the Moon. NASA/Apollo Image Gallery

To understand why the Saturn V had a roll program, we have to start where its journey began: on the launch pad. The launch pads at Launch Complex 39 in Florida were built such that they lined up with the cardinal directions of north, south, east, and west. The flame trench under the pad pointed north and south, and the umbilical tower that held the rocket until it left the Earth sat north of the rocket. The astronauts, lying supine on their couches, had their head pointed due east, which meant that the command module's hatch also pointed east. From here, we can easily understand another key part of this question which is the three axes of the Saturn V. Like any machine that moves through the air, the Saturn V had three axes around which it could rotate: the x, y, and z axes. The x-axis is the vertical one running from top to bottom; this is the axis of roll. The y-axis is the axis of yaw, which runs through the middle of the rocket going north to south. The z-axis is perpendicular to the y-axis, running east to west. This is the pitch axis and the one we need to talk about next.

Apollo 8 on the launch pad Apollo 8's Saturn V seen from the south with the tower sitting due north. NASA/Apollo Image Gallery

Engineers have known for ages that the simplest way to put a payload into orbit is to have a rocket launch straight up then pitch over to the east. This takes advantage of the Earth's rotation for a more effective flight. But the Saturn V wasn't taking Apollo into orbit, it was taking Apollo to the Moon, and this is where the launch get a little trickier. The Earth's axis is tilted about 23 degrees relative to the plane of the ecliptic, the plane in which all the planets rotate. So a spacecraft orbiting the Earth’s equator will periodically pass above and below the ecliptic. Like that spacecraft, the Moon also orbits the Earth, but not around the equator. The plane of the Moon’s orbit is tilted with respect to the Earth’s rotation, and the exact degree of tilt changes depending on where the Moon is in its orbit. It's possible to fly from an orbit around the Earth's equator to the Moon, but changing inclinations between the two bodies not only take a lot of fuel, it makes flying on a free-return trajectory — a trajectory that will have the spacecraft slingshot back from around the Moon — impossible. So NASA chose to start lunar missions with the spacecraft in an inclined orbit around the Earth that would simplify the flight to the Moon. And here's where it gets even more complicated and fun.

Apollo 8 going into orbit Apollo 8 begins pitching over into orbit. NASA

By calculating a mission trajectory based on a specific lunar landing site, mission planners knew exactly what orbit an Apollo spacecraft had to launch into around the Earth. This was known as the flight azimuth, simply the direction the rocket needed to fly relative to true north on Earth to make it into that desired orbit. So the launch azimuth is calculated with respect to the cardinal directions, and the rocket is aligned to the same cardinal directions on the launch pad. At the same time, NASA wanted the Saturn V to take the simple “up and pitch over"" path into orbit. The solution was, thus, pretty simple: roll the rocket so its orientation lined up with the launch azimuth, then start a simple pitch program. And that's exactly what the Saturn V did.

The Instrument Unit Apollo 6's massive Instrument Unit being installed. NASA

The whole launch was guided by guidance platform inside the Instrument Unit that sat above the S-IVB upper stage on the Saturn V. This gimbal-mounted guidance platform used three nested gyroscopes to hold a preprogrammed orientation, in this case the launch azimuth. The gyros, spinning rapidly, resist rotation of their axes, so as the rocket flies, the gyros feel the force of any attempted rotation, and servo motors respond by maintaining the platform's desired orientation, which keeps the rocket flying on its heading. The flight azimuth, calculated for each specific mission based on launch time and lunar landing site, was programmed into the IU's guidance computer sometime after the rocket switched to internal power. This alignment was held using a theodolite about 689 feet due south of the launch pad; it shined a light through a window on the IU that helped it keep steady. And this had a very interesting effect. Before the IU was held to the launch azimuth by the theodolite, it was free, so if you could stand by the launch pad and watch a Saturn V for a full day, you would see the Instrument Unit appear to make a full turn when, really, it was the rest of the rocket turning with the Earth.

Apollo 14's Yaw Apollo 14 goes through the scary-looking yaw program, tilting away from the tower. NASA

At T-minus 17 seconds -- 17 seconds before launch -- the guidance platform was released from the theodolite. The call was usually ""guidance is internal"" though formally this moment was known as ""guidance reference release."" From this point on, the IU was going to keep the Saturn V on its launch azimuth no matter what. About one second after launch, the Saturn V made its first flight manoeuvre. The yaw program was the disconcerting-looking tilt of the rocket away from the launch tower, a move designed to protect it from any swing arms that failed to move away or a strong gust of wind. About 12 seconds after launch came the second manoeuvre, the roll program. This had the rocket roll to align itself with the launch azimuth as prescribed by the guidance computer, which was usually at a bearing of 72 degrees. The next manoeuvre was the relatively simple pitch program. The rocket slowly took on a horizontal flight path that, combined with the roll, would put the Apollo spacecraft in the perfect spot for its trip to the Moon.

STS-129 Roll The orbiter Atlantis going through its roll program, flying ""upside-down"" with antennas pointing to Earth on its way into orbit. NASA","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2016/07/s68-27365.jpg?itok=TbXrVq29"
"Why Did NASA Still Use Pure Oxygen After the Apollo 1 Fire?","http://www.popsci.com/why-did-nasa-still-use-pure-oxygen-after-apollo-1-fire","On January 27, 1967, the crew of Apollo 1 was killed during a routine pre-launch test. A wire arced in the spacecraft, and that spark turned into a raging fire in the pressurized pure oxygen environment. Eighteen months later, the crew of Apollo 7 became the first to fly the revised Apollo spacecraft, but when they removed their helmets in orbit, they did so in a pure oxygen environment. Why, if a pure oxygen environment had claimed the lives of three astronauts already, did NASA not change the cabin environment following the Apollo 1 fire? Well, it did and it didn’t, and the resulting change had as much to do with the Cold War as astronaut safety.

Walt Cunningham in orbit Walt Cunningham in the pure oxygen environment on board Apollo 7. NASA

Not long after President Kennedy promised America the Moon on May 25, 1961, NASA released a Request for Proposals to industry contractors hoping to build the spacecraft that would take men to the Moon. Included in the proposal was the provision that the spacecraft environment be a mixed gas one, an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere akin to the air we breathe. In November of 1961, NASA awarded North American Aviation the coveted Apollo contract, and this winning proposal included this mixed gas environment. But a year later NASA changed its mind. As the pieces of Apollo were starting to take shape, weight was fast becoming an issue. Weight is a huge consideration for any mission leaving the Earth. A heavier spacecraft needs a bigger booster to get it off the ground, but if that booster is too big it won’t be able to lift itself off the ground, too. In the case of Apollo, the first stage of the Saturn V rocket had to lift itself and everything on top of it — the second and third stages as well as the command-service and lunar modules — off the ground. Any additional weight at the top of the stack would demand more pounds of thrust at the bottom to get the whole thing on its way to the Moon.

Apollo 9's Launch The massive Saturn V takes the Apollo 9 command-service and lunar modules into orbit... you can barely see them in this picture the rocket it so much bigger than its payload! NASA

NASA realized that the tanks needed to hold both oxygen and nitrogen along with the associated hardware and plumbing to deliver the gases into the crew cabin came with a significant weight penalty. Not to mention it was complicated. Managing the dual gas environment meant developing a sophisticated sensing system able to detect and react to minute changes in the gas balance, a system that would add weight. A single gas environment, on the other hand, was much simpler and lighter needing only a sensor to monitor that the cabin was remained properly pressurized. Lighter and simpler trumped heavier and more complicated, and NASA reversed its initial decision. Apollo would go to the Moon using pure oxygen in the crew cabin. North American wasn’t keen on the change. For the contractor, the simplicity of a single gas system wasn't worth the risk. North American knew — as did many engineers at NASA — that a spark in a pure oxygen environment could quickly grow into a raging fire. NASA countered by pointing to the pressure onboard the spacecraft. At just five pounds per square inch, the density was so low that even a pure oxygen environment wouldn't support a fire a trained crew couldn't handle. Not to mention, by this point in mid-1962, NASA had launched four Mercury missions using pure oxygen in the cabin without incident. Why change something that wasn't broken? There was no need to further complicate a spacecraft on a complicated lunar mission.

Apollo Boilerplate Command Module Apollo Boilerplate Command Module #6 after a pad abort test on November 7, 1963. NASA/Apollo Image Gallery

Ultimately, NASA had final say. Director of the Manned Spacecraft Centre Robert Gilruth made the switch from a dual to a single gas environment official with a formal contract change notice signed on August 28, 1962. North American proceeded according to NASA’s direction, but not without incident. In April of 1966, a fire in the environmental control system of a command module under construction caused significant hardware damage, but this didn't reopen the question of the crew cabin environment. Much of the damage was attributed to a commercial grade strip heater inside the cabin, and since this wan't flight hardware the fire was largely dismissed. It did, however, prompt North American to revisit the amount and placement of flammable materials in the spacecraft to ensure no combustible materials were too close to electrical systems. NASA also had North American make design changes to eliminate fire hazards stemming from fluid leaks, overheating lamps, and large areas of exposed fabric and foam. But these changes were only made in the lunar-capable Block II model of the Apollo spacecraft, not the earlier Block I model that would fly Earth orbital missions. And Apollo 1 was a Block I Earth orbital flight. So not only was Apollo 1's spacecraft less fire-resistant than later incarnations on the day of the fire, the atmosphere on the day of the fire wasn't the same low density of pure oxygen it would be in flight. To mimic the five pounds per square inch in space, the cabin was pressurized to 16 psi at sea level; this created the equivalent pressure difference between the spacecraft and the outside environment. This was the recipe for disaster. During a routine test, a spark ignited all the cabin materials that had been soaking in oxygen for hours. The crew died of smoke inhalation and the spacecraft was destroyed.

Damage from the Apollo 1 fire View of the inside of the spacecraft's charred remains following the fatal fire. NASA

The Apollo 1 accident investigation prompted NASA to revisit the spacecraft's pure oxygen environment, the benefits of the simpler and lighter single gas system and a low density flight environment remained. The real problem, NASA reasoned, was the high pressure at sea level, something that only happened before launch. And so the proposal was raised by Max Faget, one of the pioneering engineers behind the blunt body capsule spacecraft, that NASA change the only the launch atmosphere of the spacecraft. He suggested replacing pure oxygen with a mixed gas atmosphere, either oxygen-nitrogen or oxygen-helium in a 60:40 ratio. This mixed atmosphere could be bled out during ascent into orbit and replaced with pure oxygen. It would demand only minimal changes to the spacecraft and wouldn't affect the crew; they would be breathing their own pure oxygen supply at launch as usual. NASA accepted this proposal on March 14, 1968, and selected nitrogen as the diluting gas there were fewer questions about how onboard systems would interact with nitrogen than helium.

Apollo 17 in flight Gene Cernan and Ron Evans during their flight back from the Moon in 1972. NASA","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2015/10/21716677338_4bc58e1bb3_o.jpg?itok=KL-4EK8W"
"A Ban on Autonomous Killer Robots Is Inevitable","http://www.popsci.com/ban-autonomous-killer-robots-inevitable","Last week, the Future of Life Institute (FLI) released an open letter calling for a ban on autonomous weapons. The institute defines these as systems that can “elect and engage targets without human intervention,” and proposes that, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has reached a point where the deployment of such systems is—practically if not legally—feasible within years, not decades...”

But the content of that letter is pretty irrelevant. It's a breezy, 437-word document that's more Facebook post than rallying cry. It's also the second such warning about the dangers of AI that FLI has made this year. In January, they issued an open letter about AI safety, referencing issues of privacy and workplace injury, as well as the existential threat of machines that might wipe out humankind. That document attracted widespread attention, in large part due to famous signatories like Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking. Now, both have also signed the new letter.

But Musk and Hawking's involvement isn't of much note, either. They've gone on the record in the past with shrill and unsupported fears of AI, using the language and logic of science fiction rather than any research-based conclusions. Their bias is established, and despite their clear brilliance in other matters, the topic is outside of their professional and academic purview. Hawking studies high-energy physics, and most famously fretted over AI in an op-ed tied to the 2014 movie Transcendence. And Musk's many futuristic ventures don't yet include AI. Even the co-founders of Vicarious, the AI firm that Musk has personally invested in, have effectively debunked his claims that researchers are actually working to avoid an apocalyptic outbreak of runaway machine intelligence.

So what's important about FLI's letter, if not its content, or its most prominent signatories?

It's that virtually every major player in AI and robotics has endorsed it. The growing army of signatories signatories currently includes more than 50 Google engineers and researchers, many of who are from DeepMind, the AI firm that Google acquired last year for $400M. Also on the list are Yann LeCun, director of AI research for Facebook, and Yoshua Bengio, an AI researcher from the University of Montreal. They're pioneers in the field of deep learning, a subset of AI that's often associated with the potential to create truly human-like machine intelligence. When I interviewed them for a story about the dangers of AI fear-mongering, they viewed such handwringing as largely irrelevant, and detrimental to the field. In Bengio's case, he even worried about researchers being targeted by people tricked into seeing AI as an apocalyptic threat. And yet, the very people who are concerned about the increasing backlash against anything robotic are on board with the idea of banning autonomous weapons.

What we're seeing is the beginning of an inevitability.

What we're seeing is the beginning of an inevitability. The open letter comes on the heels of the second United Nations conference on the subject of banning lethal autonomous weapon systems, or LAWS (an unfortunate acronym, in the context of a ban). Those meetings have yet to produce a binding agreement or proposal, and were presented as an ongoing discussion, rather than a prelude to political. But the final line of FLI's letter is more direct. “Starting a military AI arms race is a bad idea, and should be prevented by a ban on offensive autonomous weapons beyond meaningful human control.”

Human rights groups want these systems banned. A huge number of AI researchers and roboticists do, too. That consensus is only going to get bigger as autonomous killing machines become more feasible, or actually find their way onto the battlefield. This is a doomed technology.

The questions that remain, however, are not trivial, or obvious: What exactly are we banning, and when?

* * *

The central goal of the anti-autonomous weapons movement can be summed up in a single term: meaningful human control.

You can read a lot into those three words, including some misconceptions. There are fringe elements within their ranks, but most critics of LAWS aren't afraid of a Terminator-style robot uprising. The desire to control armed machines is about preserving the human decision to kill. There are philosophical reasons for not allowing robots to determine when to use lethal force—that it should be a hard decision, for example, with an emotional cost—as well as more practical concerns. FLI's letter warns about the risk of proliferation, that with their eventual low cost and inherent ease of use, “autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow.” If a swarm of disposable bomb-carrying robots can be fielded by anyone, then what prevents their use by everyone?

Heather Roff, a political scientist and visiting professor at the University of Denver, also worries about LAWS creating a new class of blameless atrocity, where the killing of bystanders or surrendering hostiles can be chalked up to a glitch. “Suddenly everything becomes an accident,” says Roff. “There is no more definition of war crime, because there's no intention.” The line between the misuse of autonomous force and a genuine malfunction already seems hopelessly blurred, even before LAWS have reached the battlefield.

In 2013, a UK-based nonprofit called Article 26 coined the term “meaningful human control,” in an attempt to pin down what critics of autonomous weapons are actually seeking. But as effective as the term has been in unifying anti-LAWS sentiment, there's no real sense of what it means. “It gives us a really useful analytical framework,” says Hoff. “In the past year, meaningful human control was cited very often, in papers and presentations. Right now, the question is, Yeah, we all like the way it sounds, but what does it mean?”

So Roff and Article 26 are collaborating on a research project to explore the specific parameters of meaningful human control. That includes giving the anti-LAWS community a more concrete sense of what it's against, to help codify what it's proposing. For the past six months, Roff has been building a database of semi-automated killers, starting with systems from the five nations that export and import the most weapons. “Everybody discusses artificial intelligence and autonomous weapons and semi autonomous weapons,” says Roff, “but there seems to be a lacuna of what that means, and what we're talking about.”","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/drone_with_handgun.jpg?itok=DrRDoSvB"
"The DARPA Robotics Challenge Was A Bust","http://www.popsci.com/darpa-robotics-challenge-was-bust-why-darpa-needs-try-again","Your Second Place Winner Moments after finishing its prize-winning run at the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals, Team IHMC's Atlas humanoid stopped showboating, and took an unexpected spill. Erik Sofge

It's been close to a month since the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) wrapped up. That's time enough to face facts. The biggest and most well-funded international robotics competition in years was a failure. That doesn't feel good to write. The DRC was a huge undertaking, spanning years and costing millions. The competition had a noble goal—the development of robots that can better respond to disasters—and it attracted many of the world's smartest and most accomplished roboticists. And I know I'm not speaking truth to power, by pointing out the disappointments of the DRC. Despite an increase in acquisitions, investments and recruiting in the last few years, robotics is a field comprised mostly of underdogs. If anything, I'm kicking sand in the faces of researchers who've spent nearly three years losing sleep, neglecting loved ones, and generally pouring their lives into building and programming machines that wound up looking almost universally unimpressive. Of the 24 robots that showed up to compete in last week's DRC Finals in Pomona, California, only a few made it through the challenge course on their feet. As a result, the biggest news out of the DRC seems to be a parade of GIFs of robots falling. One bot fell so hard, its head popped off. But don't pity these bumbling robots. If the DRC hadn't been so rife with slapstick, it would have put everyone to sleep. After all, the robot that racked up the most points, in the least amount of time, took nearly 45 minutes to complete a series of eight tasks that my kindergarten-age daughter could probably accomplish in 10 minutes. The biggest and most well-funded international robotics competition in years was a failure. And, all due to respect to my human offspring, that's not a compliment. DRC-Hubo, the triumphant, 5-foot 9-inch humanoid robot fielded by South Korea's Team KAIST, spent most of its time on the open-air challenge course—a long stretch of dirt leading to a mock facility about the size of a single-bedroom apartment—doing nothing, in one place or another. It started its competition-winning run strong, by driving about as well as a person might, and getting out of its modified Polaris utility vehicle more quickly, and with fewer awkward starts and stops, than any other robot at the event. Then DRC-Hubo dropped down onto its wheeled knees, rolled slowly up to the closed door that represented the entrance to the simulated facility, and froze. For long minutes the most capable robot in the DRC prepared for the daunting task of turning a handle, and pushing a door. Eventually, it did both of those things, and the crowd in the stands at the Fairplex erupted in cheers. Anyone just arriving at the event—making their way up the escalator, or grabbing a hot dog before heading out to the seats—might have heard that roar and imagined robots vaulting over rubble, or bashing through a concrete wall. But the DRC's threshold for cheer-worthy feats was considerably lower. Some robots never made it to that door. One humanoid model collapsed in the opening seconds of the competition, and kept falling until its team pulled it off the course. Another humanoid tipped over while exiting the Polaris, and damaged itself so grievously that it literally bled, leaving behind a pool of oil for DARPA staffers and team members to scrub away. And those machines who conquered the door had to contend with such hazards as a floor with a two-to-three degree slope, and a path obstructed by precisely eight pieces of debris. This was a contest whose entries were so incompetent, at least compared to humans, that simply opening that door counted as a legitimate victory. This wasn't the DRC that DARPA originally pitched. In April 2012, when the agency first outlined the scope and parameters of the competition, it seemed impossible. DARPA appears to have taken down its original news release, but this is how Virginia Tech described the event's tasks, when it announced its own participating team. Pay special attention to the last of the eight proposed tasks:

1. Get into a standard human vehicle and drive it to a specified location.

2. Get out of the vehicle and travel across rubble.

3. Clear obstacles from a doorway.

4. Open the door, and enter the building.

5. Find a leaking pipe and close the associated valve.

6. Reconnect a hose or cable.

7. Climb a ladder.

8. Grab a tool from the site, break through a concrete wall and exit.

If the DRC had included robots breaking through concrete walls, forget about cheering crowds. The Fairplex would have exploded, and the competition would have had television ratings that rivaled the Olympics. But the DRC Finals were a study in compromise, and while DARPA always warned that the competition's rules would remain secret and mutable right up to the end, only one of those eight, proposed tasks remained intact. Here's a task-by-task breakdown:

1. Get into a standard human vehicle and drive it to a specified location.

Getting into the vehicles was not part of the final event—teams could carefully load and position their robot before the clock started. And those vehicles weren't “standard,” since all of the Polaris utility vehicles used in the DRC featured improved suspensions to support heavier loads, and all but one of those vehicles was modified to allow robots to drive and/or exit the vehicle.

2. Get out of the vehicle and travel across rubble.

The robots were required to egress, but there was no rubble between them and the door.

3. Clear obstacles from a doorway.

Never happened. Instead, for the seventh of the eight total tasks, robots had to reach the mock facility's exit by either dealing with a stretch of floor obstructed by eight pieces of debris, or by traversing a path comprised of cinder blocks.

4. Open the door, and enter the building.

This is the only task that wasn't explicitly or implicitly downgraded.

5. Find a leaking pipe and close the associated valve.

Though one of the tasks did involve rotating a circular valve a full 360 degrees, it was the only valve in the course. The notion that robots would be locating one valve out of many didn't apply.

6. Reconnect a hose or cable.

Reconnecting a hose sounds pretty cool, doesn't it? Imagine the fine motor skills required to pull that off, and with little to no direct control from remote human operators, since DARPA also promised to degrade communication signals, and therefore demand more autonomy of its robot participants. Instead, there was a surprise task. On the first day, it was a big switch that had to pulled down. On the second day, it was a cable plugged into the wall, that had to be removed and plugged into another socket. But these were props, essentially, with no prongs to contend with. They were held in place with magnets, like an industrial-size version of a MacBook's MagSafe power adapter.

7. Climb a ladder.

Though not the most promising visual in the DRC, as originally described (that's coming up next), robots climbing ladders would have been stunning. And the actual task of ascending a ladder would have been maybe the most technically challenging aspect of the competition, requiring a tremendous amount of strength in various components, and an unprecedented combination of manipulation (to grasp the rungs) and limbed mobility. Instead, the DRC's final task was to climb a total of four stairs.

8. Grab a tool from the site, break through a concrete wall and exit.

Try to picture this happening. A humanoid robot picks up a tool—teams initially assumed it would be a Sawzall—buzzes through a wall, and leaves the course through a hole made with its own autonomous brains and mechanical might. This was going to be the showstopper. Humans would have run in terror, wept with joy, or at least paid attention to the biggest robotic competition that the world has seen since DARPA's last, historic robot contest, the Urban Challenge, a driverless car race held in 2007. But in the DRC that we actually got, the minority of robots who survived long enough to reach the power tools, which were screwdrivers, not saws, had to carve a small hole in a wall (as indicated by a circle) and then move on. The resulting holes would have been big enough for a frightened cat to scramble through, or for a trapped human to stick his or her head out, and yell at the robot that's slowly—ever so slowly—inching towards the exit. * * * There were signs along the way that DARPA's experiment had fizzled. At the DRC Trials, held in Miami in 2013, robots were given up to 30 minutes for each of their eight tasks. Most used at least of half of that alotted time, making for runs that felt endless, and were only possible because of their attached power cords. More worrying still, some robots simply skipped the trickier tasks, such as driving. And during a telephone briefing this past March, DRC program director Gill Pratt stated that, during the finals, robots would not have to get into vehicles on their own. He also mentioned that, as in the trials, some teams might opt to forfeit the points associated with driving. But Pratt spoke at length during that call about the issue of falling. “If they do fall down, they're going to have to get up on their own,” he said. In the DRC Trials, robots had safety belays that prevented them from hitting the ground. But those cords were being cut for the finals. “We're trying to make this contest more authentic, to what a real disaster would be like, where of course human beings couldn't suddenly go in to rescue the robot in a disaster zone,” Pratt said. When pressed further about how falling would be handled in the competition's final stage, Pratt went on:

DARPA tries hard things. This is actually the part of the contest that I think is the most difficult, and has not been done before. And so we'll see what happens. It will be very exciting. What still remains to be seen is how they will recover from falls. So if I were to give advice to the teams, I would say fall down now. And get up now. And let's sort of see how that works. And don't be afraid to break your robot because it fell. Because that's almost certain to happen during the challenge, if your robot is of the type of design that it can fall.

Pratt cited CMU's CHIMP as an example of a robot that, by design, essentially could not fall. The 443-pound machine is statically stable, meaning that, unlike the systems that used bipedal walking to get around, it doesn't have to actively maintain balance. Even if CHIMP were to unexpectedly power down, it wouldn't topple. “And for those teams who don't have to worry about that, well, maybe you made the right choice,” Pratt added. The more Pratt talked about falling, however, the less punitive it sounded. Despite initially saying that the robots would have to get up on their own, he later conceded that teams might be able to put it back on its feet, and simply take a time penalty. This would roughly simulate a situation where disaster responders have more than one robot to work with, and would be able to deploy a backup system should the first one go down. There were signs along the way that DARPA's experiment had fizzled. Still, Pratt was enthusiastic about the prospect of seeing robots rise from the ground from falls, noting that, for the bots that advanced to the finals without competing in the 2013 trials, it was almost mandatory. “Having a machine get up from prone was one of the qualification tasks that all of the new teams have done. That said, we did not push the teams too far, to have to demonstrate that they can also survive a fall. It's not just the fact that you can get up from lying down, you also have to be able to not get hurt when you fall down,” Pratt said. “I haven't seen very much of that yet. It will be neat to see which teams can pull that off and which can't.” Pratt was right: For the majority of the robots in the DRC Finals, falling was a certainty. But his prescient advice, to practice falling and recovering before the competition, was blatantly ignored. None of the teams rehearsed that scenario in full, without a safety tether, prior to showing up in Pomona. And though the media was invited, and then disinvited to attend the pre-event test runs, where DARPA could assess the overall capability of the robots, whatever the organizers saw there convinced them to hobble the competition yet again. Robots were not forced to get up on their own. Nearly every team whose machine tumbled simply ate the 10 minute time penalty. Some did so multiple times, implying a scenario where responders bring an entire squad of identical, blundering bots to a disaster, knowing full well that they're liable to faceplant while facing such harrowing obstacles as a door handle, or a handful of stairs. As for the late-addition teams for whom getting up from prone was a mandatory requirement, that capability was MIA at the competition. When robots hit the ground at the DRC, which was constantly, they didn't get up. They either lay there like corpses, or continued whatever movement they were engaged in before the seemingly inevitable loss of balance. As the falls kept coming, the state of humanoid robotics was exposed, in all its disappointing fragility. The already unfortunate impression that we were watching cybernetic hybrids of ungainly toddlers and disoriented seniors became, against all odds, even worse, when these would-be disaster responders waited for a bunch of humans to hoist them upright. Time and again, the spectators watched team members and DARPA officials struggling with cables and gantries, and putting their backs into this effort—remember, most of the these bots weighed between 200 and 400 pounds—while the powered-down robots did nothing. The sole exception was CHIMP, one of the robots that was supposedly incapable of falling. To everyone's surprise, it did, having left its arms extended forward after opening the door, and encountering that two-to-three-degree disparity between the ground outside and inside of the mock facility. The robot's center of gravity was momentarily non-optimal. Down went CHIMP.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2015/06/running_man_falls_down_at_the_drc.jpg?itok=rns41187"
"Robots Walking, Robots Toppling, and other Photos from the DARPA Robotics Challenge","http://www.popsci.com/robots-walking-robots-falling-and-other-photos-darpa-robotics-challenge-photos","Since each team was allowed two runs--one on Friday, and one on Saturday--and the robots with the best scores would be on their parallel, identical courses at roughly the same time, the assumption was that the most exciting runs would take place on Saturday evening. But CHIMP's run on Friday was the most dramatic of either night, and arguably the highlight of the entire DRC. The five-foot-tall robot took extra time egressing from its Polaris, fell while entering the facility (which was considered impossible, given its stable posture and use of tracked movement instead of walking), and had trouble cutting through the wall. Finally, CHIMP struggled on the final task, its 443-pound frame sliding back down the stairs, and at one point shoving the entire platform forward. The crowd screamed and cheered throughout, as did CMU's Tartan Rescue. As CHIMP's time crept closer to the one-hour mark, Herman Herman (center), the new director of CMU's National Robotics Engineering Center, told his fellow team members, ""Take a deep breath. Just keep breathing."" CHIMP conquered the stairs, and ultimately took third place at the DRC, winning $500,000.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2015/06/escher_at_the_drc.jpg?itok=P8PZlefk"
"Robots Are Terrible At Driving Cars","http://www.popsci.com/robots-arent-cars-are-bad-driving-cars","RoboSimian at the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals Erik Sofge

From the very beginning of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals, it was obvious that driving was going to be a problem for the robot contestants. The very first robots to take the field this past Friday at the Fairplex in Pomona, California showed up without their modified Polaris utility vehicles. These machines were hoofing it, using their own legs to gradually make their way down a dirt strip meant to simulate part of a disaster zone too perilous for humans. It turned out to be pretty perilous for robots, too. By not even getting into the cars, these teams were already conceding defeat in the two-day Pentagon-funded competition. In a contest whose winners were determined by a combination speed and points, they were giving up a full quarter of the total available points, and spending long minutes struggling down a stretch of track that might have taken a couple of minutes to drive across. Worse still, most of the robots in that first batch wound up tipping over, giving the internet its first taste of the falling-robot blooper reels to come. These teams lost the finals as soon as they had kicked off, and kept sending the machines they'd worked with for years back onto the course, to hit the dirt, again and again. That's how bad most robots are at driving cars. The majority of the DRC teams that were brave enough to put their machines in vehicles had to employ genuinely zany contraptions to make the Polarises robot-ready. The Atlas robot, for example, is a six-foot-tall humanoid, with two arms and two legs. DARPA provided Atlases to multiple teams, and among the two dozen teams that made it to the finals, six were using their own lightly-modified versions of the same robot. And yet, Atlas couldn't sit in the driver's seat like the rest of us humanoids. It's lack of flexibility, and its bulky upper body, which incorporates a huge, backpack-like battery, forced it to sit side-saddle in the passenger seat, with its legs draped over the outside of the vehicle. That was just the beginning of Atlas's driving indignities. Reach the accelerator was a challenge, even with the robot's long, ape-ish arms. So Team TRACLabs fitted its Atlas with the upper limb equivalent of a peg leg, a wooden stump with a rod that could poke the pedal. Actually, it didn't poke the pedal itself, but the wooden blocks that the team positioned in front of the accelerator. And to steer the Polaris, TRACLabs built an even more arcane setup, connected the steering wheel to a piece of wood that was bolted to the vehicle's roll cage, for reasons that were no doubt ingenious, but beyond my comprehension. Another Atlas team somehow drove its vehicle by gripping a dog toy attached to cables.

Team TRACLabs opted for a non-gripping stump at the DRC to press a vehicle's accelerator, and turn door handles. Erik Sofge

Among other things, the robots at the DRC were facing a manipulation challenge. Perception was also an issue, but only to a point, since the vehicles had a 10 mph speed limit, and the driving section of the course was a simple strip of dirt with three Jersey barriers to navigate around. Any machine with a laser rangefinder—a standard-issue sensor for many robots, including driverless cars—can perceive that environment. Getting out of the Polaris was a huge risk, and many robots took disastrous spills while doing just that. But it was the ability to physically operate the vehicle's controls that required MacGyver-ing from most of the teams, including Carnegie Mellon University's CHIMP. Despite having vaguely human-like three-fingered manipulators capable of gripping a door handle or a power tool (which were two of the eight total tasks in the competition), it was easier for the robot to steer with something that wasn't built for manipulation at all. CHIMP turned the Polaris by pressing rubber track in its arm against the steering wheel, and running it forwards or backwards. Normally that track is used in concert with the robot's three other tracks, when drives around on all fours. But in the vehicle, it became a makeshift gripper, while CHIMP's two actual grippers went unused. CMU's robot also had a special lever to reach the pedals, which would detach from its leg after use.

“When people see a robot driving a vehicle, they are bewildered.""

Smart as these workarounds are, they're also a sign of the surprisingly slow progress of robotic manipulation. When details of the DRC were announced in 2012, driving seemed like an odd, but integral part of the competition. Battery power for large robots is scarce—more battery cells equals more weight, which is always problematic--and machines that respond to disasters shouldn't be burning their limited energy supply by walking, crawling or rolling for long stretches en route their destination. DARPA's proposed solution is simple: commandeer a vehicle. Human response teams at the edge of the disaster zone could help the bot into a vehicle, and send it into the fray. Once the robot couldn't drive any further, due to debris, or the need to go indoors, it would extricate itself and carry on using its built-in mobility. And by making driving and egress (getting out of the vehicle) two separate tasks, representing two out of a total of eight possible points that teams can score during the DRC Finals, DARPA further emphasized the competition's goal of developing robots that can function in environments that weren't specifically made for them. And since power tools were another part of the competition, you didn't have to be a roboticist to envision a bunch of machines with dextrous, human-like hands, similar to the five-fingered manipulators on NASA's Robonaut. But the only robot at the DRC Finals with five-fingered hands was Team NEDO-Hydra's, which didn't compete because it wasn't finished. Rather than pushing teams to advance that state of the art in manipulation, DARPA kept lowering the bar, downgrading from Sawzalls to drills, a tool that no one would actually use to cut a large hole in a wall, and allowing more and more modifications to vehicles. As a result, the majority of the robots wound up with limited lower-body flexibility, and most had three fingers and very little articulation to work with. They were using claws, basically. This led to the universally inhuman, and inefficient gripping of power tools. In order to cut a hole in a wall, many robots had to hold their drill sideways, using the equivalent of their thumb to press the trigger. NASA's RoboSimian had no fingers at all, but rather two pairs of comma-shaped hooks at the end of its limbs. The hooks only rotate forward when needed. According to Brett Kennedy, RoboSimian team leader and head of robotics research at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this design is intentionally simple, to avoid breakdowns while a rover is exploring an asteroid, comet or other remote location, where repairs are impossible. It might have been a little simple for the DRC, though. In the second and final day of competition, RoboSimian had difficulty removing a plug from one socket, and pressing it into another. The plug eventually fell out of the robot's gripper, and the team abandoned the task.

Most of the Atlas robots at the DRC drove side-saddle. Some, like Team Trooper's adopted even stranger postures. Erik Sofge

Then again, RoboSimian was the least fussy driver in the DRC, despite its bizarre grippers. Each of the robot's four identical limbs has seven joints, giving it an incredible amount of flexibility. While other bots had to deal with the fact that their arms were more rigid than a human's, and had far less range of motion, RoboSimian folded one limb into position, grabbed the center of the steering wheel, and rotated. It could also snake a hind limbs down to reach the pedals on its own, and the 275-pound, 4.5-foot-tall robot was small enough to fit in the Polaris without removing the roll bars. “It's the only robot in the finals that can drive a stock vehicle,” says Kennedy. There were other good drivers at the competition, including Metal Rebel, the Hubo humanoid run by the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. Team leader Paul Oh knew that his bot was an underdog, but he wanted to showcase its driving skills. “When people see a robot driving a vehicle, they are bewildered,” says Oh. “It inspires wonder, which is what our lab is modeled on.” Despite being essentially unfunded (some teams received millions from DARPA over the past three years), UNLV's bot made it into the DRC's top 10 scores, and finished the driving challenge in less than a minute. Based on practice runs that Oh conducted with his students, that's how long many humans would have taken. In fact, he's committed to the long-term goal of creating robots that can take command of a non-robotic vehicle. “If you can drive a utility vehicle, why can't you drive a forklift or a tractor? Or maybe a boat, if the captain or pilot is incapacitated,” says Oh. “You could use a robot to take over the stick, and get that ship or spaceship or aircraft to safety.”

“You could use a robot to take over the stick...""","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/robosimian_egressing_at_the_drc.jpg?itok=pkxl2Wu4"
"Meet Hydra, The Coolest Robot Not Competing In The DARPA Robotics Challenge","http://www.popsci.com/meet-hydra-coolest-robot-not-competing-darpa-robotics-challenge","Hydra Erik Sofge

There's a tragedy taking place at the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals. At a competition filled with stunning humanoid robots, one machine stands out. It's called Hydra. It's six feet tall, 200 pounds, utterly nightmarish in design, and proof that life is unfair. Hydra wasn't finished in time to take the field at the Fairplex in Pomona, California. Instead, it's hanging in the team garage, the hangar-like building that, apart from a few tours, is off-limits to the public. Media can only enter if a team invites them in. Hydra, in other words, is languishing in obscurity.

Hydra has two additional white cover plates for its arms, but Team NEDO-Hydra removed them, to show off the hydraulic pumps in the robot's limbs. Erik Sofge

There's no telling how Hydra might have performed on the simulated disaster course, had it been ready to compete. It's an ambitious design, though, that uses oil-based hydraulics instead of standard electric motors (the inspiration for its monstrous name). The six Atlas humanoids that made it to the finals also employ hydraulics, but where they have a single, central pump, and a series of valves that regulate the pressure of the oil throughout the robot, Hydra runs on multiple pumps. According to Hiroshi Kaminaga, a roboticist at the University of Tokyo and member of Team NEDO-Hydra, the hydraulic systems effectively take the place of gears at all of the robots joints, except for its neck.

""The gears are usually the most fragile components in a robot.”

In theory, this approach should make Hydra a powerhouse. “By using the hydraulics as gears, you gain a lot of strength,” says Kaminaga, who was also lead designer for the bot. “The gears are usually the most fragile components in a robot.” Enhanced strength and durability might have allowed Team NEDO-Hydra to move more aggressively through the challenge course. And at 200 pounds, it might have also been less top-heavy than the Atlases, which have taken their fair share of falls at the competition.

Like most of its joints, Hydra's fingers are powered by hydraulics. Erik Sofge

Further down the line, Kaminaga believes that Hydra's distributed hydraulics design could have benefits for robots in impact-heavy applications, such as construction. It might also be useful for robots that work in close proximity to humans. Unlike with traditional hydraulic actuation, Hydra can sense the amount of force that it's exerting, as well as the force being exerted on it. By knowing its own strength, and yielding when something else (such as a human) pushes against it, a Hydra-like system could be both powerful and compliant, traits that are mutually exclusive for today's robots. Unfortunately, Hydra ran behind schedule, and wasn't even ready to be properly demonstrated at the DRC Finals this year. Team NEDO-Hydra tried to field a smaller backup robot, but technical difficulties forced them to cancel their run. So they rolled Hydra out to the front of their space in the team garage, in the hopes that someone might come across their work in progress. As of this writing, that doesn't seem to be the case. The robot that should have been a media sensation isn't on anyone else's radar. If that doesn't change now, there's always this December, when Kaminaga hopes to present Hydra at an exhibition in Tokyo.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/hydra_at_the_drc_finals.jpg?itok=mGkfr6BT"
"For Autonomous Robots, The School of Hard Knocks Is In Session","http://www.popsci.com/autonomous-robots-school-hard-knocks-session","CMU's CHIMP robot takes a fall at the DRC Finals 2015 Erik Sofge, Popular Science

It's impossible to watch the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals without getting frustrated. What the robots are expected to do in the open-air course at the Fairplex in Pomona, California, which is meant to loosely simulate a disaster zone, is all incredibly simple, by human standards. Drive a utility vehicle at speeds no greater than 10 mph. Turn a valve. Climb a handful of stairs. But in the parallel universe that is the DRC, completing all eight incredibly basic tasks makes the crowd go wild. After the first of two days of competition, the only bot to score the maximum of eight points (one per task) is Team Tartan Rescue's CHIMP. The primate-inspired robot from Carnegie Mellon University delivered the DRC's most electric run so far. It drove down the dirt track with impressive speed, but was then inexplicably slow to get out—or ""egress,"" in DRC-speak. Finally, CHIMP opened the door, and the impossible happened. CHIMP ate it, sprawling onto the floor halfway through the doorway (as seen in the photo above). The robot that seemed incapable of falling, that we (and others) constantly described as being essentially fall-proof, because of its stable posture and use of tracks instead of two-legged walking, had gone down. Normally this would call for a “reset,” as humans hoist the robot back to an upright position, and DARPA officials add 10 minutes to its time. Since each machine has a maximum of one hour on the course, and most need more than that to attempt every task, resets are devastating. So CHIMP struggled to get up. But with its legs jammed in the doorway, the situation seemed hopeless. It For most humans, the geometry of this fall would be annoying, but we'd wriggle and grunt and be back on our feet in a matter of seconds. CHIMP lay there for minutes. It would move a limb, and seem to consider its dilemma for a solid 30 seconds before trying again. A camera man next to me muttered, “This is like watching paint dry.”

“This is like watching paint dry.”

He wasn't entirely wrong. CHIMP was probably the single most widely covered robot in the months leading up to the DRC Finals. It's a burly little 5-foot robot ape, that happens to look a lot bigger and more menacing in photos. And when it's moving across rough terrain, CHIMP transforms into a tank, using the tracks in its legs and forearms to roll around on all fours. And now, the DRC's superstar had fallen, and it couldn't get up. But in another, more important way, that gentleman was totally wrong. Because as aggravating as it is to watch robots either constantly failing, or spending an inordinate amount of time to accomplish basic tasks, the real action in this competition is largely unseen. It's in the algorithms that drive these machines, when humans can't. The DRC is gripping because pushes our current understanding of autonomy to the breaking point, and then snaps it in half.

MIT's Helios robot competes at the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals Erik Sofge, Popular Science

Most present-day autonomous robots are either parlor tricks, or else relying on a constant stream of high-quality data. When a humanoid robot like Honda's Asimo dances or jogs across a stage, it's following a precisely-choreographed script. Like a sophisticated version of a wind-up toy, roboticists load up Asimo's behaviors, and set it loose. Driverless cars employ more sophisticated autonomy, but the vehicles being developed by companies like Google and Audi require huge amounts of data to function. Without GPS coordinates and pre-loaded laser maps of roadways, these cars would be a public menace. If they weren't misreading onboard sensor data and veering into traffic, they'd be grinding to a halt, trying to make sense of the world around then, including the multi-vehicle pileup they would inevitably cause. This reliance on data was a key element of DARPA's last robotics competition. On the morning of the 2007 Urban Challenge, each team was given a thumbdrive with a detailed GPS map of the mock city that their driverless cars were going to navigate. This data was actually richer than standard GPS, with more total coordinates for the robots to follow. The vehicles still had to use autonomy to deal with the non-mapped aspects of their environment, such as other robots heading towards the same intersection. But these machines weren't on their own. Revolutionary as they were, the cars in the Urban Challenge had a lot of help. Except, that is, for MIT's robot car, which was well and truly on its own. MIT elected to go entirely sensor-based, foregoing the provided GPS breadcrumb trail, and relying solely on the robot's real-time perception of the course to dictate its actions. This would turn out to be a terrible gameplan—the car went off-road at one point, and was literally in the weeds for precious minutes of the race. But the robot eventually crossed the finish line in fourth place. And though they didn't take home any prize money, MIT's team leader, John Leonard, claimed victory even in defeat. More than any other competitor, including the Urban Challenge's winners, MIT had demonstrated pure, no-strings-attached autonomy. And despite the scenic detour, the robot had completed its mission. Winning the race, according to Leonard, was never part of the plan.

“Our team has been focusing on autonomy, almost to a fault.""

Now, MIT is taking a similar approach to the DRC. “Our team has been focusing on autonomy, almost to a fault,” says team leader Russ Tedrake. DARPA is already enforcing a high level of autonomy, by degrading the communication signal between team members and robots, particularly after the machines enter the simulated facility portion of the course. At that point, the data connection is on par with a '90s-era dial-up modem. As the run progresses, transfer speeds will rise and fall, allowing for windows of more direct remote control. But just as MIT waved off the GPS data in 2007, Team MIT is opting for as little contact as possible between the team and its Pentagon-supplied Atlas robot, which the team has renamed Helios. According to Tedrake, “that's not a coincidence. Teller was committed to autonomy, He was always pushing on that side of thing.” He's referring to Seth Teller, a member of the Urban Challenge team, and the original leader of MIT's DRC team, who passed away in 2014.

MIT's Helios robot climbs stairs at the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals Erik Sofge, Popular Science

As the new team leader, Tedrake, is pushing just as hard for autonomy over strategy. So when Helios takes an action, it does so with almost no input from team members, despite the fact that more frequent input might get the job done more quickly. A human might help point out the tool that the robot is supposed to use, mouse-clicking on the object via a graphical interface, but the robot does the rest. This overall approach is shared by DRC teams, which is why watching these robots can be so excruciating. It's also why CHIMP had such a hard time getting back in the game. A fully teleoperated robot would be far easier to maneuver out of a tight spot than an autonomous one. Most of the inexplicable delays in the DRC, where machines often seem to stare at a door for minutes before daring to grab the handle, have to do with the fact that they aren't giant RC toys. Their algorithms grind away, masticating on every planned action.

""We're trying to make sure the robot has a sense of confidence that's correct.”

But MIT is part of a minority of teams that takes autonomy to an extreme. “When we're running most of these tasks, the robot is showing us what it plans to do,” says Tedrake. The robot decides which behaviors are most appropriate, and its masters watch them play out. Lockheed Martin's Team Trooper appears to be just as hands-off with its Atlas. “The robot knows what each of the behaviors in its library can do,” says team leader Todd Danko. “so it works backward through chain of behaviors, and starts to act...we're trying to make sure the robot has a sense of confidence that's correct.” It's exciting to see the wide variety of hardware being deployed in the DRC, and the competition is a crucible for the entire research area of walking robots. In the long term, though, the biggest impact that the DRC might have is in software, and specifically in letting a single human control multiple robots. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory—whose RoboSimian bot is one of the stars of the DRC—is exploring a Toughbook-like tablet that an astronaut could wear on his her wrist, to supervise a group of autonomous machines. Lockheed Martin is also hoping to apply its DRC work to space systems, as well as underwater robots, since many of the lessons its team learns while supervising a humanoid's actions are hardware-agnostic, and applicable to robots in the air, sea and space.

“We're not trying to win.""","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/cmu_chimp_falls.jpg?itok=Qck63d3s"
"Twilight of the Bipeds: Could DARPA's Robot Competition Kill Off Its Humanoid Stars?","http://www.popsci.com/twilight-bipeds-could-darpas-robot-competition-kill-its-own-humanoid-stars","The second time the robot fell, it was perfect. The six-foot-tall, 400-pound humanoid machine was listing to the right, veering sideways as its hoof-like feet stamped forward. A collective “oh!” rose from the stands at the Fairplex in Pomona, California. The robot was not recovering its balance. The writing was on the wall—this thing was going down. And it did, staggering faster and further to one side, coming perilously close to the concrete divider separating it from other humanoid competitors at the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals. When it finally fell, the multi-million dollar robot landed in a heap, its shame plastered across the Jumbotron.

That was fall number two for Team HKU's Atlas robot. The previous one happened so quickly, few spectators even noticed. The bot hit the dirt in the first minutes of the first run, on the first day of the DRC. It was a fitting way to kick off the world's most ambitious robotics competition, where failure is the norm. Case in point: While HKU was once again hoisting its Atlas on a gantry, one of the three other robots trying to make it across the first section of the challenge course took a spill. It too had been trying to walk on two legs. And it would also wind up falling twice, before it even reached the doors, valves and power tools that make up the bulk of the DRC's simulated disaster zone.

We're only halfway through the first day of the competition, but the DRC is already threatening to become a graveyard for an entire design philosophy. Roboticists have known for years that humanoid machines were unstable. Walking, something that seems effortless to humans, with our giant brains, our decades of muscle memory, and our vast, self-correcting musculature, is one of the biggest challenges in all of robotics. Researchers have made impressive progress with two-legged bots, but look closely at those impressive videos of systems strolling around the lab or running on a treadmill. They are always supported by tethers, to catch them when they inevitably fall. One of the benefits of the DRC, with its emphasis on vehicles, stairs and other seemingly leg-friendly elements, is that its sped the development of bipedal mobility.

That was the idea, at least. Now, we're seeing the hard results of that work. And, with few exceptions, it isn't pretty.

Those robots in the first run of the day didn't fall while attempting anything resembling fancy footwork. They were shuffling very slowly, and turning only occasionally, to make it around three Jersey barriers. There were other factors at play, such as an apparent lack of remote control—one of the DRC's wild cards is the regular loss of communications between teams and their bots, forcing them to either wait for a better connection, or carry on as best they can. But if robots are this bad at walking in near-perfect conditions, who would ever want a human-size machine teetering around the house?

Later in the day, Team IHMC Robotics struck a blow for the humanoids, taking the points lead with its Atlas. Maybe more importantly, IHMC's machine—nicknamed Running Man—managed to not fall down. Still, its mobility is painful to watch. At times, the Atlas just walks in slow motion, like a deep sea diver struggling with each step. Other times it looks adorable, with its tiny, cautious strides, the polar opposite of an athlete's confident gait. But the Atlas always looks like it's on the verge of toppling over. It has the suspenseful mobility of a toddler, with the added horror of being 6 feet tall, 400 pounds, and liable to kill itself with a single stumble.

And the crowd treated IHMC's Atlas like a toddler, erupting in cheers at every minor victory, such as getting out of a utility vehicle, or walking a few feet without faceplanting. IHMC was expected to do well at the finals, having been one of the top scoring teams at the DRC trials in 2013. But it was competing relatively early in the day, indicated that it hadn't scored particularly well during yesterday's practice runs (DARPA schedules runs based on the previous day's scores, with the best bots going last). Why was such a promising team competing the middle of the pack?

The answer doesn't bode well for the future of humanoids. Like most of the biped teams in the competition, IHMC held back during its practice run. According to Tony Stentz, leader of Carnegie Mellon University's Tartan Rescue team, most of the Atlas teams—there are six in all—scored 0 points in practice, meaning they didn't complete any of the 8 assigned tasks. “Many teams did not want to put their robots at risk, for nothing more than pole position today,” says Stentz. “With a humanoid robot, they have too much to lose.” IHMC's team simply drove down the course's dirt track a few times, and called it a day. “They're a very strong team. And they didn't even take it across the finish line,” says Stentz.

CMU's team was one of the few that attempted all 8 tasks during practice. But then, their robot, CHIMP, is an outlier. The 5-foot-tall, primate inspired bot has legs, but it doesn't walk, instead rolling on tracks embedded in its shins and forearms. When it appears to be stand, it's really kneeling, and is therefore rarely in danger of falling. Other bots, like NASA's RoboSimian and the University of Bronn's Team TimbRo, also use wheels, crawling, or a combination of both as an alternative to two-legged mobility. That inherent stability let CMU's team hold nothing back, and post the second-best practice run, while gaining experience with the entire course. CHIMP competes in today's final heat, while RoboSimian and NimbRo—a team with little funding, and zero buzz coming into the finals—will be in the next-to-last group.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/sam_1925.jpg?itok=svY_kmI0"
"Google's A.I. Is Training Itself to Count Calories In Food Photos","http://www.popsci.com/google-using-ai-count-calories-food-photos","Whether by accident or design, the details of Google's plans for artificial intelligence (AI) have been elusive. In some cases, there's no real mystery, just nothing all that exciting to talk about. AI technology is the foundation of the company's search engine, and the most obvious reason for Google's high-profile, $400M acquisition of DeepMind in 2014 is to use the UK firm's expertise in deep learning—a subset of AI research, but more on that later—to bolster that core capability. But the Googleplex has absorbed other bright minds from the field of AI, as well as some of the most buzzed-about companies in robotics, with only some of that collective braintrust officially allocated to driverless cars, delivery drones or other publicly announced robotics or AI-related projects. What, exactly, are Google's AI experts up to?

In a word: food.

At this week's Rework Deep Learning Summit in Boston, Google research scientist Kevin Murphy unveiled a project that uses sophisticated deep learning algorithms to analyze a still photo of food, and estimate how many calories are on the plate. It's called Im2Calories, and in one example, the system looked at an image, and counted two eggs, two pancakes and three strips of bacon. Since those aren't exactly universal units of measurement, the system gauged the size of each piece of food, in relation to the plate, as well as any condiments. And Im2Calories doesn't require carefully captured high-res images. Any standard Instagram-quality shot should do.

So what was the final calorie count? I was too busy scribbling down other numbers from that particular presentation slide to catch it. And the point of Im2Calories isn't to shame users with its shocking calculations of their daily food intake. Murphy wants to simply the process of keeping a food diary, identifying foods so you don't have to manually plug them into an app, and taking the guesswork out of nagging variables such as serving sizes. “We semi-automate,” Murphy said during his presentation, noting that you can correct the software using dropdowns, if it confuses fried eggs for poached, or misreads something entirely. “If it only works 30 percent of the time, it's enough that people will start using it, we'll collect data, and it'll get better over time,” said Murphy.

Though obesity remains a crisis in the United States, and a commercial version of Im2Calories would probably be hugely popular, it's how this system work that's worth a closer look. Like many deep learning applications, it marries visual analysis—in this case, determining the depth of each pixel in an image—with pattern recognition. Im2Calories can draw connections between what a given piece of food looks like, and vast amounts of available caloric data. And while it's best not to read too much into the term “deep learning,” one of those evocative AI word choices that's practically daring non-researchers to panic, Im2Calories is designed to improve itself through use. The purpose of many deep learning systems is to minimize the amount of time spent feeding or quizzing a piece of software, to improve its performance. If Im2Calories spots a burger, it's because the pixels in the image resemble those in existing shots of burgers, not because a researcher held the system's hand, so to speak, during various practice runs. For deep learning to make itself useful, primarily by extracting meaning from audio, video, still imagery and text, it has to be at least somewhat self reliant.

And even if Im2Calories is never completely accurate, Murphy thinks it will have an impact. “To me it's obvious that people really want this and this is really useful,” he said. “Ok fine, maybe we get the calories off by 20 percent. It doesn't matter. We're going to average over a week or a month or a year. And now we can start to potentially join information from multiple people and start to do population level statistics. I have colleagues in epidemiology and public health, and they really want this stuff.”

Google only recently filed for a patent for Im2Calories, and Murphy wouldn't share details about when it might be available. But the long-term goal for this technology is more wide-reaching. And, frankly, a more obvious fit for Google. “If we can do this for food, that's just the killer app,” Murphy said. “Suppose we did street scene analysis. We don't want to just say there are cars in this intersection. That's boring. We want to do things like localize cars, count the cars, get attributes of the cars, which way are they facing. Then we can do things like traffic scene analysis, predict where the most likely parking spot is. And since this is all learned from data, the technology is the same, you just change the data.”

Obesity is a scourge, and deserves all the sophisticated deployment of semantic image segmentation and deep neural networks that Google can muster. But robot cars that instinctively know which block is most likely to have a free parking spot, ten minutes from now? It's not surprising that deep learning is drawing so much interest from Silicon Valley. If anything, it's a surprise that it's taken this long.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/veggie_burger_with_fries.jpg?itok=FolQUinl"
"What Might A Killerbot Arms Race Look Like?","http://www.popsci.com/what-would-killerbot-arms-race-look","When they appear on the horizon, the robots coming to kill you won't necessarily look like warplanes. That's limited, human-centric thinking, says Stuart Russell, a computer scientist at the University of California at Berkeley, and it only applies to today's unmanned weapons. Predator and Reaper drones were built with remote pilots and traditional flight mechanics in mind, and armed with the typical weapons of air war--powerful missiles, as useful for destroying buildings and vehicles as personnel. Tomorrow's nimbler, self-piloted armed bots won't simply be updated tools for old-fashioned air strikes. They'll be vectors for slaughter.

More likely, the lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) to come will show up in a cloud of thousands or more. Each robot will be small, cheap, and lightly armed, packing the bare minimum to end a single life at a time. Predicting the exact nature of these weapons is as macabre as it is speculative, but to illustrate how we should adjust our thinking on the subject of deploying autonomous robots on the battlefield, Russell offers two hypotheticals. “It would perhaps be able to fire miniature projectiles, just powerful enough to shoot someone through their eyeball,” he says. “It would be pretty easy to do that from 30 or 40 meters away. Or it could put a shaped charge directly on a person's cranium. One gram of explosives is enough to blow a hole in sheet metal. That would probably be more than enough.”

Russell's prediction is one of focused, efficient lethality. But to anthropomorphize this assault cloud, imagining it as a swarm of tiny, flying snipers or grenadiers, is another mistake. Russell estimates that, with enough iteration and innovation, the systems developed in a LAWS arms race could eventually be as cheap as $10 apiece. They would be closer to a plague of guided munitions than an automated fighting force, leaving a locust-like trail of inert, disposable components alongside their victims. Unleashing such a weapon on a city, with orders to kill anyone holding a weapon-like object, or simply every male within a given age group, would be too cheap, and too effective to resist. “No matter where this sort of arms race ends up, it becomes clear that humans don't stand a chance.”

Russell's worry is not that the future of warfare will be merely unsettling, or unfair. In a commentary published today in Nature, Russell reiterates many of the concerns he presented this past April in Geneva, at a United Nations meeting on the topic of banning LAWS. Among those concerns are the prospects of autonomous weapons being misused—used to commit war crimes, for example—as well as overused. The clear appeal of sending robots into traditionally casualty-heavy situations, such as urban combat, combined with their potential lethality, could transform armed conflicts into a series of one-sided massacres. “The stakes are high,” he writes. “LAWS have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms.”

“Lethal autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms.”

The debate over autonomous weapons has typically centered on who, or what, is making the decision to kill. Human Rights Watch and other opponents of the technology have often warned that the benefits of allowing robots to choose their own targets—such as when distance or terrain interrupts communication links between operators and drones—make the fielding of such systems inevitable. Military personnel, meanwhile, insist that there's no will for these machines, and that commanders will always want a human “in the loop,” giving the final order to attack a given target. But the defense industry is nonetheless moving towards this capability. The marketing language used by defense contractor BAE Systems to describe its in-development Taranis stealth drone includes the phrase, “full autonomy.”

And in his Nature article, Russell cites two DARPA projects whose aim is to significantly increase drone autonomy. The Fast Lightweight Autonomy (FLA) project is developing methods for small unmanned systems to navigate themselves through cluttered environments, and the Collaborative Operations in Denied Environments (CODE) program is explicit about its interest in autonomous combat. “Just as wolves hunt in coordinated packs with minimal communication, multiple CODE-enabled unmanned aircraft would collaborate to find, track, identify and engage targets, all under the command of a single human mission supervisor,” said DARPA program manager Jean-Charles Lede in an agency press release earlier this year.

Despite the mention of a human supervisor, engaging targets is part of CODE, a program intended to deal with situations where unmanned vehicles may be forced to act autonomously. “They tend to put in a couple of fig leaf phrases, here and there, related to the man in the loop,” says Russell. “but I think they are interested. And I think without a ban, there will be an arms race, and they will be used.” In fact, he believes that LAWS have already been deployed. Israel's Harop drone is designed to loiter over an area, searching for enemy radar sites. If it detects a given source of radiation, the system automatically crashes into it, detonating its warhead. “That seems to me to cross the line,” says Russell. “What it's doing is possibly indiscriminate. And you could imagine Palestinians putting a radar system in a crowded school, to trick the Israelis into committing a war crime.”

But even if LAWS were to function perfectly, and could somehow cut through the fog of war to avoid large-scale friendly fire incidents, or full-blown, automated atrocities, they may share an important similarity with nukes. There's no viable defense against the overwhelming destructive force of a nuclear attack. Russell argues that, once autonomous weapons have matured, they will be just as unstoppable, resurrecting the tenuous doomsday geopolitics of the Cold War's nuclear standoff. If nations don't start the complex process of defining and banning these systems, and preventing an escalation before it begins, he fears it's only a matter of time before the clouds roll towards one city or another. “I imagine that people will come up with countermeasures,” says Russell. “Some kind of electromagnetic weapon, or they might send up their own cloud of counter-drones.” But if his analysis is right, and a LAWS arms races peaks at swarms that number in the millions targeting large populations, would anything be effective against what amounts to an autonomous weapon of mass destruction?

Russell laughs, a little too knowingly. “I feel like we don't want to find out.”","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/IAI_Harop_PAS_2013_02.jpg?itok=mC4Z_BJv"
"Robots Need Your Brain Power To Get Smarter","http://www.popsci.com/robots-are-dumber-you-think-could-crowd-sourcing-change","Sonia Chernova wants you to train her robot. Two years ago, Chernova and some of her fellow roboticists at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachussets launched a remote robotics lab called RobotsFor.Me, a site where users can log in and teach robots how to function in physical space. It's both more and less exciting than it sounds. Participants might play a game where they rack up points based on the number of objects they can help the robot pick up in 10 minutes. But these tutors aren't exactly diving into an immersive, robot's-eye-view interface. “We abstract everything,” says Chernova, who directs WPI's Robot Autonomy and Interactive Learning lab. “They've never seen this robot. They've never been trained to use it properly. They don't realize the robot costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Chances are, they also don't realize why this project is so desperately needed. Some context is in order.

A few weeks from now, some of the most advanced robots ever built will gather in California, and try, with all their mechanical might, to accomplish tasks that most 12-year-old humans could pull off with panache. Simple doorknobs will test their mettle. So will cinder blocks, and stairs. It's all but guaranteed that some of the 25 machines scheduled to compete in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) on June 5 and 6 will skip some of those tasks, such as trying to drive a utility vehicle. Why? Because it's really hard for many of them to fit into said vehicle, much less operate the pedals and the steering wheel at the same time. Spectators at the Fairplex in Pomona shouldn't expect to see androids vaulting through the course—intended to loosely simulate a disaster zone—with inhuman precision and agility. If they're lucky, the DRC's robots will finish with merely subhuman competence. If they aren't lucky, they'll be carted off the course in pieces, because they took a spill while attempting something laughably routine, like picking up a dropped screwdriver. And during most of the competition, the robots will be in direct communication with their teams. So even with people effectively hovering over their shoulders, and telling them what to do, at every moment, it would be miraculous for any of the entries to make it through the course as quickly as a human might.

I don't mean to diminish the DRC's significance, or to imply that it won't be thrilling. It's the most exciting robotics competition since DARPA's Urban Challenge, the 2007 contest that kicked off the race to develop driverless cars. But the DRC is important within a very specific context, that has little to do with the common perception of robots.

In orderly environments, such as factories and warehouses, machines can function with an impressive degree of autonomy, dutifully assembling or moving products, and fulfilling every corporation's fantasies of unpaid and uncomplaining non-union labor. But drop a robot into an unstructured environment—robotics-speak for homes, offices, or any other disordered place—and prepare to be deeply unimpressed. By the time a robotic vacuum unleashes its innovative sensor suite and complex mapping and navigation algorithms to clean a single room, a person would have finished the entire house. And as useful as it is to offload grunt work to the mechanical couriers that ferry materials around hospitals, consider the occasional tragicomic image of one these machines stuck behind a trash can, waiting for a human Samaritan to free the robot from its prison of incompetence.

To appreciate robots means grading them on a curve.

To appreciate robots means grading them on a curve. The next time a journalist tries to startle you with sober analysis of science fiction's recurring obsession with robotic uprisings, keep in mind that however smart artificially intelligent generals like Skynet or Ultron might be, their vast armies would be laughing stocks. Driverless cars are proficient at staying on the road in optimal conditions, and humanoid robots can usually (though not always) maintain a walking speed on the most level terrain. But take a robot car off-road, away from its highway dividers and preloaded laser maps and object recognition datasets, and it's as likely to drive into a lake as ferret out human resistance fighters. And humanoid bots could be outrun at a casual jog, or turned into a smoking ruin by a small branch or gentle incline. Even systems like Boston Dynamics' four-legged BigDog, which is incredibly stable in rough terrain, lack the ability to make sense of the environments they're bounding through, and take action that doesn't involve mobility. While armed aerial bots have been an established part of modern warfare for years, ground bots are, to put it very broadly, too dumb to pose a threat to anyone.

Chernova, to be clear, isn't working on anything remotely resembling or related to military robots. That tangent is all mine. But the mission of RobotsFor.Me stands in stark contrast to the myth of robotic hypercompetence. Only in the movies are robots unerringly adept in unfamiliar environments. In reality systems like CARL (Crowdsourced Autonomy and Robot Learning), the wheeled, single-armed bot that WPI uses most often in its crowd sourced experiments, need all the training they can get. And while RobotsFor.Me has been accessible by the public since 2013, the need for teaching couldn't be more obvious, now that we've seen how hard the some of DRC's bots have struggled to stay vertical, much less prove that they can stand in for human responders in disaster zones.

One established method of teaching machines over the internet is to use Amazon's Mechanical Turk, a service that turns humans into a kind of biological database. Roboticists can present a task, such as recognizing different objects in a given environment, and a distant network of people might label those objects, for a small fee. RobotsFor.Me's distributed training approach is similar (though paying its users is less common) but it also lets Chernova study the training itself, in the hopes of making robots that are more autonomous, or at least better at taking orders. “My long term goal is to sell you a robot that you can bring home, and teach it to work for you, in the way that you want it to,” says Chernova. Mechanical Turk and RobotsFor.Me are effective in part because they provide a wealth of data. Chernova is exploring whether such crowd sourced input can give robots a baseline knowledge of the world, which might be supplemented by fast, intuitive training, to address differences in layout or occupants, or preferences in how you'd like tasks completed. RobotsFor.Me might eventually help a robot differentiate between a spoon and a fork. But the user should be able to tell the robot which size of fork should go on the table, without learning how to write code.

Just as RobotsFor.Me isn't a work-in-progress towards armed ground bots, Chernova's research isn't focused specifically on building more efficient domestic servants. Her $433,351 grant from the National Science Foundation is directed towards learning from the data being collected by RobotsFor.Me studies, and investigating the ways it could benefit autonomy and training from one user, or many at once. It's a small project (compared, for example, with the millions in funding already provided to some of the DRC teams) with potentially major implications. And before it injects much-needed smarts into home robots, it might lead to a more humble half-measure. Remember those hospital bots, lodged pathetically behind trash cans? “We can use this as a preliminary step to make robots smarter in the long-term, but also to develop ways to let humans log on, with no real training, and get the robot out of a tight spot,” says Chernova. “And each time somebody from that call center answers a robot and helps it, the robot can become more autonomous.” Though it's not part of her funded research, Chernova seems promise for a call center model, to bridge the gap between constantly remote-controlling a robot, and trusting it to act with complete autonomy. “We can develop robots that are 90 percent autonomous pretty reliably today,” says Chernova. “It's that 10 percent that's the problem.”","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/robotsforme_pr2_test.jpg?itok=vkGjAfGh"
"Last Week in Tech: Reports of MS Paint’s death have been greatly exaggerated","http://www.popsci.com/last-week-in-tech-reports-ms-paints-death-have-been-greatly-exaggerated?dom=rss-default&src=syn","Last week, the tech world did its best Game of Thrones impression. Some old favorite characters—and one hated villain—died. It’s not all bad news, though. Read on for all the gory spoilers of last week’s tech happenings.

Brushed off

Microsoft announced that it's not killing MS Paint, but moving it to the Windows Store for free. Microsoft

Early in the week, it was widely reported that MS Paint was on its death bed and would no longer be included in the next version of Windows. Outrage and support for the bare-bones art program poured in from every part of the internet until Microsoft explained that Paint would be moving to the app store as a free download, which honestly seems like a better fit for it anyway. If you're ready to move past MS Paint, check out these much more advanced alternative drawing apps.

Shuffle (and Nano) off to Buffalo

A snapshot from happier times, when iPod Nanos danced freely and without care. Apple

If you’re still clinging to an iPod Shuffle or an iPod Nano, your device is now officially discontinued. They will still work, obviously, but there won’t be any new versions and they now join the Zune in the catacombs where dead MP3 players go to rest. Please update Flash player to see this text Few tech products have been declared “dead” more times than Adobe Flash, but this time it’s totally, actually, really, definitely, officially dead as of 2020. Let’s have a moment of silence for that time I spent learning how to code ActionScript in college.

Super Model 3

You could actually see a Tesla Model 3 driving around in the wild now that production models have been released into the world. Tesla

The $35,000 electric car Tesla promised so long ago is now officially out in the world. The waitlist is still massive and if you order one today, you can probably expect to get it some time in 2019, and that’s if Elon Musk’s production estimates are on point. Eye robot Earlier in the week, iRobot CEO Colin Angle mentioned the fact that camera-equipped Roomba robotic vacuums could make maps of customers’ homes that could then be sold to third-party companies to improve their smart home devices. This, of course, led to loud backlash and forced Angle to publicly state that iRobot will not sell customer data.

Now you're cooking with Buzzfeed

This connected cooktop does not come with a nice butcher block countertop or a quirky soundtrack for your prep session. Buzzfeed

Buzzfeed is getting into the hardware market with a smart cooktop that can actually sync with recipe videos from its Tasty brand. The Tasty One Top has a sparse interface with a couple buttons and flashing lights to indicate when you should be paying attention to the video instructions. It’s a clever way to encourage users to cook along with Tasty videos using the companion app. Premature pre-order

Bad news for people who caught Walmart's early pre-order. Nintendo

Last week, you may have seen some of your friends bragging about getting in on an early pre-order for an SNES Classic Edition from Walmart. The retailer then canceled those pre-orders, chalking it up to a “technical glitch,” which means none of those orders will actually ship. It’s impressive that a device that looks like so much fun is disappointing customers before it’s even officially released. It’s not easy being screened The TSA is now requiring “all electronics larger than a cell phone” to be placed in their own separate bin for X-ray screening at airport security checkpoints. So, whether it is a high-end camera, a tablet, or the Margaritaville Jimmy Buffett Anniversary Edition Key West Frozen Concoction Maker you never leave home without, it’s going to need its own separate screening.

Panorama-o-rama

Right now, 360-degree cameras feel like fancy smart phone accessories anyway, so it makes sense Motorola would make one for its Moto Mod system. Motorola

Motorola announced a new $299 360-degree camera for its Moto Mod modular smartphone system. The price seems a little steep unless you’re going to be doing a lot of 360-degree capture, especially since the camera module sticks out of the top of the device and will need to be swapped in and out for pocket storage.

This week’s Musk-read","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/large_1x_/public/images/2017/07/0f116287d209fc79a643be841b1d06c7.jpg?itok=5AR-irrZ&fc=52"
"Come see China's new hexacopters and self-detonating drones","http://www.popsci.com/china-new-drones-army-hexacopters?dom=rss-default&src=syn","CH-901 This display at the Military Museum indicates that the 20-pound CH-901 drone, which can be used as a loitering munition, is in service with the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Behind it is a smaller recon unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that's launched from the smaller tubes on the 4X4 launch armored fighting vehicle (AFV). Oedo Soldier

As part of its celebration of the People's Liberation Army, the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing is showing off a range of exciting exhibitions, offering a peek into the PLA's new self-propelled artillery, cruise missiles, ballistic missile launchers, and—perhaps most notably—tactical unmanned aerial systems. First up, there's official confirmation that the CH-901 ""kamikaze"" loitering attack munitions (a short-ranged mini-drone) is in use by the PLA. First publicly displayed at the DSA 2016 arms fair, CH-901 is a 20-pound, fixed-wing drone with a flight speed range of 9 to 90 miles per hour. It's got a 1.2-mile-range electro optical camera for reconnaissance (it can be recovered this way) and/or it can crash into enemy targets, detonating its warhead. It is comparable to the American Aerovironment ""Switchblade"" used by Special Operations. At the Military Museum, a 4X4 armored fighting vehicle (AFV) is armed with a pop-up hatch that carries eight CH-901 pneumatically launch tubes. The launcher also has four launch tubes for a smaller fixed-wing reconnaissance UAV. The CH-901 launcher is likely to be used by lighter units like Special Operations, or amphibious and airborne troops, which cannot always count on conventional air and artillery support.

Slide and Launch These tactical hexacopters can be deployed for launch by sliding their rack on the AFV backdoor, and use them to support company/battalion operations. Oedo Soldier, via Weibo.

Another 4X4 AFV had an even more interesting cargo: three large hexacopter drones, with collapsible rotor-housing struts. Carried on a slide-out rack deployed out of the rear infantry exfiltration door of the vehicle, each hexacopter is about 4 feet tall, with a wingspan of about 6 and a half feet and a large dome camera mounted on the main body. Judging by the performance of other similarly-sized hexacopters—like the 33-pound JSSG hexacopter—this reconnaissance vehicle would have a range of about 6-9 miles, a flight altitude of over 3,000 feet, top speed of 50 miles per hour and enough battery life for 1 hour of flight time. The setting suggests that the hexacopters would likely be deployed at the battalion or company level, and be used for communications and reconnaissance purposes.

Tactical Drones The hexacopter, like the fixed wing UAV in front of it, are both used for tactical information gathering by Chinese troops. Oedo Soldier","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2017/07/hexacopters_2.jpg?itok=FzX5b-d4"
"Five advanced Google Chrome hacks to level up your browsing","http://www.popsci.com/advanced-google-chrome-hacks?dom=rss-default&src=syn","Do more with Google Chrome. Google

Since this clean, bare-bones browser first saw the light of day in 2008, Google Chrome has steadily grown in popularity. Today, it enjoys the largest share of the browser market. In the process, it has developed significantly, from a simple Windows-only platform to an all-purpose application with advanced browsing features—if you know where to look for them. As it turns out, Chrome can do a lot more than browse. These five advanced hacks let you host multiple users, search like a pro, and even open outside files within the program. If you spend a large chunk of your working (and playing) hours buried inside a browser window, you should give them a try.

1. Separate work and personal use

When you're doing work on your home computer, you rely a specific set of logins, bookmarks, and other browsing information. But when you sign off for the day and decide to wind down with Facebook binging or maybe some Netflix, you use another set of websites entirely. Chrome lets you silo these two (or more) browsing personalities by setting up multiple profiles. These work like user accounts on your Windows or macOS computer. If multiple people are sharing the same computer, profiles also let you separate your bookmarks and login information from those of your fellow-browser. Chrome keeps all of the information it stores—including web apps, bookmarks, history, passwords, and login information—separate between profiles.

Keep work and play separate with Chrome Profiles. David Nield/Popular Science

So how do you set these profiles up? Open the main Chrome menu (from the three dots in the top right corner) and go to Settings. Then pick Manage other people and click Add person. This person is still you—it's just you in a different mode. Still, you'll need to supply the alternate account with a name and select a picture. Once you've set up a roster of profiles, you can customize each one with bookmarks and web apps however you want. To switch between accounts, just click the profile name at the top right-hand corner of the Chrome window. This lets you run two profiles alongside each other in separate browser windows. You can even sync a specific profile across multiple devices. However, you'll need to associate each profile with a Google account. Then, when you sign into that account on another device, you can access the stored Chrome information.

2. Get experimental with the Canary build

Google Chrome is actually available in four different versions. Most people use the stable version, which has extensively road-tested features. But you can also get your hands on a version called the Canary build, which features the very latest experimental new options—which come along with a good number of bugs. Between the stable and the Canary build, you've got the beta channel and the developer channel, which lie somewhere in the middle when it comes to new features and bugs. From stable to Canary, these versions of Chrome gradually get more untested and less stable. You also get more frequent updates the further down the chain you go, with the Canary build updated every day, and the stable channel only updated once every six weeks or so.

The Canary build lets you live on the edge. David Nield/Popular Science

If you're willing to forgo a bit of stability in return for testing out Chrome's newest features before anyone else, you can easily switch to a different channel. If you're interested in stable, beta, or developer, you can only pick one of these three options to have on your system at any one time. However, you can run the Canary build alongside any other version of Chrome. To get experimental, head to the Chrome Release Channel page and select which version you want to use on Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS. (On the latter, you only get a choice between stable and beta.) Google recommends making a backup of your user data before switching, and the page includes instructions for how to do that.

3. Augment the address bar

The address bar, also known as the omnibox, sits up at the top of the Google Chrome interface. Although you can type URLs into this bar, you can do much more with it than that. In fact, it has all the superpowers of the Google search engine. If you want to run a basic web search, just enter your keywords and hit Enter. You can also get answers to math problems and unit conversions—just type them out in the box. You can even flip a coin using the omnibox by searching for ""flip a coin."" For more detailed searches, enter your keywords and then type ""site:popsci.com"" (or any other URL if you want to look somewhere other than the Popular Science website). The address bar improves on the Google search website because it can interact with the text on the page you're currently browsing: If you don't want to type out a search term, for example, you can highlight a word or a phrase on a webpage then drag it up to the omnibox to search for it.

The omnibox is a superpowerful tool. David Nield/Popular Science

While the Google search engine is the default choice for anything you type into the omnibox, you can switch it up. To formally add extra search capability—you can look up keywords on any site from Amazon to Wikipedia—right-click in the address bar and choose Edit search engines. Add short keywords to any search engines you list here. For example, try associating ""bin"" with Bing. Then, you can type ""bin"" followed by your search terms to search Bing instead of Google. The list of useful address bar tricks goes on: Turn your browser into a simple notepad by entering ""data:text/html, "" into the omnibox and hitting Enter. Or browse your computer's file system: On Windows, type ""C:\"" and hit Enter; on a macOS machine, type ""file:///Users/"" instead.

4. Find forgotten passwords

A login page pops up, and your mind goes blank: You have no idea what your username might be, let alone your password. Chrome can come to the rescue and automatically fill out these details for you. In fact, the browser also keeps a cache of these login credentials, ready for whenever you might need them. This vault lets Chrome automatically enter your information when you're using the browser. And it also comes in handy when you're trying to log in somewhere other than Chrome—if you're on a different browser, or you need to supply a password inside an app, for example. In this case, you can open up Chrome's list of usernames and passwords, find the code you're looking for, and then enter it manually.

You can get at your passwords stash through the Chrome settings. David Nield/Popular Science

Open the Chrome menu via the three dots in the top right corner, choose Settings, and click Advanced. Click Manage passwords, and you can see a list of everything Chrome has saved, in alphabetical order. Scroll down the list, or use the search box at the top of the page, to find the specific credentials you need. To view the relevant password, you click the three dots to the side of any entry and then hit Details—though you'll first have to enter your Windows or macOS password as an extra layer of security. This isn't actually a Chrome-only trick. If you've chosen to sync your browser details with a specific Google account (in order to use it across multiple devices), you can head to passwords.google.com and find your usernames and passwords there as well. So the next time you forget what your login details are for a particular site or app, see if Google knows.

5. Open other files in Chrome

Chrome is much more than just a web browser. We've already mentioned that you can use it as a rudimentary file explorer, and it can open up a host of different file types as well. This ability saves computer bandwidth, because it means you won't have to open up separate programs on the desktop. And on a Chromebook, you won't have access to those programs anyway. Chrome supports most popular music and video formats, for example, so you can play tunes or movies while you browse the web in another tab. This alternative is useful if you don't want to fire up a bloated media player like iTunes or Windows Media Player just to watch a quick clip.

Chrome doubles as a very capable media player. David Nield/Popular Science","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/large_1x_/public/images/2017/07/00-chrome.jpg?itok=8yhZt21D&fc=50"
"Four ways anyone can be a scientist during the solar eclipse","http://www.popsci.com/four-ways-that-anyone-can-be-scientist-during-solar-eclipse?dom=rss-default&src=syn","There's a scientist in all of us. NASA

Millions of people are expected to turn their heads skyward to watch the Great American Eclipse on August 21. You might be one of them. But did you know that you can enjoy this natural wonder while also helping scientists out? Here are four ways that you too can be an eclipse scientist—at least for a day.

1. Watch the thermometer drop for NASA

If you’ve ever wanted to join NASA, well, this won’t quite get you there—but you’ll still be working hand in hand with the organization that sends astronauts into space. The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program is trying to gather an army of eclipse-watchers across the country to collect data on changes to temperature and cloud cover when the moon momentarily obscures the sun. To get a sense of what your measurements could become, check out the data that GLOBE has already collected with the help of citizen scientists. What you’ll need: a smartphone, the GLOBE Observer app, and a thermometer Do I need to be in the direct path of the eclipse?: No! You can submit data from anywhere in North America, even if you only see a partial eclipse How to participate: Download the free app (Android or iOS) and make an account. On August 21, head outside and make observations of the cloud cover every 15-30 minutes for two hours before and after the peak of the eclipse. If you also want to collect temperature data, place your thermometer in the shade and take measurements every 10 minutes for two hours before and after the peak of the eclipse, and every five minutes for half an hour before and after the peak of the eclipse. As a bonus, record the temperature 24 hours before the eclipse. Extra-credit: Get trained in the surface temperature protocol so that you can use an infrared thermometer. And if you have a wind speed gauge, you can even measure changes in wind speed or direction.

2. Lights out, cameras rolling for the Eclipse Megamovie

The Megamovie app automatically takes photos at the most important timepoints during the eclipse. Eclipse Megamovie Mobile app

It’ll only take the moon a couple of minutes to pass across the sun. But that’s just from one point. The eclipse will actually take 90 minutes to complete its cross-country road trip from Lincoln Beach, Oregon, to Charleston, South Carolina. What if we could film this entire journey? That’s just what Hugh Hudson, a research fellow at the University of Glasgow, and Scott McIntosh, director of the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, dreamt up at a conference in 2011. “We looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s make a movie,’” Hudson says. The Eclipse Megamovie project is enlisting citizen scientists to take photos from various points across the country, which will then be stitched into one movie detailing the extent of the eclipse. The data will be more extensive than any previous time-lapses of solar eclipses, Hudson says. “The timing of the shadow across this huge path gives you a lot of new information,” Hudson says. “Normally when an eclipse happens, it’s a one-off snapshot. Now we’re seeing a three-dimensional thing.” The data will help scientists understand the corona (the glowing gases that surround the sun) and special eclipse features like the diamond ring, as well as helping them measurements (like the radius of the sun). A week ago, they hit their goal of 1,000 volunteers for their official project, where trained observers will take photos with a DSLR camera. “Any DSLR with a good lens is better than any telescope put in space,” Hudson says. But they’re not done yet: sign-ups are continuing, and they hope to get one or two thousand more volunteers. Even without a fancy camera, observers can still take great eclipse photos—the Eclipse Megamovie app will do the heavy lifting to ensure that even phone shots are high quality and tagged with the location and time. There may even be opportunities after the eclipse to help sift through all the photos to find the ones that capture important features. What you’ll need: Either a DSLR camera or a phone with a camera (external lens is optional, but a fun addition) and the Eclipse Megamovie Mobile app. Do I need to be in the direct path of the eclipse?: Yes, the total eclipse is the star of this show. How to participate: Download the Eclipse Megamovie Mobile app (Android or iOS) No matter what camera you’ll be using, whether a DSLR or a smartphone, the app will guide you through how to take the best photos of the eclipse. Practice makes perfect—use Practice Mode on the app to refine your technique. On the night of the eclipse, just point your smartphone’s camera at the sky and let the app do the work, or use your own camera. Share your photos with scientists (and get some high-quality photos for yourself to mark this once-[or twice- or thrice-]in-a-lifetime event). Extra-credit: If you have a DSLR camera and tripod, you may be able to participate in the official Megamovie. Details are on the website.

3. Feeling crafty? Join the EclipseMob

Make your own antenna and receiver to measure radio waves during the eclipse. Jennifer Henry/EclipseMob

Up in the sky, over 600 miles above the ground, is the land of radio waves. It's called the ionosphere, and EclipseMob wants your help to study it. When the sun's rays pass through the ionosphere, the radiation giving the atoms a slight electromagnetic charge. This can interfere with radio waves, but the eclipse provides the perfect opportunity to see what happens in the sun's absence. It's not the first time that the eclipse has been used as a real-world laboratory. During the total solar eclipse on April 17, 1912, British physicist William Eccles listened for clicks and other abnormal noises on a radio station. But this time, citizen scientists from around the United States will use homemade radio antennae and receivers to measure one radio wave in particular, broadcast from a government station in Fort Collins, Colorado. By comparing the wave's signal in Washington to its signal in Florida, for example, you can figure out how the radio wave changes when it has to pass through the path of the eclipse—and it will all be geotagged and timestamped by the EclipseMob app, designed to help people collect the data. ""With citizen science, we'll have data from lots of different locations in the United States,"" says Jill Nelson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at George Mason University. Unlike Eccles' experiment, which only used one receiver, this study will have over 150: That's how many people from across the country have signed up and received kits containing all the materials they'll need to build their very own antenna and receiver. ""One of the unique things about this project is the design,"" says Laura Lukes, program manager and affiliate assistant professor of atmospheric, oceanic, and earth sciences at George Mason University. ""[The receiver] doesn't require special materials or soldering, which increases the accessibility. Engaging the nationwide community and the average citizen, that’s the only way we can get a large enough dataset."" What you’ll need: The parts to construct an antenna and a receiver, a smartphone with a headphone jack, and the mobile app. Do I need to be in the direct path of the eclipse?: No! EclipseMob wants to figure out how radio waves change depending on how far they are from the eclipse or how they're oriented. They're especially eager for more volunteers in the midwest. How to participate: Follow the instructions to construct your antenna and receiver. Connect it to your phone via the headphone jack. Starting before the eclipse (the amount of the time will depend on your location), set up your antenna system and connect it to your phone via the headphone jack. Use the app on your phone to fine tune your antenna system: The app will tell you when you've picked up the right signal and it'll help you visualize what the graph of the signal should look like. Extra-credit: There's been more demand than available kits, but if you didn't sign up in time to get a kit, don't worry—Lukes and Nelson have put together a list of parts that you can use to build your own antenna and receiver.

4. Calling all bird-watchers and chicken-owners: Watch how “Life Responds.”

What will plants and animals do when the lights go out? iNaturalist app/California Academy of Sciences

This isn’t Elise Ricard’s first rodeo. Ricard, the public programs presenter supervisor at the California Academy of Sciences, was actually in Australia in 2012 for their total solar eclipse. “I remember birds going quiet,” Ricard says. “It was a distinct, vivid experience.” Scientists have studied plants’ and animals’ responses to the sudden absence of the Sun during solar eclipses, and this year, Ricard hopes citizen scientists can help these efforts through the ""Life Responds"" project. After all, when the sun’s light gets snuffed out, both plants and animals might think that nighttime has come (early): Birds’ flight patterns could change, some plants will close up, farm animals might even return to their sleeping areas. (That’s right, if you have chickens, keep an eye on them!) And since the eclipse will be passing over relatively rural parts of the country, eclipse watchers will likely be surrounded by nature—all they need to do is snap a few photos or jot down some notes. The California Academy of Sciences has been partnering with other citizen scientist initiatives and state parks to get the word out. Although they don’t know how many people will submit photos, they’re hopeful that the data will be useful for scientists. They’ll be publishing a summary and all the raw data will be available online. “Citizen science is a truly beautiful thing,” Ricard says. “It gives people a direct connection to research being done and it allows people to participate on a scale that is unprecedented.” What you’ll need: A smartphone and the iNaturalist app Do I need to be in the direct path of the eclipse?: No! In fact, Ricard says data from all over the continental United States will be particularly helpful because it will help them figure out what percent of darkness or what degree of temperature change is required for plants and animals to react. How to participate: Download the iNaturalist app (Android and iOS) and make an account. Join the “Life Responds” project. Play around with the app and get familiar with it. On the big day, pick the plants and/or animals you’ll be observing. Take photos of your chosen organisms 30 minutes before, during and 30 minutes after the total eclipse. When they say “during,” they mean at least within five minutes of the eclipse—they know you might be too awestruck to take photos, and besides, it’s more important that you experience the moment. You can also take notes describing what you see and hear. Your observations will be geotagged automatically. Extra-credit: It’s important to make multiple observations (at the very least, before and after, or during and after) so that you can see the change. But the more data, the better! And the California Academy of Sciences keeps the iNaturalist app going all the time, not just during the eclipse, so continue keeping an eye out for natural phenomena that might make a good addition to its growing collection.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/large_1x_/public/images/2017/07/650665main_hinode-eclipse-orig_full_0.jpg?itok=HHZY3YZQ&fc=50"
"Why your muscles hurt so much the day after you work out","http://www.popsci.com/exercise-muscle-soreness?dom=rss-default&src=syn","If you do end up with achy muscles after a workout, your best bet is to stretch and keep hydrated.

Ever woken up the day after a workout and wondered what you did to deserve such pain?

I’m talking about soreness. That pain can stem from several sources, and understanding what's behind yours will help you best remedy it—and find ways to potentially prevent it in the future.

What is this torture?

“There’s muscle soreness that could be due to, say weight training, which can cause what we call delayed onset muscle soreness, which is kind of a diffuse soreness in the muscle,” says Thomas Brickner, head team physician for a number of sports at the University of North Carolina. “It usually starts a day or two after a new workout, or a workout that you’re not typically accustomed to.”

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is the kind that happens the day after you dive into your first barre class, first run in a few months, or first time trying out weights. And though it can feel like you can barely move, when worst comes to worst you can straighten your arms if need be.

We experience DOMS because of diffuse microscopic injuries to the muscles themselves and the inflammation that results from it. (It's a common myth that it results from the build up of lactic acid. Lactic acid does cause that intense burning feeling during your last rep or right when your muscles are about to give in. But your body is able to eliminate it from your blood in a few minutes.)

“Usually the delayed onset muscle soreness is just kind of a discomfort in the muscles themselves that is somewhat diffuse, but the pain is usually just kind of mild and [the muscles] won’t typically lose much in the way of motion,” says Brickner. You don't typically have much in the way of swelling in the area either, he says. For example, if you did some bicep curls a day earlier, your biceps might feel sore, but you'd still be able to straighten your elbows.

How can I make the pain stop?

For DOMS, certain types of exercise may make you more sore than others, especially workouts that include what are called eccentric contractions—ones that cause the muscles to tighten and lengthen at the same time. A good way to visualize this would be to picture doing a squat: the quadricep muscles in your thighs are starting to lengthen as you lower your body, but they are also tightening so you don’t go down too fast. Running downhill can cause this too, Brickner says.

Usually, this type of muscle soreness goes away on its own in a couple of days. But when you are feeling the brunt of it, there are steps you can take to make yourself feel better while it runs its course, and potentially allow the muscles to heal faster, too. Brickner says staying hydrated is extremely important. Your muscle cells need water to properly repair damaged tissue through protein synthesis. If you are bold, he says, and have access to multiple bath-sized bodies of water, a contrast bath—going from a warm bath to a cold one—could be helpful as well. Contrast baths work by opening and closing blood vessels, which creates a ""pumping action"" that decreases pain and inflammation in the area. You also can’t go wrong with gentle massage of the muscles in pain, which research has shown to switch on genes that decrease inflammation as well as activate mitochondria-producing genes.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/large_1x_/public/images/2017/07/8256822183_ec4b419d05_o.jpg?itok=CTR0a8hI&fc=50"
"How to find a lost phone","http://www.popsci.com/find-lost-phone?dom=rss-default&src=syn","All is not lost, even when your phone is. David Nield/Popular Science

You reach for your phone—and realize it's not where you left it. With a sinking feeling, you pat your pockets, then tear your room apart. But the truth settles in: Your beloved device is gone, and you have no idea where you lost it. Now that we rely on our smartphones for everything from checking bank balances to making perfect social posts, a lost one can create a huge headache. And we're not just talking about missing out on Facebook updates. Without your pocket computer, you lose touch with your family and friends (who memorizes phone numbers any more?), risk missing work commitments, and have your travel plans thrown into chaos. In other words, you need to recover your missing phone as soon as possible. The good news is that your phone has apps to help you. The bad news is that these apps need to be set up in advance. Before we begin, we have a couple caveats. If you're reading this because your phone is missing, but you haven't already configured a recovery app, then we can't help you (other than offering the usual advice: look in the last place you remember seeing it and ask one of your friends to call the number). And if your phone's been stolen, we do not recommend that you track it down on your own. For your own safety, contact your local law enforcement agency and hand over any of the information your phone-finding app provides, rather than taking matters into your own hands. Now, let's get started!

Find a lost iPhone

Apple has built a phone-finding tool right into the iOS operating system. The Find My iPhone ability, which lets you track down a missing iPhone or iPad, relies on your Apple ID—so make sure to memorize your password or secure it in a reputable password manager. To set up this feature, open Settings on your iPhone, tap your name at the top of the screen, then hit the menu entry that lists your iPhone as one of the devices connected to your Apple ID. Enable both the Find My iPhone and Send Last Location toggle switches in this menu. To recover a lost phone, you also need to make sure that your handset has enabled Location Services. This should already be on, but you can check by opening Settings and tapping Privacy and Location Services. Once you've enabled these settings, you can go on with your daily life...until your iPhone wanders out of your possession.

Enable Find My iPhone to, well, find your phone. David Nield/Popular Science

So what should you do when your iPhone vanishes? First, open up a web browser on any computer and go to icloud.com/find, then log in with your Apple ID. Or just grab another Apple device, such as a laptop or iPad, sign in with your Apple ID, and load up the secondary device's own version of the Find My iPhone app. The next screen should show a map, with a dot marking the location of your iPhone, as well as any other devices you've registered. A pop-up dialog can reveal the phone's battery level, as well as the date and time when the iPhone last reported its position. So if the last check-in occurred a while ago, its battery may have died or someone may have switched it off. In this case, the location on the map could be outdated, because a phone can't report its new whereabouts while it's turned off.

Your iPhone reports its last known position on a map. David Nield/Popular Science

In addition to checking in with your phone, Find My iPhone lets you interact with it. If the map tells your the phone is buried somewhere in your apartment, for example, you can click Play Sound to make the phone ring (even if the volume is muted). If the phone seems to be floating around elsewhere, you can take more extreme measures by clicking Lost Mode. This remotely locks your device and displays a message of your choice for any strangers who might pick it up on the street or in a restaurant. It also prevents the phone from making any Apple Pay purchases. Putting your phone in Lost Mode should be enough to prevent a thief from accessing it. But if your handset has made its way to a location you've never visited, and you're worried that your data will fall into the wrong hands, you can employ the Erase iPhone option as a last resort. This will remotely wipe everything on your device. So if your phone never makes its way back to you, you'll know that your data is safe. On the other hand, if you do get your hands on it again, you can restore the device from an iTunes or iCloud backup.

Find a lost Android phone

Android devices have their own version of the Find My iPhone option. On stock Android, you can find it by opening Settings and then tapping Google, Security, and Find My Device. Make sure the top two options are set to on. Once you've enabled them, you will be able to locate and, if necessary, remotely wipe your Android device should it go missing. Some Android manufacturers put their own phone finder apps on their devices. For example, Samsung has a program called Find My Mobile. But as long as you've registered a Google account on your phone (and you won't forget or lose the password), then you should be able to use the native option. As with iPhones, you need to switch on your Android device's location services. To check, go to Location in Settings.

The settings you must enable to keep track of your Android device. David Nield/Popular Science

If you lose track of your Android, your game plan should be very similar to that of a lost iPhone owner. First, head to google.com/android/find in any web browser, or open the Find My Device app on another Android device. Sign in to your Google account, and you can see a map that reveals exactly where your phone last reported its position from. Here's another neat trick: Head to the main Google page and type ""where's my phone?"" into the search box. As long as you're logged into your Google account, this will open the same phone-showing map. In addition to revealing your Android device's location, this page gives you another three options. You can get the phone to ring, even if it's set to silent, which might help you work out which sofa cushion it's fallen under. The ringing lasts for five minutes, which should give you plenty of time to sift through the dirty laundry or grope around under the bed. Just remember that the location on the map shows the phone's location when it last connected to the internet. So if the battery died in your apartment, before someone moved the phone, you won't find it nearby even if the map insists that it's right next to you. Check the info panel to figure out just how long it's been since the Android's last check-in.

Track down or wipe your Android device from the web. David Nield/Popular Science

The two other options let you lock and wipe the phone remotely, the same options you get with the equivalent Apple service. Use the lock option and set a message to appear on the lock screen if you think someone might pick up the phone and return it to you. As long as it's locked, no one can access your data, unless we're talking about someone with high-level hacking skills. Finally, the wipe option is available if your phone's been stolen and you want to make absolutely sure the data and apps on it won't be vulnerable. Remotely locking your phone will often be enough to keep people out, but if you're never going to get it back, or think someone may have gotten past the lock screen somehow, then this is the safest option. Bear in mind that, unless you've backed up your data elsewhere, this will get rid of your information forever.

Other phone-finders

Because both Apple and Google have provided such comprehensive tools of their own (tools that can also track your other devices, like Android Wear smartwatches and Apple Watches), third-party developers haven't really rushed to release their own apps in this area. But they do provide a few options we like. Cerberus, an anti-theft app for Android, offers a week of free use and then requires a subscription fee of $4.99 a year. Beyond being able to track your phone on a map and trigger its speakers, Cerberus lets you take pictures from your phone's camera and screenshots of its screen. This might help you work out where your phone is and who has it. The app can also permanently display a message for whoever picks your phone up.

Cerberus can tell you where your phone is and which Wi-Fi network it's connected to. Cerberus","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2017/07/00-phone_0.jpg?itok=9zvius6V"
"Sunscreen made from DNA would last forever","http://www.popsci.com/dna-sunscreen?dom=rss-default&src=syn","A DNA-based sunscreen that not only stops harmful ultraviolet (UV) light, but also becomes more protective the longer you expose it to UV rays? That’s the dazzling premise behind a recent study published in the journal Science Reports.

While sunscreen isn’t the only form of sun protection (there’s always protective clothing and floppy hats), the reality is that most of us just skip it. A 2015 study in Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that only 14.3 percent of men and 29.9 percent of women routinely use sunscreen when they are in outside for more than an hour. This wouldn’t be a problem, except, “Ultraviolet light is a carcinogen,” Guy German a biomedical researcher at Binghamton University in New York and an author on the study, tells PopSci. “We know it can give you a tan, but it can also cause cancer as well.”

While dermatoepidemiologists (scientists who study diseases of the skin) suspect that sunlight causes cancer because it damages DNA in our cells, German and his colleagues were looking at DNA in an entirely different way. They wondered what would happen if they exposed DNA film, essentially a thin sheet of the stuff, to the same kind of ultraviolet light we get from walking in sunshine.

If you’ve ever taken glue and spread it on a surface and then let it dry to create a sheet or film, then you understand the basics of the material the researchers made: They took a liquid solution of DNA, smeared it on a piece of glass, and let it dry to create the film. The DNA, in case you were wondering, comes from salmon sperm. “It was not that we chose salmon sperm, “ says German. “It's just one of the readily available DNA sources.”

German, along with the lead author on the study, Alexandria Gasperini, then exposed the film to UVA and UVB light to see how much, if any, radiation the films would allow to pass. UVA light makes up around 95-percent of the sun’s radiative light; it can penetrate deep into the skin, has long-been thought to be a culprit in premature aging, and is increasingly believed to play a key role in the formation of skin cancer. UVB, the radiation that makes us tan (and burn), also plays a role in skin cancer.

“This was a fundamental study to see how UV light interacts with DNA films,"" says German, ""Also, you know subsequently how the UV light can actually alter DNA films.”

To measure these effects, the team used a device called a spectrophotometer, which allows them to control the amount and wavelength of light that they put through the films. A receptor on the other side measured how much of the light passed made it through. The DNA film did not allow up to 90 percent of UVB light and 20-percent of UVA light to cross through. Perhaps even more amazing: The DNA film seemed to grow stronger—that is, it seemed to allow less light to pass through the longer it was exposed to UV light. German and his team, however, aren't sure if the films achieve this by absorbing light or reflecting it.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2017/07/cute_child_applying_sunscreen_at_the_beach_copy.jpg?itok=Owtq6EPm"
"The best Twitter tricks and add-ons","http://www.popsci.com/twitter-tricks-add-ons?dom=rss-default&src=syn","There's more to Twitter than meets the eye. Freestocks.org/Unsplash.com

Since 2006, Twitter has been breaking major news, connecting celebrities directly to their fans, and creating all kinds of memes from the hilarious to the downright bizarre. Whether you use the service or not, Twitter has played a huge role in internet culture for the past 11 years. Despite its surface simplicity—a non-stop flow of updates, 140 characters long or less—this social network hides powerful tools and customizations under its unassuming exterior. Here's how you can start getting more out of Twitter, both on your phone and in your web browser.

1. Create lists

Twitter lists let you curate accounts for yourself or other people. David Nield/Popular Science

One of Twitter's best features—its endless scroll of updates—is also its worst. If you follow friends, celebrities, news organizations, humor accounts, and others, all the disparate content will get jumbled together in a muddle. That's where lists come in. This frequently overlooked feature lets you put together collections of themed accounts (sci-fi authors, your coworkers, National Parks, etcetera), and then view tweets from those accounts in a single stream. Throw together your favorite comedians for a list you can read through when you want to laugh, and trusted science news outlets for a timeline that will stimulate your sense of wonder. To make a Twitter list, simply open up the profile page of someone you want to add to a list, click on the three dots to the right of the page, and then choose Add or remove from lists. The pop-up window will let you add the account to an existing list or make it the first account in a brand-new list. On your phone, you can find the lists option by opening up a profile and tapping the three dots (Android) or the cog icon (iOS). Once you've created a list, you can find a link to it on your profile page. If you've set your list to be private, then only you will be able to see and access it. If you've made it public, then anyone can view it. Other people can subscribe to your public lists, so you can also use them to curate Twitter accounts for your friends to follow.

2. See a performance review

How are your tweets performing? David Nield/Popular Science

You've got an amazing hot take that you know will set Twitter on fire. But how can you be sure it's performing to its full potential? For that, you need to see what kind of updates your followers are interested in, and what will make a big impression on your audience. Which is why Twitter created its own free analytics dashboard, available for all users to take advantage of. Navigate to the analytics page, and you can see how much you're tweeting, how much traction those tweets are earning over time, how many new followers and profile visits you're getting, and more. If you want to start paying to promote posts on the network, you can do this from Twitter Analytics too.

3. Embrace the night

Twitter can change its look when the sun goes down. David Nield/Popular Science

When you're curled up in bed at night, naturally you'll want to grab your phone and scroll through the feed of your Twitter app (available on Android and iOS). But the blue light emanating from the screen can strain your eyes and disrupt your ability to fall asleep. So turn on night mode, which gives the entire interface a darker look that's easier on the eyes after the sun's gone down. To access the night mode setting, go to the app menu, open Settings and privacy, and then hit Display and sound. If you're using an Android phone, then Twitter gives you an extra bonus option: Tap the Night mode entry in the menu, and you can set the dark version of your feed to automatically kick in based on your region's sunset and sunrise times.

4. Find specific tweets

Find more on Twitter with the advanced search. David Nield/Popular Science

Like Google, Twitter has advanced search options for looking up your favorite vaguely-remembered tweets. You can access them on the advanced search page, which gives you plenty of options for tracking down your quarry. In addition to searching for certain keywords while excluding others, you can look for tweets based on the account that wrote them, as well as the post's geographical location, date, language, and more. These advanced search abilities instantly turn you into a superpowered tweet hunter.

5. Mute certain words

Mute words you don't want to see in your timeline. David Nield/Popular Science

Tired of hearing about a news story that has set Twitter abuzz? Trying to avoid spoilers for your favorite TV show? Now's the time to mute certain words. This prevents tweets that contain the forbidden phrases from appearing in your timeline's main feed or in your notifications. However, they will still show up in searches. To adjust your mute options, open the Twitter settings page and click Add on the Muted words screen. You can get specific about individual words, as well as phrases, emojis, usernames, and hashtags. Take care when entering the things you want to avoid: The system ignores capitalization, so typing ""CATS,"" for example, will also mute ""cATs.""

6. Download your past

Download your archive to browse tweets from years gone by. David Nield/Popular Science

If you get tired of Twitter and decide to delete your account, you don't have to consign your old posts to obscurity: Twitter lets you download your past activity as an archive. Even if you aren't abandoning Twitter, this archive can come in handy, providing backed-up proof of what you've said and when. And it's much easier to search through this local archive by year or by month than it is to sift through your previous posts on the actual Twitter website. To archive your account, go to the Twitter settings page online and click Request your archive. When Twitter has prepared your past activity for download, you'll receive an emailed link. Click it to download a compressed HTML file containing all of your tweets, from the very first to the latest one.

7. Give your devices their own accounts

IFTTT lets you connect Twitter up to a bunch of other services. David Nield/Popular Science

Want to share with your friends every time you hit a target with your Fitbit, go on a bike ride with Strava, or turn the temperature down on your Nest thermostat? Thanks to the wonders of IFTTT (If This Then That), a free web service that connects all kinds of apps together, you can give smart devices the power to brag about your progess on Twitter. The first step is to sign up for a free account at iffttt.com and connect the specific apps you want to use. Once you've done that, you can start building little programs called applets. Even beginners can put applets together, and IFTTT guides you through the whole process. In this situation, you'll need an applet that responds to a trigger—say a ping from your fitness tracker that says you've hit your target—with a corresponding action—in this case, a tweet.

8. Plan tweets ahead of time with Buffer

Buffer lets you line up tweets in advance. David Nield/Popular Science

Just because you plan to go on vacation doesn't mean you want to neglect your Twitter account. So schedule your tweets in advance. Plenty of add-ons offer this service, but none match the polish and ease of use of Buffer. It can also pre-plan your Facebook and Instagram posts. Access Buffer as a web app or via its various browser extensions and phone apps. Once you link it to your Twitter account, you can queue up your tweets in a long list to go out on a schedule, or set certain tweets to go live at certain times. Buffer handles all the extras, such as embedded images, for you. On the free plan, you get one social media account and a queue of 10 scheduled posts. To plan further in advance, you'll have to pony up $10 a month, which lets you schedule up to 100 posts for up to 10 separate social accounts.

9. Supercharge your interface with TweetDeck

The TweetDeck client is run by Twitter. David Nield/Popular Science","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2017/07/00-twitter.jpg?itok=OBS6aKn1"
"Five rad and random eclipse things I found this week","http://www.popsci.com/eclipse-binoculars-eclipse-glasses?dom=rss-default&src=syn","Eclipse gear to geek out with. Chris Child - Unsplash

My job is to find cool stuff. Throughout the week I spend hours scouring the web for things that are useful or fun or ridiculously cheap. Often times, these choices coalesce into a guide of like items—for example, how to stay cool during the summer, items to make your bathroom the shit, or apps that won't make your kids dumber. But I often stumble across some pretty awesome stuff that doesn’t really fit into a list. So I made a list for those. Here are some items to make your solar eclipse experience a little more enjoyable. Have fun!

Solar Eclipse Baby Bodysuit ThinkGeek

This Venn diagram solar eclipse bodysuit has a smiling moon eclipsing a lip-quivering sun. It has three snap buttons and is made out of 100 percent cotton. $20.

Celestron Eclipse Binoculars ThinkGeek

The Celestron Eclipse Binoculars are a step up from the DIY pinhole projectors you're used to. They provide ten times magnification and have integrated 42mm solar filters that block harmful UV rays before they can fry your eyeballs. The body of the eclipse binoculars is made of aluminum with a rubber coating and weighs less than two pounds. You receive a carrying case and binocular strap for transportation. $70.

Solar Eclipse Spectacles Etsy

If you don't want to lug around a pair of binoculars, grab some eclipse glasses. These googles have shade 14 welders lenses—the darkest lens shade you can buy—which black out surrounding light and totally cover your eyes. Yay safety. The strap is adjustable so it'll fit any member of the family. $29

Solar Eclipse Bracelet Etsy

This silver bracelet shows five phases of a solar eclipse. If you don't have time to gaze at the sky, dazzle a loved one with a bracelet that screams, uh, total eclipse of the heart. $31.

1890 Solar Eclipse Print Etsy

This solar eclipse print—on textured, matte stock with fade-resistant ink—is a reproduction of a 1890 eclipse art print. Sizes range from 4-6 inches to 36-48 inches. $14-125.","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2017/07/chris-child-237865.gif?itok=aK1UI8P-"
"There's something scarier than a grenade-toting drone","http://www.popsci.com/drone-grenade-explodes-ukrainian-stockpile?dom=rss-default&src=syn","Smoke from ammunition depot explosion A thermite grenade likely provided the powerful spark that created this conflagration. Screenshot by author, from YouTube

Every ammunition depot is a potential explosion waiting to happen. And in Eastern Ukraine, a stockpile of ammunition recently ignited, spewing smoke and fire into the sky in a dramatic video. The culprit? A small drone carrying a 1-pound grenade filled with the pyrotechnic substance thermite.

Any ammunition storage location, full of explosives collected in one place, makes a tempting target. For an attacker, the hard part is getting an explosive inside the perimeter to set it off. Drones are the ideal mechanism for this mayhem. Relatively cheap and expendable, a drone’s major limitation is how much weight it can carry. In this case, the aerial vehicle seems to have transported a Russian-made ZMG-1 thermite grenade. Thermite hand grenades are light and potent. For example, the American military uses a thermite-based grenade similar to the ZMG-1. Describing the former, the U. S. Navy Small Arms and Special Warfare Ammunition manual says, “With imaginative use, the grenade can be an effective and versatile demolition tool.” According to the same manual, the American grenade can destroy oil drums, shipping containers...and metal ammunition boxes. Russia's ZMG-1 shares these abilities. With light weapons like these, even hobbyist drones can transform into deadly weapons. As a result, stopping drone attacks has become an increasingly prominent problem for the militaries across the world. In Iraq, the violent nonstate actors ISIS built drones, booby-trapped those drones, and also used regular hobbyist drones as grenade-dropping mini-bombers. In the eastern Ukraine, as fighting continues between the Ukrainian government and Russia-backed separatists, both sides have fielded drones to scout trenches and even act as artillery spotters. To counter this type of drone warfare, countries are investing in everything from eagles to lasers to special jamming rifles. There’s no consensus yet on the best anti-drone tool—and until there is, it’s unlikely that every ammunition depot will manage to protect itself against drone threats.

That doesn’t mean Ukrainian military planners are helpless to prevent another explosion of this scale. The most straightforward change is to stop using open-air storage facilities. Open-air facilities are expedient, and can be set up so that if one section of the facility catches fire, that explosion is buffered by thick, dirt walls, these facilities are still open to attack from the air. There is another standard type of storage facility: earth covered magazines, sometimes nicknamed “Igloo” or “Yurt”, where the explosives are stored within thick walls and a thick layer of protective dirt on top. “Earth-covered magazines provide temperature stability and are particularly desirable for the storage of propellants and pyrotechnics,” notes an Army training manual. “Earth-covered magazines are the best and safest type of storage facilities.”

In the meantime, before it can begin building better ammunition dumps, Ukraine is going to have to clean up the disaster site now. In 1969, Bob Leiendecker was the commander of the Army specialist unit assisting Marines as they cleaned up two ammunition depots that caught fire and exploded in Danang, South Vietnam. “For places of this size I would imagine that it was mostly open storage,” says Leiendecker. “That means one pad of ammunition stored in a square or rectangular area surrounded on three sides by dirt mounds. Detonations in the pads will throw red hot fragments, possible burning ammunition and undetonated ammunition over the mounds into other areas. It is one big loud chain reaction.” After the blast, clearing a site can take a long time. Cleaning up the Danang sites took six months total, and this site in Ukraine trained professionals will need time and will need to clear a larger area than just the ammunition depot, as massive blasts scatter tire-shredding fragments and potentially live ammunition across a vast area. This, in turn, will pull disposal professionals from wherever else they may be. And the work can’t be rushed. Leiendecker recommends that people cleaning up the site only work 2 or 3 days at a time, and then take a day off to stay sharp for the entire cleanup process. “They will need ambulances and doctors standing by daily at both the clearance site and the demolition site,” says Leiendecker, “They will find that as one storage site detonated it blew live rounds and dirt into other adjacent storage areas. That means that in order to clear those area you have to carefully dig down thru scrap metal, live ammunition and dirt.” Ukrainian forces could treat this incident as a wake-up call. While they might still struggle to stop drones, they can improve the design of their ammunition depots with tools like earth-covered magazines. Better structures and safety measures would mitigate the harm a single drone can do with a single grenade. Watch the video of the explosion below:","http://www.popsci.com/sites/popsci.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2017/07/depotboom.png?itok=e4YaFprP"
"Everything Ashley Graham and Candice Huffine Can Do Better in Lingerie","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a47048/lane-bryant-ashley-graham-candice-huffine/","It's been two years since Ashley Graham and Candice Huffine starred in a major (some may say explosive) Lane Bryant lingerie ad campaign that challenged the stereotypes of what a typical underwear model should like. Posing with other plus-size models in the brand's Cacique lingerie line, they were snapped by fashion photographer Cass Bird in black and white—a contrast to how other brands may shoot their lingerie models.

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Now the two are returning for another round of advertisements, starring in Lane Bryant's fall lingerie campaign. Although those images won't be released until October, we crashed the shoot to play a quick game of Things I Can Do Better with Graham and Huffine on set. Watch Graham chug a water bottle in one take and reveal her selfie secrets, and Huffine imitate her favorite emoji.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/15/15/1600x800/landscape-1428420925-mti5mjg5nda0njkzotewoday.jpg"
"Philomena Kwao Stars in Lane Bryant's #TheNewSkinny Campaign","http://www.elle.com/fashion/interviews/a47001/philomena-kwao-lane-bryant-interview/","When ELLE.com first spoke with Philomena Kwao, she had just landed an appearance in Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue and Swimsuitsforall's #SwimSexy campaign. Now, a year and a half later, Kwao is teaming up with Lane Bryant to star in #TheNewSkinny campaign, a celebration of all curves and sizes. As body diversity becomes a bigger part of the conversation, Kwao fills us in on what has improved in the modeling industry, and how we can normalize plus sizes for good.

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On #TheNewSkinny campaign.

""I think for so long, women of different sizes have been pigeonholed and with every campaign, it's always an adaptation of making fashion, but for plus sizes. Sometimes it's in a little bit of a negative way and plus is always a little bit slow to be fashion forward. It's like skinny jeans: The skinny jean is a staple for every single woman and man. For so long, advertising for skinny jeans has just been about a certain body shape or a certain body type. But with this new campaign, it really shows that women of different sizes can move in skinny jeans. It's refreshing to see plus women being treated as part of the fashion community as a whole and not just a separate piece or separate different thing.""

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On skinny jean struggles.

""I'm bottom heavy, so I tend to get a gap at the waist or sometimes it's too straight through the thigh. I think the main thing is the perception of the kind of girl that should be wearing a skinny jean. It's never really been the staple of a curvier girl or a staple of a girl that's different shapes and different sizes or different heights. And I think sometimes that also adds to the reason why a lot of women are very self-conscious wearing skinny jeans. This new campaign is very refreshing because we're all different sizes, we're all different shapes and we're wearing these jeans and we look amazing in these jeans.""

On representation beyond size.

""I've noticed in terms of the people that I work with that there's a lot more plus sized models of color being featured, more bloggers. I've also really appreciated the way in which different brands—not only plus sized brands, but brands across the board—have really responded to the concerns of people from different ethnicities or diverse backgrounds. It's really been reflected in a lot of the advertising that I personally have noticed, with the makeup brands becoming more inclusive, with TV commercials becoming more inclusive, with the diversity on magazine covers. In the space of a year, I've seen an almost exponential change that's been quite rapid and I'm really glad it's happening.""

On body diversity as a revolution, not a trend.

""I don't [worry about body diversity as a trend] anymore because now, when you have models like Ashley Graham or Candice Huffine on the front cover of big publications like ELLE or Vogue, no one's calling it the 'Curvy Issue' anymore. They're actually calling these girls by their name and giving them the credit and respect that they're due. We're moving away from the whole token thing. They're highlighting the achievements of all the great models without making reference to their size. I feel like once they're treating them like straight sized models and normalizing it, that's when it's no longer a trend, it's no longer a phase. It's here and it's here to stay.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1501265389-339050-01g-1708-04-f17c-ecomm-srgb-1.jpg"
"Even Kate Middleton's Outfit Repeats Are Royally Gorgeous","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a47033/kate-middleton-repeats-alexander-mcqueen-dress/","ALAIN ROLLAND / AFP

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If you had to sum up Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton's style in two statements, they'd probably be, 1) She loves to repeat a good outfit, and 2) She is proud to rock British designers, particularly Alexander McQueen. And while commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium, Kate's two style briefs met with one gorgeous Alexander McQueen outfit:

Andrew Matthews

Yui Mok

Mark Cuthbert

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Where's the repeat? As E! News pointed out, this was the exact same coat-dress that Kate wore back in July of 2015, at daughter Charlotte's christening. The accessories are a little different—particularly the remembrance poppy pin Kate sported while in Belgium—but otherwise, she mirrored the same twirling white hat and neutral pump styling as before:","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x803/1501503371-kate-middleton-outfit-1501474555.jpg"
"'You Can't Shop Here'","http://www.elle.com/fashion/a47008/big-and-tall-plus-size-clothing-men/","""I had like three outfits I wore forever, because I knew they fit,"" Miko said. ""Then one day, before I got into modeling, my wife and I were looking at photos at my mom's house and she saw a picture of me as a junior in high school, wearing these plaid shorts that she hated, that I still wore every summer, with the same rip in the pocket. She was making fun of me. She was like, 'You need to switch it up.' And I was like, 'Find me a place to find clothes, and I will.'""

Though the industry is slowly changing—Miko and Davis say they find clothes they like at places like Target, ASOS, Chubbies Shorts, and Frank and Oak—I heard the same tone of resigned weariness whenever I asked a plus-sized guy about his shopping experiences. Davis launched Notoriously Dapper after falling in love with a red blazer in Express only to find out it wasn't available in his size, neither in stores nor online. ""It didn't make any sense,"" Davis recalled over the phone. ""Do they just not want people to wear their stuff? I remember feeling insecure about it, kind of down about myself. It's like a sales rep telling you, you can't shop here. You don't fit our body type.""

My goal is to be able to walk into a store that I like, try something on, and then buy it.

Coates had stories of his own. During a semester he spent at Oxford, he and three other guys left class and headed to High Street to shop at some menswear boutiques. Each of his classmates (""all skinny, of course"") picked up shirts and blazers. Coates left with a pair of sunglasses. It was the only item that fit. ""Those experiences kind of piqued my insecurities,"" he said, adding that in general, he is confident in his image as the ""big boy who can dress."" But those experiences also piqued his interest in the plus-size industry. He knew, intimately, how underserved the market was.

At a little table in the back of Panera, Coates pulled a pair of high-waisted camo-print pants out of his seemingly bottomless luggage. He told me to grab the fabric—""beautiful, heavy cotton""—so I took it between my fingers. It was substantial, sturdy. He laid the pants along his lap and reached down for the next item: a ponte (think: softer, thinner scuba suit) bomber jacket, black with epaulets and gold buttons.

Next up, a tuxedo shirt with an intricate sequin bib, a pattern of blue, black, tan, and white stripes and zig-zags. Then a fishnet long-sleeve crewneck; convertible joggers that zip off into shorts; a lightweight blue and white tee with an attached skinny scarf. The t-shirt, Coates was surprised to find, was the first of his collection to sell out.

Coates prides himself in the quality of his construction and the uniqueness of his designs. He knows plus-size men aren't usually desperate for basics; they can find loungewear at the big and tall shops and discount retailers. What they can't get are trends and high fashion, the kind of clothes that express personality. And if brands are assuming plus-size men aren't looking to get experimental with clothes, that they wouldn't appreciate a wider variety, that they don't want to invest in their appearance, Coates is out to show them they are wrong.

Jacket by Brandon Kyle Collection, brandonkylecollection.com; sweater and jeans by Uniqlo, uniqlo.com; boots by H&M, hm.com

His first year in business has been proof. His line debuted at New York Fashion Week last year; since then, the Brandon Kyle newsletter—Coates's main marketing tool—has grown by about thirty percent. He had to increase his size range to include large (it began at XL-4X) because non-plus guys were demanding it. In addition to his mini-collections, which come out monthly, he launched a resortwear collection for summer, comprising three trunks and coordinating dusters. Sales have risen steadily, and Coates expects the company to reach its break-even point by year two.

""This is a viable market, and it should be treated as such,"" he said. ""I'm giving you the most creative, avant-garde things that I can give you. I want to break down these misconceptions about what plus-size guys can and can't wear. I'm pushing the envelope slowly to let the market know it's possible — you can do it, and you can do it well.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/1501272834-landscape-1500644233-hdm079917esqwinstonbox7061.jpg"
"Spanx Sold 3 Million of These Bras—Now There's More to Love","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/news/a46845/spanx-bralette-brallelujah/","For reasons likely based somewhere in branding-101, saying your favorite bra is from Spanx elicits a lot of reactions of the ""huh, really?"" variety. Yet there are no two ways about it: In a category that has a lot of boxes to tick (comfort, looks, and fit as the biggest trio), Spanx styles reliably perform high in all categories. Its anchor style the Bra-llelujah! launched in 2004 and has sold three million to date. Now, a dozen years after it first hit the market, it's been reimagined as a bralette.

Spanx's new Bra-llelujah! bralette, available in 5 colors.

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""We wanted to create the best bralette on the market,"" Spanx told ELLE.com (the resulting product retails for $48—buy it here). ""We selected the coziest and most luxe materials, customized the coverage for the just right amount of support, and added our patented comfort hosiery technology wing and straps. It provides unparalleled comfort, versatility, and a natural, figure flattering look.""

Spanx's new style—and the wide size range—signals an interest in bralettes for the busty. (Check out our review on the recent release of another bra that accumulated a 3,000-person wait list.) Like most bralettes, Spanx's sizing skips the cup format available in XS through XL (the latter is meant to fit a 36 DD or 40C) instead.

SHOP Spanx's Bra-llelujah bralette, $48; spanx.com","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1500996380-bras2.jpg"
"Elizabeth Olsen and Aubrey Plaza Turn Up To Movie Premiere Wearing The Same Dress","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46994/elizabeth-olsen-aubrey-plaza-same-dress/","Elizabeth Olsen and Aubrey Plaza turned up to a movie premiere last night wearing almost identical dresses. Ordinarily, this would be an A-lister's worst nightmare, however on this occasion, it was definitely deliberate.

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The duo star together in a new comedy called Ingrid Goes West, which tells the story of a young woman who becomes obsessed with a social media star and moves to Los Angeles to become her best friend. Plaza and Olsen chose to mirror the plot at the premiere with their little stunt.

Plaza's frock was decorated with gold embellishments, while Olsen's was silver, but both teamed them with identical black court shoes and wore their hair in a similar style.

Later in the evening, Olsen changed into a black midi dress, a matching jacket and chunky shoes.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501250034-aubrey-elizabeth.jpg"
"Proenza Schouler Made a Film For Planned Parenthood","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46981/proenza-schouler-planned-parenthood-film/","Perhaps you've heard: Under President Trump, Planned Parenthood has been defunded—four locations closed in Iowa at the end of June—and will continue to be marginalized. So what's fashion got to do with that? During NYFW in February, the CFDA partnered with Planned Parenthood, distributing pink ""I Stand With Planned Parenthood"" pins to participating designers, who incorporated them into runway presentations. Proenza Schouler was one of those brands, and today, is taking a commitment to activism and raising awareness one step further with the release of A Film for Planned Parenthood of New York City, a three minute film directed by Harley Weir.

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""Now more than ever we feel it is important to use our voice and platform to speak out in support of the things we care deeply about. Planned Parenthood means so much to the women who work at our company, and to the community Planned Parenthood serves in New York City and beyond,"" the brand said in a statement.

The film features activists, artists, sex educators, and models like Amber Valletta, Grimes, Hanne Gabby Odiele, Hari Nef, Jemima Kirke, Jojo, and Stella Tennant, discussing gender and sexuality. ""What I remember is that God created God first, and he wanted him to have a partner so he gave a rib from Adam to create Eve,"" Amber Valletta says in one scene. ""And they were punished. They knew they were naked, and they were filled with shame about their bodies and about their sexuality.""

Other casts members discuss their own personal visions of femininity, gender, and power. ""I'm not sure that pregnancy changed me, but giving birth definitely did,"" shares Jemima Kirke.

A Film for Planned Parenthood of New York City is meant to serve as a call to action to friends of both Proenza Schouler and Planned Parenthood. Visit www.ppnyc.org to learn how you can support Planned Parenthood of New York City, and www.plannedparenthood.org to take action on behalf of Planned Parenthood nationwide.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501187869-02-ps-ppnyc-amber-valletta.jpg"
"France's First Lady Brigitte Macron Wore Jeans to Kick It With Rihanna","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46874/brigitte-macron-wore-jeans-to-meet-rihanna/","As a break from her fashun spectacular that is the Valerian European press tour, today Harvard Humanitarian of the Year Rihanna is meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron to campaign for education rights in impoverished communities worldwide.

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The festivities got underway with a greeting from his wife, First Lady Brigitte Macron, at Paris's Élysée Palace. Brigitte dressed just as you would to meet a woman whose life goal is to have the most fun always: in a cropped white buttoned jacket and jeans. Business up top, ready for adventure on the bottom.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501083683-gettyimages-823032466.jpg"
"Janelle Monae Shines in the Tiffany & Co. Fall 2017 Campaign","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46869/janelle-monae-tiffany-campaign-fall-2017/","Singer and actress Janelle Monae takes the spotlight in the Tiffany & Co Fall 2017 Campaign, the first for new chief artistic officer, Reed Krakoff.

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The ""There's Only One"" campaign celebrates self-expression and individuality, bringing together six diverse personalities (St. Vincent, David Hallberg, Zoe Kravitz, Elle Fanning and Cameron Russell), all shot by fashion photographers Inez & Vinoodh.

Always a champion for individuality, Monae encourages others to be authentic as well. ""I think that individuality and embracing the things that make you unique is important to humanity, for others around you who may be uncomfortable, with their uniqueness, to finally feel confident in just being just them, and understanding that they were made, you know, unique for a specific purpose,"" says the singer and actress.

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For this campaign, each entertainer was chosen based on their singular style, personal strengths, and imaginative vision. Confidence, a key component of those three factors, is something Monae believes can be spread from person-to-person. ""When you see somebody walk in a room and they're confident, no matter what they're wearing, what their hair looks like, it's contagious, almos,"" she says. ""It's like wow, look at that girl or look at that person being comfortable and confident. Let me straighten up. Okay, you know? I just think that it's individuality and embracing your individuality, is contagious, and we can all catch it.""

Monae wears Tiffany & Co jewelry at the 2017 Met Gala. Getty

As evidenced by her major Tiffany moment at the Met Gala, Monae has always had a love for piling on the accessories. ""I love wearing a lot of jewelry. I love it. I really, really do,"" says Monae. ""And sometimes I like it simple, you know, but today this is what I'm feeling. I don't even know how many rings I have on, how many bracelets I have on. They're different kinds. And I love it. And I love being able to look down and ... and just see so many different worlds coming together.""

Similar to the way Monae blends many worlds in her own career? Definitely.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501077630-dsc0025-1-low.jpg"
"Gigi Hadid's Millennial Pink Coat Is Back In Stock","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46856/gigi-hadid-millenial-pink-coat-alice-and-olivia/","Try to think of two hotter phrases in the current internet lexicon than ""Gigi Hadid"" and ""millennial pink."" Time's up: They don't exist. Now just think about what happens when those two phenomena join forces. Can't even fathom? We'll tell you, because that's exactly what happened on April 23 of this year, when Gigi Hadid turned 22 and decided to wear (and fully document wearing) a millennial pink coat from Alice + Olivia on her day of celebration.

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She was snapped by paparazzi wearing the coat and carrying a bajillion roses on the streets of Manhattan. She wore the coat on a helicopter. She Instagrammed a picture with Zayn while wearing the coat and holding a coordinating millennial pink birthday cake.

💕 A post shared by Gigi Hadid (@gigihadid) on Apr 23, 2017 at 6:34pm PDT

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Then she paired the coat with a pink wig for the evening festivities.

The coat in question? The Angela duster from the Alice + Olivia spring 2017 collection.

According to the brand, the coat sold out online almost immediately. Before the beginning of May—that's a span of seven days—the Angela coat was sold out at retailers across the country. And today, dear reader, have we got news for you. It's back in stock.

The Alice + Olivia Angela coat retails for $495. Get one. And perhaps some matching Gucci loafers?","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501016318-gigicoat.jpg"
"Spotted: Emilia Clarke and Rihanna in the Same Pink Prada Outfit","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46853/emilia-clarke-and-rihanna-in-the-same-pink-prada-outfit/","Rihanna sent personal greetings from her Instagram story this afternoon, 'gramming herself shimmying in a flirty pink fall 2017 Prada number.

Since she doesn't wanna use Snapchat. Lol #Rihanna #InstagramLive #PrettyInPink 07/25/17 A post shared by 🎈Rihanna on Snapchat🎈 (@rihonsnap) on Jul 25, 2017 at 11:29am PDT

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It's one she'd end up wearing for the Paris premiere for Valerian:

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RiRi is the second badass to wear the look. Emilia Clarke, a.k.a. Game of Thrones' Daenerys, also did in ELLE's August 2017 issue.

Alexi Lubomirski

Two queens, one look, all hail.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501166132-elle-rihanna-emilia-clarke-prada.jpg"
"Michael Kors Buys Jimmy Choo for $1.2 Billion","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46849/michael-kors-buys-jimmy-choo-sale/","Michael Kors is buying Jimmy Choo for £896 million ($1.2 billion), both brands announced Tuesday. Under the deal, each shareholder of the high-end footwear label will receive £2.30 ($3) per share in cash, WWD reports.

The acquisition is a response to the decrease in sales for upscale brands, as mall shopping has ""declined sharply,"" reports the New York Times. Though e-commerce sites, fast-fashion brands, and even luxury labels like Gucci continue to thrive, brands in the ""accessible luxury market,"" like Kors, are struggling. The Jimmy Choo deal comes two months after Coach made a similar move by buying Kate Spade for $2.4 billion.

Princess Diana wears Jimmy Choo heels in 1997.

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Jimmy Choo makes for an interesting pair with Kors, as the former is known for its sky-high stilettos and glam, crystal-embellished designs, while the latter gravitates towards down-to-earth leather goods and ready-to-wear.

But Kors thinks they make a good match. The company told WWD it plans to incorporate the ""experiences, infrastructure, and capabilities that it has developed over the course of its own worldwide growth as a luxury fashion brand to support the growth of Jimmy Choo through retail store openings and further development of its online presence.""

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Jimmy Choo will continue to function ""as it does today"" with Pierre Denis as CEO and Sandra Choi as creative director, so don't expect any big changes in the company or its designs. Meanwhile, Kors plans to add an ""expanded assortment"" of products to its own repertoire.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/1501003821-1500995562-hbz-michael-kors-index-1500990647.jpg"
"4 Style Secrets I Learned from Nicolette Mason and Gabi Gregg","http://www.elle.com/fashion/personal-style/news/a46824/style-secrets-nicolette-mason-gabi-gregg/","With more than ten years of experience in the fashion world, plus a combined 672,000 followers on Instagram alone, it should come as no shock that plus-sized lifestyle consultants and bloggers Nicolette Mason and Gabi Gregg are finally giving the people what they want: a fashion line comprised entirely of pieces designed to fit bodies just like their own. Launching today, Premme is a collection for women who are A.) sizes 12 to 30 and B.) sick of watered-down (read: lame) plus-size clothing and C.) looking for something more fun and directional.

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""We didn't want to compromise on style,"" the duo told ELLE.com regarding the Premme ethos. ""We wanted great fabric choices that were quality but still at an accessible price point."" The clothes are unabashedly feminine—after all, Premme is a mashup of the words premiere, premium, feminist, and femme—and each piece retails from $30 to $89. Highlights include figure-hugging jumpsuits and dresses, off-the-shoulder tops, and maybe most notably, a sure-to-sell out denim jacket that reads FEMINIST AF. Shop the collection on premme.us, but first read ahead for a few secrets from the style influencers.

Nicolette Mason and Gabi Gregg in Premme

Looking pulled together doesn't have to be that hard.

""Sometimes it's as simple as adding a swipe of lipstick or a giant pair of sunglasses—especially in the summer. I've also been living in off-shoulder looks this summer. I love the extra flash of skin,"" says Mason. ""A lightweight dress is definitely a go-to of mine when I want an effortless-yet-polished look,"" suggests Gregg.

Incorporate jackets—even in this weather.

""In the colder months I live in my leather moto jackets, but when the temps don't let me go there, I still want a piece of outerwear to finish a look, so denim it is,"" says Mason. Adds Gregg, ""I know it's summer, but a great leather jacket is definitely my secret weapon. Throwing it on immediately makes almost any outfit better. A denim jacket over the shoulders can also give that same cool-girl effect.""

Mason and Gregg model the Feminist AF denim jacket

Mine your friends for valuable style advice...

""Believe it or not, I was not a big shoe girl pre-Nicolette! She's definitely rubbed off on me in the accessories department. Now I know the importance of a great shoe,"" says Gregg. As for what Mason has learned from Gregg, ""Gabi has taught me to experiment with more colors! I used to wear all black all the time. I can't believe my wardrobe is a full-on rainbow now.""

Gregg and Mason

But remember, traditional style rules are meant to be broken.

""One thing that always bugs me is the pressure to wear 'flattering' pieces. What does that mean, anyways? That we have to create the illusion that we're much smaller than we are? Trends and silhouettes in fashion aren't always about 'flattering' a figure. We're both individuals who don't want to compromise on style or experimenting with trends because of our bodies. We designed our sheer mesh dress with an oversized fit in mind. We say, if you like it, wear it. It's that simple,"" says Mason. Gregg agrees: ""I love oversized, boxy dresses. It's so funny because everyone is so averse to them since muumuus were all plus-size women had for so long. But since the oversized look is trending right now, I don't think we should have to avoid it out of fear. I never let my size dictate what I should wear—sometimes I love a body-con moment, but it's not all I want.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1500930499-premme-opener.jpg"
"Target's Lisa Frank Pajama Collection Is Finally Here","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/news/a46833/lisa-frank-target-pajama-collection-sale/","Lisa Frank has always been the source for amazing rainbow and unicorn-filled accessories and clothes, and now the brand's linked up with Target for the pajama capsule collection of your teen dreams.

The full sleepwear collection comes in a full range of sizes, and vary between two main styles: oversized sleep tees and adorable t-shirt and shorts sets. The prints range from the OG Lisa Frank animal portrait styles—featuring dolphins, tigers, and yes, unicorns—to more ""subtle"" (for Lisa Frank) prints.

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The whole collection practically smells like cotton candy and sunshine, and true to form, some pieces are already sold out online. Try your luck with all of the styles below:

Courtesy of Target

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BUY NOW Women's Lisa Frank Sleep Shirt, Target, $5.90 - $14.99

Courtesy of Target

BUY NOW Women's Plus Size Lisa Frank Sleep Shirt, Target, $16.99

Courtesy of Target

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BUY NOW Women's Lisa Frank Sleep Shirt, Target, $14.99

Courtesy of Target

BUY NOW Women's Plus Size Lisa Frank Sleep Shirt, Target, $16.99","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1500984849-lisa-frank.jpg"
"If You've Ever Wondered What Couture McDonald's Merch Would Look Like, Here You Go","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46832/mcdonalds-couture-fashion-show/","Hot off of KFC's millennial-friendly fashion line, McDonald's is the next fast food line to create a fashion moment. Meet the ""McDCouture"" collection, which is exactly what it sounds like: couture fashioned from all things McDonald's.

Alexander Tamargo

Alexander Tamargo

Alexander Tamargo

Alexander Tamargo

Alexander Tamargo

Alexander Tamargo

Alexander Tamargo

Alexander Tamargo

Alexander Tamargo

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Those wrapper capes! Carton vests! It's all very dramatic and red and yellow (naturally).

Lest you think McDonald's is formally making a move toward becoming a fashion house, which wouldn't even be the weirdest story of the year, let alone the day, the collection was put on by students at Miami International University of Art and Design, and used up a monster amount of McDonald's packaging: ""7,000 McDonald's sandwich wrappers, 2,800 fry boxes, 2,800 straws, 825 soft drink cups, 225 'Happy Meal' boxes, 2,900 sandwich boxes, 1,000 Sriracha sauce lids and 250 to-go bags.""

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The amount seems appropriately massive; but considering that a local McDonald's franchise provided the materials, it's not as though the students themselves had to consume all of that. (Also, a used material challenge would be quiiite different.)

The challenge comes after the success of a similar feat in 2015, and the end result of all this McDesigning? A $5,000 scholarship, which went to Pablo Machado Palomeque. His design alone featured ""7,000 butterflies made from 1,100 sandwich wrappers"":","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1500984596-mcdonalds.jpg"
"Kate Middleton's Dress Had a Hidden Detail That Was Very Clever","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46831/kate-middleton-clever-hidden-detail-dress/","Kate Middleton puts a lot of thought into her royal tour wardrobes, always mixing some of the best British designers with local brands from the countries she visits.

But it seems like the Duchess of Cambridge's eagerness to pay homage to the cultural importance of the places she visits goes beyond just the label.

On the Duke and Duchess's recent tour to Poland and Germany, Kate was snapped wearing a variety of colorful and even daring dresses.

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But there was one that had a secret meaning that we didn't notice until now (thanks to Marie Claire for pointing it out).

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When Kate wore this printed Markus Lupfer dress in Berlin, she wasn't only championing a German designer. If you look closely, you'll see that the bottle green dress features illustrations of birds. Eagles, in particular.

The eagle is the national bird of Germany, and Kate wearing the dress is likely her way of honoring the country.

The dress rounded off a successful tour in sartorial terms for the Duchess, with fans happy to see her in a new pair of heels (Prada, in fact) and experimenting with different necklines.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500581025-kate.jpg"
"What It Takes to Make a Show-Stopping Monique Lhuillier Gown","http://www.elle.com/fashion/a46555/monique-lhullier-gowns-feature/","For her spring 2018 collection Monique Lhuillier wanted to try something different. After 20 years in business, the designer decamped from New York Fashion Week to Paris, choosing to show her latest collection to a select group of editors in town for the couture presentations. Lhuillier also went soft. Describing the collection as ""poetic elegance,"" the designer worked with a mostly pastel palette of cornflower blue, rose, lavender, pistachio, and apricot creating a range of romantic, dreamy gowns.

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One dress in particular stood out: a silver fringe caplet sheath crafted from tulle, silk chiffon, and glass beads, plus crystals and silk thread in the embroidery. Here, a by-the-numbers look at how this show-stopping gown was made.





""I see the dress being worn by a confident woman who appreciates beautifully designed and crafted clothes,"" Lhuillier told ELLE.com. ""It is a work of art.""

Shop Monique Lhuillier gowns on moniquelhuillier.com and nordstrom.com","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500656066-moniqueindexfinal.jpg"
"Cara Delevingne With Her Crystal Capelet Is the Queen of Suits","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46821/cara-delevingne-valerian-london-premiere-suit/","Cara Delevingne has made suits a style staple of her Valerian press tour—she's worn them in velvet:

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In tweed:

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And tonight, in the most sleek, low-cut iteration yet. Here Delevingne is on the blue carpet of Valerian's London premiere, wearing a jewel capelet along with a black, super tailored blazer and bottom by Burberry.

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No bra tonight, just the magic of boob tape and buttons keeping this look flawlessly together:","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1500921488-gettyimages-821650124.jpg"
"Please Bow Down to Rihanna in This Giant Red Ball Gown","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46820/rihanna-red-giambattista-valli-gown-london-premiere/","At first glance, as Rihanna left her car to step onto the blue carpet at the premiere of Valerian in London, it looked like she was wearing a standard red gown—a cleavage-heavy one but nothing too wild...

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But this is Rihanna, queen of the Met Ball, and she does not disappoint when given the opportunity to go all-out fashun. That was just the start of the Giambattista Valli ball gown, one that is actually enormous:

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RiRi worked it for the cameras:

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That millennial pink princess dress from last time was just an amuse-bouche.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1500919746-gettyimages-821622848.jpg"
"Sophie Turner Just Wore Merch from Boyfriend Joe Jonas' Band","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46774/sophie-turner-joe-jonas-denim-jacket/","Just as Selena Gomez loves wearing The Weeknd's tour merch, Sophie Turner can't help but support boyfriend Joe Jonas' band with her clothing choices. Arriving at the airport in Los Angeles this week, alongside Jonas, Turner wore a denim jacket with a familiar slogan on it.

BACKGRID

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Emblazoned in pink on the back of the jacket is the slogan, ""Kissing Strangers,"" which just so happens to be the name of DNCE's most recent single. Clearly, Turner is a big fan of her boyfriend's music, and that extends to wearing his merch, which is pretty sweet.

Turner is currently appearing at Comic-Con to promote Season 7 of Game of Thrones, and continues to say the cutest things about the Jonas brother. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Turner called her boyfriend, ""a good accessory,"" in reference to his appearance on the red carpet alongside her. The couple clearly enjoys co-ordinating with one another.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500747206-sophie-turner-joe-jonas.jpg"
"Kim Kardashian Wears a Tiny Sports Bra and Sparkly Skirt to the Balmain Party","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46755/kim-kardashian-balmain-party-crop-top-skirt-attire/","Kim Kardashian wore the evening version of her current favorite look (a tiny crop top with long bottoms) when she arrived at a fancy Balmain party in a sports bra-esque white top and a long, sheer sparkly skirt:

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It's a very shimmery, Snapchat-friendly skirt:

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Kardashian has been photographed out multiple times in similar more daytime-casual pairings:

Obviously the caption is junk in the trunk A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Jul 19, 2017 at 9:25pm PDT

A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Jul 19, 2017 at 10:16pm PDT

But there is a risk to wearing a white top—one that prompted what Kardashian described as a ""fashion emergency"" before she got to the party. She divulged on Snapchat that she got makeup on the top and had to fix it.

We've been there, Kim.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500639688-kim-kardashian.jpg"
"Tod's Letting You DIY Your Driving Shoes","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/news/a46742/custom-tods-gommino-driving-shoe/","Like Kleenex, Band-Aids and Chapstick, Italian leather company Tod's has basically become synonymous with its most famous product, the Gommino driving shoe, which first came on market in 1970.

Almost thirty years later, any well-heeled lady—or man for that matter—has a pair or two of Tod's. See: Kate Middleton, Richard Gere, Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jourdan Dunn and many others.

Jourdan Dunn Getty

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For years, it was enough that you could score a pair of Tod's in a kaleidoscope of colors, but today, a Tod's customization service launches on tods.com and at Tod's stores across the country allowing fans of the preppy classic to pick out every single element of their own pair: model, leather grain, color, stitching, pebbles, lining, accessory and monogramming. (We tried to calculate the number of options this yielded and gave up. It's a ton.)

Now through October, a Madison Avenue pop-up will offer consumers the same service. The first 80 lucky ducks to design a pair of Tod's will also get a limited-edition print of the shoe from illustrator Kate Schelter. As Missy Elliot never said but might have: Get get get get your Tod's on.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1500562407-orange.jpg"
"Ciara's 3-Year-Old Son Future Zahir Is Already Modeling for Gap Kids","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46741/ciara-3-year-old-son-future-gap-kids-campaign/","Many celebrity children start their modeling careers in their teens. But Ciara's three-year-old son, Future Zahir, is already lending his star power to the industry. His mother posted an image from the little guy's adorable first Gap Kids campaign.

""Waking up in Beijing to see my little nugget on the front page of Gap.com!"" she wrote. ""Holding back these happy tears! I'm so proud. Future Zahir has booked his first commercial campaign with #GapKids! I'm honestly speechless....Dreams Do Come True!""

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Waking up in Beijing to see my little nugget on the front page of Gap.com! Holding back these happy tears! I'm so proud. Future Zahir has booked his first commercial campaign with #GapKids! I'm honestly speechless....Dreams Do Come True! #Back2School A post shared by Ciara (@ciara) on Jul 19, 2017 at 8:53am PDT

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Future Zahir is definitely a pro who's been a natural in front of the camera for basically his entire life:

☺️🐰❤️ A post shared by Ciara (@ciara) on Apr 6, 2017 at 5:40pm PDT

#Mohawk ❤️ A post shared by Ciara (@ciara) on Jul 15, 2017 at 2:51am PDT

My Little Angel ❤️. Family Christmas Shoot. #HappyHolidays❄️🎄 A post shared by Ciara (@ciara) on Dec 24, 2016 at 12:15pm PST

Future Zahir's 1st Day Of School! #ProudMomma A post shared by Ciara (@ciara) on Sep 20, 2016 at 1:34pm PDT

#FBF Juicy Man and His Cousin Gracie Dancing At Our Rehearsal Dinner. Thank You @Peter_Dundas and #Cavalli for making his custom suit. Thank you Mr Guiseppe @giuseppezanottidesign for his custom shoes! ❤️ A post shared by Ciara (@ciara) on Jul 15, 2016 at 12:06pm PDT

Future Zahir is Ciara's child with former-fiancé Future Hendrix. In April, the singer welcome her baby girl Sienna Princess with now-husband Russell Wilson.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500562552-future-ciara.jpg"
"Kate Middleton Looks Incredible in This Red Off-the-Shoulder Dress","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46726/kate-middleton-red-off-shoulder-dress/","Since embarking on the Royal Tour of Poland and Germany, the Duchess of Cambridge's style has remained prim and proper, as it almost always has. On Day 1 in Warsaw, she sported a white skirt suit by Alexander McQueen (one her favorites); yesterday she was in ladylike floral separates by Erdem; earlier today it was a blue coat dress by Catherine Walker (another one of her faves).

But Kate Middleton turned up the heat for her second look of the day with a red-hot off-the-shoulder dress. It turns out not even royals can keep too far away from the season's biggest trend.

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The Duchess donned the head-turning look while stepping out with Prince William in Berlin today for The Queen's Birthday Party at the British Ambassadorial Residence. She kept her hair in thick, loose curls and kept the jewelry to a minimum. Her nude sandals, however, added a quirky touch with their scalloped straps.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte have been stealing the show since the star of the royal tour, but tonight, it's Kate's turn.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1500491271-hbz-kate-middleton-0719-getty-index2-1500489749.jpg"
"Amal Clooney Wore the Perfect Yellow Mini Dress on a Double Date With George","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46716/amal-clooney-yellow-mini-dress-george-clooney-date/","Accomplished human rights lawyer Amal Clooney had what appears to be her second public date night with her actor-husband George since giving birth to the couple's twins in June. According to ET, the two spent yesterday evening with producer Ben Weiss and his wife at Villa d'Este Cernobbio in Lake Como, Italy. Amal wore a breezy yellow mini dress with tie-up heels—basically just the kind of look you'd want to wear if you're going on a date with your handsome husband and friends in paradise:

Backgrid

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It's good to be Amal.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500476444-elle-amal-clooney-yellow-mini-dress-opener.jpg"
"Kate Middleton Went to a Party in a Gorgeous Scribble Pleat Dress","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46677/kate-middleton-scribble-dress-poland/","Splash

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Kate Middleton ended the first day of her Poland trip at a birthday party for the Queen last night at The Orangery in Warsaw's Lazienki Park. Her dress—a custom number, from Polish designer Gosia Baczynska—looked like it could've come right out of a modern art museum with its scribbley pleated skirt. She paired it with giant, Cinderella-worthy pearl earrings and a matching pearl necklace.

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Cool, trendy, and no bit of color needed to catch people's eyes.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500325186-spl1539834-004.jpg"
"Rihanna Is the Queen of Millennial Pink at the Valerian Premiere","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46681/rihanna-valerian-premiere-pink-gown/","Rihanna graced us all tonight with her presence at the Valerian Hollywood premiere. She arrived dressed like royalty in a tulle Giambattista Valli gown. The Manolo Blahnik ballet slipper-esque lace-up stilettos, the off-the-shoulder dress, and its dramatic train—all in a light millennial pink hue—are very on-trend:

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Getty

Getty

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All hail RiRi, doing what she does best: being the queen of fashion.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500347677-gettyimages-500894030.jpg"
"Kate Middleton's Floral Wimbledon Outfit Is Everything Lovely About Summer","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46653/kate-middleton-floral-wimbledon-dress/","Karwai Tang / WireImage

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Kate Middleton made her second visit to tennis tournament Wimbledon this year, specifically to watch countryman Roger Federer (and guest at sister Pippa's wedding) win his eighth record-breaking title. But while the players racked up points on the court, the Duchess of Cambridge was the real winner in a simple but gorgeous floral shift dress by Catherine Walker.

Karwai Tang / WireImage

Karwai Tang / WireImage

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Kate looked simple and clean in the dress, which goes from stark solid white to a burst of blooms around the hem. It paired excellently with her new shorter haircut, and it's easy to see that she was feeling the whole look:

Karwai Tang / WireImage

Karwai Tang / WireImage

While she had an excellent accessory in the form of husband Prince William, a close second might be these excellent shades:

Karwai Tang / WireImage

Though Kate only made two shows at Wimbledon this year, she also picked a memorable outfit for her first visit on day one. This beautiful black-and-white polka dot is another variation on fun summer style:

Karwai Tang / WireImage

Karwai Tang / WireImage

Game, set, match, for the Duchess of Cambridge.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x802/1500295930-kate-middleton-1-1500254920.jpg"
"Kim Kardashian Just Wore a See-Through Dress Without a Bra Underneath","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46629/kim-kardashian-just-wore-a-completely-see-through-dress-to-dinner/","Kim Kardashian West is renowned for wearing risqué outfits that reveal her underwear. But her latest look is special, because the completely see-through dress leaves nothing at all to the imagination.

The reality star wore the outfit while dining in sushi restaurant Shibuya Japanese in Calabasas, California. Kardashian West's vintage Jil Sander coat just about covered the fact that she wasn't wearing a bra. But did she remove her outerwear while dining?

Splash DPXimages (only)

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She paired the incredible look with some clear mules, and nude underwear. Classic Kim Kardashian.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1500131680-kim-k.jpg"
"How Pandora Is Staying Relevant by Doing What's Right","http://www.elle.com/fashion/accessories/a46597/pandora-leed-certified/","Fashion editors love espousing the virtues investment pieces, but there's a loophole that deserves mentioning: Price and quality don't have a direct relationship. You get what you pay for, yes, but that doesn't mean you have to pay through the nose for pieces that will last.

Take the model from jewelry giant Pandora, a company that has retained relatively affordable prices, especially considering that each and every treasure made by hand with materials like 14k gold, sterling silver, cultured pearls, and Murano glass. A big part of their secret equation? A new facility in Lanphun, a lush outpost in northern Thailand—Pandora production has been based there since 1989—that keeps the majority of manufacturing under one roof, allowing the company to make use of skilled local artisans.

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Clockwise from top L: Pandora Bracelet, $50, pandora.net; Pandora Earrings, $65, pandora.net; Pandora Enamel Ring, $85, pandora.net; Pandora Earrings, $65, pandora.net

""The facility is setting new standards in the jewelry industry in terms of scale and speed. It combines highly effective lean-oriented production principles with high-quality craftsmanship,"" Minna Philipson, SVP and CMO of the Pandora Group, told ELLE. ""Every piece of Pandora jewelry passes through skilled craftspeople hands' as it's transformed from raw material–14k gold, sterling silver, stones, cultured pearls, Murano glass and enamel–to a finished piece. It's part of our DNA, and we're proud of it.""

We own the whole process. We control all the steps from design and raw material procurement through to production and distribution.

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From the company's founding in the '80s, Pandora's aim has been to create jewelry that a woman can buy for herself to celebrate accomplishments and major moments: the quality needs to allow for near-constant wear, yet prices can't be paycheck-ruining. ""Pandora's mission has been to celebrate women by offering them the opportunity for personal expression through high-quality, contemporary jewelry at affordable prices,"" Philipson said. The brand's new facility is not only incredibly green (LEED-certified and consuming 45 percent less water than conventional jewelry-making centers, FYI), it also organizes production in a way that allows prices to not sky rocket. ""We own the whole process. We control all the steps from design and raw material procurement to production and distribution. We know where our jewelry comes from and how it is made and can ensure that every piece is designed, crafted, and distributed according to our high quality and ethical standards.""

A Khoza Numbers bag.

Pandora's not the only brand looking out for its shoppers' wallets either. Everlane found success selling directly to consumers, displaying prices alongside the ""traditional retail"" MSRP; a particular selection is available for shoppers to offer a price. Warby Parker revolutionized the eyewear game when it debuted in 2010 (no more trips to the eye store needed); a whole slew of copy-cat brands touting themselves as ""the Warby Parker of fill-in-the-blank"" have followed to varying degrees of success and notoriety. Lingerie has benefited too, with brands like Third Love and True & Co. making bras at a designer quality, but mall-store prices.

Handbags are an exciting categories to see the phenomenon take place since, traditionally, it's a moneymaking area where markups are high. A new favorite of ours? Kozha Numbers, handmade in Oregon in small quantities and sold through its own site and a few small, independent boutiques, allowing for prices substantially lower than what you'd expect from a major designer. Note to the wise, though: The bags also sell out quickly, so if you love it, buy it.

So, the big takeaway? Weaning yourself off fast fashion that falls apart (or out of style) within the span of three months doesn't need to necessitate looting your 401k. We'll leave you with the wise words of True Cost documentary director Andrew Morgan: ""We just need to take a step back from our incessant consumption of mediocre stuff. Let's go back to a place where we invest in pieces that we love, that we're going to wear and hold on to.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1500048465-pandora-2.jpg"
"The Story Behind The Gown Beyoncé Wore in Her Twins' First Photo Is Fascinating","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46622/beyonce-palomo-spain-outfit/","At midnight, Beyoncé introduced the world to her one-month-old twins—and gave greater exposure to Alejandro Gómez Palomo and his Palomo Spain menswear line. The piece Bey is wearing in the photo is from it, and the singer put in an personal order for it before she was even pregnant.

Sir Carter and Rumi 1 month today. 🙏🏽❤️👨🏽👩🏽👧🏽👶🏾👶🏾 A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Jul 13, 2017 at 10:10pm PDT

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She was sent loaner samplers, Palomo said in an interview today, and decided she wanted the piece. Her measurements were taken, the sample was tailored, and it was sent back. Then Palomo and his team found out she was pregnant.

A model wearing the piece in Palomo's lookbook. César Segarra for Palomo Spain

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""We thought, okay, she won't wear it, oh well,"" Palomo said. So it truly was a surprise when he saw the photo, months later. ""Never stop dreaming🌸 ,"" he wrote on Instagram with the photo itself.

Never stop dreaming🌸 Congratulations @beyonce for such beautiful babies🌺 I'm so proud ❤ A post shared by Alejandro Gómez Palomo (@palomospain) on Jul 13, 2017 at 11:55pm PDT

The piece itself is vintage silk organza ""from a really old couture textile shop in Córdoba, Spain, which is near where I live,"" Palomo said. ""It is circa either the 1950s or the 1960s. I thought, Oh my God, I am so in love with this fabric. It had a midcentury quality—but we changed that...it's a gown, now, that almost has the shape of a big fur coat—sleeved and open.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1500058067-elle-beyonce-poloma-spain.jpg"
"This Bralette for D Cups is Worth the 3000-Person Waitlist","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/news/a46613/bralette-for-big-busts/","I've had my eye on Lively, a lingerie company known for coining the term leisurée—athleisure, but for lingerie—for about a year now. The brand's founder, Michelle Cordeiro Grant, stopped by the ELLE offices and showed me the collection of cute and low-key basics, including a selection of bralettes I selfishly complained I couldn't wear because of my 32DD chest.

Fast forward to a few months ago when I received two bralettes from Lively, with a note from the brand asking me to give them a try. Lively had launched The Busty Bralette, an option for women who would love to wear a bralette that was stylish, yes, but would also support bigger cup sizes.

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SHOP: The Busty Bralette, $35; wearlively.com

After selling out in less than 24 hours during its March launch, Lively is relaunching The Busty Bralette on Sunday, July 16. Specifically designed for size D to DDD cup sizes, the bralette comes in black, powder pink, and a new print called 'The Lush Life.""

Stronger straps and a wider elastic band under the cups offer an amazing fit, while a breathable, soft sling inside the bralette lends extra support. I've found myself reaching for this bra on the hottest summer days, but also cold winter nights if I'm wearing a chunky knit sweater.

This isn't me, but I am this happy when I wear the Busty Bralette. Courtesy of brand

But as they say on Reading Rainbow, you don't have to take my word for it. Mark your calendars and shop the relaunch on July 16.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1500049310-bralettes.jpg"
"The End of the Going Out Top Was a Victory for Women","http://www.elle.com/fashion/a46589/the-end-of-the-going-out-top-was-a-victory-for-women/","My introduction to the Going Out Top was unwitting and early: at sleepaway camp in my formative years, raging with hormones and a desire to move further along the sexual baseball field in order to keep up with my peers. It was a jaundice-yellow, partially-studded, partially-plastic looking, one-shoulder shirt from Kohl's. When the object of my desire called my weapon of attraction a ""caveman shirt,"" I wish I could say that I thought, he has no taste; this is unequivocally sexy. Instead, I thought, but will he still want to shove his tongue down my throat?! I don't recall ever wearing the top again.

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Such was the plight of the Going Out Top, an aesthetically ambiguous, but often sparkly and bad tan line-inducing top, that more notably symbolized the insatiable, but normal, desire to Get a Dude. It rose to prominence in the early and mid aughts thanks to a strange combination of Girls Who Go Out like Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton, and then-innocent teen stars like a young Lindsay Lohan posing cutely on the red carpet. The tops varied in style — from explicitly sexy to almost sweet — making for a wide range of consumers, but they always loudly declared: I'm here to party! On the outside, it shrieked fun, glamour, and carefreeness — who wouldn't want to adopt that mentality when they went out for the night? The shirts trickled their way into mass consumer outlets, like Forever 21 and Wet Seal, letting a fantasy of partying like a celebrity become within grasp. For young women entering college or moving out of their parents' house, it was a way of saying, ""I'm independent. Look at what I'm wearing. Also, I can drink now, and watch me do it and pride myself on my hangover!""

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But play the game of fashion telephone and the message can easily get lost. While many (but not all) non-famous women might have worn these shirts with hopes of seeming to have a joyous, carefree time, the Going Out Top was in reality, often marked by the exact opposite: by care, worry, by distraction. What could have been a Very Good Night would turn into drunken tears — why did I go home alone!? Inevitably, these emotions are rites of passage; a part of growing up is discovering that dancing is fun when you're dancing for yourself and your friends, that having a wardrobe reserved for Guys I Don't Know Yet But Just Might Meet Tonight is a waste of your hard-earned cash. As is wearing hideous apparel (and excessive partying) in your younger days.

You can chalk up the fact that you rarely see a Going Out Top — a classic, pure, early-to-mid-2000s-era, flares-at-the-bottom-but-is-tight-at-the-top, rhinestones-along-the-boobs top — to the inevitable truths of science and the passage of time: fashion evolves, ugly clothes disappear, and the celebrities of that time either faded into the abyss or distanced themselves from their party girl reputations. Wet Seal filed for bankruptcy this year. Nasty Gal did late last year, too, shuttering all its stores in February. But fashion also made a strident shift in tone sometime in the 2010s, to be more about the actual women wearing the apparel than the people gazing upon them. A new era dawned, vocally heralding different bodies, calling out brands like H&M and Victoria's Secret when they did us wrong and failed to pedal clothes that worked for us, and the advent of brands like Aerie and ModCloth that told women they didn't need robotically chiseled bodies.

The fall of the original, 2000s-Going Out Top hailed the very truths it belied: that any shirt you wear — to the library, to brunch, to the grocery store — is sexy. That it's fine to hate the club. That fashion is a celebration of you, not Mike Who Didn't Text You Back. You can argue the Going Out Top has ""evolved"" with the women who wore it, but why not just let that nomenclature stay permanently under metaphorical anesthesia and call it something else, rather than conjuring memories of shunting yourself into someone else's vision of sexiness?

Women have come out the other end, victorious, freed from both the styles of the early 21st century and the oppression of their late teens and early 20s. True sexiness, of course, never goes out style, and there's nothing wrong with procuring clothes for a night out — but letting go of dressing for someone else is something to truly rejoice about.

So thank the powers of consumer fashion that it's dead and gone! Sure, some fashion websites recently cried that it's back and better than ever, but I think that has less to do with the return of the Going Out Top and more to do with the internet's raging horniness for nostalgia. After all, these newer shirts — crop tops with high waisted pants showing just the tiniest bit of waist, billowy cold-shoulder shirts, off-the-shoulder tops, lace — are, for one, objectively sexier (and can be worn in a multitude of places and are significantly more practical!). They project whimsy, personality, confidence, and not the funneled message of wear this bizarrely ill-fitting shirt to get laid. They're not as explicit or blatantly beckoning for attention, and if they are, they possess a so what? quality to them. So what if you think velvet makes me look like a gymnast? So what if you think the jeans I'm pairing them with look boxy? I can imagine the same boy who called my Kohl's top a caveman shirt perplexed by why I'd find a shirt that doesn't hug any portion of my skin or only shows off my shoulders infinitely sexy. But it is, and all these newer tops are, for one single reason: they're worn for the women wearing them, and nobody else.

So don't call your black crop top or a backless velvet shirt a Going Out Top. Call shirts you wear out just that. A shirt I wear out. A nice dinner shirt. A club top. A hell-yeah-vacation smock. Let your clothes be the very thing the Going Out Top wished to be, but never truly was in earnest: a celebration of wearing clothes for you, going out and legitimately enjoying it, fulfilling the very promise you swore to your friends while you were pre-gaming — that this would be the best night ever, regardless of what anyone says.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1499970438-elle-going-out-tops.jpg"
"The Manolo Blahnik Documentary Looks So Good","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46612/manolo-blahnik-documentary/","In these parts, there's sort of nothing better than a fashion documentary. See: Bill Cunningham, Iris, Dior and I, Valentino: The Last Emperor...Come September 15, Music Box Films will release Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes For Lizards. The first official trailer was released yesterday, and if it's any indication, teases a film that's poised to have all the fashuns, and drama, and inimitable one-liners from a star-studded roster of cameos.

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""I was not a very quiet boy,"" the 74-year-old Spanish designer says by way of introduction. ""Never was, never will be."" The documentary includes interviews with industry insiders, editors, and celebrities including by not limited to Anna Wintour, Paloma Picasso, Iman, Rihanna, Naomi Campbell, and Karlie Kloss. Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes For Lizards will premiere in New York City and Los Angeles on September 15; a limited release will follow in major cities throughout September and October.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1500043737-manolo-1.jpg"
"Olivier Rousteing Shoots His First Balmain Campaign","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46607/balmain-fall-2017-ads/","Olivier Rousteing/Balmain

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At just 24 years old, Olivier Rousteing became Balmain's youngest-ever creative director and the youngest in Paris since Yves Saint Laurent himself. Since his appointment in 2011, Rousteing has been credited with bringing a new era of social media savviness into the historic French fashion house. Now, the young designer is taking his eye for photography beyond the scope of Instagram.

For the first time ever, Rousteing stepped behind the lens to photograph Balmain's Fall 2017 ad campaign. Dedicated to the city of Paris, the series of black-and-white photos were shot all over the French capital and feature Balmain Army members such as Natasha Poly, Lara Stone, Presley Gerber, Ton Heukels, Jon Kortagarena, Marlon Teixeira, Grace Bol, Aleyna Fitzgerald, Alexina Graham, and Valery Kaufman.

Olivier Rousteing/Balmain

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""I've always explained that part of the draw that social media has for me is its unique removal of any filters or middlemen—allowing me to communicate directly with those who are interested in what we are creating. I wanted to photograph this campaign for the same reasons: to have the images directly reflect my vision of Balmain's latest creations, as well as my love for the singular beauty of the city I call home,"" Rousteing said of his decision to photograph the campaign himself.

The photos were shot at Balmain's flagship, the Palais Royal, and Le Pantheon, captured over ""two long days and one never-ending night"" in Paris, Rousteing says. The striking end result? A new side of Balmain that looks just as good in print as it will on Instagram.

See more of the Fall 2017 campaign below:

Olivier Rousteing/Balmain

Olivier Rousteing/Balmain

Olivier Rousteing/Balmain

Olivier Rousteing/Balmain","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1500036351-hbz-balmain-index-1-1499968720_2.jpg"
"Erdem Is This Year's H&M Designer Collaboration","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46594/hm-erdem-collaboration/","Erdem is officially the latest brand to team up with H&M. London-based designer Erdem Moralıoğlu is bringing his romantic silhouettes and prints to the fast-fashion retailer with new women's apparel and his first-ever menswear collection. The capsule will ""reinterpret the design themes from some of his most celebrated collections,"" according to a press release.

""I am so happy to collaborate with H&M, and to explore my work on a whole new scale, including a menswear collection which I have never done before. It's also such a thrill to work with Baz Luhrmann, one of the most important storytellers of our time,"" the designer said in a release. Erdem is the newest addition to the slew of brands tapped by H&M, following Kenzo in 2016, Balmain in 2015, and Alexander Wang in 2014.

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[related id='46096951-a004-4f4b-ab16-8d89e25384bb' align='center'][/related]

The collaborations for this project aren't only fashion-based. H&M also poached renowned filmmaker Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!, The Great Gatsby) to direct the campaign. The brand has plucked similar talent in the past; last year's ads were photographed by Jean-Paul Goude.

""For me, fashion is always about more than just clothing, it is a form of expression – a standalone art form,"" Luhrmann said in a statement.

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Erdem x H&M will be premiere on November 2 at select H&M stores and online at hm.com. Get a preview of the collection in the Luhrmann-directed teaser trailer below.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/1499967093-hbz-erdem-runway-index-1499957051_1.jpg"
"The Ladies of Westeros Owned the Game of Thrones Season 7 Premiere Red Carpet","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46582/game-of-thrones-season-7-red-carpet-premiere/","On Wednesday night, Westeros met Hollywood at the seventh season premiere of HBO's Game of Thrones. Fans of the much-beloved show are counting down the hours until the proper premiere on Sunday night, but they also had good reason to peep the icy blue carpet: some amazing fashion, courtesy of the GOT actresses.

Firstly, HATS OFF to Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) and Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei) for taking inspiration directly from the Many-Faced God. That is, both actresses opted for dresses with face prints, though Sophie went short, glittery, and bold, while Nathalie went for a black-and-white, graphic novel-y print gown:

Neilson Barnard

Neilson Barnard

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While her show sister went for the razzle dazzle, Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) decided to go for a rich green gown. Keisha Castle-Hughes (Obara Sand) went for a similar green, but as part of a striped mermaid-y number:

Neilson Barnard

Neilson Barnard

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Dorne, represent! Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand) went for a sweetly romantic ruffled gown:

Neilson Barnard

The red (blue?) carpet also allowed for some of the more rough and tumble character actresses to doll up for the occasion. Everyone, bow down to ice queen incarnate Gwendoline Christie (Brienne forever):

Neilson Barnard

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Hannah Murray (Gilly) got her glittery gold on:

Neilson Barnard

And Gemma Whelan (Yara Greyjoy) ditched her armor and leather for this adorable (and baby bump-filled) bird print gown:

Neilson Barnard

And while she's been out of the game for some time now, Rose Leslie (Ygritte forever) also stopped by in this stark yellow and black number:

Neilson Barnard

She perhaps brought the best accessory on the carpet—boyfriend Kit Harington, or as you know and love him, JON SNOW:

Neilson Barnard

Even though it's the heart of summer, winter is very much coming, and in style too.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1499952112-elle-sophie-tucker-got-red-carpet.jpg"
"Kate Middleton Wore a Pink Lace Dress With One of Princess Diana's Favorite Tiaras","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46579/kate-middleton-tiara-spain-state-banquet/","Over in the UK, at a state banquet for visiting royalty King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, Kate Middleton was dressed to the nines in a pink Marchesa lace dress, dramatic statement necklace on loan from the Queen, and the stunning diamond and pearl Cambridge Lover's Knot tiara, as Vanity Fair reports.

Loving this pink colour Kate! pic.twitter.com/ysagdTVBWd — Kate Middleton Style (@KateMiddStyle) July 12, 2017

Queen Letizia of Spain and Queen Elizabeth II; also see what appears to be Kate Middleton's reflection in the mirror behind them. Getty

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The tiara belonged to the Duchess of Cambridge's late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, who received it as a wedding gift. Middleton has now worn the Lover's Knot tiara to three events. Considering the duchess doesn't often wear a tiara often—tonight's banquet marks just her sixth time—this might mark it as a favorite of hers, too.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1499910551-elle-kate-middleton-tiara.jpg"
"Buy Less, Buy Better with the Permanent Collection","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/a46466/permanent-collection-clothing/","The merging paths of fast fashion and always changing trends has forced us to look at our closet without much loyalty. It makes sense to a point: Why spend more on a very now silhouette or color when it'll feel undeniably not now within six months? Resisting the lure of whatever you've seen plastered across Instagram has become easier thanks to the expertly curated selection at Permanent Collection. Founders Mariah Nielson and Fanny Singer first crossed paths via their art-world work (they've manned curatorial positions at London's Tate Modern and The Serpentine), but a shared style sensibility inspired them to think about things differently.

A look from Permanent Collection's newest collection. Courtesy of Permanent Collection

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""When we met we were both wearing vintage navy blue coats: beloved pieces we'd had in our respective collections for years. Even though we initially began working together on curatorial projects we kept circling back to those coats and thinking about a project that might involve remaking vintage pieces whose archetypal silhouettes kept them relevant year after year,"" Singer told ELLE.com. ""We were inspired by the mission of collecting institutions like MoMA. We wanted to think about our project as a way to create pieces that would never go out of style or fall out of favor, pieces anyone would want to have in his or her personal 'permanent collection'.""

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Pieces created for Permanent Collection don't start on the sketch pad, but rather as a vintage pattern (the site carries apparel, but also accessories, paper goods, and homewares). Nielson and Singer work with artists' estates on reproductions, commission new pieces from young designers, and plan on making versions of favorite styles in their network. ""We plan to remake a favorite button-down of Martino Gamper's, [the artist] who designed the beautiful handblown glass and carafe set in our just-launched third collection, that his wife, the artist Francis Upritchard, always loves to borrow,"" Singer explained.

The Pia sandals, $350 Courtesy of Permanent Collection

When it comes to high-street shopping, going cold turkey can be rough. Start slow with Singer's recommended summer buy. ""The Pia sandals. They're comfortable, chic, and handmade by a single man in his tiny Paris atelier near the Jardin du Luxembourg."" A good gateway drug to the world of buy-less, buy better too: Unlike cheap styles that'll fall apart by the end of summer, these are built to last (and with the track record to prove it: They're modeled after a vintage pair marked only with a ""Made in Italy"" stamp).","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499350882-permanent-collection-clothing.jpg"
"Nike Just Completely Redesigned Its Sports Bra","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46577/nike-flyknit-sports-bra/","A sports bra is a sports bra is a sports bra. Ideally, it keeps your breasts in place while you workout—beginning and end of story. But today Nike launched its first sports bra made with the patented fancy Flyknit fabric—the Nike FE/NOM Flyknit Bra—and kiiiind of changed the game.

The Flyknit Bra promises to both holds its shape and provide targeted zones of enhanced support and breathability: The fabric under your breasts, for instance, should be both more absorbent and quick-to-dry than the zones on your shoulders. Two single-layer panels (some Nike bras have up to 41 panels and 22 seams) work to both keep your breasts separated—this both isn't easy, and prevents Ye Olde Uni-boob—and hold them firmly but comfortably against your body. Figuring all this out took 600 hours of biometric testing, motion capture, and digital body scans to monitor areas of high heat, sweat, cooling and movement, Nike said in a statement.

A sketch outlines the technical benefits of the new two-panel Nike FE/NOM Flyknit Bra. Courtesy Nike

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If you're a clothing design engineer, the impressive part is that they've managed to do all these things with just Flyknit's patented nylon-spandex yarn, and nary a wire, pad, stabilizer or elastic band in sight. If you're a lady who wears sports bras, you'll just appreciate how well the damn thing does what it's supposed to do, especially if your cup size is in the C-DD range.

The Nike FE/NOM Flyknit Bra goes on sale for $80 in the Nike+ app for 48 hours starting today; after that, you can buy one on nike.com.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1499877730-sydney-leroux-3up-final-crop-lead-71836.jpg"
"Louis Vuitton Cancels Its Entire Supreme Collection","http://www.elle.com/fashion/a46571/supreme-louis-vuitton-collection/","Update, 7/12: Louis Vuitton's long-awaited Supreme collection was slated to hit pop-up stores across the U.S. and Canada later this week, but now it looks like hypebeasts won't get their hands on the collab after all.

In an email sent to Hypebeast, the French fashion house's client services revealed ""the collection will no longer be sold in any stores or online.""

The abrupt decision comes just weeks after Vuitton announced its U.S. pop-up locations in Miami and Los Angeles. Prior to its U.S. scheduled locations, successful pop-ups for the collaboration were previously held in London, Sydney, Beijing, Paris, Seoul and Tokyo.

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Louis Vuitton has yet to comment on why the collection won't launch in North America but it looks like your Supreme x LV skateboard dreams have officially been crushed.

Original Article, 6/30/17: Since its debut at Men's Fashion Week back in January, hypebeasts across the globe have been waiting to get their hands on the Supreme x Louis Vuitton collaboration.

The long-awaited collection spanning from ready-to-wear to a skateboard is officially here to shop. The pieces, however, won't be available online or in Louis Vuitton stores but instead via eight pop-up shops around the world. Temporary pop-ups in Paris, London, Miami, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul and Sydney will offer leather goods, clothing, shoes, accessories and exclusive items offered only in the shops.

Louis Vuitton/Supreme #LVxSUPREME A post shared by Supreme (@supremenewyork) on Jun 29, 2017 at 3:28pm PDT

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After a New York-based Supreme x Louis Vuitton pop-up store was unanimously denied by Manhattan's Community Board, the only U.S. locations to shop the collab will be Los Angeles and Miami. The LA pop-up will be located at 833 East 3rd Street while the Miami location will be held at Vuitton's Design District store.

The pop-up locations are scheduled to open on July 14th and it's likely that stock will sell out soon after. Get ready for these pieces to take over the street style scene in no time.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x803/1499875163-d805607-jpg-1498829087.jpg"
"Altuzarra Is Moving From New York To Paris Fashion Week","http://www.elle.com/fashion/a46572/altuzarra-paris-fashion-week/","Altuzarra is the latest to join the growing list of designers exiting the New York Fashion Week calendar. In a statement released this morning, the brand announced it will be moving its collections to Paris.

Starting with its Spring 2018 collection in September, the fashion house's runway shows will align with the Paris Fashion Week calendar. With the overseas move, the brand hopes to build upon its international presence.

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""I was born and raised in Paris and the city holds a very deep personal significance for me. This has been a dream of mine since the very beginning and now the time feels right. I am honored to be invited by La Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode to show in my hometown of Paris,"" the designer said in a statement released by the brand.

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Over the past seasons, more and more designers have opted to move their New York based shows to other cities. The Fall 2017 collections saw many designers—from Tommy Hilfiger to Rebecca Minkoff and Rachel Zoe—staging shows in Los Angeles as opposed to New York. Then you have designers like Opening Ceremony and Vetements who have been veering away from traditional runway shows altogether.

Last month, it was announced that Skylight Clarkson Square would no longer be the primary show location for NYFW starting in 2018.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/1499875402-hbz-altuzarra-runway-index1-1499874165.jpg"
"5 Things to Know About Louis Vuitton's New Smartwatch","http://www.elle.com/fashion/accessories/news/a46566/louis-vuitton-smartwatch-tambour/","Louis Vuitton, a brand known for its luxury suitcases, bags, and accessories, entered the world of high-tech technology earlier this week with a new wristwatch called the Tambour Horizon. The launch of the smartwatch celebrates the 15th Anniversary of the Tambour Watch collection that is marked by a sense of global connectivity, and it certainly stays true to its travel roots. ""With its Tambour case made in Switzerland and components assembled in Silicon Valley, the Tambour Horizon successfully combines the very latest in advanced technology with the demands of traditional watchmaking,"" says Hamdi Chatti, VP of Watches at Jewelry at the brand.

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The watch is now available for purchase, and while it has many of the basic smartwatch features you'd expect, there are also a few new elements that we are extra excited about. Here, the top five things to know about the newest LV accessory and why you're going to want one, STAT.

1. It honors LV's classic look.

The Tambour Horizon utilizes the same customizable design codes as their famous monogram and pairs it with some serious travel-focused tech. According to Chatti: ""It's the first luxury smartwatch, fully dedicated to the Louis Vuitton universe with the best technology.""

2. It features Google-developed tech.

""Thanks to our helpful and amazing partnership with Google and Qualcomm we've worked on this project for two years now,"" continues Chatti. Using Android Wear 2.0 software, the Horizon is compatible with both Android and iPhone smartphones, so no need to be bound to that plain white Apple watch any longer.

3. It can (subtly) read emails for you.

The newest Vuitton watch offers similar functionality to most smartwatches: message alerts, alarms, countdown timers, weather reports, step counter, so you can read all those ultra-urgent emails and texts at dinner without being that girl on your phone at the table (because, rude). ""Our clients want new technology, it's important, but they want to have our savoir-faire on their wrist,"" says Chatti. ""It's the best of both worlds for a luxury smartwatch with countless functions, yet one that is extremely simple to use.""

4. It has two unique, dedicated features to inspire your next vacay.

Because LV's heritage lies in making travel chic, the Horizon also comes with two apps that will have you itching to book a flight out of town ASAP. The ""My Flight"" feature, exclusive to Louis Vuitton, helps fliers keep up-to-date on flight times, terminal and gate changes, delays, and hours before landing.

And, once you get to wherever you're going, LV has advice for your stay, too: The watch also offers access to the brand's City Guides. The proprietary guidebooks are updated annually, and feature the best hotels, restaurants, historic landmarks, shopping, and attractions in tons of cities and destinations around the world.

5. It is CHIC (and almost entirely customizable).

With a relatively small case size of only 42mm, the Horizon is also made for every day wear (you know, when you're not jetting around the world). It's available in stainless steel with a 24-hour ring in either graphite, monogram, or black; its illuminated dial never goes dark, with entirely customizable faces inspired by labels, monograms, and trunk decals. Over 60 (!) additional strap options are available (30 for women and 30 for men), so it'll go perfectly with anything in your closet.

Courtesy of the brand

Shop the Tambour Horizon by Louis Vuitton, on sale now, starting at $2,450; louisvuitton.com","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1499875579-lede-1.jpg"
"Colette, Your Favorite Parisian Boutique, Is Closing Its Doors","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/news/a46559/colette-paris-shutting-down/","No trip to Paris is complete without a visit to Colette. Sadly, that will be no more as the boutique, full of everything from designer clothes to novelty souvenirs, will be closing later this year after 20 years in business. The store's website will also be shutting down. Set to take over its prime three-story location on the Rue Saint-Honoré is Saint Laurent.

The store was founded in 1997 by Colette Roussaux and under the leadership of her daughter Sarah Andelman, was known to stock up-and-coming designers and do buzzy collaborations with the likes of Balenciaga (who could forget the recently sold-out $1000 shopping bag?) and Rihanna (who hosted a pop-up shop selling her perfumes and collaborations with Dior, Puma, and Manolo Blahnik). Its next collab–the H&M Studio x Colette line, offering selected pieces from the H&M Studio AW17 collection–is still set to debut August 21.

Kim K in Colette in 2015. Getty

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Beyond clothing, the store also sold independent magazines and books, beauty products, streetwear, kitchen items, tech gadgets, accessories, cameras, and even surprise goodie bags. It was a mainstay for celebrities–Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, Katy Perry, Gigi Hadid, and countless others have all been spotted shopping there.

""As all good things must come to an end, after 20 wonderful years, Colette should be closing its doors on December 20 of this year,"" the company said in a statement released on Instagram. ""Colette Roussaux has reached the time when she would like to take her time; and Colette cannot exist without Colette.""

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The store will officially close on December 20.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1499863117-gettyimages-808296360.jpg"
"Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid Are Living It Up In Greece In Some Super Chic Swimsuits","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46553/kendall-jenner-bella-hadid-greece-swimsuits/","Best friends and water goddesses Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner are currently taking some time for themselves, relaxing on the sunny island of Mykonos.

During their travels, the two were caught lounging on a speedboat wearing super-tiny, super-cute bikinis under their cover-ups.

Bella went for a low-cut, sky-blue two-piece and a pair of baggy, ripped jeans, accessorizing with gold cuffs and not much else, giving her that chill girl vibe that I assume all women who go to Greece procure:

Backgrid

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Here's a similar style if you want to channel her beach-chic vibe.

BUY NOW Ribbed Triangle Bikini Set, $48, TOPSHOP

Kendall, on the other hand, slipped into a teensy white-string bikini, loose white pants, Adidas sneakers, gold jewelry, and what I can only assume is an '80s dad's vintage button-up.

Backgrid

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Here's a similar top if you want to copy Kendall's look.

BUY NOW Triangle Bikini Top, $18, H&M

The two have also been generally galavanting around Europe recently, including for Paris Couture Week. Check out even more of their adventures below:

#LOVEWINS #LONDON ❤️🦋❤️🙏🏼🙏🏼💋💋💋🌷🌹🌸🌺🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈#KAGE A post shared by Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) on Jul 8, 2017 at 4:31pm PDT

always try to get a nap in when I can 🇫🇷😴🤦🏻‍♀️ A post shared by Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) on Jul 7, 2017 at 5:49am PDT","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1499810156-bella-kendall.jpg"
"Lanvin Appoints New Artistic Director Four Days After Bouchra Jarrar's Exit","http://www.elle.com/fashion/a46534/olivier-lapidus-new-lanvin-artistic-director/","Olivier Lapidus is the new artistic director of Lanvin. The French designer takes the place of Bouchra Jarrar, who stepped down last week after previously helming the fashion house for 16 months following Alber Elbaz's exit.

Lapidus' new role is effective immediately, and Business of Fashion reports he already started on Monday. Before his new role under the French fashion house, he was creative director for Balmain Homme in 1985-1986, joined Maison Lapidus until it closed in 2000, and designed décor for the Hotel Felicien in Paris. Recently, he launched Creation Olivier Lapidus, which he calls the world's first web-based couture house.

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""It is a great honor to join Lanvin and I warmly thank Madame Wang for placing her confidence in me,"" Lapidus said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, giving a nod to the brand's Taiwan-based owner Shaw-Lan Wang.

""With nearly 130 years of history, Lanvin is the oldest French couture house. To ensure its longevity is an immense task and an exciting challenge,"" he added. Though he intends to preserve the fashion house's legacy, sources tell BoF that Lapidus plans to revamp the brand as ""a French Michael Kors.""

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In addition to having a new designer, the label is also reportedly moving its headquarters from Paris' Rue Boissy d'Anglas—where Jeanne Lanvin originally founded the atelier in 1889—to the city's Levallois suburb later this year. The major changes arrive after the brand saw sales drop 23 percent in 2016 and 35 percent in the first two months of 2017.

Lanvin and Bouchra Jarrar have not yet commented on the news of Lapidus' appointment.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/1499726999-hbz-lapidus-index-1499717559.jpg"
"Clare Waight Keller's First Givenchy Ads Are Here","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46533/clare-waight-keller-first-givenchy-ad/","Back in March, Clare Waight Keller was announced as Riccardo Tisci's successor at Givenchy—becoming the first female designer to ever hold the creative director title at the fashion house. Now, just months ahead of her runway debut for the brand, a first look at the new Givenchy is here.

The fashion house unveiled its fall campaign, titled ""TRANSFORMATION SEDUCTION,"" under the creative direction of Waight Keller on Instagram today. Photographed by Steven Meisel, the black and white images feature models Saffron Vadher and Elias Bouremah—a swift departure from Tisci's oft star-studded campaigns for the house.

TRANSFORMATION SEDUCTION, @ClareWaightKeller's first #Givenchy campaign, shot by #StevenMeisel #TransformationSeduction A post shared by GIVENCHY (@givenchyofficial) on Jul 10, 2017 at 6:07am PDT

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While the former Chloé designer may be known for her romantic and feminine pieces, her first Givenchy ads feature Vadher in a sheer black lace top, sans bottoms, and a shirtless Bouremah in black trousers. Also not to be missed are the black cats wearing Givenchy collars.

TRANSFORMATION SEDUCTION, @ClareWaightKeller's first #Givenchy campaign, shot by #StevenMeisel #TransformationSeduction A post shared by GIVENCHY (@givenchyofficial) on Jul 10, 2017 at 6:08am PDT

Under the reins of Tisci, Givenchy was known for its close ties with the Kardashian-Wests, Jenners, Rihanna and squads of supermodels. If the new campaign is any indication, however, Waight Keller may be taking the house in a different direction—away from its celeb status and closer to its original roots under Hubert de Givenchy.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1499720646-hbz-givenchy-fall-2017-ads-1499694885.jpg"
"I Wore a High-Slit Dress and Got Catcalled by a Bunch of Women","http://www.elle.com/fashion/a46167/i-tried-wearing-a-high-slit-dress-got-catcalled-by-a-bunch-of-women/","You may have noticed a look sweeping the red carpets that can only be described as ""original poster for the 1995 film Showgirls."" The sky-high slit is in, most notably worn by Bella Hadid on multiple recent occasions, and often paired with fabric or cuts that make it easy for that slit to fly open. And, Hadid and the rest keep making headlines for their revealing ""wardrobe malfunctions"" when the slit moves just a teensy bit to the side. Is it possible to avoid flashing, or is that just what these dresses do?

Bella Hadid demonstrating how this style works. Getty Foc Kan

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I wanted to see whether a ""wardrobe malfunction"" was inevitable in a dress like this. Also, let's face it, the high-slit is sexy as hell. But walking around midtown Manhattan with my vulva just one gust-of-wind-from-a-passing-bus away from the world was a nerve-wracking prospect. Also, I'm not an idiot. I recognize that dresses like this are not designed to be practical for everyday use. But presumably anyone wearing them to an event would still have to do things like descend stairs, sit down in public view, use their legs to propel themselves forward, or exist in the presence of wind.

As soon as I tried on the dress, from Michelle Mason, I knew I was in over my head. I had not accounted for the equally low back, or the smooth, silky fabric that showed every body ripple. I had to borrow silicone nipple covers to avoid seeming fully nude (shout out to the ELLE.com office for being the type of place where multiple people have silicone nipple covers in their desks). Oh, and I got my period that morning, so I was at my most bloated and most at risk for underwear disasters. Fantastic.

I started off doing what many stars of the silver screen do in these dresses—posing. Inside, it wasn't so bad. Sitting at my desk, I had full control over the slit, and even if it started riding a little high, I could always roll under my desk.

Portrait of woman at work with string cheese. Kathryn Wirsing

Outside, though, this quickly turned into a fraught endeavor. Sitting, I couldn't keep my legs open (obviously), but crossing them made the satin-y fabric slip to one side, revealing enough of my thigh that it might legally have been my ass at that point. Add to that that I decided to have some iced coffee. I thought of taking Bella's advice and eating ice cream in the dress, but the dress was borrowed, and I forgot to bring a Lactaid.

Kathryn Wirsing

Posing standing wasn't much easier. I remembered Bella standing awkwardly in this style by lifting one side of her skirt. It was very dramatic when I first tried, but a breeze soon decided that it was time for me to be nude from the waist down in full view of anyone watching (it was a warm day in Central Park, so a lot of people were watching). It takes a lot to turn heads in New York City, and most days I live my life with the comfort that I can go about my business with a sort of public anonymity. It's what lets me cry on the subway with such ease. But now I was, physically and emotionally, exposed.

Kathryn Wirsing","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/26/1600x800/landscape-1498495488-itriedit-index.jpg"
"Inside Goyard, the World's Most Elusive Luxury Brand","http://www.elle.com/fashion/a46497/inside-goyard-secret-luxury-fashion-brand/","Busy Beverly Hills moms pile everything into them, in Cannes and Biarritz, they make the perfect beach tote, and during a 14-hour international flight, they're filled with all the necessities for the seasoned jetsetter. Goyard, the French luxury house—with its easily recognizable chevron-printed canvas and leather travel goods—has become one of the most coveted, albeit under the radar, brands in the world.

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Goyard doesn't advertise. It doesn't sell online. It doesn't pay celebrities to be photographed sporting its wares, and its executives rarely (if ever) give interviews. Yet somehow, the brand has cemented its status as a major luxury fashion player—alongside designers like Louis Vuitton and Hermès—with seemingly little effort.

The company's business has flourished from the beginning, virtually by word-of-mouth, through cliques of influential clients. Today, those clients run the gamut—from Michelein-starred Chef Alain Ducasse (who has a custom trunk for his cutlery) to rapper A$AP Rocky, who wore a Goyard messenger on the Grammy's red carpet. In decades past, meanwhile, people like Coco Chanel, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Jacques Cartier circumnavigated the globe on steamships, trains, and airplanes, with their belongings safely packed away in custom-made Goyard trunks and cases.

Among Goyard's most revered clients were The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who bought their first Goyard pieces in the 1930s and eventually became collectors, with a portfolio of Goyard-designed trunks, cases, travel bags, suitcases, hat boxes, pet accessories and more. Many of their pieces were acquired by Goyard's now-owner Jean-Michel Signoles in 1997, when Sotheby's auctioned the contents of the Duke and Duchess's Paris home. A single lot comprised of a document case and monogrammed trunk went for $14,950; another fetched a cool $32,500.

The Goyard collection of Karl Lagerfeld (L) and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (R). Backgrid; Historical Society of Palm Beach County

The pieces are now kept in the Goyard archive, a secret underground warehouse in central Paris near the flagship at 233 Saint Honoré, which houses nearly 700 items. Both the design studio and the special order workshop cull the library for inspiration when approaching a new commission. For the majority of clients, a classic St. Louis tote (the most widely recognized of all Goyard items) or a Saigon handbag might be an ideal purchase, but discriminating collectors often prefer more individuality.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x803/1499445297-tc-051517-goyard-1497558431.jpg"
"Here Is Every Nearly-Naked Look Bella Hadid Wore in Europe","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46476/bella-hadid-naked-outfits-europe/","In case you're wondering what Bella Hadid has been up to, here's an update: She's been flawlessly parading around Europe in scant clothing over the last few weeks, looking like a smokeshow every step of the way. Let's explore the evidence.

in Eutopia 🌬🦋💙 A post shared by Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) on Jun 30, 2017 at 4:07am PDT

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Exhibit A: Bella attended a party for Bvlgari in Venice, Italy, on June 29 wearing this sexy black number featuring a completely sheer skirt.

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Exhibit B: The next day, Bella attended another Bvlgari shindig, dressed in a plunging white gown that featured a hip-high slit.

Exhibit C: On July 3, the model hit up the Christian Dior, Couturier du Reve Exhibition Launch in Paris wearing a very see-through dress with branded undergarments layered beneath it.

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Exhibit D: In possibly the most scandalous of her European ensembles, Bella strutted her stuff at the Alexandre Vauthier Haute Couture Fall/Winter 17/18 show on July 4 in a completely sheer turtleneck, marking the only time in history a turtleneck has ever been so utterly risqué.

Exhibit E: Also at the Alexandre Vauthier show, Bella strolled down the catwalk clutching the slit of this plunging chainmail design to avoid a mishap.

Exhibit F: Another day, another totally see-through outfit. On July 5, Bella was nearly unrecognizable in a sheer black dress and golden bodysuit while on the runway for Maison Margiela.

Exhibit G: Last but not least, again on July 5, she worked every inch of her bod in this diaphanous Fendi gown, featuring floral embellishments that barely covered her nipples. Fashion!","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/1499368954-bella-hadid-01-1499360021.jpg"
"Bouchra Jarrar Reportedly Leaving Lanvin After 15 Months","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46465/bouchra-jarrar-to-leave-lanvin/","Bouchra Jarrar, who was just named as Alber Elbaz's successor as the artistic director of Lanvin in March 2016, is leaving the French fashion house, WWD reports. Jarrar completed only two collections—Spring 2017 and Fall 2017— at Lanvin, and will depart before showing Spring 2018.

As WWD reports, rumors have circulated about clashes between the 46-year-old designer and Lanvin's chief executive officer Michèle Huiban, although perhaps that's not the whole story. Times have been tough at Lanvin lately; the brand posted its first loss in more than ten years in 2016.

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""I have pressure,"" Jarrar said just this March in an interview with the South China Morning Post. ""I wanted to dedicate my whole self to Lanvin, to relaunch the maison and brand, so I shut my own label down… But I need the whole house's support; alone it's impossible.""

Bouchra Jarrar with Michèle Huiban, CEO of Lanvin. Instagram/@lanvinofficial

Before joining Lanvin, the under-the-radar designer launched her namesake line in 2010 and joined the couture calendar three years later (you can revisit her Spring 2016 collection here). Her résumé also included stints as design studio head for Balenciaga and head of couture for Christian Lacroix.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499359317-elle-bouchra-jarrar-leaving-lanvin.jpg"
"Pippa Middleton Is Winning the Wimbledon Style Game","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46453/pippa-middleton-wimbledon-2017-dress/","Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

After wedding in a custom Giles Deacon gown in May and jetting off on a stylish honeymoon, Pippa Middleton has returned to her home base in England, but her wardrobe hasn't skipped a beat. On Day 3 of Wimbledon, the newlywed socialite showed up to the elite tennis tournament in a lace sheer dress by Self-Portrait.

The brand's ladylike take on the see-through dress trend is the perfect style risk for Middleton, 33, who opts for classic, often conservative, silhouettes. She finished off with neutral pumps, a gray suede clutch and oversized cat eye sunglasses by ZanZan.

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Her big sister Kate also made a stylish appearance at the tournament two days prior, but she donned a bold print rather than a revealing fabric. The Duchess of Cambridge sported a Dolce & Gabbana polka dot midi dress (and a new lob haircut) on day one of Wimbledon.

Pippa watched the game with her brother James, but we can only imagine what style fest would've ensued if she and Kate had attended together.

Get Pippa's look: Self-Portrait dress, $465, matchesfashion.com. SHOP","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/1499290985-hbz-pippa-middleton-wimbledon-index-1499275401.jpg"
"Jennifer Lopez Wears Dangerously High-Cut, Double-Slit Dress","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46438/jennifer-lopez-double-slit-dress/","Last night, Jennifer Lopez performed her new song, ""Ni Tu Ni Yo,"" during Macy's 4th of July Firework Show. She wore an INSANE high-cut, double-slit dress by Fausto Puglisi.

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If it looks familiar, that's because Kendall Jenner wore a similar dress by the same designer back in 2014 at the MuchMusic Video Awards.

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Back then, we thought it was anxiety-inducing enough for Kendall to simply walk down a red carpet wearing the daring garment. J.Lo, however, really tested the wardrobe malfunction-prone design by full-out performing in it.

AHHHH! Getty

AHHHHHHHH! Getty

Wind blowing, no problem. Getty

Even when the dressed slipped aside and showed what looks like a bodysuit under, J.Lo had not a care in the world.

Getty

Here she is in motion:

What a queen.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1499260998-kendall.jpg"
"Bella Hadid Wore Half a Cocktail Dress, Half a Princess Gown to a Fancy Dinner","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46439/bella-hadid-orange-cocktail-dress-with-train-paris-couture-week-look/","Paris Couture Week model Bella Hadid spent her Fourth of July at a fancy charity dinner last night in France, dressed like a modern-day, on-trend princess. Her look was an orange mini-dress in the front, a long, Cannes Film Festival–ready train in the back—plus a sparkly choker for some extra pizzazz:

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Imagine walking around with a train that long all night. No one can say she's not committed:","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499262530-gettyimages-808706570.jpg"
"Bella Hadid Gracefully Avoided a Major Wardrobe Malfunction on the Catwalk","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46437/bella-hadid-wardrobe-malfunction-catwalk/","We've all been there—that nervy feeling when you're wearing a wrap dress that you might expose a little more than you wanted.

So while Bella Hadid's turn on the Alexander Vauthier couture catwalk isn't an experience many of us can relate to, her wardrobe struggle is. The model wore a floor-length bejeweled gown with a plunging neckline and a deep split. It looked sensational, but the cut of the gown meant that Hadid spent the duration of the catwalk grappling with the top of the split so that she wouldn't flash the front row (and indeed anyone looking at pictures of the show in future).

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Fortunately, she managed not to expose herself and clearly bore no ill feelings to the designer, sharing an Instagram picture of herself in the dress.

AV💋 A post shared by Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) on Jul 4, 2017 at 3:47pm PDT

It was a show full of bold outfit choices for the 20-year-old, who also modeled a completely sheer top.

Bella Hadid, a consummate professional through and through.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499262176-gallery-1499244867-bella-hadid-1.jpg"
"Watch the Ulyana Sergeenko Couture FW17 Show Live Here","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a46371/watch-ulyana/","The Ulyana Sergeenko Autmn/Winter 2017 show is about to begin in Paris. Watch all the action, from start to finish, live below:","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/26/1600x800/landscape-1498839761-elle-ulyana-sergeenko-couture-livestream.jpg"
"6 Things To Know From Chanel's Fall 2017 Couture Show","http://www.elle.com/fashion/a46430/chanel-fall-2017-couture-show/","Today, Chanel took over Paris' Grand Palais for its Fall 2017 couture show. From the Parisian-inspired set to Karl Lagerfeld receiving a very special honor, here's everything to know from the show.

1) The set was inspired by the iconic fashion house's home-base: Paris. Models walked underneath a giant Eiffel Tower replica that was created to overarch the runway.

The #CHANELtower recreated at the Grand Palais for the #CHANELHauteCouture Fall-Winter 2017/18 show A post shared by CHANEL (@chanelofficial) on Jul 4, 2017 at 1:11am PDT

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2) The front row was especially star-studded this season. Attendees included Pharrell Williams, Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, Katy Perry, Tracee Ellis Ross, Rowan Blanchard, Cara Delevingne, Kristen Stewart and more.

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3) Every look was topped off with a boater hat. Karl Lagerfeld is bringing the early 20th century hat back. The accessory was presented in a variety of tweeds, satin and leather.

4) The collection itself featured a somber color palette of grays and blacks. The first 25 looks were all variations of gray, later leading to head-to-toe black ensembles and a gorgeous Chanel bride in all-white for the finale. Much like the hats, the designs were a nod to the elegance of an early 20th century woman.

What a dream ✨ So elegant, so refined, so subtle. The show was truly incredible ❤️ @chanelofficial #ChanelHauteCouture #ChanelTower A post shared by Caroline de Maigret 🇫🇷 (@carolinedemaigret) on Jul 4, 2017 at 2:23am PDT

5) But the makeup was a technicolor dream. Every model's look featured an over-the-top rainbow eyeshadow, a bright and welcome contrast to the dark-hued collection.

6) At the end of the show, Karl Lagerfeld received the highest honor of Paris. The city's mayor Anne Hidalgo presented the designer with a Grand Vermeil medal, the highest distinction the city offers, for his work in the French capital.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x803/1499196447-gettyimages-807473342-1499171603.jpg"
"Kristen Stewart Just Wore the Most Perfect Tube Capri Jumpsuit","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/a46427/kristen-stewart-chanel-couture-aw17-catsuit/","Getty

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Kristen Stewart can always pull off outfits that many of us couldn't—and the sequinned ensemble she wore to the Chanel couture show is no different.

The actor turned up to see the new collection in Paris wearing a strapless jumpsuit that was covered in sequins, and ended just below the knee. The takeaway? Tube tops and capri pants are back in style, like it's the nineties.

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Stewart kept her accessorizing to a minimum in order to let the sequinned tube jumpsuit take center stage, teaming it with a pair of black pointed court shoes and circular shades. Her buzzcut featured platinum frosted tips and her make-up was, as usual, pared back.

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Stewart is no stranger to trying out a daring look. Although she is one of the few women who could make a skintight disco catsuit look quite so spectacular at 11 in the morning, the trend is certainly one that we can see creeping back.

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Trust Kristen Stewart to bring back even more nineties trends we didn't know we needed, until now.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499188566-k-stew.jpg"
"Bella Hadid's Polka Dot Gown Is So Sheer It's Practically Naked","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/a46420/bella-hadid-ultra-sheer-dior-gown/","Bella Hadid never fails to surprise with her style choices, and her latest ensemble is, well, pretty magical, actually. Not only does the Dior gown look like the naked dress Minnie Mouse would wear, it looks perfect from every angle.

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Attending the Christian Dior exhibition launch at Musee Des Arts Decoratifs in Paris on Monday, Hadid's naked, sparkly, floor-length, polka dot gown was sheer perfection. As always, the model made the outfit look effortless, and her shades accentuated that feeling.

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The exhibition celebrated 70 years of Dior, and Hadid's gown was perfectly at home at the launch event. Even her Dior emblazoned underwear, which was totally visible through the gown, looked amazing.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499171138-bella-hadid.jpg"
"According to Dior Couture, This Taboo Fashion Accessory Is Back","http://www.elle.com/fashion/trend-reports/a46415/dior-couture-fall-2017-fedora-trend/","If it weren't for that meddling Maria Grazia Chiuri (the artistic director of Christian Dior), the fedora, with its storied history, had the potential to be lain to rest alongside acid wash jeans and popcorn shirts. But with her AW17 Dior Couture show in Paris, the designer resurrected the never-say-die accessory. Dare we say, the fedora is back, and we're here to investigate the matter.

Not to be confused with its more accepted, wide-brimmed brother, the basic, short-brimmed fedora was seized c.2008 by Reddit and 4Chan alike as their debased accessory of choice. The only mid-aughties celeb that continued to wear the hat rather flawlessly was Justin Timberlake, and he's since limited his usage to on-stage performances only. Today, you're most likely to catch fedoras on babies in photoshoots, #TBT pics of Kevin Federline, and the dapperest celebs: Bruno Mars, Janelle Monae, and, occasionally a star who didn't want to wear a snapback while dodging the paparazzi.

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In order to bring the jaunty headgear back, Dior featured the fedora in its most archetypical environment: atop the head of 1930s detective look. Dior's grayscale runway paired wool coats with equally demure wool hats, making this a closed case: the hat has returned, unironically. It's Nancy Drew once she outgrew her tween gumshoe years and became a chic sleuth worthy of big time crimes. It's Dick Tracy meets Murder, She Wrote. Agatha Christie would be proud; Carmen Sandiego, eat your heart out.

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The fedora was not the only accessory Dior revived. While typically reserved for the always-chilly Matron of Honor, the silk shawl was also diaphanously displayed. To keep it from looking too mother-in-law chic, it was styled with Dior's signature combo: a sheer dress and underwear, naturally. It is wedding season, after all.

But I digress. If none of the above will finally convince you that the once meme-fodder fedora is back, here are two words that will: RIHANNA WOULD.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499099264-dior-fall-2017-couture-hat.jpg"
"Best Looks: Bella Hadid","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/g28101/bella-hadid-style/","From cutout dresses on red carpets to sleek suits at Cannes, Bella Hadid's style is always on point. Here, an ongoing look at the model's best outfits.

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"Best Looks: Kendall Jenner","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/g26031/kendall-jenners-best-looks/","Kendall Jenner's style may be versatile on the runways, but off the catwalk she has her own seriously defined taste. Click through for all her best looks.

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"Best Looks: Blake Lively","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/g26127/blake-lively-style/","Whether Blake Lively is wearing her signature bright colors and body-conscious silhouettes or some of the most enviable pregnancy style ever, the actress always looks radiant. See her best looks.

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"Best Looks: Celine Dion","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/g30003/celine-dion-style/","The five-time Grammy winner first captured our hearts in the '90s with her glittery couture gowns and signature scrunchy curls, but lately, Celine Dion has been stepping out in a more sophisticated yet edgy look on the red carpet and streets. (Dion has famously worked with Zendaya's stylist, Law Roach, for the last year.) Her decades-long fashion evolution has spanned from white pantsuits to floral trench coats and over-sized Vetements sweatshirts. Here, all her best looks.

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"Best Looks: Gigi Hadid","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/g26019/gigi-hadids-best-looks/","July 28, 2017

In a Star Wars t-shirt and red pants while out in New York City.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/16/36/1600x800/landscape-1473266514-gigi-hadid-best-looks.jpg"
"Best Dressed: The Week in Outfits","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/g30129/best-dressed-celebrity-style-july-2017/","Who: Rihanna

Wearing: Prada fall 2017 bralette and skirt, Charlotte Olympia shoes

Why: Rihanna's playful look at the Paris premiere of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a close second when it comes to our best dressed winner. The beading and fur trim alone make us giddy, but pink oval sunglasses are the summer accessory we didn't know we needed.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501252479-elle-weeks-best-dressed-0728.jpg"
"The Perfect: Summer Date Night","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/g30168/the-perfect-summer-date-night/","Welcome to ""The Perfect,"" ELLE.com's weekly roundup, where we lay out exactly what you'll need for the perfect outfit, shopping list, Saturday night, or whatever it may be. In a shopping landscape where the options are endless, consider it a complete snapshot of must-haves.

The perfect date night has a few commonalities: a great outfit, perfect accessories, and something major to do. (Oh, and someone decent to join you.) From the little details to the bigger, logistical items (train through wine country anyone?), there's a perfect suggestion, below.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501087476-theperfect-datenight.jpg"
"Best Looks: Michelle Obama","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/g8467/michelle-obama-style/","When Michelle Obama became the First Lady of the United States in 2008, she immediately gained the fashion community's vote for her all-American style. Lately, she's been alternating more daring cuts and colors mixed in with her signature knee-length floral dresses. Here, we catalogue her best looks.

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"10 Swimwear Brands That Will Make Your Instagram Pop","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/g28053/swimwear-designers-instagram-bikini/","If you go on vacation and you don't Instagram, did it really happen? Well, of course it did, but that doesn't mean you should skimp on humble-bragging with strategically posted sunsets, beachside piña coladas, and, of course, your swimsuit. From Rihanna's favorite terry cloth set to Bond Girl reminiscent one-pieces , here are 2017's hottest swimwear designers. The likes will be rolling in in no time.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501187946-14-balmy-rick-rack-navy-rye.jpg"
"27 One-Piece Swimsuits That Will Make You Ditch Your Bikini","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/g26165/one-piece-swimsuits/","When you consider the Insta-influence of one-piece devotees like Emily Ratajkowski, Kendall Jenner, and Gigi Hadid combined with the popularity of brands like Solid and Striped (you know that striped low-back suit you've seen all over the 'gram) and Jade Swim, it's no wonder one-piece swimsuits are taking over. Shop 27 of our favorites now.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501084100-onepieces.jpg"
"15 Weekender Bags That Will Make You Feel Like an Adult","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/g27245/weekender-bags-travel-bags-for-women/","Summer is in full swing, but you can't head out of town using your ratty old backpack from college. Upgrade your travel style with a chic carryall that says ""I'm an adult""—even if your weekend is filled with questionable decisions. Pro tip: If you're looking for a classic leather duffel, don't forget to check out the men's section. For some wild reason these unisex options can usually be found there.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1500932987-elle-best-weekender-bags.jpg"
"Best Looks: Cara Delevingne","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/g25999/cara-delevingnes-best-looks/","The British model and It girl first caught our eyes with her enviable sneaker collection and penchant for John Lennon sunglasses, but lately Cara Delevingne has been stepping out in a slightly more sophisticated look. Taking the red carpet in tailored pantsuits and cutout dresses, Cara has mastered the art of showing skin sexily. See all her best looks.

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"What Kim Kardashian, Hailee Steinfeld, and Kerry Washington Wore to the Balmain x Beats by Dre Party","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/g30157/balmain-beats-by-dre-celebrity-party-dresses/","The Balmain Army was out in full force last night in Los Angeles, where designer Olivier Rousteing celebrated the opening of the house's first L.A. boutique and its Beats by Dre collaboration. Kim Kardashian, Hailee Steinfeld, Halsey, and Kerry Washington were among the attendees who stunned in metallics. Here, what everyone wore.

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"Nike Just Dropped an Entire Millennial Pink Collection","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/g30158/nike-millennial-pink-collection/","Nike's millennial pink collection is here! Shoes, tanks, water bottles, sports bras — now your workout can be as pink as that one wall in L.A. or those pink sand beaches that pop up in your Instagram feed more often than avocado toast, not to mention, super chic.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1500660939-elle-nike-millenial-pink-collection-products-lead.jpg"
"The Best Fashion Picks From Nordstrom's Semi-Anniversary Sale","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/g30153/best-of-nordstrom-fashion-semi-anniversary-sale/","Nordstrom's famous semi-anniversary sale—you know, the same one you hyped your mom about as a teenager—is finally here. Click through to shop our favorite picks before they sells out.

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"Good American Launches Zodiac Sweatshirts","http://www.elle.com/fashion/g30152/good-american-denim-launches-zodiac-sweatshirts/","It's Maxine Waters' Time; We're Just Living In It","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500576539-julia-kelley-shot-07-073-r2.jpg"
"16 Universally Flattering Cat Eye Sunglasses","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/g28267/cat-eye-sunglasses/","There's a reason why cat eye sunglasses are such a classic: they flatter just about every face shape. When choosing a pair, you can stick to the basics with Holly Golightly's iconic Oliver Goldsmiths (the exact pair), or branch out with crystal embellishments, tinted lenses, or Saint Laurent's latest heart-shaped frames. No matter what you choose, just make sure at some point you tilt your frames downward with a knowing gaze. It's standard fare when wearing these sunnies.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500562322-cateye.jpg"
"Pirelli's 2018 Calendar Will Feature an All Black Cast","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/g30151/pirelli-2018-all-black-calendar/","Over the last few years, Pirelli has moved away from the sexed-up image that has made their calendar world famous. For the 2016 calendar Annie Liebovitz photographed 13 influential women with their clothes on—save for a cheeky Amy Schumer and 2017's calendar went unretouched, as Peter Lindbergh shot 14 of his favorite Hollywood faces with little styling or makeup.

Now the calendar makes another prolific turn as photographer Tim Walker has shot 17 black models and entertainers for 2018. This is the second all-black cast in 30 years. Naomi Campbell, Whoopi Goldberg, Rupal, Lupita Nyongo', Sean ""Diddy"" Combs, Djimon Hounsou, and newcomers like Duckie Thot, Slick Woods, and Adwoa Aboah all play dress up for Walker's Alice in Wonderland-theme shoot, styled by Edward Enninful. Below, see the official preview of the 2018 Calendar.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x801/1500564886-thecal-day06-04844-1500552782.jpg"
"All of Kate Middleton's Poland and Germany Tour Looks","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/g30140/kate-middleton-poland-germany-tour-outfits/","This week, Kate Middleton, Prince William, and the royal toddlers, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, are touring Poland and Germany. So far, the Duchess of Cambridge's fashion is already some of her best worn abroad to date. Here, all the outfits she's wearing.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500400534-elle-kate-middelton-poland-looks.jpg"
"Theory 2.0 Promises to Make it Easier to Get Dressed for Work and Beyond","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/g30141/theory-capsule-collection/","With almost 20 years under its belt, a stylistic renaissance for Theory, the tried and true workwear brand, is right on cue. Today, we get a peak at what that looks like with Theory 2.0, a new ready-to-wear capsule collection conceptualized, designed, and developed by rising talent (read millennials from various departments) at Theory. Sold direct-to-consumer, the collection is made up of versatile and minimalist Ts, blouses, jeans, trousers, blazers, and other staples the working women needs in her life. Unlike brands who pad prices with the explicit purpose of deep sales later, Theory 2.0 prices are steadfast a.k.a. they won't be marked down, ever, according to the brand. Click through to take a look at the entire collection then shop it on theory.com/2.0.

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"13 Ways to Rethink Your Summer Style","http://www.elle.com/fashion/street-style/g30138/cute-summer-oufits/","Is summer style fatigue sinking in? You know, that time when it's so hot outside you only wear cotton sundresses with sneakers then try to pass it off for both the office and cocktail parties? If so, let's hit pause on that habit and rethink your July wardrobe with the help of some killer street style inspiration.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500327625-nyfw-ss17-day3-016.jpg"
"Your First Look at the J.W. Anderson x Uniqlo Collection","http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/g30142/jw-anderson-uniqlo-collection/","Uniqlo x J.W.Anderson Skirt, Skirts and Pants range from $40- $50; Available at uniqlo.com on September 21, 2017 at 9 PM

Courtesy","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/1500398839-hbz-jw-anderson-00-index-1500397328.jpg"
"27 Times Celebrities Wore Underwear as Clothing","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/g30101/celebrities-wearing-underwear-as-clothing/","Ever since Madonna wore that Jean Paul Gaultier cone bra in 1990, celebrities have made fashion statements by wearing underwear as outerwear, on stage and on the streets. Here, 26 of the most iconic underwear looks.

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"13 Emerging Brands E-Commerce Buyers Are Excited to Carry","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/news/g30134/new-brands-to-shop/","With sites like Net-a-Porter, Shopbop, and Stylebop on-boarding new fashion brands faster than you can add to cart, it's hard to keep up with what's really worth shopping. To see what brands insiders are really excited to carry for fall, I touched based with the buyers, fashion directors, and industry experts at these sites and others.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500297515-index.jpg"
"17 Surprisingly Chic Ways To Celebrate World Emoji Day","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/g30136/cute-emoji-outfits/","Yes, World Emoji Day is a thing, and it's today! Subtly celebrate the holiday (and show some gratitude for your favorite way to passive aggressively texting your awful tinder date) with chic fashion finds. Here, 17 upscale ways to wear your emoji on your sleeves, ears, and more.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500308345-emojiitems.jpg"
"Best Looks: Lily James","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/g25783/lily-james-red-carpet-looks/","Lily James, star of Baby Driver and Cinderella, is no stranger to looking regal in gowns. Whether she's in a pale pink number or a gray column dress, the actress has worn princess-worthy looks for years—and has looked gorgeous in every one. Flip through to see a history of the actress killing it on the red carpet.

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"The Best Street Style from Men's New York Fashion Week","http://www.elle.com/fashion/personal-style/news/g30111/the-best-street-style-from-nyfwm/","New York Fashion Week: Men's has officially started, bringing the guys (and a few stylish women) to the streets in their finest gear. Watch this space for daily updates from photographer Tyler Joe who is capturing the best lewks for ELLE.com.

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"The Perfect: Bastille Day","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/g30113/the-perfect-bastille-day/","Welcome to ""The Perfect,"" ELLE.com's weekly roundup, where we lay out exactly what you'll need for the perfect outfit, shopping list, Saturday night, or whatever it may be. In a shopping landscape where the options are endless, consider it a complete snapshot of must-haves.



Even the non-French have reasons to celebrate their National Day. Perhaps you've heard of the croissant? The croque monsieur? Francoise Hardy, Brigitte Bardot, or Catherine Deneuve? From style to cuisine, France has given us a lot to be thankful. Celebrate it this Bastille Day by playing (and dressing, and drinking) the part.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1500040343-bastilleday.jpg"
"Best Looks: Harry Styles","http://www.elle.com/fashion/celebrity-style/news/g29880/best-looks-harry-styles/","From his X Factor days to the One Direction era and his solo rock star style, Harry Styles' fashion sense is always evolving. Here's an ongoing look at the singer's best looks.

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"5 Ways to Make Mom Jeans Look HAIM-Level Cool","http://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/g30120/where-get-high-waisted-mom-jeans/","HAIM's latest music video "" Want You Back "" immediately made us want to wander the streets of L.A., but there was another (less dangerous) feeling we couldn't shake: are mom jeans finally cool? Despite its previously divisive reputation, we're convinced the answer is a resounding yes. Let the band's attainable style (and four more outfit ideas) show you how to wear high-waisted, straight-leg denim just about anywhere, ahead.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1499960507-haimindex-new.jpg"
"Zoë Kravitz Is YSL Beauty's Global Makeup Ambassador","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a47046/zoe-kravitz-ysl-beauty/","Ever since YSL Beauty signed French makeup artist Tom Pecheux as global beauty director in January, the fashion house has been constantly appealing to a more millennial demographic without straying too far from YSL's brand DNA. It only seemed like a natural fit then for the L'Oreal-owned company to name ultimate cool-girl Zoë Kravitz as their newest global makeup ambassador.

The electro-pop singer turned actress and model has already starred in YSL's ""Beauty The Light"" video project last year, sharing her makeup tips while she got ready backstage with her band Lolawolf. Kravitz is also a triple threat: She's appeared in campaigns for Alexander Wang, Calvin Klein, and Tiffany & Co and her turn as the effervescent Bonnie Carlson on HBO's Big Little Lies this year demonstrated her fierce acting chops. Constantly hailed for her eclectic, bold taste, Kravitz is the embodiment of the Parisian fashion house's effortless cool girl style.

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""YSL Beauty has always been one of my favorite brands,"" Kravitz said in a statement. ""Their ability to combine the chicest of styles with a raw edge has always been to me one of the best ways to express yourself through fashion and beauty. Nothing is forced, nothing is fake but everything is bold, strong and unafraid. I'm very excited to work with this legendary and timeless company.""

Kravitz's first of several campaigns for the brand, Tatouage Couture, will launch in August of this year.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x800/landscape-1501518904-elle-zoe-kravitz-ysl-campaigncom.jpg"
"Misty Copeland Is Estée Lauder's Newest Spokesperson","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a47049/misty-copeland-estee-lauder-modern-muse/","American Ballet Theatre principal ballerina Misty Copeland has signed on to be the global spokesperson of Estée Lauder's Modern Muse fragrance, it was announced this morning. This is Copeland's first contract with a beauty brand; back in 2014, the athlete joined forces with Under Armour, appearing in commercials and print ads. (In February of this year, she spoke out about Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank's support of Donald Trump.)

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Here's hoping this partnership is slightly less fraught. ""I also have a strong connection to the scents I wear when I perform,"" Copeland said in a statement. ""The Modern Muse campaign is the perfect way to see another side of my story.""

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""The journey I've been on is my own. I've pushed boundaries, challenged the status quo. I can only hope that my life inspires other women to change the world. In their own way. Be an inspiration,"" Copeland says in the twenty-second ad.

Modern Muse, a lush floral woody scent, launched in 2013. Sparkling notes like jasmine, honeysuckle and mandarin flirt with deeper accords like patchouli, amber wood and vanilla.

Copeland's Estée Lauder fragrance ads will appear on digital, TV, in-store and print platforms starting in August.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x800/landscape-1501517202-modern-muse-dps-composed-ad-2017-crop.jpg"
"CoverGirl Partners With Instagram Star Jazmina","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a47002/covergirl-jazmina-partnership/","In October, CoverGirl made history by signing its first male spokesperson, the one and only James Charles. Today, it's kind of doing it again, partnering with the Instagram-famous makeup artist Jazmina. If the name doesn't ring a bell, her work definitely will. Jazmina's renowned for creating innovative, optically impossible lipstick creations on her own lips; you can recognize her touch by its insane detail and artistry, and also by her signature labret piercing.

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Recently she created a teeny tiny Rihanna on her own lips. Wild wild wild.

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Here's her tribute to Finding Dory:

@pete.motion blessed my Finding Dory lip art 😍 Thanks so much! #findingdory #lipart #petemotion A post shared by Jazmina Daniel (@missjazminad) on Jun 22, 2017 at 4:15pm PDT

Glittery Pride lips:

And lest we overlook Beyoncé pregnancy announcement lips:

According to the brand, Jazmina will provide insights on lip trends, colors, product formulas, and shade names. Oh, and she also created the custom lip art, above. 👆

CoverGirl has one more piece of news for National Lipstick Day. They're also teaming up with FINERY, a site that uses your e-receipts to create an online wardrobe of everything you've ever bought online, the point being then you can use that data to plan looks. Jazmina's makeup bag will be shoppable at Finery.com/Jazmina. Other ways to celebrate National Lipstick Day? Track down a free M.A.C lipstick, or try an un-boring lipstick shade for a day.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1501268786-jazmina-covergirl-debut-lip-image.jpeg"
"Britney Spears' Super Sexy Bikini Workout Is Inspiration for DAYS","http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/news/a46985/britney-spears-bikini-workout/","Britney Jean Spears is pretty much the light of the internet these days, and so when she posts an Instagram video—particularly one in which she wears a hot pink bikini and lifts neon yellow weights and then does a bunch of back flips—it's big news. And so here I am, writing about our queen, because she deserves it, and we deserves it.

Brit cheekily captioned the video, ""Had a couple of weeks off… ha!! Well, not really… been keeping my body strong and motivating myself everyday!! There's nothing like mommy and workout time, the beautiful outdoors, and flipping into gear 🦋🎀😉😉😉😉.""

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Now, let's watch and be in awe:","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x803/1501243922-britney-spears-sam-asghari-1484347600.jpg"
"Here's How to Get a Free M.A.C Lipstick This Weekend","http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/news/a46975/free-mac-lipstick-national-lipstick-day/","Thanks to the internet and thirsty hashtaggers everywhere, there's a day for everything. Honorific highlights from July include National Fried Clam Day, National Paper Bag Day, and on July 29, National Lipstick Day. We'll forgive you if you forgot to observe the two former, but are also here to tell you there's an easy way to commemorate the latter.

To celebrate #NationalLipstick Day on July 29, M.A.C is giving away free full-sized lipsticks—while supplies last—at any M.A.C store or retailer in the U.S. If you are so lucky to nab a bullet, and do know the shades available vary by location, show off your score with the hashtag #MACLipsLipsLips. Maybe you'll want one of the individual shades from the brand's new-this-year lip kits, or maybe you're more in the mood for a classic matte M.A.C Ruby Woo moment (we voted it one of ourtop red lipstick shades of all time). Whatever your lips desire, a full-size tube of M.A.C lipstick will be completely free this Saturday.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/gallery-1501180918-landscape-1484685538-maclipstick.jpg"
"The Urban Decay Naked Heat Palette Is Finally Here","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46971/urban-decay-naked-heat-palette-release/","Believe it or not, it's been a whole two years since the last Naked Palette, Naked Smokey, hit stores and caused a frenzy among beauty junkies. Now, the Naked Palette is back and hotter than ever with Naked Heat, a collection of 12 warm tones that look like a literal sunset:

If you think #NakedHeat is hot online, wait until you see it in person. 🔥 Pick up Naked Heat at your local @UltaBeauty. #UrbanDecay A post shared by Urban Decay Cosmetics (@urbandecaycosmetics) on Jul 9, 2017 at 3:40pm PDT

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The palette offers both shimmery and matte shades, ranging from deep burgundy to burnt orange. Base shades like Chaser and Ounce create the perfect canvas, while darker tones like Ashes and Ember are ideal for blending and smoking out. But the best part about Naked Heat? The diverse palette is flattering on every skin tone.

We've been completely hooked on the current cult-favorite neutrals: Warm burnt reds, coppers, siennas and butterscotch. Naked Heat will look insanely flattering on any skin tone. 🔥 #NakedHeat #UrbanDecay A post shared by Urban Decay Cosmetics (@urbandecaycosmetics) on Jun 7, 2017 at 1:04pm PDT

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The mix and match nature of the Naked Palette has made it a cult favorite since its launch in 2000. And this palette is no exception: you can dress it up with some sparkle.

Or dress it down with a neutral lip:

Grab it fast while it's still in stock.

Urban Decay Naked Heat Palette, $54, sephora.com","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1501167832-urbandecay.jpg"
"Beauty Secrets I Learned From Model Winnie Harlow","http://www.elle.com/beauty/a46857/winnie-harlow-interview/","Canadian model Winnie Harlow was first discovered on YouTube in 2013 and landed a spot on America's Next Top Model in 2014, but it was her turn in Beyoncé's ""Lemonade"" visual album that took her career to new heights. The outspoken model has since walked the runway for everyone from Marc Jacobs to Coach, starred in campaigns for Nike and H&M, traveled the world, and amassed over 2 million Instagram followers. This year she's set her sights on booking Victoria's Secret. ""It's a pinnacle for models. I'm so proud to see my friends walking on that runway and I'd be so honored to walk with them,"" she says. ""Hopefully, somewhere near in the future."" We caught up with Harlow in Arles, France at the opening of Dior's Art of Color Exhibition where we talked to her about her skincare obsession, McDonald's habit, and theory of self-confidence.

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On her skincare philosophy.

I have a really strict skincare routine. I use Avene face lotion and water mist. And I wash my face with black soap from Shea Radiance, I literally don't use any other soap. They're this really great company—this is not sponsored, by the way—that sources all their stuff from Africa and makes sure the women [soap producers] are paid fairly. They sent me free products and obviously I get so many free products that I don't try them all. This is one that I tried and it's a cult favorite now. It's hard to find products that are good for the planet and your skin, but they have such a good background I don't mind talking about them, even for free. After I wash my face, I use tea tree oil mixed with water as a toner.

Renell Medrano

On her YouTube makeup skills.

I've been doing my own makeup since I was 15. I would steal my mom's products, go online, watch YouTube videos of girls doing their makeup and try. Say a girl did a look with yellow eyeshadow and all I had was peach. I would substitute the peach for yellow and still try to create the look. And being a model, I've gotten to see a lot of tricks from my favorite makeup artists. And lots of products. I've tested a lot of things. I love doing my own makeup.

When I wanna do a nice little beat, I use concealer to carve out the bottom of my eyebrows. A lot of girls use too much concealer and start to look very blocky. I still want my eyebrows to look super natural, but just clean. So sometimes I'll use concealer to clean up the bottom of my brows, even if I haven't had them done in a few weeks. Just a little bit of concealer, and always blended properly.

On the importance of eyelashes.

They change a whole look. Sometimes I'll be doing my makeup and I'll be like, 'Do I even have enough makeup on?' And then I put my lashes on and I'm like, 'Oh yeah, now I definitely have enough makeup on.' Mascara versus lashes? I definitely wear lashes for events. For everyday, vacation, and all that, I just throw on a little bit of mascara. My go-to mascara is They're Real by Benefit. And I usually mix. That one's very lengthening, but sometimes it needs a little help with thickening or volume, so I might use any random mascara. I've been using the Dior Pump and Volume. I'll use that one first and then I'll put the Benefit on top for length. The Dior adds so much thickness and the Benefit just pulls the lash all the way out, like to the sky. It's the perfect combo. I'm always mixing stuff.

RENELL MEDRANO

On body image.

When I was in high school, I wanted to be so thick that I'd eat all the pizza and all the McDonald's and everything. So it depends on what place I am in my life. Right now for my job, I wear a bunch of sample sizes, so I'm at sample size. Thank god I didn't mess up my metabolism too much in my high school days, so I can get back to sample size fairly easy. But it kind of just depends on where I feel like I wanna be. If you're comfortable having more meat on your bones, that is perfectly fine. If I need to get ready for an event, like fashion week or Cannes, I'll go to the gym at least three times a week with my trainer and I'll be on a meal plan that I usually get from a company.

Sit down with someone that knows how to get you to your goals and make a plan. I [used to] go to the gym and be like, 'I'm gonna run on the treadmill or I'm do whatever this machine does.' But there are certain workouts that aren't made for what I want to accomplish with my body. I don't want to bulk up my legs or my arms, so that was something that I had to sit down with my trainer and be like, 'I love my arms. I don't want them any smaller or any bigger, I love them just the way they are.'

On her relationship with food.

I literally love food. I went to Mykonos two weeks ago and looked at the menu and was like, 'Oh my gosh, sea urchin, I've never had that before.' [My friends] were like, 'No you never want to try that.' And I was like, 'Bring it on!' I tasted it and didn't like it so I didn't finish it, but I tasted it. I will always try something. The craziest thing I've tried? Maybe frog legs.

I don't do much cooking because it's impossible when you travel so much. You go grocery shopping, buy everything, and then get a call to fly out for two weeks. By the time you're back, all the food is rotten.

I [generally] have three meals and two snacks. Breakfast is something like an egg scrambled with quinoa and spinach and turkey bacon. Then I have a snack, like a healthy lemon poppy seed muffin. And then lunch is salmon with maybe veggies and quinoa again. And then my late night snack is protein balls or a protein shake.

Renell Medrano

If you're not drinking enough water, or you're not eating enough vegetables, or you're not working out enough, or you're not getting your toxins out, I feel like it always reflects. When I am in the gym consistently, eating right, taking care of my skin, my skin is flourishing. Don't forget your water. You need to stay hydrated. Whatever your goals are, you always need to stay hydrated.

On self-confidence.

I think we're born with it. We're just educated differently. I think everyone naturally is really confident, but when you're deterred from believing you're perfect the way you are, that can lower your self-esteem. Naturally, I am a confident person who loves myself. I [used to] feel like I had low-self esteem or I wasn't the prettiest girl. But I realized that wasn't really my opinion of myself, I was just paying attention to what other people were saying. I had to sit myself down and be like, 'I actually don't feel that way and whatever they say really isn't relevant.'","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501008299-elle-winnie-harlow-01.jpg"
"Kylie Jenner Is Thinking Pink for Her Birthday Cosmetics Collection","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46862/kylie-jenner-cosmetics-birthday-beauty/","Kylie Jenner's 20th birthday is on August 10, so it's not a surprise that she wants to throw her Kylie Cosmetics fans a special bone.

She first teased a special #KylieTurns20 collection late last week: ""4 more days till the REVEAL .. surprise! Can't wait for you guys to see this one 💕🎀 make sure you're following @kyliecosmetics instagram for all the updates. #KylieTurns20""

4 more days till the REVEAL .. surprise! Can't wait for you guys to see this one 💕🎀 make sure you're following @kyliecosmetics instagram for all the updates. #KylieTurns20 A post shared by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Jul 20, 2017 at 1:02pm PDT

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And then she finally released images of what she's dubbing the ""Birthday Collection,"" all kitted out in various shades of pink: ""Birthday Collection 🎀 launching August 1st at 3pm pst only on KylieCosmetics.com .. stay tuned on @kyliecosmetics xoxo""

Birthday Collection 🎀 launching August 1st at 3pm pst only on KylieCosmetics.com .. stay tuned on @kyliecosmetics xoxo A post shared by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Jul 25, 2017 at 3:03pm PDT

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She even debuted what some of the products look like on herself: ""Sneak Peek.. Shooting some looks from my new #BirthdayCollection@kyliecosmetics""

Sneak Peek.. Shooting some looks from my new #BirthdayCollection @kyliecosmetics A post shared by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Jul 23, 2017 at 3:10pm PDT

If you want to get a closer look at the Birthday Collection, you weren't the only one thinking that. Luckily, the Kylie Cosmetics Twitter has the close-up packaging shots and swatches you were definitely asking for:

Ready for the reveal? pic.twitter.com/HcPCZdkvkx — KYLIE COSMETICS (@kyliecosmetics) July 25, 2017

Ready for the reveal? pic.twitter.com/HcPCZdkvkx — KYLIE COSMETICS (@kyliecosmetics) July 25, 2017

The Birthday Book Launching August 1st... 🎀 pic.twitter.com/7zrHgIp2lW — KYLIE COSMETICS (@kyliecosmetics) July 25, 2017

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Cupcake & Cherry Pie Gloss #BirthdayCollection @itsmuaashley pic.twitter.com/h21QUoFHGe — KYLIE COSMETICS (@kyliecosmetics) July 26, 2017

According to fan breakdowns, the whole set contains the following: a makeup brush set, two lip mini sets containing six colors each (Matte and Satin), two lip glosses, two loose powder highlighters, one full lip kit, an eyeshadow palette, and one limited edition lipstick. Oh, and one very cute cosmetics bag:

🚨THE REVEAL🚨 @kyliejenner revealed her next @kyliecosmetics #BirthdayEdition #Kylieturns20 collection. It will launch 8/1 at 3PM PST/6PM EST. It will consist of the following: 💥Makeup Brush set 💥 2 lip mini sets in Matte and Satin. * Matte Set: One Wish Baby Girl - From Koko Collection Angel August - was called June Bug All Nighter Gorg - From Koko Collection * Satin Set: LA Party Girl Birthday Suit Sprinkle Commando Surprise Me 💥 2 Lip glosses ( Cupcake & Cherry Pie) 💥 2 #UltraGlow Loose Powder Highlighters (King & Queen) 💥 Cosmetic Bag 💥 1 Lipkit in the shade TWENTY 💥 I Want It All eyeshadow palette(9 eyeshadows, 1 blush and 1 #kylighter) 💥 1 #LimitedEdition Bejeweled Candy Matte lipstick Stay Tuned for more Pics and Swatches Pic and Info @kyliejenner 💥Follow me to get all the latest beauty / makeup Sneak Peeks, Launches, Restocks , and reviews. Also, tag or DM me to share MAKEUP NEWS or by using the #beautyfxbyceleste hashtag! Make sure to turn on your notification if you don't want to miss out on the latest news. #makeupartist#makeuponpoint#makeup#makeupart#makeupobssesed#makeuplover#makeuptalk#bloglife#bloggerlife#beautybloggers#makeupbloggers#instabloggers#beautyblog#makeupblog#instablog#makeupnews#beautynews#kyliejenner#kylie#kyliecosmetics A post shared by ""Illuminate and Shine"" (@beautyfxbyceleste) on Jul 25, 2017 at 3:49pm PDT

🦋 Swatches!! 🦋 of the @kyliecosmetics 20th Birthday Collection. Swatched here are the Mini lip kits & Ultra glows! The collection features: 2 New Ultra Glows, 2 Mini lip kits (one Matte & one velvet) 4 brushes, a makeup bag, 1 palette, 1 lip kit, 2 glosses, & a cute little white pouch with a surprise in it! (I wonder what it is 😱) Stay tuned for more! 🦋 . . . ___ 🦋 Follow me to stay updated on the latest makeup/beauty news, product reviews and More! Feel free to DM, tag, or #beautymarked23 to share news! 🦋 • • 📸: @kyliecosmetics #makeup #makeupartist #makeupjunkie #makeupnews #makeupaddict #makeupjunkie #makeupobsessed #makeuplover #wakeupandmakeup #bbloggers #beautyjunkie #makeupblogger #addictedtomakeup #ilovemakeup #beautyblogger #cosmeticos #highlight #beautyaddict #eyeshadowpalette #palette #kyliecosmetics #kylielipkits #kylieturns20 #Ultraglow #matte A post shared by 🦋 BeautyMarked23 🦋 (@beautymarked23) on Jul 25, 2017 at 2:49pm PDT

The whole collection drops on August 1, so set your reminders... now.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1501074466-kylie-jenner-1501046077.png"
"Kylie Jenner Is Vegan Now","http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/news/a46860/kylie-jenner-vegan/","Kylie Jenner has decided to take a stab at ""this whole vegan thing."" The 19-year-old took to Snapchat this to announce she's making some changes to her diet.

""I'm trying this whole vegan thing,"" she captioned a photo of vegan tacos, salsa, and a smoothie. (We assume that's dairy-free cheese she's using.)

Kylie Jenner / Snapchat

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Her next course was a batch of ""Vegan Raw Soy Free Dairy Free Nachos."" It doesn't quite roll off the tongue, but it still looks delicious.

Kylie Jenner / Snapchat

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Though she keeps in shape, Jenner admits she hasn't always been health-obsessed. Last year, she told BAZAAR, ""I've never been a breakfast person. If I do eat breakfast, it's at home, and it's not healthy at all. I just don't like granola or cereal or anything like that, so I'll do hash browns or bacon or banana pancakes.""

And for dinner? ""I like to make burgers,"" she aded. ""I also make spaghetti because my mom is obsessed with spaghetti. It's the first thing I learned to cook. I love potatoes; I'll make all different kinds of potatoes, like scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes, candied yams.""

Hopefully for Kylie, there are some tasty vegan substitutes for these go-to dishes.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/1501073289-hbz-kylie-jenner-vegan-1-1501019149.jpg"
"Jessica Chastain Is The Face of Ralph Lauren's New Fragrance 'Woman'","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/a46809/ralph-lauren-woman-jessica-chastain/","Ralph Lauren, already a huge player in the men's fragrance market, is making waves by launching their first female scent in nearly a decade. The American designer has tapped two-time Oscar-nominated actress Jessica Chastain as the face of his new fragrance, Woman. Chastain is the second celebrity to star in a Ralph Lauren fragrance campaign and the scent is the brand's first female release in nine years (the last fragrance Notorious hit shelves in 2008).

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The campaign was shot by Steven Meisel, and the TV commercial was directed by Philippe Le Sourd. Chastain donned an iconic black tuxedo and custom evening gown for the shoot, encapsulating the fragrance's mix between ""audacious power and feminine grace.""

Chastain, who has been outspoken about gender equality in the film industry, is the embodiment of the fragrance's ""Woman About All"" slogan.

""I hope when we include female storytellers they will be more like the women I know in my day-to-day life,"" she said during this year's Cannes Film Festival. ""They are proactive, have their own point of view, and don't just react to men around them.""

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Introducing the face of Woman by Ralph Lauren, @JessicaChastain. #WomanAboveAll A post shared by Ralph Lauren (@ralphlauren) on Jul 24, 2017 at 6:13am PDT

The fragrance draws upon the versatility of masculine and feminine notes, with a composition of bold tuberose and rich, vibrant woods, while the design of the bottle took inspiration from the shape of a flask with curves and rose gold finishes for a softer touch.

WOMAN by Ralph Lauren will be available starting in August at Macy's, macys.com and ralphlauren.com in 100mL ($110) 50mL ($84) 30mL ($64).","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501081852-elle-jessica-chastain-ralph-lauren.jpg"
"What Is Stage-Zero Breast Cancer?","http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/a46784/stage-zero-breast-cancer/","Earlier this year, days before my parents embarked on a four-week cruise around South America, my mother sent an email to our family that included the line: ""By the way, our wills are in the safe. Just in case we don't make it.""

My parents—retired lawyers—have always been highly pragmatic about their end-of-life planning, so I brushed the comment aside. ""Morbid much, Mom?"" I wrote back. ""Have a great trip!""

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Not until after they had returned from their adventure did I realize her pessimistic aside could have meant something other than falling off the Lido deck. Within a few days of my parents' homecoming, she called me to break the news: She had experienced bleeding from her breast that alarmed her the day before they were scheduled to depart, but had decided to continue with her plans rather than rush to the emergency room. When she returned, she went to the doctor, who sent her in for a biopsy.

Mom and me together in Bilbao, Spain, pre-diagnosis.

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The result? Cancer.

Confronted with the dreaded c-word, I immediately went into a tailspin of panic. I hoped and prayed that they had caught it early, but it still shook me to my core. I imagined my mother having to go through months of radiation or chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, and then, well, I didn't even want to imagine what could happen next. On the other side of the country, she was feeling the same unnerving fears.

The doctors came back later with a complete diagnosis: ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), or stage zero—a form of cancer in which the cancerous cells are contained to the breast ducts and have not spread to the surrounding tissue.

I had heard of nascent cancer cells from my many years of pap smears—""changes to the cervix"" was a phrase that my gynecologist had always warned me about. Friends had dealt with cancerous cervical cells using cryotherapy, literally freezing the offending cells off one-by-one.

But the fact that it can happen to breast tissue was news to me, despite the fact that it turns out to be quite common—the American Cancer Society expects 63,410 new cases of carcinoma in situ, or stage zero, to be diagnosed this year.

Naturally my mom was bombarded with questions. Mostly from me. What, exactly, is stage-zero cancer? Why had we never heard about it? What is the prognosis? How is it treated? What's the chance of survival?

Susan Brown, M.S., R.N., senior director of health education at the Susan G. Komen Foundation, helped break it down for me, explaining that cancer equals any cells that are growing without control. In the case of stage zero, the duct tissue of the breast contains the abnormal cells. Once the cancer spreads to other areas, it's redefined as stages 1 to 4. Only 40 to 50 percent of stage zero cases move on to more advanced stages after being detected. And, Brown says, researchers are developing new ways to detect which cases are most likely to progress into aggressive forms of cancer, and which forms can be treated with less aggressive treatments.

It turns out to be quite common—the American Cancer Society expects 63,410 new cases of stage zero to be diagnosed this year.

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If caught at stage zero, the prognosis is excellent: Roughly 95 percent of patients are still living 10 years after their initial diagnosis. Then again, this form of cancer is typically too localized to generate any symptoms. My mother was alarmed because her main symptom—leakage from her breast—was alarming and hard-to-ignore. But usually stage zero would have to be detected on a routine mammogram.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/1500822984-landscape-1499799696-zero-stage-breast-cancer-v1.jpg"
"The Kim Kardashian and Jaclyn Hill Makeup Tutorial Supercut Is So Awkward","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46783/kim-kardashian-jaclyn-hill-supercut-video/","A collaboration between the makeup world's Mother of Contouring Kim Kardashian and one of YouTube's biggest beauty gurus, Jaclyn Hill, should be a match made in makeup heaven, right? Right! And, well, it sort of was — the pair worked together on a ""snatched look"" tutorial. (Though their respective looks ended up being quite different, go figure.)

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But the video, uploaded to Hill's YouTube channel, received some mixed feedback — comments have since been disabled. And a snarky supercut that's since also been uploaded, ~highlighting~ all the awkward moments between Kim and Jaclyn, has received over half as many views as the primary video. It's quite something:

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There's the time Kim K. looked bored AF listening to Hill make the case for primer.

GIF Jaclyn Hill

There was also the time Kim K. looked slightly irritated when Hill grabbed her makeup to show off for the camera.

GIF Jaclyn Hill

The time Kim K. didn't even look when Hill asked her if she could see how white her makeup looks.

GIF Jaclyn Hill

And oof, the time Hill interrupted Kim K. mid-sentence.

GIF Jaclyn Hill

After noting the social media backlash, Hill responded with a ""chit chat"" video, citing her nervousness as a reason for her behavior in the collaboration video with Kim K. ""I felt like I was overly hyper, and I felt like I was, like, interrupting [Kim] when I saw the footage,"" she explained. ""It bothered me to see me act like that. I'm like, 'Really, Jaclyn? Get it together.'""

Hill also cites the video's editing, for which she claims she had no part in, as a reason for the awkward moments. Presumably, then, Kim's team produced the final cut but, Hill says, ""didn't put a lot of things in the video that I wish they would have because we had two hours of footage, and there were so many things that Kim said, the stories that she told, the conversations that we had that I know that my subscribers would have loved to see."" And she may well have had to sign an NDA also (or at least the rights to the raw footage), so those fun times are lost forever.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1500821850-screen-shot-2017-07-22-at-2-14-48-pm-1500747410.png"
"Candice Swanepoel Is Living a 'Mean Girls' Quote","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46732/candice-swanepoel-juicy-couture/","Like the smiley bombshells Kate Upton and Gigi Hadid, Candice Swanepoel is a model version of America's sweetheart. She's blonde. She's cheerful. She's laid-back, as if the bikinis she models are always under her clothes, ready for a quick trip to the beach. But Swanepoel also speaks three languages, has 11 million Instagram followers, and seems to shoot major fashion ads at the speed of a fighter plane—despite being a new mom with an 8-month-old son.

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Her latest campaign is for Vive La Juicy Glacé, a fragrance from the velour empire with notes of mandarin, jasmine, and pear sorbet. Inspired by frozen flowers (and probably, a little bit, Queen Elsa), the scent made its debut at the New York Edition Hotel this week. That's where we met the 28-year-old to discuss pregnancy pressure, Mean Girls moments, and really bad self-tanner.

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Juicy has been around since we were kids. When you grew up in South Africa, did you have one of their velour hoodies?

I don't think we got actual Juicy Couture clothes in South Africa, but I definitely remember seeing the ads. It was definitely a thing for us as teenagers. And when I first came to New York, I remember seeing the billboards for Juicy and thinking they were so fun and so vibrant. They were with Sasha [Pivovarova]. I remember literally asking [my agent], ""Hey, can I do the Juicy ads?""

And now here we are.

It's good to manifest things you want and goals. If you do, they kind of end up happening.

Is that how you figure out next steps in your career?

When it comes to a modeling career, it's hard because you want to be clear with your goals, but you can't be ""realistic"" because modeling isn't realistic. The sky's the limit with this kind of job. So when I go to [my agent], I'm not afraid to shoot really high. I'll say, ""Why not this photographer? Why not this campaign? Let's get it!""

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This particular campaign, with the pink dress and the pink fuzzy cap, it's very 'Clueless,' isn't it?

So Clueless! I didn't even think of that. We got that movie in South Africa, but it came right when all those other '90s teen movies got to us, like She's All That. So when I was a teenager, I really thought that's what being a teenager in America was like. And even know, when I'm in LA, I think, ""Oh my gosh, my life just became a movie."" I feel like New York is the same in the movies as in real life, too. You can be going home in a cab and get inspired by the most random thing, even the traffic lights. When I'm coming home from the airport, I get a little sentimental. I see the skyline and I think, ""That's my city! I've come so far!"" It's seriously like a movie.

What about South Africa? Is that like a movie, too?

Sometimes I tell people I'm South African and they get really confused. You know that Mean Girls quote? It happens to me a lot in real life. ""So if you're from Africa, why are you white?!""

GIF

""My god, Karen, you can't just ask people why they're white!""

Yeah, that Mean Girls scene, it's a real thing. Also, people think I have lions in my backyard. I mean, I grew up on a farm. I didn't have lions in the garden but I did go on safari for holiday, and we had animals on our farm. I'm actually going back home tomorrow, because it's my dad's birthday, and everyone wants to meet the baby. It's his first time, going back to his little African roots!","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500513090-gettyimages-695002856.jpg"
"Shop Kim Kardashian's Entire Makeup Drawer","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46736/kim-kardashian-favorite-makeup/","Kim Kardashian just shared a photo of her packed makeup drawer on Instagram and Snapchat and asked, ""When did I become this person?"" We're not sure what she meant by this, considering we've always considered Kardashian a massive beauty junkie. I mean, she even has her own makeup line these days called KKW Beauty. She practically ushered in the era of modern contouring.

Instagram

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But if you too want to become this type of ""person,"" all you need is the will, a credit card, and the products below. We strained our eyes in an attempt to identify as many of the products in the Snap as we could. The first few products are already sold-out (sorry, Pat McGrath and Kylie Cosmetics fans!) but there are plenty more of Kardashian's favorites to shop right now.

1. Pat McGrath LABS Gold 001

Currently sold-out, but stay tuned for restock information.

SHOP

2. Pat McGrath LABS Skin Fetish 003 Kits

Currently sold-out, but stay tuned for restock information.

SHOP

3. Benefit Cosmetics Hoola Matte Bronzer

SHOP

Courtesy of Brand

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4. Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist

SHOP

5. Kylie Cosmetics Blush Bundle

SHOP

6. Kylie Cosmetics Kylighter

SHOP

7. Kylie Cosmetics Take Me On Vacation palette

Currently sold-out, but stay tuned for restock information.

SHOP

8. Ben Nye Banana Powder

SHOP

9. Bassam Fattouh Loose Fix Powder

SHOP

10. Tom Ford Shade & Illuminate Lip Duo

SHOP

Courtesy of Brand

11. MAC Beauty Powder Maleficent Collection Natural

Long-since discontinued and from a limited edition collection; buy at your own risk!

SHOP

12. La Mer The Powder

SHOP

13. Becca Multi-tasking Perfecting Powder

SHOP

14. KKW Beauty Créme Contour And Highlight Sticks

Currently sold-out but restocking on July 20th.

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SHOP

15. Charlotte Tilbury K.I.S.S.I.N.G. Lipsticks

SHOP

16. Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic Swish & Pop Blush

SHOP

17. Beautyblender Beautyblender Pro

SHOP

18. KKW x Kylie Cosmetics

Currently sold-out, but you can still shop Jenner's collaboration with Khloe Kardashian below.

SHOP

19. MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour

SHOP

20. Surratt Beauty Relevée Lash Curler

SHOP

Courtesy of Brand

21. Sisley Paris 'Double Tenseur' Moisturizing Gel

SHOP

22. Tarte Double Duty Beauty Shape Tape Contour Concealer

SHOP

23. Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer

SHOP

24. Joe Blasco Cosmetics Ultrabase Foundation

SHOP

25. Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer

SHOP

Courtesy of Brand

26. La Mer Bronzing Powder

SHOP

27. Charlotte Tilbury Wonderglow Instant Soft Focus Beauty Flash

SHOP

28. Unidentified Hot Pink Makeup Sponge

It's not a Beautyblender based on the tapered edges. The shape reminds us of Real Techniques's famous orange sponge, which you can shop below.

SHOP

29. Giorgio Armani Beauty Rouge Ecstasy Lipstick

SHOP

Courtesy of Brand

30. NYX Cosmetics Soft Matte Lip Cream

SHOP

31. Givenchy Le Rouge Lipstick

SHOP

32. Charlotte Tilbury Makeup Brushes

SHOP","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1500555416-image-uploaded-from-ios-5-1500497393_1.jpg"
"How Often Do You Actually Need to Wash Your Hair?","http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/news/a46730/how-often-shampoo-wash-hair/","There is lots to read on the internet about washing your hair (with conditioner, with coconut oil, with nothing at all), and not washing your hair, and every single permutation in between. If you're not roots-deep in that debate, a quick primer on the key points: There is an idea, particularly in America, that we need to wash our hair everyday to be hygienic. This is not exactly the case; many shampoos are overly stripping, leaving the cuticle parched and depleted of the scalp's natural oils. Not only does that sound like a bummer, but it can make your hair look puffy, damaged and brittle.

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Of course, there is another school of thought that insists hair does better entirely untouched. Leave it alone long enough, and your hair will reach a sort of equilibrium where its soft, non-greasy, and healthy—all without shampoo. This is also debatable.

Without further adieu, here's what the experts think, a.k.a. those not embroiled in the debate, but dedicated to the daily pursuit of beautiful, nourished hair.

Your hair is a beautiful snowflake. That's a delicate way of saying there is no single answer to this question. ""Not only do we all have differences in hair texture, thickness and length, but differences in scalp health and oil production are major factors, too,"" says Los Angeles hairstylist Clayton Hawkins. Commit to a process of a trial and error, but like, actually commit to it. ""You won't know after one single week on a new routine if it's really working for you,"" he adds. In general, a month or so on any new cleansing/not-cleansing/dry shampooing routine will be enough time to get a solid idea.

Lifestyle choices matter. Simply put: If you workout regularly, you'll probably need to wash your hair more frequently. If you smoke cigarettes, you'll likely want to rid it of the smell somehow. Likewise if you swim in pools, live in a grimy urban area, etc etc etc. And if you never exercise, don't smoke, and live in a cryogenic chamber: You're blessed! You'll likely have to wash your hair a lot less frequently. And something we'll all experience is a gradual drying of our hair as we age; at that point, regular washing is even less important, regular conditioning even more so.

Oil is really not the enemy. Raise your hand if you'll spend a week's salary on a product that promises to deposit natural/botanical/organic/essential oils on your hair, skin or body. Newsflash: ""The oil your scalp naturally produces is the absolute best product you could ever put on your hair,"" says Hawkins. It's biologically targeted for you, so any shampoo or conditioner that's formulated to get rid of that oil should be approached with caution. Which brings us to...

Sulfates are never a good idea. Sulfates—sodium laureth sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, ammonium laureth sulfate—are added to most shampoos and conditioners as surfactants that attract dirt and oil, pulling it away from your scalp and hair shaft and leaving both zones, well, cleansed. Of course, sulfates have no way of telling if they're whisking away the good natural oils on your scalp, or cleaning up the bad boxing class grease you want gone, meaning they're often too effective. And they're especially harsh on color-treated hair, where they can work to suck up the dyes and pigments you so painstakingly paid to have deposited. Which is all to say looking for sulfate-free shampoos and conditioners is definitely worth your while.

There's such a thing as faking it. So taking into account everything we've outlined above, let's say you're someone with fine hair, who works out often, and is prone to greasy strands. Rather than washing your hair with shampoo every. single. time. you shower, Hawkins advises a fake-out wash: That is, wetting your strands completely, massaging your scalp with your fingertips, and rinsing it through with water. ""It's the shampoo—not the water—that's the most stripping and damaging to hair,"" says Hawkins. Oftentimes, you'll be able to whisk away most of the excess sweat, oil and grease—but not every molecule of good oil—with a rigorous rinse. And always feel free to condition from mid-shaft down, which will also help keep your hair clean-looking and smelling.

Here's the bottom line. If your hair is fine and your scalp is oily, you probably will have to actually shampoo your hair at least three to four times a week. Dry shampoo and fake-out rinses can help get you through the other few days. If your hair is coarse, curly, dry or thick, you can probably get away with weekly washes; maybe two or three if you workout or smoke. In the Old Days, women paid to have their hair washed and set once a week. That being said, they also didn't got to HIIT classes—but still. Maybe they were onto something.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500488876-hairwashing.jpg"
"Bella Hadid Just Wants Chicken Nuggets","http://www.elle.com/beauty/a46707/bella-hadid-dior-interview/","Bella Hadid has two seemingly attainable immediate goals: procure fast food and hang out with her friends. It's an early July afternoon, and the 20-year-old model has just arrived in Arles, France for the opening of Dior, Art of Color. There are some minor roadblocks. We are at the secluded villa of Swiss heiress and art collector Maja Hoffmann. Lunch is a twee plant-based arrangement, garnished with edible flowers followed by a morsel of white fish. If, like me, your metabolism stopped humming at Hadid pace over a decade ago, the menu is a digestive blessing.

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""All I want is a cheeseburger and chicken nuggets,"" Hadid says, nuzzling her friend, the hair guru Jen Atkin. ""I don't even know what planet I'm on right now.""

In person, all of Hadid's Instagram attributes are exaggerated to epic proportions; unreasonably long Bambi limbs, puffy lips, and poreless skin. Her hair, cropped too-short from a recent photoshoot, is coaxed back into a ponytail with blunt clip-in bangs. She is wearing some kind of all-white, all-Dior ensemble.

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""Fuck you!"" she says to my too-comfortable version of an all-white outfit later that day, tracksuit pants and a T-shirt. Dress for the job you want, I guess. Hadid and I are sitting in a bungalow at Le Mas de la Fouque where we are both staying for the exhibition. Dior creative image director Peter Philips is there, as is Hadid's French modeling agent Julien Clisson.

Renell Medrano

""In the past two months I've had three days off,"" she tells me. ""I had Margiela yesterday morning and then shot a Vogue cover and went straight to Fendi and got on a plane and came here. I had 40 minutes off yesterday. I get tired.""

Understatement of the century.

According to Clisson, Hadid has accomplished in one year what some of his more seasoned model clients have been able to do in 10. In addition to Dior makeup, she is currently under contract with Bulgari, Chrome Hearts, Nike, and Tag Heuer. In so far in 2017, Clisson estimates she has shot around 10 fashion campaigns and 40 editorials.

""I also hate saying no to things, which is my worst quality,"" Hadid says, as though answering the requisite 'what's your biggest weakness' job interview question. ""Right now it's hard. It's a lot.""

Renell Medrano

The work obsession, she tells me, comes from her parents, billionaire real estate mogul Mohamed Hadid and former model and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Yolanda Hadid. ""I saw my dad come to America and have to start fresh and build up to what he has now. He left Palestine and came to America when he was older and started making the money he has now. People can say whatever they want about him, but I know how hard he worked to get where he is now.""

""My mom had to ride her bike to get to school every morning in Holland,"" she continues. ""There's no way I can sit on my ass and do nothing. The only thing I can do to repay them is work as hard as they did. I never liked spending my parents' money, so when I turned 17 and I was able to start having my own career, the only thing I really wanted was to be financially independent by the time I was 18, which I ended up doing.""

Eventually Hadid plans to channel her earnings into starting a charity and trading ""this whole lifestyle"" for mission trips. ""I've done a lot of the goals I've had, but there's always time to improve and things to do, and I won't be done in a long time. I definitely have a lot to learn and a lot of things to move forward with.""

Photography by Renell Medrano.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500477209-elle-bella-hadid-11-opener.jpg"
"Troian Bellisario Gets Real About Her Struggle with Mental Health","http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/news/a46700/troian-bellisario-reveals-mental-health-struggle/","We were swimming our second lap in the lake when I lost the feeling in my toes. When you first jump in water this cold you scream, gasp for air, but immediately laugh because it makes you feel extra-alive. You learn, after a few jumps, you don't have to fear the cold. If you move around, it fades away. Soon, it's as if you're inside a house looking out at a snow flurry as it lightly taps the windows. You know there is cold, all around you, but it can't hurt you.

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For a while, this kind of numb makes me feel invincible.

But now, after maybe a half-hour in the water, the cold has returned, and not just outside the window, it's in my skin. Beneath the surface, I probably looked like a chicken breast sitting under plastic in a refrigerator of a grocery store, pale and goose-pimpled. Then it's in my joints, making it difficult to move. Soon, it's in my bones, so much that even though I knew I was kicking my legs, I couldn't tell you where they ended and the water began. I wasn't even sure if I had toes anymore.

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Suddenly, I'm in very familiar territory. I know I should get out of the water before I hurt myself or make myself sick, but I just don't. I keep swimming.

Here I am, 31 years old, and I'm still denying my body the one thing it is asking me to do: take care of it.

***

When I shot the pilot of Pretty Little Liars, it was December in Vancouver, and I was 24 years old. We were shooting a summer scene (the exterior of the funeral for Alison, the Queen Bee of Rosewood), and even though I don't remember exactly how cold it was outside, I can tell you it was too cold to snow. The girls and I were dressed in skimpy black dresses with kitten heels and ballet flats. Later, in editing, they could push the saturation, add a golden filter, and BAM, it would look like we were sweating in July. But while we were shooting, well, it was December in Canada.

""Rolling!"" yelled the assistant director, and wardrobe would rush in and apologetically remove the giant down coats from our shoulders. Everyone watched, hoping we could get the scene before our jaws locked or our shoulders unintentionally rose around our ears. Eventually, Leslie, our director, yelled ""Cut!,""and the beautiful warm jackets reappeared.

Wanting to be the most professional I could be, I sniffed back the snot that was threatening to ruin every take and forced my shoulders to stay where they were, even though I could see my breath on the air. I looked around: Lucy, Ashley, and Shay all seemed cold but fine; they looked professional, powerful. Was I not cut out for this? I pushed that thought out of my mind. Suck it up, Bellisario, do your job.

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There came a point when I mentioned offhand, ""Huh, I can't feel my feet."" ""Stop!""a voice screamed, and an angel in the form of a crew member descended upon me and demanded I follow her inside the church we were shooting near.

She sat me down, removed my shoes, and began to rub my feet. She asked me to let her know when I had feeling in them again. ""Don't worry about my feet! They're fine!""I tried to sweetly wiggle away from her, my eyes flitting to the crew that was waiting nearby. I was holding up production, a production that costs thousands of dollars per minute, all for my stupid comment about my stupid toes. I started to panic: Everyone is going to think I'm a diva, that I can't hack it, that I'm a horrible actor, and they'll never want to work with me again.

I am practiced at ignoring [my disease], for the most part, but it's still there, finding new ways to undermine me.

But the angel remained resolute. She told me that she had worked with people who had lost toes to frostbite, and she wasn't about to see me lose mine. Eventually, I announced (truthfully) that the feeling in my feet had returned, and she let me go.

I braced myself to be yelled at by someone, anyone, in a position of authority. How dare you hold up this massive production? How dare you be so weak? So demanding! But there was no punishment to be found, not even a sideways glance. Everyone just asked me if I felt better and felt ready to return to the scene.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500473374-elle-troian-bellisario.jpg"
"Smashbox's First U.S. Flagship Is Like Finishing School for Beauty Bloggers","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/a46603/smashbox-store-venice-california/","America's first Smashbox flagship isn't just somewhere to visit when you run out of mascara. The new Los Angeles store is equal parts retail space and photo studio; a blinking neon playground designed to be Instagrammed. There's a sparkly lip-shaped swing, a 3-D lipstick printer, and a build-your-own gloss bar (Smashbox's answer to free gift with purchase). Everything is content.

According to global brand president Beth DiNardo, the Venice location will host daily theme parties (""Transformation Tuesdays, Swipe Right Saturdays"") offering visitors the opportunity to experiment with makeup and take pictures using pro-lighting, backdrops, and props. ""If you buy a certain amount of products, then you're getting your makeup done, you get a headshot, and we give you a link to download the photos. We've been doing that for 15 years, store by store by store. We've just never had a physical location to do it,"" DiNardo says. ""Our strength is having events on wheels and collaborations.""

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Oh, hi @SmashboxVenice! Our first-ever U.S. store is officially open. Stop by 1335 Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice to try on some 💄 or mix your custom lip gloss. #SmashboxVenice A post shared by Smashbox Cosmetics (@smashboxcosmetics) on Jul 14, 2017 at 9:32am PDT

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Last year, Smashbox joined forces with YouTube star Lilly Singh to create Bawse, a limited edition red liquid lipstick. In January, a collaboration with Shay Mitchell became the biggest in Smashbox history. A few months later, the brand tapped beauty influencer Vlada Haggerty to become Lip Editor in Chief, a role entirely dedicated to, you guessed it, all things lip-centric including designing more of her elaborate lip art–like the dripping mouth she once accused Kylie Cosmetics of ripping off.

💋 Jaw-dropping #lipart by our lip editor-in-chief #Vladamua. Get the drip with #BeLegendaryLiquidLip in Crimson Chrome (metallic true red). A post shared by Smashbox Cosmetics (@smashboxcosmetics) on Jun 3, 2017 at 9:02am PDT

With so many shiny distractions, it's possible to neglect the main event: wall to wall makeup (truly, there's an entire wall dedicated to 120 shades of lipstick) and a menu of services that goes beyond your traditional beauty counter touch-up. ""Flawless in a Flash"" gets you a 15-minute face plus product recommendations, free of charge. For $45, ""Going Out Tonight"" buys an eye, lip, and cheek upgrade in 45 minutes. ""Almost Famous"" offers a 15-minute professional photoshoot complete with digitals and Polaroids.

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After swinging, gloss-mixing, and 3-D printing my way through the store, I asked one of the matte-lipped makeup artists to try ""Going All Out Tonight""–a rendition of the makeup seen on Smashbox's Instagram with ""fierce eyes, defined lips, contoured cheeks, and more."" There are few beauty experiences more demoralizing than looking in a fluorescent vanity mirror. Smashbox mitigates ""before"" face with adjustable lighting at makeup stations (and California sun).

Swinging into Venice like 👋! @christendominique, @mariale, @nicolconcilio and @caseyhl91 celebrating last night's @SmashboxVenice opening. A post shared by Smashbox Cosmetics (@smashboxcosmetics) on Jul 14, 2017 at 3:58pm PDT

Makeup artist Chloe Schlossmann smoothed a few drops of Camera Ready BB Water into my face; a cross between serum, sunscreen, and tinted moisturizer that seeps into pores and blurs discoloration with more authenticity than traditional BB cream. To neutralize dark circles, she dotted the orbital-bone with Studio Skin 24 Hour Wear Waterproof Concealer, a light-reflective formula that looks like actual skin, and just as the name promises, lasts through the day without settling into expression lines.

For my eyes, she dipped into two of Shay Mitchell's wildly popular Cover Shot eye palettes, a dozen or so shimmering neutrals that coaxed flashes of bronze out of my irises I had never seen before (confirming why Smashbox can't keep the shadows in stock).

Since no Instagram makeup look is complete without full, deliberate eyebrows, Schlossmann sketched over sparse spots with Brow Tech Matte Pencil and put me on to a YouTube-worthy hack for anemic brows: Lather up a bar of clear soap, scrape it with a spoolie brush, and comb the goop through your brows. ""It not only keeps hairs adhered, but it gives a nice filled in look.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500311857-elle-smashbox-boutique-opening-venice-2-1.jpg"
"The Exact Lip Gloss and Nail Polish Selena Gomez Wears In The Fetish Video","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/a46599/selena-gomez-fetish-lip-gloss/","Selena Gomez's ""Fetish"" music video teaser is here—and we've never wanted to wear lip gloss so badly. The actress and singer's go-to makeup artist Hung Vanngo and manicurist Tom Bachik took to Instagram to spill the details on the exact products they used.

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Vanngo says the look requires ""almost no makeup,"" just a little highlighter and moisturizer, faux freckles drawn-on with eyeliner, and of course lip gloss. On her lips, Vanngo used the Marc Jacobs Beauty Enamored Hi-Shine Lip Lacquer Lipgloss in French Tickler, a shimmery peachy shade.

Courtesy of Brands

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SHOP THE LIP GLOSS

On for her nails, Bachik used an OPI nail polish called Feeling Frisco, a peachy nude shade from the California Dreaming collection.

Courtesy of Brands

SHOP THE NAILS

You can watch the full music video teaser below to kill time until your new lip gloss and nail polish arrive in the mail.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/placeholder_1499981187-animation-3-1499972320.gif"
"How to Pull Off Glossy Makeup","http://www.elle.com/beauty/a46141/gloss-lips-eyes-makeup-trends/","First Philipp Plein sent models down the runway at his fall 2017 show with glossed lips and lids. Then Glossier put a shamelessly shiny lip gloss in their holiday set. At couture week, Giambattista Valli paired his fall 2018 collection with varying degrees of lip shine, from slick and clear to patent red vinyl. Marc Jacobs' favorite color–shiny–is everywhere lately.

If you grew up in the '90s, glossy makeup might trigger memories of middle school dances, summer camp, M.A.C Lipglass and hair glued to sticky lips. It's fair to say that gloss (and M.A.C Lipglass) have since come a long way. It's now possible to wear sticky makeup without trapping strands of hair or leaving it all behind on the straw to your iced coffee–even during the summer. According to makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes, loose powder is the key to keeping your shine in check–""Large fluffy shadow brush around any glossy texture.""

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As for applying the luster itself, Hughes recommends concocting your own shine by layering clear gloss on top of matte pigment. Those in the market for something new have plenty to choose from. Milk Makeup's clear, non-sticky Face Gloss for example, works like a topcoat for your features, Nyx Lid Lacquer turns normal eye shadow into–you guessed it–eye gloss, and NARS Triple X Lip Gloss makes lips look like PVC.

Here, Hughes demonstrates three ways to wear gloss in real life.

GLOSSY EYES

Slick lavender lids accent an otherwise bare face. To get the look, try Eye Shadow in Beautiful Iris topped with Clear Brilliance Gloss, both by M.A.C.

Natalia Mantini

GLOSSY LIPS

Hughes channeled the opaque lip look at Giambattista Valli couture with super-saturated red gloss. To get the look, try Fiona Stiles Ultrasuede High Intensity Lip Color in Cherry St.

Natalia Mantini

DOUBLE GLOSS

For a lightweight version of Philip Plein's goth runway gloss, pair taupe lids with magenta lips. To get the look try M.A.C Studio Eye Gloss in Lightly Tauped and NARS Powermatte Lip Pigment in Give it Up","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/26/1600x800/landscape-1498666975-gloss-header2.jpg"
"Fidget Spinner Lip Balm Is Officially Coming to Sephora","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46552/fidget-spinner-lip-balm-sephora/","In case you missed its viral moment in June, fidget spinner lip balm is A Thing. After racking up more than five million launch video streams, the product (called Glamspin) is officially coming to Sephora this August.

The spinner is a collaboration between Buzzfeed Product Labs and trend-driven, quick-to-market cosmetics manufacturer Taste Beauty. On top of the anxiety and boredom-quelling features of the original kid toy, Glamspin includes three fruit-flavored lip balms. It was developed in only 28 days, WWD reports.

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The $10 balm/toy hybrid was originally sold on its own e-commerce site, Glamspin.com, and starting August 2 will be sold on Sephora.com. Soon after, it'll head to Saks Fifth Avenue and Dylan's Candy Bar–so you really can't escape the craze.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/640x320/landscape-1499807911-gs-product-hand-01.jpg"
"7 Face Masks ELLE Editors Swear By","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/a25480/best-drug-store-face-masks/","Our editors share their favorite moisture-packing, pore-shrinking, humanity-restoring face masks that get their skin as close to perfection as possible (or as one editor describes, Cate Blanchett).

Tatcha Violet-C Radiance Mask

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""I stan pretty hard for Tatcha. From their cleansing oils to their ACTUAL gold-spun products, they can do no wrong in my eyes. This goes for their masks too, and their latest is a doozy. I love anything with Vitamin C, and this formula brightens up my skin as soon as I do that dramatic yet useless face-splash-over-the-sink thing actresses in commercials always do. This also comes in the most delightful shade of lavender, making it difficult to not post to your stories.""— Justine Carreon, ELLE.com Associate Market Editor

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Tatcha Violet-C Radiance Mask, $68; sephora.com

SK-II Facial Treatment Mask

""I can disembark a 12-hour flight with a face like an old hot dog (as I often do), then slap one of these miracle-workers on for 20 minutes and presto—my humanity is restored. Not only does this mask, which is drenched in the brand's signature pitera, impart a certain lit-from-within radiance (see: Cate Blanchett), it also moisturizes and firms, making it the ultimate complexion-revitalizing trifecta—and one of my top 5 most-hoardable beauty products ever.""— April Long, Executive Beauty Editor

SK-II Facial Treatment Mask, $135; nordstrom.com

Tonymoly Master Lab Sheet Mask

""This mask is uber hydrating–and since my skin can act like a sad, neglected sponge in the winter, absorbing my daily moisturizer so fast it's like I never even applied it, uber hydrating is exactly what I need.""— Sally Holmes, ELLE.com Executive Editor

Tonymoly Master Lab Sheet Mask (Set of 2), $9; tonymoly.us

GlamGlow Supermud Clearing Treatment

""When it comes to masking, I'm all about instant gratification. This tingly, menthol-scented charcoal mask targets breakouts and shrinks pores (albeit temporarily) in just 15 minutes with a mix of mandelic, glycolic, lactic, and salicylic acids.""— Julie Schott, ELLE.com Beauty Director

GlamGlow Supermud Clearing Treatment, $22; sephora.com

The Body Shop Amazonian Acai Energizing Radiance Masque

""This mask is pretty, firstly, and smells good. If you saw it out of the jar, I'm pretty sure I could convince you it's homemade. So many masks I've tried have barely noticeable effects (and maybe it's just a placebo thing), but this one leaves my skin glowing as soon as I rinse it off.""— Leah Melby-Clinton, ELLE.com Senior Editor in Branded Content

The Body Shop Amazonian Acai Energizing Radiance Masque, $28; thebodyshop-usa.com

Zelens Transformer Instant Renewal Mask

""For skin that's starting to look as drab as February feels, nothing works for me like Zelens Transformer Instant Renewal Mask. I smear it on, usually widely blow the 15 minute mark, and let the silky, sticky mask do its thing (it's thing being, according to the company, increasing oxygen to skin cells and giving a little cellular boost with marine glycogen and vitamin C for glow). Not only does my skin feel uber hydrated, the mask is also gentle enough on my face to use more than once a week.""— Cotton Codinha, Associate Beauty and Fitness Editor

Zelens Transformer Instant Renewal Mask, $175; zelens.com

Fresh Rose Face Mask

""New York City's elements are harsh year round, but this mask helps fight whatever it throws my way. In the dead of winter when my skin is looking more tired and dull then ever, the rose infused gel gives it a moisture boost, and reminds me of warmer days. It also has a cooling and calming effect - making it perfect to use after a day at the beach - or Central Park."" — Mariel Tyler, Photo Editor

Fresh Rose Face Mask, $62; fresh.com","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499368325-facemasks.jpg"
"Huda Kattan is Coming For Your Eyebrows","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46519/huda-kattan-tweezerman-collaboration/","Never have a bad eyebrow day again thanks to Insta-famous beauty guru Huda Kattan's latest collaboration with Tweezerman, available online today and in Sephora stores starting July 24.

The five-piece collection has everything you need for Huda-level eyebrows: a slant tweezer, mini tweezer, 10x zoom mirror, brow scissors, spoolie, and a bag. Everything features her signature lips motif all over. The full kit is $65, but you can also buy the tweezers individually ($26, $17 for the mini) or the travel-sized tweezer and mirror together ($34).

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Had sooo much fun shooting for my #collab with @tweezerman! Literally the cutest tweezers ever. Can't wait for you guys to get them! 💗💗💗 #TweezermanXHudaBeauty A post shared by Huda Kattan (@hudabeauty) on Jun 28, 2017 at 2:25pm PDT

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""I'm super excited about the collaboration with Tweezerman and I feel extremely honored to be the first beauty influencer in the world to collaborate with them,"" Kattan says in a statement, ""Tweezerman is a brand I've been using for years because the quality of their tweezers and products really is unparalleled.""

Tweezerman

Now watch the kit in action:

Sold.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1499689232-huda.jpg"
"ColourPop's Latest Collaboration Is With a Dating Site","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46485/colourpop-match-collaboration/","As far as kiss-proof lipsticks go, it doesn't get any better than ColourPop's Ultra Matte Lip. The long-lasting formula doesn't budge through a makeout (or a burger and fries, I can testify). It's no wonder the buzzy beauty brand would collaborate with dating site Match.com to create a limited edition, custom lipstick called Mwah.

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On top of the new shade, Match and ColourPop also collaborated on a ""Kiss + Tell"" survey of 3,000 singles across the U.S. that revealed, among other kissing facts, that 30 percent of women say they've had more success landing a first kiss while wearing lipstick and at 30 percent, red is the #1 color that makes women feel most ""sexy"" (followed by neutral, 24 percent, and pink, 15 percent).

ColourPop

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Every customer who buys Mwah will be gifted seven free days on Match.com. Additionally, $1 from every sale of Mwah will be donated to GLAM4GOOD Foundation, a social impact non-profit that has donated over one million fashion and beauty products to women and girls and uses style to raise awareness for several causes.

Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip in Mwah, $6, at colourpop.com","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1499434226-screen-shot-2017-07-07-at-92933-am-copy.png"
"I Let Reddit Critique My Makeup and Learned How to Do It Better","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46456/i-let-reddit-critique-my-makeup/","I actually can't tell you the number of beauty bloggers I follow on YouTube and Instagram–there are too many to make the time it would take me counting worth it. I watch tutorials daily, more as a form of entertainment than an actual service. Even when broken down step-by-step, the perfectly manicured brows, airbrushed-looking smoky eyes, and sharp contouring felt intimidating to try IRL. Most Insta-beauty looks also seemed like a bit much for daily life, so I'd stick to the same comfortable routine I've had since I first started wearing makeup at 17: winged liner, nude lip.

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But oh, how bored I was.

Then, I came across the ""Makeup Addiction"" page on Reddit, a community of 373,900+ beauty lovers. People upload swatches of new beauty launches, start threads comparing different foundations, post earnest product reviews (not #sponsored #ads!), and riff about any and all things makeup.What really drew me in, however, was when everyday women (and some men) of different skill levels share photos of their own beauty looks, or ""FOTDs"" (face of the day) asking for tips or ""CC/CCW"" (constructive criticism/welcome). I marveled at the way people gave real feedback and useful tips, and I wondered if I could learn how to do my makeup better if I let Reddit show me the way.

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The first photo I posted was my daily makeup look:

A couple of comments rolled in, but no real traction. I did learn, though...

1. My eye shape is considered ""1.5 eyelids""

It's a phrase I never heard before, but a little Googling showed it's used a bit in Asia to reference double eyelid surgery. One description I found is that someone who is ""1.5"" is ""a person with a fold (crease) above the eyes when they close their eyes, but when their eyes are open, the crease is hidden."" The user who told me I had ""1.5"" eyelids suggested it could inform the way I apply eye makeup.

""You know where your eyeliner begins in the first 1/3rd section of your eye? I think the line there is a tad too thick and should be a little bit thinner,"" user yunith wrote. It's a solid tip considering every single day I struggle to be consistent with my wing and end up doing them way too thick, cue this meme.

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Eager for even more feedback, I decided to try an eyeshadow look because I am admittedly an amateur. First, I tried to do the ""cut crease"" look I see all over Insta and failed spectacularly. But, I did like the sort of smoky thing I ended up with:

That's how the following was pointed out to me several times through the course of this experiment.

2. My eyebrows need the most work.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499357297-elle-kristina-rudolfo-beauty-reddit.jpg"
"An Absurd List Of What Not To Put In Your Vagina","http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/a46462/a-list-of-what-not-to-put-in-your-vagina/","Modern science tells us the vagina is a self-cleaning machine, a delicate wonderland of flora and bacteria that generally does fine if left alone. And yet, people keep insisting on putting things up there. Sure, unscented tampons are fine, as are hygienic sex toys and anything prescribed to you by a doctor, but here's a list of a whole mess of things we've run across recently that are designed to row up your canal, and why you maybe shouldn't do that.

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Glitter

The most recent vaginal trend is glitter, which makes no sense because have you ever tried to clean glitter out of anything? It stays where it is literally forever. But that didn't stop Pretty Women Inc. from marketing ""Passion Dust,"" a ""sparkalized capsule that is inserted into the vagina at least 1 hour prior to having sexual intercourse."" Why? Because it makes your genitals sparkly and taste like candy.

GIF Giphy

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Pretty Women Inc. does warn that some particles could trigger an asthma attack during oral sex, and we're pretty sure whatever is making it taste like candy is a recipe for a yeast infection. In an oddly defensive FAQ section, argue that ""people love to have opinions"" about what you put in your vagina (people meaning gynecologists) and ""If you've ever had vaginal issues you had them before you used Passion Dust anyway."" Fair enough, and hey, Passion Dust looks like it's out of stock. Still, if you want sparkly genitals just get vajazzled.

Surfboards

""Vaginal Kung Fu"" is not a phrase I thought I'd read today but 2017 brings surprises every day. Anyway, Intimacy Coach Kim Anami doesn't actually put whole surfboards in her vagina, but she does lift them with her pelvic muscles by tying one end to our favorite GOOP product, the jade egg, and then basically doing kegels. Maybe someday you'll be able to lift a surfboard with your vagina, but don't do it without training first.

Glue

Remember that guy who thought the solution to period woes was to glue your labia shut? And that the sensation would be like that ""kind of fun"" feeling when your lips stick together from too much lip gloss? And how he insisted it'd be hygenic even though it's not like it'd create a hermetic seal? He also is developing a panty liner that transfers a powder to your vulva, which will create a labia seal if you prefer that. But, you know, don't.

Wasp Nests

For a hot second some people were buying oak gall, a calcification that forms when wasps lay their larvae in oak trees, and mixing it with other herbs to make vaginal suppositories. Basically every medical professional was like ""please, no.""

GIF Giphy

Ozone Gas

As Theodora Sutcliffe wrote for Broadly, ozone gas has been marketed as a cure-all for over a century. Vaginal ozone therapy claims to use the gas's anti-bacterial properties to help with yeast infections and general pain. But the FDA says ozone is a ""toxic gas with no known useful medical application in specific, adjunctive, or preventive therapy. In order for ozone to be effective as a germicide, it must be present in a concentration far greater than that which can be safely tolerated by man and animals.""

Steam

Gwyneth Paltrow famously espoused the benefits of the Mugwort V Steam, as mugwort allegedly contains anti-fungal things and balances hormone levels and cleanses your uterus. Ok. Hot water vapor may not seem like the worst idea for cleaning your vagina, since that's basically what happens when you shower, but doctors say the procedure is pointless at best and actively harmful at worst. It seems iffy that the steam would even reach one's uterus, and there have been cases of women dying from filling their vaginas with water or air pressure. So yeah, maybe don't.

Lysol

Before the pill, douching after sex was a common form of birth control, and many hygienic products ran suggestive ads directed to women who were looking for something to use as a rinse. One of those was Lysol, even though use of the anti-bacterial soap had caused death from uterine irrigation. Aside from a birth control method, Lysol advertised to women as a way to control vaginal odor and ""ensure feminine daintiness."" We'll take a healthy vaginal lining over daintiness any day.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1280x640/landscape-1499348392-gettyimages-612175888-1.jpg"
"So This Is How Chanel Does Unicorn Makeup","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46449/chanel-couture-unicorn-makeup/","Whatever your thoughts are about unicorn beauty—that is, all things rainbow, glittery, horned, and even loosely inspired by the mythical equine creature–at this point, it's pretty hard to deny that it's a Thing. But maybe you're still thinking it's reserved for the weird and wacky corners of the internet, and not, say, the Grand Palais in Paris, where Chanel just wrapped its Fall 2017 haute couture show. The opulent presentation courtesy of King Karl featured three front row celebrities with platinum buzzcuts (Katy Perry, Cara Delevingne, Kristen Stewart), a scale replica of the Eiffel Tower—and bright, whimsical, multicolored eye makeup that was unmistakable #unicorngoals on every single model.

Tyler Joe

Tyler Joe

Getty

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Makeup artist Tom Pecheux and his team went full Roy G Biv, smudging a rich cerulean blue below the lids, then layering a kaleidoscope of vampy lilac, highlighter orange, and green apple right up to the brow bones. A smudge of glossy crimson was dabbed along the inner corners of the eyes; some models had a sprinkle of gold on the outer corners. The rest of the makeup was left refreshingly simple: Clean, velvet-fresh skin, a whisper of petal pink blush on cheeks, and if we're not mistaken, natural lips finished with just the lightest swipe of translucent gloss.

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At least this season, models weren't wearing clothes to match. The fanciful makeup served as a counterpoint to the otherwise regal collection of tweeds, boucle, and derby hats done in haute finery.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499287831-elle-chanel-makeup.jpg"
"5 French-Girl Beauty Rules I Learned at Dior Couture","http://www.elle.com/beauty/a46416/dior-french-girl-beauty/","Backstage at Christian Dior's fall 2017 couture show today, lead makeup artist Peter Philips was tasked with making the models look how you might feel after a long-haul flight–""kind of weathered,"" he explained, citing Amelia Earhart and women going into Inca temples as inspiration. In keeping with designer Maria Grazia Chiuri's world-traveling vision, hair stylist Guido Palau completed the look with loose, irregular waves raked back into low ponytails. ""It should feel like easy and cinematic, almost like they're caught in a moment—not perfect,"" he explained.

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The finished product? Clean skin, bushy eyebrows, and easy texture you'll want to replicate IRL. Here, five beauty tips we picked up backstage.

1. Fight the urge to over-fill eyebrows.

It might seem counter-intuitive, but Philips created bushy, masculine-looking brows by leaving some transparency. For natural-looking fullness, he sketched in hairs starting a few millimeters back from the brow's beginning, before brushing arches in a zig-zag motion with tinted gel. Completely opaque brows take on that fake look, fast.

2. Skip pressed powder.

For not-too-matte, not-too-dewey world-traveller skin, Philips applied a touch of Diorskin Forever foundation and new Forever Undercover concealer. And that's it.

Getty Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho + WireImage

3. Highlight your eyelids.

Philips tapped lids with light reflective Metalizer Creme Shadow to create a very subtle sheen, not a glitzy or gaudy finish.

Getty Dominique Charriau+ WireImage

4. Use two different curling irons.

The key to loose, bendy, believable beach waves? Variety. Palau employed two different sized curling irons to ""kink"" hair rather than wrap it around the barrel in overly perfect spirals.

Getty Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho + WireImage

5. Tea-bag your under-eyes.

When one of the models showed up with a stye, Philips prepared a chamomile tea treatment to calm things down. ""It's really warm but not burning hot, and once you put it on the eye it becomes really cold. It's a good trick to get rid of bags and reduce swelling.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1499167597-screen-shot-2017-07-04-at-12614-pm.png"
"18 Expert-Tested Ways to Prevent a Hangover","http://www.elle.com/beauty/a46394/expert-tricks-to-prevent-a-hangover/","Ask any expert and they'll tell you: The best way to prevent suffering from a vicious hangover is to forego booze entirely. That's because there's no hard-and-fast, research-backed way to sidestep alcohol's side effects.

But the truth is sometimes, even experts who know better, drink just as much as you do. To fend off the nausea, headache, dizziness, and general misery that often follows an intense night of drinking, try the tricks experts use to mitigate the damage:

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Before You Drink:

1. Double up on multivitamins. ""A big misconception is that hangovers are entirely about dehydration. But the main issues are inflammation and oxidative stress. And it's much easier to prevent a hangover than it is to deal with it the next morning,"" says Jason Burke, MD, an anesthesiologist who has treated over 20,000 hangovers and the creator of Hangover Heaven, a mobile medical clinic based in Las Vegas that delivers onsite IV treatments for hangover sufferers. Antioxidants help mitigate the damage, so pop an extra multivitamin or drink acai or pomegranate juice before you go out, Dr. Burke says.

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2. Order a burger instead of a salad. Of course you don't want to look or feel bloated at a bar on a Saturday night. But the severity of a hangover isn't just related to how much you drink, but how you metabolize alcohol — and that depends a lot on what you eat, says Elizabeth Kovacs, PhD, director of the alcohol research program at Loyola University. Her suggestion: Make sure you eat a meal containing carbs, protein, and fat before you take your first sip of alcohol.

Dr. Burke makes sure that meal contains red meat, which has an especially high concentration of amino acids and B vitamins that help process the nasty byproducts of alcohol.

3. Rest up. This might sound pretty obvious but most people don't get nearly enough sleep, Kovacs says. While sleep won't save you from a hangover, it will improve your immunity and get your body ready to handle a night of heavy drinking — which is better than not being ready, she adds.

While You Drink:

4. Skip Champagne. Science says the bubbles in sparkling wine may accelerate the absorption of alcohol so you get drunker faster. The problem is that this produces especially bad hangovers, Dr. Burke says.

5. Make your roadie a Gatorade. You've probably heard that it's smart to chug water between cocktails to fend off dehydration (and the resulting headache) caused by alcohol. But coconut water or a sports drinks like Gatorade work even better: They replace your fluids and electrolytes, the nutrients you lose when you drink, according to Kovacs. Whenever you drink more than two drinks at a time, alternate between booze and a sports drink (or sip the latter throughout the night), and you'll be good to go.

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6. Skip the smokes. When 113 college students documented their alcohol intake, smoking habits, and hangover symptoms every day for eight weeks, researchers found that when students drank heavily, smoking significantly increased the risk and severity of a hangover, according to a study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

7. Stick with clear liquor. Vodka and gin have fewer toxins and impurities than dark ones like whiskey and rum, says Kovacs.

8. Choose juice over soda mixers. ""OJ won't help you avoid a hangover — unless you drink it instead of a 14th beer,"" Kovacs says. But because fruit and vegetable juices contain extra vitamins, they're always better for you than soda.

9. Wash your hands super well. Drinking alcohol changes the way your immune system works, so if you're exposed to something like the flu when you're out and about, you're more likely to become infected, have a more severe reaction, and take longer to recover, Kovacs says. And if there's one thing that makes a hangover worse, it's flu symptoms like fever, muscles aches, and chills.

10. Splurge on a drink. ""I only drink high-end gin and vodka,"" Dr. Burke says. While this might sound high-brow (and unnecessarily expensive), Dr. Burke swears that the top-shelf stuff is filtered the most to remove impurities and toxins, which can make your hangover less severe. Also, because pricy drinks cost more per sip, you're more likely to slowly nurse a drink you pay a lot for and, in turn, drink less overall.

11. Dance your ass off. It's hard AF to hold a drink while you're breaking it down, so dancing or playing a game like pool or ping-pong, assuming it involves paddles as opposed to cups of beer, can stop you from the destructive cycle of emptying your glass and immediately refilling it. Just be sure to stash a cup of water on the edge of the dance floor to rehydrate, particularly if you start to break a sweat.

Before You Go to Sleep:

12. Don't overdo it on the water. It's true that hangovers can happen when your body gets too much bad liquid (alcohol) and not enough of the good kind (water). However, Kovacs says drinking water by the gallon can put undue stress on your body. And frequent bathroom runs can mess with your sleep. So after a night of heavy drinking, drink a glass of water (and a second one, if you're particularly thirsty), and leave a full glass on your bed stand to treat dry mouth in the morning.

13. Slap on a sleeping mask. While sleep deprivation won't cause a hangover, it can make your hangover worse. Incidentally, alcohol disrupts the second part of your sleep — which occurs after the sun rises if you go to sleep particularly late. While you can't control the quality of your sleep after a heavy night of drinking, you can at least minimize environmental disruptions with a sleep mask that keeps light out of your eyes.

14. Pop an ibuprofen. ""If I really overdid it, I take an Advil before I go to sleep and possibly one more multivitamin,"" Dr. Burke says. Anti-inflammatory drugs (anything that contains ibuprofen or Naprosyn) directly attacks the inflammation that alcohol causes. Always avoid painkillers that contain acetaminophen though: You can seriously damage your liver and kidneys if you take them with alcohol.

The Morning After Drinking:

15. Forget the whole ""hair of the dog that bit you"" thing. Experts agree that it's straight-up stupid to booze it up the morning after heavy drinking. It only delays the inevitable: a hangover that's even worse than the one you've got.

16. Order the eggs. Eggs are an awesome source of cysteine, which helps break down a headache-causing toxin that's produced when your body digests alcohol. Go with a plain poached egg or dry omelet, which won't upset your stomach as much as greasy bacon or heavy breakfast meats.

17. Drink Sprite or seltzer. When researchers at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, analyzed the effects of 57 different drinks on alcohol metabolism, they found that the Chinese version of Sprite and regular soda water help speed up the body's alcohol metabolism, which decreases the amount of time your body is exposed to the harmful chemicals produced when your body digests alcohol.

18. Avoid herbal teas. In the same Sun Yat-Sen University experiment, researchers found that herbal teas make your body process alcohol more slowly, so your hangover lasts extra long. (Which could seriously drive you to drink.)","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/26/1600x800/1498926079-gettyimages-696176591-2-copy-1498507486.jpg"
"Marine Veteran Kirstie Ennis Doesn't Take This Body for Granted","http://www.elle.com/beauty/a46365/kirstie-ennis-naked-espn-the-body-issue/","""This little, blonde, combat-wounded woman,"" Kirstie Ennis says, laughing. ""Who ever would have guessed?""

It's all, Ennis continues, a little unbelievable. At 26, she's survived a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, had her leg amputated, endured 40 more surgeries, become a snowboarder, climbed Kilimanjaro—and now gotten naked on top of a mountain to be photographed for a magazine that will soon be on newsstands nationwide.

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Who ever would have guessed? ""Oh God,"" she says. ""I mean, not me.""

But here we are. For the first time ever, ESPN The Magazine has tapped a veteran to appear in its famed ""Body Issue,"" on newsstands July 7, and no one is more surprised than Ennis that it's her.

A true athlete, Ennis has pushed her body to its breaking point. But unlike most athletes, or at least most who grace magazine covers, Ennis has had hers so broken that she almost didn't make it. In 2012, while she was on duty in Afghanistan, Ennis' helicopter was shot down. In November 2016, she finally finished the last of her many surgeries; doctors had to remove two more inches of her femur.

Between the crash and now, Ennis has learned to snowboard; scaled some of the highest peaks in the world; endured cognitive, speech, and extensive rehabilitation therapies; and, yes, perhaps you remember this one—hugged Prince Harry at the end of Walk of Britain, a thousand-mile trek around the U.K. to support veterans.

Still, she never expected to get naked for ESPN. And even Ennis, who has tried to embrace all new experiences since her ordeal, was ""kind of terrified.""

""At first I laughed it off,"" she says, talking to ELLE.com earlier this week. ""I was hesitant to make myself that vulnerable for the obvious [reasons]. I am an athlete, but I'm not an NBA [player] or an Olympian."" But she eventually decided that the shoot could and would have to be about more than just her—""I've been provided a pretty unique platform to show...any man, woman, or child who faces any sort of adversity that we control our circumstances."" She couldn't turn it down. Especially, she explains, because athletics, the very stuff ESPN celebrates most, is what saved her.

""I've been competitive my whole life, but it was in my recovery process—recreational therapy, sports, athletics—that that identity, that athlete's identity, really rescued me,"" Ennis says.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/26/1600x800/landscape-1498772237-body-ke-5-31-2017-d750-0317x.jpg"
"ColourPop Is Launching Nail Polish","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46363/colourpop-launching-nail-polish/","After winning fans with affordable makeup for eyes, lips, and cheeks, ColourPop is set to launch nail polish very soon. On July 7, ColourPop Polish will debut with six shades, all seven-free so you don't have to worry about toxic chemicals lurking (there's no Toluene, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, Camphor, DBP, TPHP, and Xylene).

Each bottle goes for only $6 (!!) and will be sold on colourpop.com.

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Here are all the fantasy-inspired summery pastels the line will start with:

I Wand It That Way, a sheer iridescent top coat

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Be Fairy Afraid, a pastel baby pink

Dust a Dream, a mint green

Pixie-lated, a baby blue

First Wings First, a pastel lavender

One Wish, Two Wish, a holographic silver","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/26/1600x800/landscape-1498770781-colourpop-polish-6-ea-wwwcolourpopcom.jpg"
"Kim Kardashian Shows Off Her Makeup Skills Using Only Her Highlighter and Contour Kits","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46335/kim-kardashian-shows-off-her-makeup-skills-using-only-her-highlighter-and-contour-kits/","Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Kim Kardashian's KKW Beauty launch has had its ups and downs, but no one can claim the reality TV star hasn't been working her line all around the internet. After posting an Instagram Live tutorial explaining how she uses her KKW Beauty Crème Contour and Highlight Kits in conjunction with other makeup, Kim went on to show a beauty tutorial that featured her only using her own KKW Beauty products to makeup her entire face.

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Kim clearly has a bag of tricks that she favors—namely, putting darker colors near her hairline and highlighting the tip of her nose and her cupid's bow. But it's somewhat heartening for the woman selling the world yet another beauty product to use only what she's selling to put together a flawless look.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/26/1498741486-kkw-beauty-1498712679.png"
"This Zit-Zapping Light Pen Actually Works","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46262/neutrogena-light-therapy-spot-treatment-review/","Having dealt with acne since I was 14, I've learned to accept my defeat when I feel a deep, cystic pimple coming. I know the drill: it simmers beneath my skin for a day or two, comes to the surface a glaring red, painful spot, lives there for up to two weeks, then finally goes away. Unless I got a cortisone shot from my dermatologist, that was my fate. Then, I came across Neutrogena's genius new Light Therapy Acne Spot Treatment.

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The $20 pen-like device is the portable little sister to the brand's popular full-face LED mask. You place it on your troubled areas and allow both blue light and red light to blast directly onto skin for two minutes. As much as I wanted to be a skeptic about this, it's technology that's long been used in-office by aestheticians and dermatologists.

Neutrogena

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""Red [light] reduces inflammation and promotes circulation, improves wound healing and stimulates new collagen and blue [light] destroys acne-causing bacteria and decreases the oil gland production of sebum,"" says New York City dermatologist Dr. Robin Gmyrek. Blue light, she explains, when absorbed by a chemical in the body called porphyrin, creates heat that kills P. acnes bacteria and ""stuns"" the oil gland so it produces less sebum. Meanwhile, red light decreases production of cytokines, which trigger inflammation in oil glands that make skin appear blotchy.

Joanna Vargas, facialist to Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, and other celebrities, adds that ""LED light has been proven to increase the energy in living tissue, which is why it stimulates collagen production, reduces inflammation and speeds the healing of the body by 300 percent."" She incorporates light therapy into all her clients' facials and body treatments, no matter their skin type, and claims it also helps encourage collagen and elastin production. ""LED light is perfect for sensitive skin,"" she says. ""It can thicken the skin, strengthen capillary walls to reduce redness and is an anti-inflammatory, so it keeps the skin calm and healthy.""

When I experienced a hormonal chin breakout, I used the spot treatment three times in a day (suggested usage is twice a day): right when I woke up and washed my face, when I got home after work, and right before bed. It was the only new thing I added to my regimen. Like magic, it reduced my typical two-week pimple's life down to a bearable two days (and I could already see reduction overnight). Even better, I skipped the unsightly part when the pimple becomes a whitehead and instead, the zit just swelled down. When I felt more breakouts starting, I used the light pen right away and saw my pimples visibly diminish.

GIF Me vs. acne

Other spot treatments I've tried–salicylic acid stickers, tea tree oil, toothpaste, even–have all failed me. Now, I don't need to let pimples just happen–I can fight back.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/26/1600x800/landscape-1498677680-elle-neutrogena-zit-pens-3.jpg"
"Exactly How Kim Kardashian Uses Her Contour and Highlighting Sticks","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46261/kim-kardashian-makeup-free/","If you've been keeping up with the Kardashians, then you're well aware that Kim has launched her own beauty line—KKW Beauty—rolling out a contour and highlighting kit that sold out in minutes and net a cool $14 mill. Not bad, Kimmy.

To show you just how makeup, specifically her new contour and highlighter, truly enhances her face, Kim took to Instagram Live to show her fans exactly how she does her contour herself.

Follow @KimKardashianSnap for more 🍑 A post shared by Kim Kardashian Snapchats 🍑 (@kimkardashiansnap) on Jun 27, 2017 at 4:55am PDT

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Side note: If you have 12 minutes of life to spare, you can watch the full video below where she goes from makeup-free to a full-on face beat, while revealing the name of North's new puppy among other fun facts. (Spoiler alert: They named him Sushi.)

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Don't have 12 minutes to watch her Insta Live? Keep scrolling for her quick-ish tutorial and transformation...

Kim's Before:

1. Start with luminous skin. ""The first thing I do is use this Tatcha luminous dewy skin mist,"" she says. She sprays the sponge side of her KKW Beauty applicator to get it ""super wet.""

Our dual-ended applicator features brush and sponge tools and is perfect for blending your contour and highlight into your skin A post shared by KKWBEAUTY (@kkwbeauty) on Jun 23, 2017 at 12:29pm PDT

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2. Apply a base. ""I don't even know what concealer this is but I think it's a tester we're doing,"" she notes. She uses a packed fluffy brush to apply some concealer from a pot all over her face.

3. Add another layer to conceal. She uses a small brush to apply the same base concealer under her eyes, along the sides of her nose, and atop her laugh lines.

4. Blend! ""Now that I've sprayed [sponge], [it's] just like a regular sponge that you would use ... just to kind of make everything blendable,"" Kim explains.

5. Set your foundation. ""I like to take the sponge and put powder on it, just to kind of set too,"" she adds. ""Then I use this other little brush.""

6. Swipe on your contour but be ""delicate"" with the application. ""I'm using the medium stick and this is the highlight,"" she says. She also warned her fans that because the formula is so creamy, you have to be really delicate when you apply it. She swipes the darker side of the contour along her cheekbones, then traces the perimeter of her face using vertical lines and lines her jawline, creating ""3"" formations on her face. Then, she draws two lines down both sides of her nose from her brows and applies some contour on the tip of her nose. Finally, she uses the lighter side of the contour pen to line under her eyes.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/26/1498592860-kim-k-1498580490.png"
"Margot Robbie Has Some Very Strange Beauty Tips For You","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/a46228/margot-robbie-interview-beauty-tips-exercise-diet/","This year is shaping up to be Margot Robbie's best one yet–and that's saying a lot, considering the 26-year-old actress already has films like The Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short under her belt. Besides starring in summer blockbusters Suicide Squad and The Legend of Tarzan, she's also the face of Calvin Klein's fragrance, Deep Euphoria. ""It's genuinely the one I wear,"" she said, of the modern scent.

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Margot's perfume IQ has risen significantly since she was gifted her first fragrance as a kid: ""I remember it said Eau de Toilette and I thought my mum had given me toilet spray and I was like, why did she do that?""

Here, the blonde bombshell spills her beauty secrets, exercise regime and why she'll never give up cheese...

Take three products out of your make-up bag–what are they and why have they earned a place in there?

There's Peter Thomas Roth complexion correction pads, because I'm on a plane every five seconds, and I can't wash my face. I hate that feeling, but then I use these pads and my face feels really good.

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Also, Caudalie facial mist—it's the nicest smell. And then my lip balm, I use Bepanthen, which is actually a nipple cream for breastfeeding mothers or diaper rash cream for babies. I have a conspiracy theory that lip balms actually have additives in them to dry your lips out so you keep buying them. But because Bepanthen is just a cream for dry skin, it works. It's what I've used my whole life.

@calvinklein #mycalvins A post shared by @margotrobbie on Jul 6, 2016 at 2:06am PDT

What is the best beauty tip you've ever learned, and who was it from?

My friend taught me this trick that I use it every day. When I put on foundation, I use an eyebrow brush or toothbrush to brush it into my hairline so that it all blends. Especially because I have blonde hair but tanned skin, if I don't blend it, it looks gross—you can see the foundation in my hair.

I do that every single day, and every time my husband [Tom Ackerley] is like, ""What are you doing?"" And I say, ""I'm brushing my make-up into my hairline!"" And he's like, ""Girls are crazy.""

🙃 A post shared by @margotrobbie on Apr 23, 2017 at 11:38pm PDT

If you have a photoshoot/TV appearance tomorrow, how do you prepare your skin?

For photoshoots, I don't even worry anymore because with photoshop these days if I wake up with a massive pimple I'm like, they're gonna airbrush it out, it doesn't matter. I get more scared when I'm filming.

If I eat or drink heaps of dairy, my skin breaks out. I love dairy and I have it all the time but if I'm filming or if my skin is really shit, then I try to cut down and just drink lots of water. But I pretend cheese isn't dairy because I will never accept that I can't have it. I love it.

What was the last song you downloaded?

I've been listening obsessively to 'Lemonade', especially that song 'Hold Up'. It has that reggae vibe I'm really into.

Snap happy @scrap_doyle A post shared by @margotrobbie on Jul 12, 2016 at 3:05pm PDT

What was the last thing you Googled?

This is such a good question! Let me check my phone...Last thing I Googled was a map of Hungary. I'm working in Budapest and I was trying to figure out what the bordering countries were and if I could do any weekend trips. I was very happy to see Croatia was so close by, because I had the best time of my life there.

What would your last meal on earth be?

Cheese, cheese, cheese. Or a burger. I adore burgers. Probably it would be the truffle burger from Umami and a really nice IPA, like a German wheat beer.

What three words that best describe your fitness philosophy:

Reluctant, fun and sporadic. My version of exercising is going to do a dance class you go with a friend. It's really fun and it's exercise at the same time.

I can do it too @phoebejtonkin !! p.s. #andielovesmemore #toldmesoherself #mwahaha #stilllearninghowtohashtag #toofar? I❤️@balletbodies A post shared by @margotrobbie on Mar 25, 2014 at 11:22am PDT

Who or what never fails to make you laugh?

Jay Hernandez, who plays Diablo in Suicide Squad. Out of everyone I've ever worked with he is the funniest f*cking guy in the whole world. He just does dad jokes the whole time but I am like his key audience.

I just like pee myself laughing. He doesn't do comedy and his character is really serious so no one knows how funny he is. I'm like, you should do SNL!

What would your career plan B have been?

When I was little I wanted to own hotels. I'm certain I would have started some sort of company [if I hadn't gone into acting] because I think I am quite business-savvy. So either owning hotels, or being a scuba diving instructor or sky-diving instructor. Some sort of instructor where I could live somewhere cool and do something fun every day.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/26/1600x800/landscape-1498485488-gettyimages-543386246-1.jpg"
"Sleeping In on Weekends Could Have a Surprising Benefit","http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/news/a46186/sleeping-in-on-weekends-could-have-a-surprising-benefit/","If your weeknight sleep schedule leaves you feeling downright exhausted by the time Friday rolls around, the last thing you want to hear is that catching up on sleep on weekends is no good for your health, as states recent research from the University of Arizona in Tucson that throws shade at the practice for raising your risk of heart disease. Boo!

Good news: Emerging research recently published in the journal Sleep suggests that sleeping in on weekends could actually have some benefits, thank you very much. For the study, researchers based in South Korea compared the sleep habits of 2,156 adults to their body mass indexes (BMI). (Refresher: BMI is a tool medical experts use to access a person's weight relative to their height, and to identify potential health risks linked to obesity, including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

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On average, researchers found, those who slept too little throughout the week and caught up on sleep on the weekends had slightly lower BMIs (22.8) than those who slept too little and did not compensate on weekends. Their BMIs averaged 23.1, which is statistically significant, since every extra hour of weekend sleep equated to 0.12 lower BMI.

This could have something to do with the fact that people who catch up on sleep on weekends clock more total hours of shut-eye, and getting too little of it can disrupt your hormones and metabolism in a way that sets the stage for potential side effects, including obesity, according to the study authors. Meanwhile, sleep experts uphold that the more you sleep, the better, since you're more likely to practice healthy habits, like exercising and making smart food choices, when you're well-rested.

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Because adjusting your sleep schedule to accommodate your social life (or Netflix habits) can throw off your body's natural circadian rhythm, resulting in worse health, moodiness, and fatigue, it's still preferable to hit the sack and wake up around the same times regardless of the day, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, which recommends clocking at least seven hours of sleep a night with regularity.

TL;DR:If you can't get sufficient sleep on weeknights, catching up on weekends could be your next best bet — at least when it comes to keeping your BMI in check. ""Weekend sleep extension may have biological protective effects in preventing sleep-restriction induced or related obesity,"" the authors conclude in their study. Although their findings prove correlation, not causation, and more research is needed, the results are ever more reason to live your best life on Friday and Saturday nights, and not to worry about hitting the snooze button on those lazy weekend mornings.

Get all the ~FiTsPiRaTiOn~ directly in your feed. Follow Facebook.com/CosmoBod.

Follow Elizabeth on Twitter and Instagram.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1600x800/1498227586-sleep-1497891867_1.jpeg"
"Kim Kardashian Has the Same Lazy-Girl Makeup Habits You Do","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46194/kim-kardashian-beauty-launch/","Kim Kardashian West is a beauty icon—and now, thanks to the official launch of her makeup line KKW Beauty, a beauty mogul—but that doesn't mean she hasn't had her fair share of beauty missteps.

""Oh God, it's so fun to look back at old pictures from like seven or eight years ago and I sometimes want to cringe when I look at the different makeup looks that I did,"" she said at the KKW Beauty launch party at her L.A. home. ""I don't know what Mario and I were thinking when we used to do such a white under-eye―I mean, we used to really white it out. So we have a concealer kit coming out and I feel like I've really perfected that now.""

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And concealer isn't the only new product Kim's adding to her beauty line to join her (now sold out) contour kits. ""I'm going to focus on skin in the beginning and stuff I feel like I really perfected over the years, like concealer. I have a couple products that I think just really perfect the under-eye. We're going to do powder contour as well—I just really want to start off with skin.""

""I'm excited for when we start our concealers because we are putting anti-aging components in the formulas,"" she explained. ""I think that's really important and what I'm really going to gear towards. I think any time you can add that in to makeup, and partner skincare and makeup, I think that's really important. I'm obsessed with every last cream and stuff that we can do to help our skin, so I think that's a really cool combination.""

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But even with a whole beauty lab at her fingertips, Kim said that the one beauty ritual she can't live without is the same as ours on our tiredest days. ""I sometimes get so lazy at night after putting the kids to bed that I just cannot wash my face, and I always have makeup wipes,"" she admitted. ""So I'll do that instead of washing my face. I love Neutrogena—the lavender pack or the blue pack, those are my favorite.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1600x800/landscape-1498272238-elle-kim-kardashian-lazy-girl-makeup.jpg"
"This Brilliant Student Used His Nails to Hide Physics Equations","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/a46176/student-cheats-using-nails/","Beauty innovations can come from anywhere–even a physics classroom. Twitter user @glxzwdwyws (who just goes by ""Andrw"" in his bio) has gone viral after sharing photos of himself using his long nails to help him cheat on his physics exam. He wrote formulas in teeny, tiny print and pasted them to his nails' underside–you'd never guess by just looking at them from the front:

Twitter

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SO SMART.

Twitter

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he hecho un test con la fórmula más larga y entra de puta madre con la fuente arial al tamaño 3 pic.twitter.com/dyWMMszfNs — andrw (@glxzwdwyws) June 17, 2017

Each of his tweets have thousands of retweets–just one of them has 290K likes, 101K retweets and counting. It might've already made its way to his teacher, though he seems to have a sense of humor about the possibility.

my notifications wont stop growing and my phone cant handle it so i had to silence them rip

im sure my physhics teacher alredy saw this lmao — andrw (@glxzwdwyws) June 18, 2017

Whether or not you can get behind cheating, you have to admit you're impressed.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1600x800/landscape-1498227936-elle-cheating-on-physics.jpg"
"Meet the Instagrammers Testing Makeup for Women of Color","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46116/swatches-for-women-of-color-instagram/","When all you see is an online photo of a makeup palette, it doesn't tell you much. It's impossible to know if a new shade of eye shadow or lipstick will really look good IRL, especially since most websites use digitally-rendered swatches for darker skin tones. That's why women are taking matters into their own hands on Instagram, swatching makeup so women of color find their matches.

""I wanted to create a resource to have all swatches on complexions that were more like mine in one place,"" says Ofunne Amaka, the woman who runs @cocoaswatches and its app, ""Some people don't even buy anything before they see it on my page."" Since launching two years ago, she's amassed nearly 88,000 followers eager to see how the latest launches look on deep skin and discover new brands.

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""Even on so many of the brand pages, I always would wonder: Where are the swatches for people who look like me?"" Osase Emokpae, who founded @browngirlfriendly in April 2016, tells ELLE.com, ""Why should brown girls and boys be forced to use their imaginations to figure out how a makeup product might look on us?"" There's clearly a need for these online spaces–back in April when Forbes released its first-ever list of Top Beauty Influencers, of the 10 named, nine were fair-skinned.

People of color matter, our opinions matter, our money matters.

""It's definitely difficult. Sometimes I feel left out of the conversation because I'm catering to a certain market,"" Amaka says in regards to brand partnership opportunities, ""The people that I'm helping is what helps me keep going, and validates me to keep going. To relieve that frustration for some people so makeup can be fun is a really good feeling.""

From color payoff, to texture, to different price ranges–these swatch Instagrams cover it all. They, along with other women of color-focused accounts like @darkskinnedmakeupdaily, @indiemakeup4coloredgirls and @makeupforwomenofcolor, don't only provide a service but build a community. Every post has comments full of tips, suggestions, and all-around positive feedback.

@bhcosmetics Spotlight Highlight palette is so unique and gorge!😍 #CocoaSwatches #BHcosmetics A post shared by Cocoa Swatches (@cocoaswatches) on Jun 15, 2017 at 3:19pm PDT

""I wanted to show that these products could look amazing on real brown skin and not a computer-generated image,"" Emokpae says, ""People of color matter, our opinions matter, our money matters. We have a seat at the table and if nobody includes us, we have to find a way to include ourselves.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1024x512/gallery-1498059367-elle-cocoswatches-browngirlfriendly-lead2-1024.jpg"
"Calvin Klein Releases Never-Before-Seen '90s Footage of Kate Moss","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/a46162/calvin-klein-kate-moss/","Dreamlike footage of a very young Kate Moss has resurfaced for Calvin Klein's first fragrance campaign under Raf Simons. The American house has released 250 archival images of the supermodel originally taken by Mario Sorrenti for its Obsession scent, which was released in 1993. The never-before-scene graphics mark the release of two new Calvin fragrances, Obsessed for Women and Obsessed for Men, which are both slated to launch in the U.S. on July 1st.

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The new Obsessed scents are said to be modern interpretations of the 1993 classic. Back then, it was considered youthful, sexy, and wildly romantic—a clever marketing ploy heightened by the hiring of Moss and her then real-life boyfriend, Sorrenti. In the unveiling of archive prints, Calvin seems to be returning to its roots; roots which helped reinvent the language of high caliber perfume for a younger generation.



Courtesy of Calvin Klein

For Simons, Obsessed was one of the first non-fashion CK projects at the top of his to-do list. ""I suppose you could say we were obsessed with Obsession. If one thing summed up Calvin Klein for us visually, it was Mario Sorrenti's Obsession campaign with Kate Moss,"" said the designer in an interview yesterday with WWD.

Simona Cattaneo, chief marketing officer of Klein's fragrance license holder, Coty Luxury, echoed Simons's sentiments in the same interview: ""We are obsessed with Obsession, but more than this, it's the memory of past love…It's this huge, huge love story between Mario and Kate that's represented in the original…Mario used to say he was so in love and obsessed with photographing Kate Moss."" A longtime muse for the brand, Moss's face has helped Klein secure a stronghold on the billion-dollar fragrance industry for the past 20-plus years. According to industry experts, the two new Obsessed perfumes are expected to make $50 million in retail sales within the first year. A 3.4-oz. sized women's bottle will sell for $94 and a 4.2-oz. size of men's will be priced lower, at $82. The new scent's translucent bottles are rounder and fuller in comparison to the 1993 originals. Obsessed for Women and Obsessed for Men will be feted during a launch party in London tomorrow and will be available to purchase in the U.S. on July 1st, 2017.

Watch campaign video here:","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1498141498-screen-shot-2017-06-21-at-12-58-38-pm-1498064338.png"
"Kim Kardashian's KKW Contour/Highlighter Kits Sold Out in 2.5 Hours","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46146/kkw-beauty-line-sold-out-in-less-than-3-hours/","At 12 p.m. EST, Kim Kardashian's beauty site went live, and the line went on sale. Less than three hours later, at 2:38 p.m., Kim Kardashian confirmed that all the contour and highlight kits are sold out.

All of the Contour & Highlight Kits have sold out!!! — Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 21, 2017

What kkwbeauty.com looked like at 3:15 p.m. kkwbeauty.com

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In fact, she live-tweeted the entire sell-out process. The medium and light kits sold out in less than 30 minutes:

OMG Medium has sold out! I can't believe it! In just a few minutes! — Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 21, 2017

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Wow now the LIGHT has sold out!!! — Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 21, 2017

The final two kits, Deep Dark and Dark, were gone before 3 p.m.:

OMG DEEP DARK has sold out!!!! — Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 21, 2017

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And DARK has sold out too! Wow you guys! This is so exciting!!! — Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 21, 2017

All that remains is her KKW Creme Liquid Lipstick Collection that she released with Kylie Cosmetics in April...and that's just for now:

The only item left on kkwbeauty.com as of 3:15 p.m. kkwbeauty.com

The contour/highlighter kits are starting to make their way on eBay. The most expensive are going for roughly four times the retail price:

WWD reported Monday that industry sources expect Kardashian to bring in $14.4 million in sales if all 300,000 of her initial launch kits, priced at $48 each, sold. So, it looks like Kardashian has good reason to celebrate tonight...and start work on that next product drop.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1600x800/landscape-1498073660-kim.jpg"
"Estée Lauder's New Beauty Director Will Change the Way You Apply Make-Up","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46144/estee-lauder-beauty-director-violette/","Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Congratulations to make-up artist Violette, who is bringing her French girl cool—and much, much more—to Estée Lauder as its new global beauty director.

Known for her unique approach to beauty, from an early age Violette studied art before going into fashion, costume design and then make-up artistry which she sees as way of dressing the face.

Surprise ... #EsteeBeautyDirector. Directed by @stevenpanpan A post shared by Violette (@violette_fr) on Jun 20, 2017 at 6:13am PDT

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Violette's empowering mantra is to ""use make-up to celebrate who you are instead of changing what you look like""–something everyone can apply.

Her incredible artistic skill combined with refusal to conform to trends has garnered her a cult following on YouTube. She will now also host how-to videos for Estée Lauder, but we don't expect a contouring tutorial any time soon.

Speaking to WWD, Violette said ""the one thing that I don't relate to is contouring, for sure. For me it goes against my philosophy of being who you are.""

Some of her recent popular how-to's include 'The French Kissed Look', 'Light Coverage Foundation Technique' and 'My Bardot Look', shared below.

We think she's the perfect person to inspire a new conversation in make-up. Bring it on.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1600x800/landscape-1498072473-estee.jpg"
"I Went To Kim Kardashian's House","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46127/kim-kardashian-kkw-beauty-launch-party/","Even Kim and Kanye's Bel Air home has been given the KKW Beauty treatment. When I arrive at the celebrities' sprawling abode to attend the launch party for Kardashian's new makeup line, everything from the floral arrangements to the chairs to the walls is covered in the brand's signature pale pink.

Ushered through the garage entrance by a publicist, I pass an army of caterers prepping. Then, in the hallway, a large abstract painted canvas hangs on the wall—mostly white with small slashes of color—Kanye's choice, maybe? It's hard not want to go all-out snooping when you're in the home of one of the most famous couples on the planet, and I do my best to absorb every detail. The trouble is, there isn't a lot of detail, period. It turns out the Kardashian Wests have gone minimal. In fact, the house is almost empty, presumably to showcase the brand's minimal vibe?

Kim Kardashian West, Jeffree Star, James Charles, and Amanda Ensing at the KKW Beauty launch party Getty

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Next, the living room. There's a pink wall imprinted with the brand logo to match the packaging of KKW Beauty—a new collection of easy-to-use contouring sticks that come in a very understated, satin-finish tube—while the carpet is a pearly off-white. The kitchen, visible through an archway, is a gleaming stretch of plain stainless steel lit by sunshine from floor-to-ceiling windows, and outside on the terrace, there's a plain pergola shading an empty space big enough for al fresco dinners. Then, just when it seems that simple is the order of the day, there it is, a tiny piece of the old Kardashian-West extravagance: Just off the kitchen, a spectacular little room is decorated like a mini, floral funhouse. There are mirrored walls and floors, with fresh pale pink roses completely carpeting the ceiling. I scuttle back to the living room, taking a seat on a pink cube. With no phone service, I search for wi-fi and find the house network is called ""southfamily,"" a cute play on the compass-point names West and North.

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After the small group of journalists have been there for around ten minutes, Kardashian herself appears, petite and stunning. Like the decor (mirror-room aside), her look is minimal. She's wearing a simple white cotton stretch dress (""a sample from my husband's office,"" she tells me later), with her hair loose and beach-wavy around her shoulders. Smiling warmly, she thanks everyone for coming to her home, then offers drinks and snacks before politely asking a caterer if there's a spare glass of Muscadet for her. ""It's my drink of choice,"" she says. She explains that her daughter North was running around just a few minutes ago, wanting to play the piano. Then she pauses, maybe unsure what to say next. Could the queen of reality TV actually be a little shy?

Getty

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A few minutes later, Kardashian and I chat in another room down the hall. This one is also mostly empty, except for a few standing mirror slabs that look like a super-modern Stonehenge. I'm a little disappointed when she explains that the house doesn't always look like this—the emptiness, the pink, the mirrors—it's all for the launch party. But it's true that she's into the pared-down look. ""Obviously, we took the furniture out of here,"" she says, ""but you can see the general aesthetic of how I live is really minimal.""

KKWBEAUTY.COM A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Jun 20, 2017 at 12:23pm PDT

The new line of contouring sticks is part of this simpler aesthetic too, with a monochrome design and branding, a layer of shrink-wrapping, then a simple plastic sleeve package reminiscent of on-trend Korean beauty products. ""I wanted products that I can have on my counter that look cool, that blend in,"" she explains. The Crème Contour & Highlighting Kit consists of double-ended sticks and a combination brush/sponge applicator, and is aimed at making contouring simple and approachable. ""My vibe lately for the past year or so has been a little bit lighter on the makeup,"" she says, ""but the one thing that's aways been the same is I've always contoured.""

Kim Kardashian West Getty

It's not just in decor and makeup that Kim's gone more minimal. For West's fortieth birthday recently, the couple went offline, touring Tokyo in hoodies and attracting absolutely zero attention—a tough thing to achieve when Kardashian has 101 million Instagram followers alone. ""It was amazing,"" she says. ""I still film my life every day on a reality show, but it's not Kanye's job to be on the show. So at birthday time—we're taking off two weeks.""

Obviously, with that much of a social media presence, Kardashian deals with plenty of unpleasant attention, along with the positive variety. During an appearance on The View this week, she said people had manipulated recent vacation photos of her in a bathing suit, and ""sharpened"" the focus on her thighs to make her look as bad as possible. ""It's honestly so hard,"" she admits now. ""Just this courage that they get from their keyboard, that they can just write anything just to hurt people's feelings or to be nasty, I just would never take the time to write something bad to someone. Just why? It's going to hurt their feelings and I just wasn't raised like that."" But while she's become somewhat used to this, Kardashian says she fears for others. ""It really does have to stop,"" she says, ""because, okay, I can handle it, but you see more and more every day what the effects of cyberbullying are. I hope there's some kind of solution.""

Kardashian has survived negative criticism, she says, by keeping a strong grounding outside of social media, and she suggests others do the same. ""You really have to find happiness outside of the internet. You can have so much fun connecting with so many people around the world. That is so much fun, but use it for that. I love that I have all my friends outside of my show that I grew up with, and my sisters. Have a real life too,"" she advises, ""just make sure you have your balance, because that's what's so important. Everything in life is balance.""

She's right. On the way out, I'm presented with KKW Beauty contouring sticks and a Lumee phone case with built-in flattering lighting and as I climb into my low-fi, unwashed car, I figure I'm grounded enough to enjoy some nice make-up and the occasional well-lit selfie.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1600x800/landscape-1498055946-elle-kim-k-beauty.jpg"
"Sophie Turner Dyes Her Hair Red Every Week When Filming 'Game of Thrones'","http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/news/a46135/sophie-turner-dyes-hair-red-every-week/","On Game of Thrones, one of the most memorable characteristics of Sophie Turner's Sansa Stark is her red hair.

HBO

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It turns out maintaining that famous auburn shade requires major upkeep. ""I'm constantly dyeing. On Game of Thrones I have to constantly dye my hair red every week,"" she tells POPSUGAR. Every WEEK? (She wouldn't be the first celeb– Gwen Stefani recently revealed she also does weekly dyes to keep her signature platinum blonde on point).

Sophie's natural hair color is actually blonde. She's taken to wearing her original shade lately–including in photos announcing her newly revealed role as Wella Hair's Global Brand Ambassador.

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Oh ma gawsh big news. I'm the new Wella Brand Ambassador and so so excited to join the #WellaFamily. Go follow @wellahairusa- I'm taking over the channel soon! #sophiexwella A post shared by Sophie Turner (@sophiet) on Jun 21, 2017 at 7:15am PDT

In the interview, Sophie also elaborated on the unexpected role hair plays for her character and how it reflects her state of mind.

[Sansa is] a very silent character, you know; you don't really know what she's thinking, or who is having influence over her. And that was one of the ways we showed — that and her costumes — was the only real way that we knew what she was taking in and learning from these people, because she would mirror Cersei's hairstyle or Margaery's hairstyle. When she went away with Littlefinger, she dyed her hair black for a second and that sort of mirrored him. And it's really interesting to see that sort of physical representation of her adapting to each situation; it was a really smart move.

Who knew?","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1600x800/landscape-1498066878-elle-sophie-turner-dyes-hair.jpg"
"Rosé Deodorant Exists Now","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/a46120/rose-deodorant/","Exactly one year ago, rosé gummies had a wait list longer than most private preschools, prompting us to ask—in earnest—""have we reached peak rosé?""

But no, not even close.

Since then, there's been a rosé billboard, an activewear line, a wildly popular sorbet tutorial, and a few zillion beauty products inspired by the millennial pink booze.

This Thursday, we'll get the most insane addition yet: ROSÉ DEODORANT.

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Made by Native with natural ingredients (and without parabens or aluminum), the rosé deodorant is part of a new line of ""Brunch Scents"" that also includes Mimosa and Sangria.

Next up... deodorant that smells like unicorn tears?","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1600x800/landscape-1498064425-elle-rose-deodorant.jpg"
"Bella Hadid Stars in a New NARS Campaign","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46125/bella-hadid-nars-fall-2017/","NARS

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From Versus Versace, to Nike, to Max Mara, campaigns just keep coming for Bella Hadid. Now, a makeup brand is added to the mix. NARS announced that Bella is the face of its Powermatte Lip Pigment campaign. Inspired by the Rock and Roll era, she channels Joan Jett in smoky eyes, shaggy hair, and leather, in photos shot by the brand's founder and creative director Francois Nars.

NARS' Powermatte Lip Pigment ($26) is a Fall 2017 launch. Featuring 20 long-wear, matte shadesit will be available starting July 6. This isn't Bella's first beauty campaign–she was signed as the face of Dior Beauty in May 2016.

NARS

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""François Nars has such beautiful energy. He's taken so many iconic photographs, so for me to have the opportunity to work with him was a dream come true!,"" Bella told Harper's BAZAAR Australia, ""I knew it was going to be an amazing shoot because of how iconic François is, and the level of creativity he puts into the makeup and his photographs. It is incredible!""

""The model brings the product to life and gives it an identity, so matching the right model with a product is very important. I love Bella,"" Nats says in a statement, ""She has a very strong and powerful look that I think is very well suited to a bold product, like Powermatte.""

See more of the photos, ahead.

NARS

NARS

NARS","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1498045493-bellahadid.jpg"
"Kristin Cavallari Is Over Your Mom Judgements","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46102/kristin-cavallari-laguna-beach-interview/","Laguna Beach ended twelve years ago, but Kristin Cavallari is still seemingly everywhere. She writes best-selling books, maintains an immaculate Insta account, and—like all Hollywood overachievers—has her own jewelry line, Uncommon James.

The 30-year-old is also the new face of Savvy Minerals by Young Living, a nature-based makeup line that launches this week. We spoke with the E! TV presenter about her beauty routine, her past fashion fails, and why every girl should know how to fix a car...

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True or false: your mom helped you book this makeup campaign.

So true. My mom was the one who gave me Young Living stuff, like their essential oils, and helped get me into more natural beauty products.

Yeah, I don't remember your makeup on ""The Hills"" being organic...

No, this all started when I first had kids. When I first got pregnant, I realized I had to completely change my lifestyle. I became hyper-aware of the ingredients that are in everything – food, cleaning supplies, beauty products, everything. And so my mom introduced me to Young Living, and because I know it's safe, I have piece of mind. I use their fruit and vegetable wash. I use their essential oils. And now they have makeup.

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Some natural makeup lines can be blah. What's different about this one?

Oh, this one actually works. It's safe, which we all want, but they've formulated this one so you can layer the eyeshadow to build up your color. They have powder with shimmer in it, so you can contour and highlight... you can use this makeup for Instagram. It's natural but it's industrial strength!

You have a daughter who's almost two. Do you let her play with your makeup?

No, but it's not because I'm against kids playing with safe makeup. It's because if I gave her a tube of lipstick right now, that lipstick would immediately end up all over the couch. So I think we can wait a little bit, until our furniture is safe from toddlers.

""Laguna Beach"" was on TV thirteen years ago. What trends from the 2004 should come back?

Oh gosh. I've never been into makeup trends, to be honest, I've always just worn what I've liked and what's worked for me... fashion-wise, though? I think it's hysterical that chokers are trendy. All I wore that first season [of Laguna Beach] was a black suede band around my neck. Now I'm cracking up because it seems like every teenage girl is wearing one again.

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Did you hear MTV is trying to make new scripted reality shows?

I heard they wanted to bring back, like, the game shows. Like Singled Out, which I love! I think that show's hilarious. I would love it if they brought it back. But if they wanted to do something more like Laguna, it's not necessarily a bad thing! I think it's just tricky because with Laguna Beach and The Hills, there was a real underlying innocence and sweetness. Everything we were going through was real. Obviously things were heightened for TV, but the emotions and the friendships were real. And I think with reality TV, bigger isn't always better, you know? The reason people liked [Laguna Beach] is because every teenager could relate to what we were feeling. It was normal teenage drama!

Are you still friends with people from high school?

Of course! I'm still very close with people I grew up with, but a lot of my best friends weren't actually on the show. I do speak with both Alexes a lot, and now that Audrina and Heidi are pregnant, they've both reached out to me about mom stuff.

What kind of 'mom stuff' do you tell them?

I tell them that I can't actually tell them 'mom stuff,' because every baby is so different. Nobody can tell you how to be a mom, that's the thing. You can get advice from everyone, but in the end, they don't know your family or your kid the way you do. So you've got to trust yourself and believe your instincts. And you can't worry about all the noise.

Like judgmental comments on the internet?

Exactly. It's one thing to offer perspective or helpful advice like, ""I tried this with my baby and she loves it."" But when strangers start judging you based on a few photos, it's like, ""Really?"" Honestly, if everyone just minded their own business, the world would be a happier place.

Getty

Does that mean I can't tease you about your infamous Dunzo Car?

Oh no, you totally can! I'm never going to live that scene down, am I? I'd just like to point out that nobody ever told me I had to change the oil on my car. They never mention it in Driver's Ed. It's not common knowledge unless you're into cars.

You're right. When I finally brought my car in for an oil change in college, the mechanic actually said to me, ""This is why girls shouldn't own automobiles.""

Are you kidding me?! That's gross. Obviously, we should own whatever car we want. We just need to tell our kids, when they're learning to drive, that they need to learn when to change the oil. It shouldn't be that hard to mention!

So that episode of Laguna Beach is really like a public service announcement.

Yeah, exactly. [Laughing.] We did some good work.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1600x800/landscape-1497986120-elle-kristin-cavallari.jpg"
"It Takes Kim Kardashian ""Literally Five Minutes"" to Do Her Makeup","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46090/kim-kardashian-kkw-beauty-interview/","It takes me literally five minutes to do my full makeup.

Why have you gone more minimalist with your makeup recently?

I think it just [happened] over time and meeting new stylists and changing my wardrobe. You can't really have a full stylist [and] wardrobe makeover and keep the same hair and makeup. I think it was just evolving and realizing I don't have to wear that much makeup. Especially when you're on the go, whether you're a mom, whether you're just working, whether you're in school [and] you only have a little bit of time. I know I always wanna be bronze-y and feel a little bit contoured without looking completely overboard. Sometimes I would just use contour sticks and blend it all in and not even wear foundation and just go. It would really make me feel alive and me feel awake, but not having a full face of makeup.

CLOSE UP A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on May 4, 2017 at 10:54am PDT

I think it was just evolving and realizing: I don't have to wear that much makeup.

Kylie Cosmetics has blown up–did your sister give you any feedback on KKW Beauty?

I think our lines are definitely really different. We talked about it all the time; the products that I have and the products that she has. I've seen her work so hard. It's been so much fun to watch her process. It really is such a long process to get the exact formulas that you want. There's so much more going into it and I love that I have Kylie, that I could ask for advice all the time.

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What are some beauty looks you like on each of your sisters?

Khloé, I learned a lot about highlighting. She loves [highlighting]. No matter what, she'll always put on highlighter. Even if we're going to the gym, she'll have no makeup on, but just a little bit of highlight. It just looks so good and that makes her feel alive. I guess everyone has their one trick or thing that they want to really feel alive or what makes them feel good.

I'm a moody girl I suppose A post shared by Khloé (@khloekardashian) on May 10, 2017 at 10:14am PDT

Kourtney, she's always trying different beauty tips and tricks and it's really fun to see her get really into something and then talk about it and then try to get into something else. It's really fun to watch her just try so many different beauty products. I think people might not know that about Kourtney. She's such a beauty product junkie.

I just love this @ManukaDr Replenishing Oil for nourishing and softening my skin during the harsh cold months. My skin is more radiant and even toned. It’s on offer right now at @ManukaDr #ManukaAmbassador A post shared by Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash) on Jan 23, 2017 at 8:55am PST

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Kendall always has the best red lip. I love her makeup the most when she does a bronze-y, red lip look. Every time she wears it I always text her like, 'Yes! It's back! That's my favorite look!'.

so happy to be the face of the new #DWClassicPetite from @danielwellington! Enter KENDALL for 15% off on Danielwellington.com link in bio #ad A post shared by Kendall (@kendalljenner) on Mar 14, 2017 at 9:00am PDT

Kylie, I mean, she's just taught me a lot about the beauty industry itself. And she does her makeup so well. She does a really good job.

KKW X KYLIE collab KylieCosmetics.com A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Apr 29, 2017 at 5:38pm PDT

I love that I have Kylie, that I could ask advice all the time.

Does North like to play with your makeup?

She loves brighter colors and she wore a purple lipstick [on her birthday]. She came in the room yesterday with one of Kylie's blue lip kits from the Fourth of July—all over her entire face. And I was freaking out. She looked like she had chicken pox. She did little dots everywhere, like chicken pox, but covered in blue. And it was just really hard to get off!

When #North steals your contour palette 😩😩😩😩😩 omg A post shared by MARIO (@makeupbymario) on Feb 14, 2016 at 8:56am PST

Do you remember what the first beauty product you ever bought was?

Gosh, I was really into Bonne Bell lipstick and lipgloss and I think the color was called Cappuccino, I'm not sure, but it was some Bonne Bell lipstick or lipgloss.

How old were you?

Probably 12!","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/980x488/gallery-1497903117-kimk.jpg"
"Milk Makeup Launches Glorious Glitter Sticks to Celebrate Pride","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46093/milk-makeup-glitter-sticks/","Why just glow when you can glitter? Milk Makeup's newest launch, sees your basic highlighter and raises you full on disco ball shine in the form of their latest creation, a limited edition glitter stick. On top of giving an otherworldly shimmer, half of its proceeds will benefit The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (The Center) in NYC in honor of Pride 2017.

Good things come in sparkly packages ✨ #MilkMakeupxTheCenter A post shared by Milk Makeup (@milkmakeup) on Jun 18, 2017 at 9:04am PDT

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""Milk Makeup has set out to make beauty more inclusive since day one,"" Creative Director Georgie Greville says, ""Pride is a beautiful celebration of the power of self-actualization. When you express who you are completely, you shine the brightest and we are here to give you the tools to do just that.""

Made with fine multi-color glitter and a neutral base to complement all skin tones, #MilkMakeupxTheCenter Glitter Stick will keep you shining all Pride Month 🌈✨Available exclusively on milkmakeup.com A post shared by Milk Makeup (@milkmakeup) on Jun 15, 2017 at 8:18am PDT

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For the Glitter Stick's campaign, Milk filmed The Center's vogueing group, SNAP!!! for an incredible video:

Milk Makeup Glitter Stick, $30; milkmakeup.com","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1497897117-milkmakeup.png"
"Everything We Know About Kim Kardashian's New Beauty Line","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/a45988/kim-kardashian-kkw-beauty-launch/","Kim Kardashian is launching her own makeup line, KKW Beauty. Here are all the details, so far:

1. It is a full beauty line.

Kris Jenner revealed as much when she posted a congratulatory tweet to Kim. She wrote, ""I am so proud of you @kimkardashian and excited for your beauty line #KKWBEAUTY!!""

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2. It is launching on June 21.

3. It already has an Instagram account and website.

@kkwbeauty and KKWBeauty.com

4. You can sign up for early updates.

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5. The aesthetic is similar to her collab with Kylie Cosmetics.

Back in April, Kim launched a lip kit collaboration with Kylie. The four nude shades were boxed in a muted pink package with ""KKW"" in bold. Seems like Kim's beauty line is taking on a similar look.

COMING SOON @kyliecosmetics #KKW A post shared by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Apr 18, 2017 at 10:20am PDT

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6. Kim hinted at the launch when she collaborated with Kylie.

She had a note in the box that read ""have a surprise coming soon!"" This is probably what she meant.

7. Her makeup artist is stoked about it.

Kim's go-to makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic (better known as @makeupbymario) posted the teaser video on his Instagram as well, writing ""The Glam Queen has arrived... get ready to be SNATCHED.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/25/1600x800/landscape-1497881673-kimkmakeupline.jpg"
"How to Pull Off Red Eye Makeup","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/a45950/red-eyeshadow-makeup-looks/","It started during fashion week, when models walked the runway at Anna Sui's spring 2017 show with a wash of burgundy around their eyes. At Kenzo, Max Mara, Ferragamo, and Tadashi Shoji, there were more variations on red lids. Then Selena Gomez won the Met Gala red carpet with a combination of red and pink eye shadow, the perfect foil to her otherwise low-key look. The least-likely eye accent was officially having a moment.

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According to makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes, the bold shade—once relegated to lips, cheeks, and of course nails—is surprisingly easy to execute around the eyes because it's strangely flattering. ""For lighter eyes, it really brings out the brightness,"" she explains. ""And on dark eyes, it's a pop of color against a neutral palette.""

But how do you wear red pigment on your eyes (when you're not Selena Gomez) without looking high, hungover or worse—conjunctivitis-stricken? Hughes recommends taking a page out of the Ferragamo playbook by experimenting with a thin line of red in the crease before graduating to full on red eye gloss. Here, she demonstrates four versatile new ways to wear red eyes in real life.

FLOATING RED LINE

Take a cue from Ferragamo's spring 2017 show and trace the crease with crimson pigment. To get the look, Hughes applied M.A.C Lip Liner in Cherry topped with NARS Blush in Exhibit A.

Natalia Mantini

RED LASHES

The models at Tadashi Shoji spring 2017 wore a hazy wash of red color on their eyelids. Hughes takes the look one step further coating lashes as well. For a similar finish, try M.A.C Mixing Medium with M.A.C Basic Pigment in Red and NARS Matte Eye Shadow in New York.

Natalia Mantini

Natalia Mantini

RED MONOCHROME

Hughes cocktailed Pat McGrath Labs Copper 002 pigment and M.A.C Fix to create a custom bronze eye color. For the perfect matte crimson lips, she mixed M.A.C Lip Liner in Red, Charlotte Tilbury K.I.S.S.I.N.G in Love Bite, topped with NARS Blush in Exhibit A.

Natalia Mantini

RED EYE GLOSS

Hughes anchored glossy lids with matte skin. To get the look, try Laura Mercier Secret Concealer topped with Laura Mercier Translucent Setting Powder. Next, Hughes dusted NARS Matte Eye Shadow in New York all over eyelids and sealed it with M.A.C Clear Brilliance Gloss for shine that doesn't smear.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/24/1600x800/landscape-1497557961-gallery-1497461660-look3-v2.jpg"
"Did You Spot the Major Mistake in the Kim Kardashian x Kylie Cosmetics Collab?","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/a46020/kim-kardashian-x-kylie-cosmetics-collab-mistake/","When Kylie Jenner teamed up with her style twin Kim Kardashian for a makeup collab, the beauty world was rightfully shook to the freaking core. The totally nude line debuted a new velvet lipstick formula that was so epic, Kylie added it permanently to the Kylie Cosmetics lineup.

But there were a few hiccups along the way to lipstick success (probably goofy af ones, like Kylie gets). For one, the promo pics looked like bacon. Sorry, Kim, but they did. The second mistake was pretty massive–but you probably didn't even notice it.

KKW A post shared by Kylie Cosmetics (@kyliecosmetics) on May 3, 2017 at 12:26pm PDT

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Kim is the one who actually pointed the mishap out on the season thirteen finale of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Apparently, 1.4 million KKW x Kylie lipstick tubes were accidentally printed with the wrong paint color. The result: the millennial pink caps were a slightly different shade than the matte drippies on the tube.

2 Hours! #restock A post shared by Kylie Cosmetics (@kyliecosmetics) on Apr 28, 2017 at 12:50pm PDT

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GASP!

But since KK is calm, cool, and collected, she skipped this phase:

And went straight into boss mode. Instead of trashing millions of little plastic caps, she decided to save the world (and money, let's be real here) by sending out the tubes, slightly-wrong-shade-of-pink and all.

Let's hope Kim's own beauty brand has fewer mistakes.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/24/980x490/1497541770-1497445177-kylie-jenner-kim-kardashian-lipstick-mistake.jpg"
"6 Beauty Secrets I Learned From Victoria's Secret Angel Sara Sampaio","http://www.elle.com/beauty/a45952/sara-sampaio-beauty-secrets/","Five million people keep up with Sara Sampaio every day on Instagram with good reason: Amidst behind the scenes photos from Victoria's Secret shoots with fellow Angels, red carpet snaps, and enviable travels, she treats everyone to some serious beauty inspo. A true hair and makeup chameleon, the Portuguese model pulls off everything from goth dark lipstick, to beach waves and slicked ponytails, to bold eyes with bold lips, and even bare-faced selfies. We caught up recently with the Moroccanoil beauty ambassador to test out the brand's new sun collection. Here, she shares some of her favorite beauty tips with ELLE.com:

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1. She washes her hair every day.

""With my hair, I only need two things: A good haircut and a good conditioner. If I don't have any time to do anything else, I'm good to go. I work almost every day and when I get home, I have a lot of products in my hair. The one thing that I hate is going to bed with my hair dirty with products because then it gets onto my skin and I start breaking out, so I tend to always take a shower at night before I go to bed. If you're lazy, or you're like 'I can do one more day without washing my hair,' I'll do a messy ponytail and use dry shampoo for texture. What I love about [Moroccanoil's] dry shampoo is that I have dark hair and a lot of dry shampoos [show] white.""

Had the best day with @moroccanoil today 🤗🤗 A post shared by Sara Sampaio (@sarasampaio) on Jun 7, 2017 at 7:33pm PDT

2. She never sticks to one beauty look on the red carpet.

""The thing I love about red carpets is that you get to try so many different things–you can completely change your style. There was a while where I was doing a lot of sleek, straight hair with a middle part. Lately, I really love mixing it up. I'll go with beautiful waves, or I'll do a high pony for something more dramatic. That's what I love about red carpet because if I don't have time, I tend to just leave it out. Keep it simple.""

A post shared by Sara Sampaio (@sarasampaio) on May 22, 2017 at 3:06pm PDT

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3. She can't live without this one beauty product.

""I really love highlighter. Benefit Watt's Up. When I'm going to events I'm like 'More highlighter!' Before I leave the house, I'll put on a little bit more. I love when you just turn and the light hits and it looks very healthy. Even if you don't have time to do a full makeup look, do a little highlighter on the cheek, under the brow bone, and in the corner of your eye. It really lights up your face and makes you look fresh. That's the best thing I've learned and always go to.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/24/1600x800/landscape-1497388815-gettyimages-686811342.jpg"
"Gwen Stefani Dyes Her Hair More Often Than We Paint Our Nails","http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/a45973/gwen-stefani-hair-dye-routine/","The millennial's Marilyn Monroe, Gwen Stefani's signature bleached blonde hair has made her iconic.

From frothy Harajuku curls and 90s throwback bantu buns, to sleek old Hollywood waves and what must surely be the most pinned quiffed ponytail of all time, Gwen might be a hair chameleon, but every fantastical hair look has one thing in common: It has to be bleached blonde.

The irony? There's no bleach involved. Say what?

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Speaking to Refinery29, Stefani's long-time hairstylist Danilo Dixon (or just Danilo to his friends) revealed the secrets to switching up her look every other day, how to do dip dyed hair and the key to nailing white blonde hair without the bleach (or your hair falling out).

@Revlon's #Superlustrous Love That Red, perfect for #globalloveday! ❤️ #ChooseLove #ad A post shared by Gwen Stefani (@gwenstefani) on May 1, 2017 at 6:27pm PDT

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1. Weekly Hair Appointments Are Essential

""We color her hair every Monday, before we film The Voice. Gwen's an Italian girl with wavy brown hair—if you look at the video for Cool, we did her in her natural shade, maybe a little darker—so I developed a high lift formula for her,"" Danilo told Refinery29.

""I learned that I could get to a place of achieving the blond that I want, and the quality of hair that we need and want, by using a new product, as opposed to just bleach. People are like 'That's not natural' and I say, ""Of course it is—it's supernatural"".'

2. Get Your Hands On Some Leave-In Conditioner

""Leave-in conditioners—that's really the secret. So many people are blow drying and using hot tools, which is where most of the damage happens—so I'm always telling people to learn how to work with leave-in conditioning at every stage of styling,"" says Danilo.

3. Don't Be Afraid To Embrace The Neon Ombré

""I use make-up, but for some people I do permanent color. I also use hair pieces. Sometimes I make the color very linear, but I often like a 'tassel finish', which is great when the cut is very blunt—it allows it to swing,"" reveals Danilo.

""I can make the color very hardcore and crisp and clean, but I tend for it to look a little more tie-dyed, a little blurred on the edges and blended out. It has a cooler, softer, contemporary finish to it. It's all about expression.""

Getting ready for u Indy #thisiswhatthetruthfeelsliketour Gx A post shared by Gwen Stefani (@gwenstefani) on Jul 31, 2016 at 4:20pm PDT","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/24/1600x800/1497359535-landscape-1497264967-gwenstefanihair.jpg"
"8 New Goop-isms I Learned at Goop Summit","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/a45954/goop-health-summit/","We have her Goopness Gwyneth Paltrow to thank for conscious uncoupling, but the idea was coined by Dr. Habib Sedeghi, one of many Paltrow-approved gurus to take the stage during Goop's first ever wellness summit, In Goop Health.

On Saturday in Culver City, Paltrow welcomed 600 attendees from across the country to go deep into her world of wellness. High on matcha lattes and Bulletproof Coffee, women (and a handful of men) shopped the Clean Beauty Apothecary, hydrated with Moon Juice tonics, and joined The Class founder Taryn Toomey for a new style sweatless session. But bone broth aside, the main attraction of the day was the five panel discussions exploring the Goopiest of Goop topics from gut health to the mother wound.

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After collagen-spiked martinis in the garden, guests rolled out with new ideas and a new vocabulary to go with it. ""I loved the idea that there is a word for emasculate and no feminine version,"" said Paltrow. There was however, a new word for just about everything else...

1. Crystal prescription

A combination of crystals needed for emotional, physical, and spiritual support and healing. Among the aura photography readings and I.V. drips in the garden, Goop's in-house shaman Colleen McCann gave intuitive readings based on crystals that people were invited to select themselves. ""Our body leads us to what we need,"" she explained, cryptically.

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2. Earthing

""Putting your feet in the grass and letting the light in,"" is how Miranda Kerr described the grounding practice. The keynote panel Balls in the Air was a valuable look into how Kerr, along with Cameron Diaz, Tory Burch, Nicole Richie, and moderator Paltrow herself manage all that they do, but also, how they spend their ""me time."" Richie wakes up an hour before her kids to, ""do nothing and do nothing so hard."" Burch plays tennis. Diaz works out and practices Transcendental Meditation.

3. Orgasm equality

A woman's climax is just as important as a man's. ""It's not that women don't want sex,"" said psychotherapist Esther Perel, ""But in order to want it, it has to be worth wanting,"" And through an animated and insightful discussion about normalizing sex, the bottomline for Perel, producer and writer Jenni Konner of Girls and Lenny fame, Slow Sex author and creator of Orgasmic Meditation Nicole Daedone is that women need to ask for what they want. ""I think the most important aspect of feminism is women feeling comfortable using their voices,"" said Konner. ""Keep saying what you want out loud, and you'll get it.""

4. Plant-Based Medicine

Marijuana and friends. In the Zen Zone, the discussion— when Dr. Carder Stout was not analyzing dreams–was around the benefits of medical cannabis oil vaporizers like the Hmbldt Dose Pen, which delivers precise doses of scientifically blended cannabinoids and terpenes (organic compounds produced by plants) via vape.

Marc Patrick

5. Positive Entitlement

Don't apologize for wanting what you want. ""You're entitled to have a basic sense of I deserve this and it's ok,"" said Dr. Phil Stutz from the stage during The Tools panel, moderated by Paltrow herself. The psychotherapist duo behind books The Tools, and upcoming Coming Alive took a woman onstage for live therapy, taking her through the process from feeling desire to proving it to herself and demanding it from the universe. The audience helped get her in touch with her primal side with a group yell of, ""I'm an animal.""

6. Stroking

The path to Orgasmic Meditation, Daedone's intimate practice that combines the mindfulness of meditation with the connectedness of orgasm. During the 15 minute session, the stroker strokes the clitoris to create sensation. ""The amazing thing about orgasmic meditation besides that it helps people learn about their bodies and couples connect, is that it is a hugely healing practice for sexual trauma,"" explains Konner, who noted during the panel that she's given away so many copies of Perel and Daedone's books that her paycheck should go directly into their pockets.

7. Lectin Avoidance Diet

The new gluten-free. According to Dr. Steven Gundry, it is this class of proteins which naturally occur in plants as a defense mechanism (grains, nightshades, every legume you can think of) that are at the root cause of inflammation. And everybody knows inflammation is the root of all evil.

8. Leech Therapy

The practice of applying hirudo medicinalis, the European medicinal leech, to various points on the body to increase blood flow and increase circulation. Also known as one of the ways Miranda Kerr stays grounded in addition to Kundalini yoga and earthing (see above.) ""They kill the leeches after the treatment and I didn't like that,"" said Kerr, who relocated the animals to her koi pond. ""They've been doing it for thousands of years,"" she said.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/24/1600x800/landscape-1497294222-gwyneth-paltrow-bfa-john-salangsang-1-1.jpg"
"Ikea and Byredo Are Making an Affordable Candle","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/a45951/ikea-byredo-collaboration/","Following news that Off-White's Virgil Abloh is redesigning Ikea's 99 cents blue tote, the home retailer has just announced another elevated collaboration. This time, they're working with Byredo on home fragrances. Fancy!

The collaboration will launch in 2019. There aren't many other details, but apparently Ikea's beloved cinnamon rolls might just inspire a scent, so it's bound to be good.

Get your noses ready for the sweet scent of IKEA and @officialbyredo. Upcoming collaboration revealed on Democratic Design Days. Read all about it on www.ikea.today/ddd Image: Magnus Norman #IKEAtoday #IKEADDD #byredo #bengorham A post shared by IKEA Today (@ikeatoday) on Jun 8, 2017 at 11:51pm PDT

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""I feel people just don't reflect enough when it comes to scent, but smell is a very relevant part of our life and also the home. To collaborate on this idea of 'invisible design' with Ikea, getting people to think about smell is very exciting,"" Gorham says in a statement. ""I enjoy their openness to new ideas and the experimental nature of what we're doing.""

According to Ikea's blog, the partnership is all about ""exploring a democratic approach to smell."" Translation: the goods, like everything in Ikea, will likely be affordable (note: A Byredo candle typically goes for $80). Perhaps that means you won't have to be so hesitant to actually light them.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/24/1600x800/landscape-1497291370-ikea-byredo-5.jpg"
"I Tried Khloé Kardashian's Gummy Bear Hair Vitamins for a Month, and Here's What Happened","http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/a45948/khloe-kardashian-gummy-bear-hair-vitamins/","When Khloé Kardashian first proclaimed her love for the sky blue, teddy-shaped gummy SugarBearHair Vitamins, I was skeptical, but intrigued. Which is basically the story every time a Kardashian endorsement rolls out with an immaculately-filtered selfie on Instagram.

But this had Khloé's upload of approval—and no one keeps it more real. Besides, they promise longer and stronger hair, and they're cute, so what's really to lose?

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A callback to the Flinstone Gummies of my youth, they were 100% more enticing than the fish oil pills (or ""gross"" vitamins, as SugarBear likes to call them) gathering dust in my cabinet.

The SugarBearHair supplements come in a three-month, three-bottle package, the instructions being that you eat two gummy bears a day. Full disclosure: I've only tried a month's worth at this point. And it's important to note that as a brand, from the packaging to their language, they're unicorns-and-rainbows-level saccharine—which might make it hard for a grown-ass woman to take seriously. But that wasn't the case for this moderately-grown-ass woman. I was all in.

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I just love my @sugarbearhair !!! My hair has never looked this good and this full!! These sugar bears are so yummy! pic.twitter.com/JhF73rNsOk — Khloé (@khloekardashian) January 25, 2016

#ad Excited to be partnering with @sugarbearhair to share their amazing hair vitamins with you! These chewable gummy vitamins are delicious and a favorite part of my hair care routine #sugarbearhair A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Aug 22, 2016 at 12:33pm PDT

Flavored with natural berries, the SugarBears weren't Haribo-Gold-level tasty and, okay, yeah, they were a liiiiittle chewy, but limiting myself to just two a day was actually kind of hard.

So Did They Work?

During the first few weeks, I didn't really see a difference in my hair. Though my mane is kind of crazy—i.e. processed, curly, frizzy, and big—so it's inherently hard to tell. But hand to heart, over the last week I've been struck by how much better my curls look. They're tighter, shinier, softer, and overall look less frizzy/damaged. My hair also seems longer, despite having more compact curls.

The only difference in my routine? These gummies. Okay, and a little bit of Oribe's Styling Crème. But considering the SugarBears are carefully formulated with biotin, folic acid, and Vitamin D—all linked to hair growth and health—it makes *total* sense.

At $84, the SugarBearHair system isn't cheap, but if you're desperate for hair repair, it's an easy way to introduce more nutrients into your diet. Just don't expect a Khloé or Kylie/Kim (they've since endorsed them as well) mane in the end. The way I see it, it's all about improving what you've already got.

#ad Love @sugarbearhair for shiny & longer hair. Oh and best part... they taste amazing! 😍💁 #sugarbearhair A post shared by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Mar 20, 2016 at 9:59am PDT

SugarBearHair Vitamins, 3 Months, $83.99; sugarbearhair.com.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/24/980x490/1497280299-landscape-1460559654-12558304-528720930635767-179300651-n-1497273349.jpg"
"Yes, There Is a 4-Step Skincare Routine for Your Legs","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/a44814/skincare-for-your-legs/","Friendly reminder: Your skin does not stop at your neck. Which means, that diligent regimen you're doing on the regular up top should absolutely extend to the rest of your body. The first place to start? Your legs, says New York City dermatologist Howard Sobel, MD. ""You see your face in the mirror all the time, but you rarely look at your legs and are more likely to neglect them."" Pretty much. Here, a play-by-play of exactly what to do in and out of the shower.

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1. Don't forget protection.

Daily sunscreen is pretty obvious when you're trying to prevent facial wrinkles, but for full body anti-aging, you need to protect every sliver of skin that sees the sun—legs included, says Washington, D.C. dermatologist Rebecca Kazin , M.D.. ""Especially in warmer weather when we start wearing clothes that leave them exposed."" Get in the habit of applying a broad-spectrum SPF of at least 30 every day; if you really can't be bothered with another step, choose a formula that doubles as a moisturizer like Banana Boat Protect & Hydrate SPF 50. Be sure to use a quarter-size amount per leg and pay extra attention to the backs of your legs, toes, and the soles of your feet, says Dr. Sobel, where ""skin cancers frequently turn up."" And if you're outside or sweating a lot, reapply every two hours.

2. Prep legs for shaving.

Starting with steam is the simplest pre-shave move you can do. And all it takes is hopping in a hot (not scalding) shower for five minutes, says Dr. Kazin. ""Warming up your skin loosens pores and softens skin, making it less irritating to shave."" Now, you're going to want to slough off all the dead skin that would otherwise build up, potentially causing ingrown hairs post-shave. Dr. Sobel suggests reaching for a glycolic acid-based exfoliator (grainy scrubs can be too abrasive before shaving) like DDF Glycolic 5% Exfoliating Wash to get rid of flakes gently. A heads up that ""the knees can accumulate thicker dead skin sells,"" so let the formula sit a few extra minutes before rinsing.

Stocksy

3. Take your time.

Don't rush, especially over tricky spots like ankles, knees, and shins. Using hydrating products like Skintimate Signture Scents Raspberry Rain Shave Gel and the Schick Hydro Silk Razor will also help you get a close shave (the latter can keep skin moisturized for up to two hours post-shave).

4. Load up on lotion.

This is the point where you need to douse your legs in glorious hydration, since ""the skin on the body has fewer sebaceous glands and tends to be much drier than the skin on the face,"" explains Dr. Kazin. Plus, ""hydrated legs will look and feel smoother."" Choosing a rich cream with hyaluronic acid like PCA Skin Body Therapy helps, but the real trick is to apply it as soon as you get out of the shower when skin's still damp. ""Allowing the water to evaporate off the skin without adding moisture will lead to dehydration and scaliness,"" she warns.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/23/1600x800/landscape-1497021224-gettyimages-535836205.jpg"
"Halima Aden on Mainstream Ideals and Modeling Contracts","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/interviews/a45670/halima-aden-beauty/","Hijab-wearing model Halima Aden went from Miss Minnesota U.S.A. pageant contestant to a standard-bearer for cultural inclusiveness in fashion and beauty. Since appearing on the cover of CR Fashion Book, she's signed a contract with IMG models and has been on a world tour spreading awareness. Aden remembers what it felt like to grow up without public figures who looked like her. ""One of my teachers told me to draw the Disney princess who I could most relate to, and there wasn't one. It hit me at a young age—that made me question whether or not I was good enough. Each princess had a heroic story, but I didn't have one. I took it very hard.""

On eyes Acrylic Paint in 'Primary Yellow' Felix Kim

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Alongside these photographs of Aden in brightly colored hijabs and coordinating makeup looks, she opens up about her own views on beauty as well as some issues that hit her close to home: how mainstream ideals affected her childhood, the problem of skin bleaching in her community, discrimination, and memories of the country left behind when she fled to the United States as an African refugee at age seven.

What is your idea of beauty?

""Being Somali and being African, beauty for us was always about the lighter skinned girls who were considered to be beautiful. I got a first taste of that when I was six. They used to say 'Halima cadey.' That word means light, but also sweet. I had lighter skin than my cousins, and because of that I was told that I was lucky.""

What about the girls who weren't told that they were lucky?

""As I got older I saw that there were a lot of skin bleaching products in our market...in Asian and African communities. Because, unfortunately, lighter skin is what so many people deem to be beautiful. I know a lot of girls who have ruined their skin from using these products. You see that all the time—girls who go from looking nice, with a healthy, natural brown glow to this faded greyish color. Some of those products have Mercury in them. They are banned in the U.S. but people are still selling them. God made you a certain way, so your skin color and features go well together. Something looks off. And it makes their skin so sensitive that they can't go out in the sun or even cook because their skin can't handle the heat. What is so wrong with being black?""

Is there anything being done to help these young women?

""I tried talking to my teacher in 9th grade. I asked if we could talk about skin bleaching in my community. We talk about the ads against tanning and we hear warnings about that all of the time. There are all of these regulations to protect women against the harm there, so why aren't people talking about skin bleaching? Because it's happening in minority communities?""

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Who do you think is to blame for all of this?

""Society, media, and the all of the images of blond hair and blue eyes. Everyone is trying to reach that. It's also family. I could have grown up like the girls I knew who hated their own skin. My mom and my family were celebrated, and they were dark.""

Halima Aden wears all makeup (throughout) M.A.C Cosmetics, on eyes Paint Stick in 'Basic Red,' on cheeks Powder Blush in 'Raizin' Felix Kim

Did you have strong female role models who steered you towards a better perspective?

""I did, but at the same time, my mother never made any excuses. Sometimes we didn't have food, but we'd get by. I understood that mentality from an early age. If you're constantly feeling bad for yourself and blaming others, it drags you down. I didn't choose any of these things—the civil war in Somalia or for my family to flee the country. For her, it was like, you have to keep moving.""

Which ideals of beauty did your mother pass on to you?

""For her, beauty is so unnecessary. My mom didn't want me to get caught up with looks. She thinks that a bare face is the most beautiful that you can be.

I started to use lipstick when I was 14. She would say, 'it's so unnatural.' I told her, 'it looks girly' and 'all of my friends do it.' My mom told me that I should be worrying about school. Eye shadow was a big no no at my house, so I would wipe it off before I came home. Even now, she's against me threading or waxing my eyebrows.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/23/1600x800/landscape-1496872190-cr-fashion-book-felix-kim.jpg"
"Miranda Kerr Made a Beauty Product for Heartbreak","http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/news/a45733/miranda-kerr-heartbreak-beauty/","Miranda Kerr just got married to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, but the model and wellness guru still remembers what it's like to feel heartbreak. ""A few years ago, I was in a really rough place,"" she says from her home in LA. ""My heart was really wounded. This strong wave depression really hit me all of a sudden, and I didn't know what to do. I finally asked my aromatherapist if she could help. And that's how this all started.""

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'This' is Kerr's latest line for Kora Organics, a new range of stuff for physical—and metaphysical—well-being. There's a skin supplement, a face oil, a body oil, and an elixir specifically designed for the Heart Chakra.

If you're thinking, ""That's cool but what?"" we get it. That's why we asked Kerr the crucial, serious questions... like what her wellness routine has in common with Care Bears.

Getty Rebecca Smeyne

When did you first learn about the Heart Chakra? Where exactly is it on your body?

Your Heart Chakra is the fourth chakra. It's literally right over your heart. And our chakras can open and close, and when your Heart Chakra is closed, you're feeling less energy, more stress, like everything is overwhelming and your whole body just wants to shut down.

That's exactly how I feel after a breakup.

Totally. So we created this super-charged wellness essence that really helps nurture your heart and empower your energies. We put in sandalwood, ylang ylang, cedar wood, and we combine them together and filter them through a rose quartz crystal to charge them.

What does the crystal do?

That brings the vibration of love, and it's really good for your wellbeing. It's a unique filtration process, and every single one of our oils goes through it. It's this giant crystal, about 8 inches in diameter. It's really cool.

Where'd you get it?

It was mine! I've had it for quite some time and I gave it to the Kora team for this project. We make sure it's energized it in the sun, because you have to be really specific with crystals and their intentions, and their power.

✨These are a few of my favorite things✨ A post shared by Miranda (@mirandakerr) on May 18, 2017 at 2:50pm PDT

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Ok. So how does this work?

So the first thing you do is smell the Heart Chakra oil. When you smell it, you'll feel it. It's such a sensory experience that's really uplifting and energizing… to be honest, I use it as an alternative to perfume because it smells so yummy. It's the closest thing I can describe to feeling a big warm hug… and if your heart chakra is open and activated, you're more willing to give and receive love. So then you can activate other people's hearts and make them give and receive love, too!

Model Question One: Can you wear a face oil under your makeup?

I do! I do every day! It's my secret travel companion because it's super nourishing and it's good if my skin is feeling sensitive and definitely if it's feeling dry. So I mix it with my facial moisturizer, and then again at night, after I've cleansed my face.

Should you put a few drops into your foundation?

More like, mix it with moisturizer and then it's a really great base for makeup. Everyone I've given it to, men or women, they say the same thing: Miranda, my pores are shrinking. Even guys!

Do dudes really notice their pores?

Oh, for sure, and I'll tell you how I know: Orlando [Bloom] specifically said that to me. So they definitely do!

Getty Jun Sato+WireImage

Model Question Two: Can you mix a skin supplement like your new Skinfood with dairy? Like if you put some in a smoothie? Or is that a no-no?

To be honest, I like my Skinfood just with water. I like the flavor. It's made with noni, acai, blueberry, and macha green tea. But if you want to put it with almond milk or any type of ""real"" milk, juice, smoothie, that's fine. It's an energy boost, too.

Why macha instead of coffee?

It's so much better for focus and concentration. With coffee, I feel like I'm running on adrenaline. It's like a marathon. But with macha, I just feel right there and focused. It's good for modeling, too—you know, walking in heels without coffee is probably more steady. [Laughing.]

You have 11 million Insta-fans. Do you read your comments? Do you respond?

It depends what's going on. Because we just launched these products with Sephora, I'm checking for comments on that. Have you tried it? What's your feedback? Tell me. I find Instagram to be amazing for that.

You can have any outfit you want. Do you still shop?

I love to shop! I'm a Net-a-Porter shopper. Online shopping is my thing, because I can just send stuff to my house, and try it on at home.

Do you prefer the privacy?

No, I just want to make sure that if I'm buying something, it works with the other stuff I already have. ""Does this new bag actually match my shoes? My coat?"" I want to see what it looks like with what I already own. Otherwise, it's a waste!

You are a supermodel, and a wellness maven, and apparently, a super practical luxury shopper. Please tell me there's something you're bad at. Is there a yoga pose you can't do?

So, I'm really good at backbends—Heart Chakra openers! But the forward bends—if I'm not doing it regularly, and I try to touch the floor, I'm like, ""Ugh, come on!"" I can barely even touch my toes. So that's one I have to keep practicing. It should be the easiest pose, but I'm really bad at it.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/23/1600x800/landscape-1496936189-gettyimages-612798438.jpg"
"The 12 Best Twisted Hairstyle Ideas","http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/g30180/twisted-hairstyles-ideas/","Twisted hairstyles are, well, exactly what they sound like, according to Dickey, the creator and founder of Hair Rules. ""Twists are a protective hairstyle that gets people with curly or kinkier hair anywhere through a week to a month without having to rewet the hair,"" he explains. And anytime the hair is twisted—not plaited in a three-strand braid, or ""locked"" in permanent dreadlocks—either with two strands or more, with hair added or not, tight or loose, you've got yourself a protective hairstyle.

Dickey does mention that people run into trouble and risk eroding their edges or losing hair when they leave twisted hairstyles in for much longer than a month. ""I always tell clients, every hour you spend getting your hair done is a week you can keep it in,"" he says. Another word to the wise: If your hair very tightly coiled, you'll want to make sure your stylist blows in tons of moisture—butter, oils, creams, whips, whatever works best for your hair—before twisting it up. ""Otherwise, over time, the hair can get even more brittle, broken, or dry,"" he says.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501187599-elle-hair-beauty-twists.jpg"
"The Latest in Celebrity Hair Transformations","http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/news/g29404/the-latest-in-celebrity-hair-transformations-2017/","When it comes to reinvention, nothing changes a look like new hair—and these celebrities prove it. Here, an ongoing look at the biggest length, bangs, and color changes in Hollywood.

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"11 Unboring Lipstick Shades to Celebrate National Lipstick Day","http://www.elle.com/beauty/g30181/national-lipstick-day-lipsticks/","When did our calendar start filling up with such esteemed happenings as National Pepperoni Pizza Day, International Pet a Puppy Day, Hair Loss Awareness Month? Who knows. But consider National Lipstick Day an excellent excuse to run out (or go online) and snag a tube of something awesome. Here are some crazy, cool and off-the-wall suggestions to get you in the spirit of the totally made up holiday.

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"28 Game-Changing Summer Beauty Products","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/g30170/summer-hair-makeup-skincare/","Eminence Coconut Cream Masque

This nourishing and hydrating mask plumps and restores my skin after a long day by the pool

Dermstore, $35, dermstore.com","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501107719-elle-knc-swim-1.jpg"
"5 Under $10 Face Wipes Recommended By ELLE.com Editors","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/g30173/best-makeup-remover-face-wipes/","Micellar water might be all the rage, but the instant gratification of using a face wipe is unrivaled. Our editors substitute them for washing their face (while pretending they did), pack 'em while traveling, and our senior fashion editor uses them while ""training for a 200 mile relay race."" But even if you don't adhere to a hyperactive lifestyle, who doesn't love a quick fix to sweaty solutions? Shop ELLE.com's selects ahead, all under $8, and most a click away on Amazon.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501086851-facewipes.jpg"
"16 New Ways to Wear Strawberry Blonde Hair","http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/g29067/strawberry-blonde-hair-color/","Strawberry blonde looks different from every angle, thanks to its golden quality that refracts light. In other words, it's just pretty. Another bonus is that the color comes in a variety of shades, complimenting most complexions. It can be classic like Jessica Chastain (a real life Jessica Rabbit), or look distinctively modern like Keke Palmer's warm peachy blonde. There's a whole spectrum of strawberry blonde to explore, so click through to see our favorites here.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1500924310-strawberryblonde.jpg"
"17 New Ways to Wear a French Manicure","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/g28714/french-manicure-nail-designs/","The French tip dates as far back as the 18th century. The look had a brief hiatus sometime in the mid-2000s, but the latest incarnations are a far cry from the thick, angular acrylics of decades past. Rainbow details, minimalist outlines, and fishnet accents offer new ways to wear a French manicure right now.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501006271-elle-french-manicure-update.jpg"
"M.A.C's Basic Bitch Palette is Here (And She Brought The Whole Squad)","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/g30164/mac-girls-eyeshadow-palette/","M.A.C first teased the ""Basic Bitch"" personality palette back in February, but prepare to literally choke on your Frappuccino because there is MORE. That's right, ""Basic Bitch"" just added five #MACGirls to the squad: Rockin' Rebel, Mischief Minx, Fashion Fanatic, Prissy Princess and Power Hungry. Scroll through to see every rosé-tastic eye shadow shade in the collection, slated to launch August 3rd.

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"The Best and Boldest Lip Looks From the Fall 2017 Runways","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/g29969/fall-lipstick-trends-2017/","From a kiss of barely-there color to full-throttle brights, the fall 2017 runways delivered major lip moments. In celebration of National Lipstick Day on July 29, mouth off with these gorgeous looks to up your game—and all the tubes you need to get them there.

More","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/24/1600x800/landscape-1497625693-elle-mayebellinelede1.jpg"
"The Best Chrome Nail Polish Colors at Every Price Point","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/g30159/best-chrome-nail-polish-colors/","There's no tried-and-true definition of chrome, but if you're looking for the gun-gray metallic on your nails, we're guessing you're after something tough but shiny, edgy but elevated. Our favorite hues follow—from drugstore steals to don't-tell-me-the-price splurges.

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"The Hottest Beauty Deals From Nordstrom's Semi-Anniversary Sale","http://www.elle.com/beauty/g30154/best-of-nordstrom-beauty-semi-anniversary-sale/","The Hottest Beauty Deals From Nordstrom's Semi-Anniversary Sale

Where else can you get Giorgio Armani's cult-favorite foundation on sale?","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500655814-nordstrombeauty.jpg"
"10 Halloween Makeup Ideas That Aren't a Cliché","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/g27165/9-mesmerizing-halloween-makeup-ideas/","We're sorry, but we can't handle another Roy Lichtenstein or Dia de los Muertos makeup look. And there's nothing scarier than walking down the street matching 72 black-bobbed, red-lipped Mia Wallaces. Despite the over-saturation of iconic halloween costumes, you don't need the most original idea to stand out. From a metallic disco queen to a new interpretation of Leeloo's neon style, here are 10 Halloween makeup ideas that are far from basic.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500563963-elle-halloween-makeup.jpg"
"The Prettiest Blonde Ombré Hair","http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/news/g30137/blonde-ombre-hair/","It's Maxine Waters' Time; We're Just Living In It","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/29/1600x800/landscape-1500318018-blondeombre.jpg"
"30 Hairstyles to Wear When It's Too Hot to Move","http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/news/g30127/hairstyles-to-wear-when-hot-outside/","30 Hairstyles to Wear When It's Too Hot to Move

These looks will keep you cool when it's hot AF.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1500044879-zendaya-1499721850.png"
"What 15 Celebrities Would Look Like With Wild '80s Hair","http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/g30126/80s-hair-celebrities/","While the decade of shoulder pads, synthesizers and John Hughes movies may not have been our finest moment in hair history, it's always fun to look back at the frizziness from time to time for a good chuckle. And so, just for nostalgia's sake, we give you your favorite stars in all sorts of mullet, perm and Cyndi-Lauper-esque glory.

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"The Best Waterproof Eyeliner For Face-Melting Heat","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/g30128/best-waterproof-eyeliner/","One end of this dual-ended pencil offers a chiseled tip for skinny or wide lines. The other? A soft and bendy brush for smoking things out.

ColorStay 2-in-1 Angled Kajal Eyeliner, $8.99; ulta.com

","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1500048038-waterproof-mascara.jpg"
"15 Dark Blonde Hair Ideas to Try","http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/g29200/dark-blonde-hair-colors/","Are you in need of a summery hair hue that isn't bright platinum? The solution is dark blonde. The easy color has a wide spectrum of shades, so it works for all complexions. Here, 15 celebs who rep dark blonde at its finest.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1499976811-elle-dark-blond-hair-2.jpg"
"8 White Nail Polishes That ELLE Editors Are Wearing","http://www.elle.com/beauty/reviews/g30115/white-nail-polish/","JINsoon Nail Polish in Kookie White + Matte Maker

""In the '90s, all the cool girls wore good old Wite-Out as ""nail polish."" I still have a tender spot in my heart for that look, so I like this JINsoon polish plus a coat of their Matte Maker. Fashion: but make it an office product."" — Estelle Tang, ELLE.com Culture Editor

JINsoon Nail Polish in Kookie White, $18; amazon.com

JINsoon Matte Maker, $18; amazon.com","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1499889432-whitepolish.jpg"
"All The Hair and Makeup You Need to See From Couture Week","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/g30090/paris-couture-hair-makeup-fall-2017/","Giambattista Valli

Makeup artist Val Garland wanted the red lips to look ""like a rosebud,"" she said. ""It's like she's been biting peonies. And we put a lot of gloss over the top, so it just looks quite sexy at the same time."" For the hair, James Pecis took a similar cue, using Oribe Maximista Thickening Spray and Swept Up Volume Powder Spray for a messy texture.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499454687-elle-paris-couture-fashion-week-fw-17.jpg"
"35 New Braid Ideas for Every Hair Type","http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/g28399/braided-hairstyles/","Some braids are best left to the pros. For others, you'll want to enlist that one childhood friend who's amazing at French braiding (we all have only one). The braids you'll see here fall under both categories. These celebrity styles will re-pique your plaited interest beyond the basic, with styles for every hair type

More","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499347345-elle-hair-braids-lead.jpg"
"The Best Amazon Prime Day Beauty Deals: Hair","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/g30105/best-amazon-prime-day-hair-deals/","For Amazon Prime Day on July 11, beauty deals—and more specifically, luxury beauty deals—abound. More than 6,000 hair, makeup, body, skin and nail products will be priced anywhere from 30 to 40 percent off. Option A: Clicking through every single one to find your faves. Option B: Taking our word for it. Here's our top hair picks, all in one place.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1499721970-el-060617-hair.jpg"
"The Best Amazon Prime Day Makeup Deals","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/g30106/best-amazon-prime-day-makeup-deals/","For Amazon Prime Day on July 11, beauty deals—and more specifically, luxury beauty deals—abound. More than 6,000 hair, makeup, body, skin and nail products will be priced anywhere from 30 to 40 percent off. Option A: Clicking through every single one to find your faves. Option B: Taking our word for it. Here's our top makeup picks, all in one place.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/980x490/gallery-1499724550-amazon-beauty.jpg"
"The Best Amazon Prime Day Beauty Deals: Skin","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/g30102/best-amazon-prime-day-beauty-deals-for-skin/","For Amazon Prime Day on July 11, beauty deals—and more specifically, luxury beauty deals—abound. More than 6,000 hair, makeup, body, skin and nail products will be priced anywhere from 30 to 40 percent off. Option A: Clicking through every single one to find your faves. Option B: Taking our word for it. Here's our top skin picks, all in one place.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/28/1600x800/landscape-1499718485-beauty-deals-skin.jpg"
"12 Seasonal Nail Designs That Don't Take Fall Literally","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/g28567/fall-nail-art-designs/","When you're swapping summer brights for cozy, fall neutrals, you need a nail to match. We're always down for nail art, but we're practicing the art of subtly this season. Here, the new French tip, autumnal color palettes, a look direct from the FW17 runways, and more from Instagram's best nail artists.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1499278862-14374077-1805122663058458-6359785953267023872-n.jpg"
"Every Single Color in M.A.C's Dazzling New Lipgloss Collection","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/g30080/mac-dazzleglass-collection/","If you're feeling the matte lip fatigue, M.A.C has the perfect remedy. Today, the beauty brand relaunches Dazzleglass, a collection of glittery lipglosses in 16 shades. For the bold, they have neon purple, fuschia pink, and deep blue; those with tamer tastes can try one of the several sheer, nude options. No matter your preference, you'll get high shine and an iridescent, crystal-like finish. Each retails for $24 and is available now at maccosmetics.com. Get a preview of them all, ahead.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1499353193-screen-shot-2017-07-06-at-105726-am.png"
"The Best Sunscreen For Your Face According to ELLE Editors","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/g26527/best-face-sunscreen/","If adding sunblock to your morning regimen feels like an unnecessary step, consider this statement from the Skin Cancer Foundation: ""More than 90 percent of the visible skin changes associated with aging are caused by the sun's ultraviolet rays."" AKA, wrinkles. When it comes to protecting your face from UVA and UVB rays, the safest look is a baseball cap, sunglasses, and—most importantly—a broad spectrum sunscreen with SPF 20 to 50. Here, 12 ELLE editors share their favorite sunscreens for the face.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499279771-sunscreen-update.jpg"
"7 Beauty Subscription Boxes That Aren't Basic","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/g30059/best-makeup-subscription-boxes/","Birchbox

The company that started it all is still going strong and adding new brands everyday to keep things fresh. Each monthly box offers a handful of samples from both familiar and under-the-radar brands that are customized to your beauty (and style) needs. If you fall in love with any of the baby products, you can order a full-size version to ship with your next box.

$10/month or $100/year, birchbox.com","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/26/1600x800/landscape-1498856531-boxcomp.jpg"
"20 Summer Superfoods You Need to Try Right Now","http://www.elle.com/beauty/news/g30073/summer-superfoods-list/","Kiwi

Two kiwis supply a whopping 430% of your daily vitamin C needs, plus they're a good source of vitamin E and contain as much potassium as a banana. To eat, cut in half and then spoon out — just like you're eating an ice cream sundae, says London. Try Zespri SunGold kiwifruit, a new non-GMO yellow-fleshed hybrid fruit that's nice and sweet.

Make strawberry-kiwi lemonade today »","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/1499094069-landscape-1498579356-gettyimages-172315512.jpg"
"12 Ways to Immediately Zap Greasy Summer Skin","http://www.elle.com/beauty/makeup-skin-care/news/g30066/mattifying-beauty-products/","For those of us who can't get to 2 P.M. without a film of face-oil forming along the T-Zone and beyond, summer—that is, when heat and humidity seemingly kick already-active oil glands into overdrive—can be brutal. While a solid skincare routine should be your first line of defense, it helps to have a quick fix solutions at hand. Ahead, find 12 of the best mattifying products I've tried and loved.

More","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/27/1600x800/landscape-1499270946-el-greasyskin.jpg"
"Brazil's Best-Selling Beauty Brand is Finally Available in The U.S.","http://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/g30052/best-brazilian-beauty-products/","Brazil is the world's third largest consumer of cosmetics, thanks in part to environmentally conscious beauty powerhouse NaturaBrasil. Founded in 1969, Natura reaches a reported 100 million people and lives in nearly 60% of Brazilian homes. Best of all, each and every one of the skin, hair and body products are formulated without parabens, sulfates, and animal ingredients.

What really sets the brand apart is their commitment to sustainability–Natura works with over 30 local communities in the Amazon to grow and harvest nourishing ingredients like açaí, cacau, and maracuja without damaging the environment.



Natura is now available stateside at the first flagship location in New York City and online as of last month. Click through for our favorite products from the collection.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/26/1600x800/landscape-1498763004-naturabrasil.jpg"
"The 13 Funniest Tweets About Anthony Scaramucci Leaving the White House Already","http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/news/a47059/anthony-scaramucci-fired-best-twitter-reactions/","In just about 10 days, Anthony Scaramucci went from landing a new job as the White House communications director to giving the New Yorker one of its most profane and popular interviews ever to getting a divorce to missing the birth of his child to getting kicked to the curb. Yes, the Mooch is leaving his position in Trump's administration after a little over a week.

Still, in that short time, the Mooch has had an impact. To think it was just a few days ago that Mario Cantone debuted his spot-on impression of him! Alas, the Mooch era has come and gone. Luckily, Twitter is here for us in this difficult time.

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Here, the funniest takes so far on the political shakeup.

Anthony Scaramucci has resigned to spend more time with his... well, no, that's not gonna work. — Matt Goldich (@MattGoldich) July 31, 2017

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Hot take: Scaramucci went the full douchebag. You never go the full douchebag. — Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) July 31, 2017

Unfortunately for the Mooch, the minimum tenure to get invited to the annual WH Comms Directors Reunion is 3 weeks — Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) July 31, 2017

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Anthony Scaramucci is going to kick Sean Spicer's ass on Dancing With the Stars. — Josh Barro (@jbarro) July 31, 2017","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1024x512/landscape-1501527576-anthony-scaramucci-the-mooch.jpg"
"Whitney Port Welcomes Her First Son","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a47056/whitney-port-welcomes-her-first-son/","Whitney Port has given birth to her first son with husband Tim Rosenman. ""Sonny Sanford Rosenman was born on 7/27/17!!"" Port wrote on her Instagram. ""Everyone is so happy and healthy and we are home now. I'm going to try my very best to not be one of those moms whose feed is dominated by their baby but I can totally see how difficult it will be not to. I am beyond obsessed and in love and wish I could bottle this feeling for all of you out there. Check out the blog (link in bio) for more and welcome our little one to the world!!""

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Port shared two photos of the little guy on her site. Her son arrives just weeks after her The Hills costar Lauren Conrad gave birth to her own baby boy at the beginning of July. Do we see a Hills baby best friendship in the making? Or a The Hills: Next Generation spin-off?","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x800/landscape-1501523815-gettyimages-465541495.jpg"
"Are Democrats Embracing Pro-Life Candidates Now?","http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/news/a47053/democrats-litmus-test-on-abortion/","As the Republican-controlled Congress continues to fail at everything they do, the Democrats are taking the opportunity to present a clear and progressive message about the future of America try not to ""alienate"" anyone by having things like hard opinions or principles. After releasing a plan that focused largely on economics instead of any social issues, they now say they won't withhold any financial support for candidates who oppose abortion.

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Rep. Ben Ray Luján told the Hill ""There is not a litmus test for Democratic candidates. As we look at candidates across the country, you need to make sure you have candidates that fit the district, that can win in these districts across America."" He said Democrats need a ""broad coalition"" in order to pick up more seats. Which sounds like code for ""we don't want to piss anyone off by fighting for abortion rights.""

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One of the key things that separates Republicans and Democrats is their stance on abortion issues, and while there are plenty of Democrats who are personally anti-abortion, working to pass pro-choice legislation and protect Roe v. Wade has long been part of the Democratic party platform. So Lujan's statement is striking many as walking back on a promise.

""It's short-sighted and dangerous to pave the path to victory in 2018 at the expense of women,' said Destiny Lopez, Co-Director of the All* Above All Action Fund. ""Let's not forget that the widely-lauded Democratic platform in 2016 clearly opposed not just restrictions on legal abortion—it also opposed the Hyde Amendment which bans abortion coverage. We urge the party to put its weight behind candidates who will stand with women.""

""Women's issues are being positioned as a vulnerability of today's Democratic party, rather than part of its core. We've seen Sen. Bernie Sanders—who talked about ending the Hyde Amendment during his presidential bid—become lukewarm on the centrality of support for abortion rights to the Democratic party,"" said Lopez in a statement to ELLE.com. ""This flirtation with abandoning support for abortion rights, where women's health, racial justice and family economics intersect, is deeply troubling, especially from those who profess a commitment to economic justice. Support for women's health and rights is inseparable from economic and racial justice.""

""Mitchell Stille, NARAL Pro-Choice's National Campaigns Director, also said the move was ""bad politics."" She said in a statement, ""Anyone who actually thinks that Donald Trump and the GOP candidates won in 2016 because of their opposition to abortion rights is sorely mistaken. A small minority of voters vote strictly on an anti-choice platform. Those same voters just aren't going to vote for Democrats anyway -- they fundamentally disagree with just about everything Democrats stand for. Economic security isn't possible without reproductive freedom. Gender equality isn't possible without reproductive freedom. Families of all political leanings understand that -- it's time people in 'this town' caught up.""

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People who understand that access to abortion is a human right (not to mention an issue of economic equality!), are just generally not having it.

My humanity is not a litmus test. — Rachel Fershleiser (@RachelFersh) July 31, 2017

Love how the expectation that Democratic candidates support public health good & believe in women's bodily autonomy is a ""litmus test."" https://t.co/GyZCP53xlG — Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) July 31, 2017

What is the point of Dems who don't care about repro justice. How do they differ from GOP candidates https://t.co/BhlNnFjnqv — ak? they gay (@alyssakeiko) July 31, 2017

Just in case you thought the Democratic party had any principles https://t.co/Y0lwMuGcoO — Nathaniel Friedman (@freedarko) July 31, 2017

It's one thing to not demand ideological purity of everyone in a political party. Progress comes from people with different ideas and priorities coming together to figure things out. It's an entirely different thing to abandon a key part of your party's platform in an effort to find ""winning candidates."" And remember, seven out of ten people oppose overturning Roe v. Wade. That's a lot of votes!","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x800/landscape-1501521580-pro-choice-rally.jpg"
"The First Teaser for Jennifer Lawrence's Mother! Is Nightmare-Inducing","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47054/jennifer-lawrence-mother-teaser/","Not much is known about Jennifer Lawrence's upcoming film Mother!, which is directed and written by Black Swan's Darren Aronofsky (who J.Law is also dating off-screen). But the very first teaser about unexpected house guests—with its ominous footage and dialogue—does confirm it may be the creepiest little horror film to hit theaters this September. The film also stars Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer. Watch and say a prayer for hostess Lawrence:

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The film's full trailer comes out August 8. Mother! hits theaters September 15.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x800/landscape-1501523143-mother.jpg"
"This Game of Thrones Scene Was So Intense They Had to Cut the Actress Out of Shackles","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a47052/indira-varma-on-ellaria-sand-end/","This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones.

It didn't seem like things could get much worse for Ellaria Sand after Euron Greyjoy interrupted her makeout with Yara Greyjoy last week, but in ""The Queen's Justice,"" they definitely did. Euron paraded Ellaria and her daughter Tyene through the streets of King's Landing before delivering them to Cersei (they were his previously mentioned ""gift"" to her), then Cersei chained them up and kissed Tyene with the same poison that Ellaria used to kill Myrcella. Ellaria's not dead but according to actress Indira Varma, she's not coming back to the show either — meaning Ellaria's going to live out the rest of her days in that dungeon, watching Tyene waste away.

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""I was expecting it,"" Indira told Entertainment Weekly of her character's exit from the show. ""I wasn't heartbroken. And I was like, 'As long as I die on screen…' and they were like 'Yeah!' But of course I don't die on screen. I stay alive, I'm just not going to reappear. I think it's really clever."" As far as shooting the scene went, it sounds like it was just as intense for Indira as it was for Ellaria, due to the whole ""shackled to the wall"" thing. ""They very kindly put some felt inside the handcuffs so we didn't get bruised and battered — though we ended up doing that anyway because your acting takes over,"" Indira said. ""The shackles kept coming off so they had to tighten them and then we couldn't get them off at all. At the end of the day I was like, 'I'm stuck! I need somebody to help me!' and they had to cut me out of them. All in a day's work.""

Game of Thrones: The only show on TV where ""all in day's work"" means ""getting cut out of shackles.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x800/1501520688-ellaria-sand-cersei-1501511954.png"
"HBO Just Got Hacked and 'Game of Thrones' Details Were Allegedly Leaked","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47050/hbo-data-breach-hackers-game-of-thrones-details/","A hacker has released what might be a script from the next episode of Game of Thrones—and more leaks may be on the way. Entertainment Weekly reports that a hacker put upcoming episodes of Ballers and Room 104 online, plus a script that is apparently the next episode of Game of Thrones. The person behind the cyberattack promises more is ""coming soon,"" and an anonymous email was reportedly sent to various journalists celebrating the leak. The chairman and CEO of HBO, Richard Plepler, emailed employees about the data breach, calling it ""disruptive, unsettling, and disturbing.""

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""HBO recently experienced a cyber incident, which resulted in the compromise of proprietary information,"" the network said in a statement. ""We immediately began investigating the incident and are working with law enforcement and outside cybersecurity firms. Data protection is a top priority at HBO, and we take seriously our responsibility to protect the data we hold.""

HBO, along with many other networks, has had to work to protect itself from cyberattacks and leaked episodes over the years. Just in April, a hacker leaked episodes of Netflix's Orange Is the New Black before the season was set to air; he or she had held them for ransom, according to the New York Times. And according to Entertainment Weekly, HBO no longer sends episodes in advance because of past episodes that leaked online.

It's unclear exactly what Game of Thrones details were released in the hack, or if the script was even legitimate in the first place. HBO won't comment on that, naturally, and perhaps it's for the best. Why ruin the surprise for Sunday night?","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x800/1501517801-landscape-1501516363-cb0a7c5ec599fb0cc3774e605321b350e4fbd6dead6b3cd025382cb2e800979d26d48a152d859c427ac728176c5d5ce9.jpg"
"Ashley Graham, Emily Ratajkowski, Stephanie Seymour & More Pose Nude For Love Magazine","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a47047/ashley-graham-emily-ratajkowski-naked-love-magazine/","For its latest cover, Love Magazine tapped Nicole Kidman for a red hot shoot, but that's only the beginning of the issue's ultra-sexy photos.

""I thought about this shoot afterwards. I was like, what was I doing? I lost my mind! How are the shots? Do they look crazy?"" THE Nicole Kidman for Love 18 #lovedup ❤️❤️❤️❤️ A post shared by LOVE MAGAZINE (@thelovemagazine) on Jul 14, 2017 at 8:04am PDT

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The magazine's 18th edition features a black and white editorial of several models—both fresh faces and seasoned vets—posing completely nude. Emily Ratajkowski, Ashley Graham, Doutzen Kroes, Karen Elson, and Slick Woods all appear naked in the photo series shot by Patrick Demarchelier.

Most notable, however, is '80s and '90s supermodel Stephanie Seymour who, at 49 years old, made a rare editorial appearance to bare it all in the shoot as well.

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See all the stunning nude photos below:

Emily Ratajkowski:

BOOM 💥💥💥 @emrata by @patrickdemarchelier for Love 18 A post shared by LOVE MAGAZINE (@thelovemagazine) on Jul 21, 2017 at 11:53am PDT

Ashley Graham:

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Karen Elson:

Slick Woods:

Unappreciated lover boy Shot by @patrickdemarchelier styled by @kegrand for @thelovemagazine A post shared by @slickwoods on Jul 22, 2017 at 12:54pm PDT

Doutzen Kroes:

Stephanie Seymour:

Go behind-the-scenes of all the photo shoots at lovemagazine.co.uk.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1501514309-1501486564-hbz-love-magazine-insta-1501256133.jpg"
"'Reclaiming My Time' Now Has a Gospel Remix","http://www.elle.com/culture/music/news/a47043/reclaiming-my-time-now-has-a-gospel-remix/","It's Monday but Sunday's coming! Last week, Rep. Maxine Waters gave us life with three words: ""Reclaiming my time."" The congresswoman, who knows her way around a bon mot, doesn't suffer fools, and is on a tight schedule, got into a heated back-and-forth with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin during a House Financial Services Committee hearing. When Mnuchin didn't give a simple and expeditious answer to Waters' question, she busted out the phrase, ""Reclaiming my time,"" the parliamentary procedure version of ""When you play me, you play yourself.""

Getty

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A meme was instantly born, with ""Reclaiming my time,"" popping up on mugs, t-shirts and, of course, clocks

Admit it, you reclaimed your time at least once this weekend.

You: There's a 45-minute wait for a brunch table.

Me: RECLAIMING MY TIME. I can get eggs anywhere.

Waters' other cutting turns-of-phrase also got the meme treatment, too.

Me on a date: ""Are you familiar with a May 23 letter I sent to you?"" — Reclaiming My Time (@BroderickGreer) July 28, 2017

Twitter user @_maleficentt hilariously imagined what a Reclaiming My Time album might look like.

tell me i'm lying tho pic.twitter.com/paPdWpwEzP — Patti LaHelle (@_maleficentt) July 28, 2017

And now that dream is a reality. The words that took us to church have been remixed into a gospel-infused song by singer Mykal Kilgore. A frequent Postmodern Jukebox collaborator, Kilgore posted an a capella video of himself singing ""Reclaiming my time"" as a phrase of praise on Sunday and it's quickly gone viral. It's easy to see why:

Get into that key change!

Kilgore uses ""Reclaiming my time"" as a refrain on an original melody, while incorporating the other parts of Waters' line of questioning in the verses. Yes, the May 23rd letter gets a shoutout, as well as the other instant classic ""We don't want to take my time up with how great I am."" If you didn't church shout during the original video, this musical version will bring it out of you.

Now what do we have to do to get the rest of that that Maxine Waters' album? I mean, I know Rep. Waters is pretty busy giving the internet imminently quotable content while simultaneously doggedly pursuing justice, not to mention keeping Secretary Mnuchin on task. But maybe Mykal Kilgore can jump in the studio and lay down a few tracks. Maybe with a feature from Tony-winner Cynthia Erivo?

OK #ReclaimMyTime2017 be careful about the next thing you tweet me — Cynthia Erivo (@CynthiaEriVo) July 30, 2017

The internet is wild. Anything is possible these days.

Never has a simple procedural phrase in a dry congressional hearing about finances given us so much. We are not worthy. ::praise emoji::

Follow R. Eric Thomas on Twitter.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1501507832-screen-shot-2017-07-31-at-92930-am.png"
"The Game of Thrones Reunion Between Sansa and Bran Stark Was So, So Strange","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47045/game-of-thrones-sansa-bran-reunion-best-tweets/","In the seventh season of Game of Thrones, the Starks are finally drifting back to each other, one by one. We just saw Sansa and Jon Snow back at Winterfell, and in episode 3, Bran returns from beyond the wall.

But the reunion was not the happy, excited, relieved one that Sansa—and viewers–were expecting. Sansa reminded her brother that he's the one male Stark left, and that he, not Jon, is the true lord of Winterfell. But he quickly put that idea aside. ""I can never be lord of Winterfell,"" he told her. ""I can never be lord of anything."" Sansa was rightly puzzled—she doesn't know about how he's become the Three-Eyed Raven, or even what that means, and that showed in her utterly baffled expression. Bran's non explanation didn't help, and neither did the fact that he seemed to know everything she'd been through, including her marriage to the sociopathic Ramsay Bolton—and the rape that followed. Sansa wasn't up for this casual invocation of the traumas of her past, understandably, and quickly left their meeting.

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Viewers were also extremely weirded out by Bran's behavior upon his return to Winterfell. Not only was it bizarre and kind of inappropriate, it was so stonily acted by Isaac Hempstead Wright that people compared it to other very strange family reunions. Here are some of the most befuddled Twitter reactions:

Bran: ""I can never be lord of anything, I'm the three eyed raven""



Sansa: pic.twitter.com/CycyHcyCXi — A.B. (@AlannaBennett) July 31, 2017

ugh, Bran's back from Oberlin — Owen Ellickson (@onlxn) July 31, 2017

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Bran was like... pic.twitter.com/vutdpIKmcl — Game of Thrones Meme (@Thrones_Memes) July 31, 2017","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x800/landscape-1501510557-2c428e390a225ceec7cf03777b6c7957815666fcc9b6315bc1f8d1e03b8736fa163918bdf19848cfaa01f71adfcdf34f.jpg"
"Blake Lively Does Not Want to be Told She Has a ""Perfect"" Life and Husband","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a47044/blake-lively-on-ryan-reynolds-glamour-interview/","Blake Lively understands that by the looks of it, she has the perfect life: the perfect face, the perfect husband, the perfect babies, the perfect career. But she hates being reduced to it in articles. ""It's nonsense,"" she tells Glamour in its September 2017 issue. ""It simplifies people. Not all men, but a subsection of men, have a desire to understand and control women. To do that, you have to paint them into this thing you can wrap your head around. But women are complex. It also is [a reminder] that what you see in the media is not real life. The night before an interview, I have complete anxiety: How is this person going to spin me? So when you read, 'Oh, she's got a perfect life,' or 'Her life is crumbling'—they pick narratives for everyone. And the narratives stick.""

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Lively says that both she and her husband Ryan Reynolds are very conscious of this narrative. ""My husband and I are really shy people who express ourselves best when we're acting, when we're hiding as someone else,"" she explains. ""So the fact that very shy people have to share that shy person with the world—and are sometimes hurt by it—it's very weird emotionally. Anyway, champagne problems.""

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For what it's worth though, Lively truly is crazy about Reynolds. They come before their work—and schedule their shoots so they're never on projects at the same time, she says: ""I admire people who find that what fulfills them is their art or their work, but what fulfills both me and my husband is our family. Knowing that, everything else comes second. We've each given up stuff we loved in order to not work at the same time. I'm fortunate to be in a place now where I get to find the material—a book or script—early and develop it. So I know ahead of time that I'm going to be working on this job at this time. And we can plan around it.""

Lively reads his snarky tweets that aren't actually about their two kids. ""When he says 'my daughter,' he's never, ever talking about her,"" she explains. ""Everything is a completely made-up scenario. He'll run them by me sometimes just to make me laugh. But oh, I'm so in love with him when he writes that stuff. I mean, I'm in love with him most of the time, but especially with that.""

And Lively will admit that yeah, she's lying when she says it's only most of the time she loves him. It's all of the time ""because if I say, 'I'm so in love with him all the time,' then you get that eye-rolling, 'Oh, her life is so great, she's so perfect.' So it's, like, my defense mechanism,"" she explains. ""There's never a time when I'm like, 'I don't really love you.' Still, in a sound bite? It can be eye-roll-y. I have to learn to stop being defensive.""

They work so well because she still treats him like any other friend, even when they have conflicts. ""In other relationships, if something came up, I would call my girlfriends or my sister, and say, 'Hey, this is what he did—what should I do?'"" she explains. ""Where with him, we were friends for two years before we were ever dating. And I treat him like my girlfriend. I'm like, 'Hey, this happened. It upset me. This is how I feel. What do I do?' And he does the same for me. He treats me like his best buddy.""

And that's how you get the Lively-Reynolds genuinely-always-in-love bond.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/16/26/1600x800/landscape-1467151023-blake-lively-hair-37.jpg"
"What Is Happening to Blake Lively in This Crazy Instagram?","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a47042/blake-lively-posts-mask-instagram/","Blake Lively was working yesterday, and her day at the office looked something like this:

...today at the office. A post shared by Blake Lively (@blakelively) on Jul 30, 2017 at 10:21am PDT

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Husband Ryan Reynolds and fellow Taymerica 2016 party guest Gigi Hadid were into it—and perhaps know something we don't about what's going on:

Instagram

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Lively's caption didn't give much more insight about what this face cast is being made for—and it didn't even 100 percent confirm it's her under it—but commenters had some theories. Several speculated it was for a wax sculpture at Madame Tussauds! (Though, as Business Insider broke down, face casts like that aren't made of the celebrity when they're being fitted for a figure. Measurements are just taken and then sculpted into clay.)

Another joked, ""She asked for extra guac."" One really, really hoped it was for Deadpool 2. Another said it was for a body double—which may actually have some truth to it.

Lively was cast in A Simple Favor as a woman who mysteriously disappears. Her best friend, a mommy blogger played by Anna Kendrick, tries to piece together what happened. Variety further teases there's a dead body involved, which could be the one being made of Lively in this cast.

We'll have to wait to see, but for now, our money's on the guac theory.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x800/landscape-1501508708-gettyimages-531204476.jpg"
"Here's Why #NoConfederate Was Trending During Game of Thrones Last Night","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47040/confederate-protest-game-of-thrones-hbo/","Two weeks back, HBO piggybacked on the Game of Thrones premiere momentum to announce a new show from creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss—and might have come to regret it. Executive produced by Benioff and Weiss alongside Nichelle Tramble Spellman and Malcolm Spellman, Confederate is a show that takes place in an alternative timeline where the South successfully seceded from the North during the Civil War, meaning that slavery was never abolished, and endured as a modern institution.

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The backlash was swift and deserved, with incredulous viewers—plus prominent critical voices like Roxane Gay—asking whether now is really the greatest time to be telling fantasy stories about white supremacy in the name of entertainment. During last night's episode of Game of Thrones, displeased fans made their voices heard by trending ""#NoConfederate"" on Twitter. The protest was organized by April Reign, an activist who created the #OscarsSoWhite campaign.

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I want y'all to understand what we did. Five Black women announced on Friday that we would have #NoConfederate trending on Sunday at 9p. — April (@ReignOfApril) July 31, 2017

#NoConfederate because the terror of white supremacy is a reality for POC. This shouldn't even have to be a hashtag in 2017. — Jay Coles (@mrjaycoles) July 31, 2017

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#NoConfederate is basically:



White ppl: omg... what if... white supremacy....was still real????!?!?! could you imagine??!?!?!?



Black ppl: pic.twitter.com/wT8cobNAd2 — black history heaux (@localblactivist) July 31, 2017

#NoConfederate 'cause this hashtag already has brought a swarm of white supremacists to my mentions, these people don't need encouragement. — watch killjoys 🚀 (@colectivovacio) July 31, 2017

1/ White folks who are saying ""don't judge the show before it's made"", please take a step back and consider this. (thread) #NoConfederate — Charles Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) July 31, 2017

HBO issued a statement in response to the protest, in which it implored viewers to wait and see the show before passing judgment. ""We have great respect for the dialogue and concern being expressed around Confederate. We have faith that [writers] Nichelle, Dan, David and Malcolm will approach the subject with care and sensitivity. The project is currently in its infancy so we hope that people will reserve judgment until there is something to see,"" the network said.

Despite the public opposition, it seems like HBO is sticking with Confederate. The show chronicles the events leading up to the Third American Civil War, and will follow a broad swath of characters on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Demilitarized Zone: freedom fighters, slave hunters, politicians, abolitionists, journalists, the executives of a slave-holding conglomerate, and the families of people in their thrall.

The show likely won't launch until 2019 at the earliest, once Game of Thrones has finished its run, so it'll be interesting to see how it develops. There's some reason to wonder whether actors will want to attach themselves to a project that seems toxic from the get-go, but HBO exec Casey Bloys argued last week that despite ""the high degree of difficulty"" to getting it right, the project is ""a risk worth taking.""

""If you can get it right, there is real opportunity to advance the racial discussion in America,"" he said. ""If you can draw a line between what we're seeing in the country today with voter suppression, mass incarceration, lack of access to public education and healthcare, and draw the line to our past and shared history, that's an important line to draw and a conversation worth having.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x800/landscape-1501509098-elle-got-noconfederate.jpg"
"Rihanna Laughs at Her Body Shamers","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a47041/rihanna-body-shamers-instagram-comment/","Rihanna previously addressed her body shamers (including the writer at Barstool whose cringey article about her went viral) indirectly, with a nice little Gucci Mane meme on her Instagram:

😢 A post shared by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Jun 5, 2017 at 11:02am PDT

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But trolls are trolls, so RiRi sent a message to them again a little more directly. A fan posted a video three days ago of her getting four snacks at the store with friends. ""Everybody who calling rob too fat @mdollas11 telling you what to do in this video K !!"" the Navy member captioned it.

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That's when Rihanna dropped in to leave the final word in the comments:

Instagram

Perfect.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x800/landscape-1501506187-gettyimages-821636908.jpg"
"Game of Thrones: What to Expect From Episode 4","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a47039/game-of-thrones-season-7-episode-4-trailer/","Tonight's episode of Game of Thrones brought some major meet-ups and mic-drops, and it appears next week's instalment is bound to be equally intense. We don't know what this upcoming episode is called yet, but eagle-eyed fans noticed that HBO Asia published then unpublished the title, ""The Spoils of War."" Regardless of its name, here's a shot-by-shot analysis of what we can expect for next week's episode.

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""My only venture at this moment is reestablishing control over this continent and every person on it,"" Cersei tells the Iron Bank's Tycho Nestoris while entering her map room.

HBO

Meanwhile, things aren't looking so great for Daenerys Targaryen. ""All my allies are gone. I'm losing,"" she tells Jon Snow on the beach at Dragonstone. Tyrion Lannister, Varys, Missandei, and Ser Davos are there too.

HBO

Jaime Lannister and Bronn look upon a valley of people.

HBO

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""You can count on the Iron Bank as soon as the gold arrives,"" Nestoris tells Cersei. We see a shot of Jaime uncovering a stash of gold.

HBO

We see someone pull out a knife. Is it Littlefinger's catspaw dagger?","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1501506825-screen-shot-2017-07-30-at-11-34-46-pm-1501473403.png"
"The Actors Behind Olenna Tyrell and Jaime Lannister Talk About Their Intense Game of Thrones Scene","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47037/olenna-tyrell-jaime-lannister-game-of-thrones-scene/","Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 7, Episode 3.

The body count continues to grow on Game of Thrones, and the latest casualty was a fan favorite. Near the end of ""The Queen's Justice,"" Jaime Lannister and his troops take over Highgarden, and then he shows up to deal the final blow to Olenna Tyrell.

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But before she goes, Olenna reveals to Jaime that she was the one who orchestrated the poisoning of his son, Joffrey. It was an incredible—and vindictive—final moment for Olenna, who always gets the last word. Diana Rigg, who played Olenna, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime, talked to People about filming the scene that had social media freaking out.

When asked what she thought of the scene, Rigg gave an answer that seems shady enough for Olenna herself. ""It's a beautiful scene, and Nikolaj is wonderful,"" she said. ""When it's well-written, it's a joy to do. And you don't get an awful a lot of always-brilliant writing on television, do you?""

""It was truly an honor to be there because she's given so much to the show with the character, just amazing,"" Coster-Waldau said. ""And of course both on and off set, she's wonderful and she's so smart and so clever and she's just a brilliant actress. I was very lucky to be there.""

Rigg said she was glad the audience didn't see the ""final twitches"" of her death. She also told the magazine that there wasn't much of a farewell party after her final moment: ""No sooner as I die then it was on to the next scene!"" But she said she'll look back fondly on her experience. ""Mostly what you remember and enjoy are the scenes you played with people, you know,"" she said. ""And quite often they're combative scenes.""

Nobody was better at verbal combat than Olenna. She'll be missed.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x800/landscape-1501505343-cb34c1c0dc492a718e38a8f73a42841071894889d2cb7964a5b6b8da38cc8e7fa435c359461cb3c85342a617936115ea.jpg"
"Watch This American Horror Story: Cult Trailer and You May Never Want to Bathe Again","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47035/american-horror-story-cult-drowning-clown-teaser/","American Horror Story: Cult finds a way to make bubble baths terrifying in its latest teaser.

The 10-second promo once again employs the evil clown factor to creep you out, while somehow adding an unexpected level of menace to bathing. Watch the clip below if you've already showered for the day:

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Keep in mind that co-creator Ryan Murphy has crafted this entire Cult season as a reaction to the election of Donald Trump as president. Maybe those twisted clowns make some sense after all.

Murphy revealed this week that Cult will be based around a ""star-crossed love story"" between fan favorites Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters. Only this love story involves an abnormal amount of make-up:

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Watch the video above close, and you might spot Evan Peters at the very beginning in full clown make-up and menacingly stalking the viewer with his eyes.

Production photos previously tipped that Evan's character will indeed have blue hair, although it's fair to say that nobody was expecting him to be playing a clown.

This season will also bring back American Horror Story veterans Cheyenne Jackson, Frances Conroy and Mare Winningham, and introduce newbies Lena Dunham, Colton Haynes and Billie Lourd.

American Horror Story: Cult–which has been billed as ""a horror story upon a horror story""–will return to FX on September 5.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/768x384/gallery-1501505701-landscape-1501267768-ahs.jpg"
"Did Perrie Edwards Change This Little Mix Lyric to Make a Subtle Dig at Gigi Hadid?","http://www.elle.com/culture/music/news/a47036/perrie-edwards-lyrics-hadid-video/","This is awkward. Some Little Mix fans are claiming it's not just Perrie Edwards' ex Zayn Malik getting a shoutout on the group's song ""Shout Out to My Ex"" but his new girlfriend Gigi Hadid, too. Some believe Edwards changed lyrics at a recent gig to include a dig at Hadid.

Considering Edwards and Malik split in August 2015, and she's been dating Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain since January 2017, we're dubious, but some fans say they heard a bit of subtle shade.

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Back in October 2016, speculation that Little Mix's single ""Shout Out To My Ex"" was about Malik went into overdrive because of certain lyrics referencing his tattoos and the four-year relationship he shared with Edwards.

But it's a different scathing lyric about his sex life that fans are reporting Edwards changed during a concert in New Zealand over the weekend.

Instagram and Twitter users alike are suggesting she changed the lyric, ""Hope she ain't faking it like I did"" to ""Hope she ain't faking like Hadid"".

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Listen to the moment below:

""Hope she aint faking it like HADID""

- Perrie Edwards



😂😂 she must have sung it a lot to let it slip at a show pic.twitter.com/q6jFyN4WJy — Harry Styles. (@iHarryNavy) July 31, 2017

""hope she ain't faking like Hadid"" AAAAA PERRIE EU TE AMO pic.twitter.com/bNIDNP1IUR — p*ta preta (@IAmEmConserva) July 30, 2017

Referencing the way Edwards and Jade Thirlwall laugh after the alleged lyric change, one Instagram user wrote: ""She said the word to 'Hadid'. Her voice didn't crack. Cause when she said it she started laughing with the other Little Mix members! Like dude it's been years, GET OVER IT!""

Another added: ""You're clearly not over your ex, why change the lyric to ""hope she aint faking it like Hadid""?"" [sic].

Of course, some fans have been quick to jump to Perrie's defense, too, sharing the opinion that the girls were only laughing because her voice cracked and that they weren't being shady at all.

happy birthday to my everything ❤️ A post shared by Zayn Malik (@zayn) on Apr 23, 2017 at 9:32pm PDT

""Lmao why are you all hating on Perrie?"", a third Instagrammer wrote. ""She didn't even say 'Hadid', she had a voice crack and Jade started laughing. Honestly stop spreading rumours and causing drama because it's honestly so childish, just leave [sic].""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1600x801/1501504965-gettyimages-813457340-1501495112.jpg"
"Kit Harington Opens Up About Jon Snow and Daenerys' First Meeting on Game of Thrones","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47034/game-of-thrones-kit-harington-jon-snow-daenerys-first-meeting/","Warning: this article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season 7, episode 3 'The Queen's Justice'.

After years and years of waiting, we finally got the meeting we all wanted on last night's (July 30) Game of Thrones as Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen came face to face.

The meeting of ice and fire, however, didn't exactly go down as most had anticipated–although, given Jon and Dany's different priorities by season seven, the rather tense encounter was not hugely surprising.

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As the King of the North arrived at Dragonstone, the Mother of Dragons demanded he bow the knee to her, though Jon would rather she gave him a hand with defeating the White Walkers.

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Dany takes a while to be convinced that the army of the dead exist in the first place–the entire episode of ""The Queen's Justice"", to be precise–but she does eventually acquiesce to Jon's request to mine the dragonglass at Dragonstone.

Following the episode's airing, stars Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke opened up about the meeting in a new interview, revealing that they had to divorce themselves from what the viewers wanted.

""I predicted, like everyone, they would meet this season, but I don't think I predicted it quite as quickly,"" Harington told Entertainment Weekly. ""But then again, you've got to take yourself out of the mindset of the viewer.""

""As far as Jon knows, he's just meeting this queen he's heard of and trying to negotiate with her—he's not meeting Daenerys, who the audience has been watching for so many years. That helps with the surprise of it.""

Harington then hinted that Snow may have had a bit of a crush when he first saw Dany. ""He walks into the room and doesn't expect to see such a beautiful young woman of similar age to him. Any young man's reaction is going to be, 'Okay…' but he puts that aside, because he has to.""

Clarke added: ""I had an idea it was coming this season, sure. It was fun to play—she doesn't like him and she doesn't believe him.""

Showrunner David Benioff further explained: ""It was really fun to watch that scene and I thought they did a great job. There isn't instant chemistry. He's annoying and she's annoying and they have to figure out how to make peace.""

""She looks at him and she thinks this is some unwashed barbarian from the North, and a bastard—his name is Jon Snow, yet he's calling himself king,"" showrunner D. B. Weiss further explained to Mashable. ""If she knew what he'd seen, she'd be looking very, very differently at what he's telling her, but at this moment in time, she only sees somebody who's trying to carve up a piece of her kingdom for himself, and if what this guy is saying is true, then it really is an issue and she has her own very serious issues to deal with in the shape of the woman who's now sitting on the throne.""

The two's chemistry nonetheless was felt by everyone during the filming, Weiss said. ""The spine of the episode is about their meeting. It was an exciting, thrilling thing to watch happening even as we were shooting it. Once we realized that we were kind of getting a charge out of just seeing this happen on a set—which is a notoriously boring place—we had a sense that it would carry over to the finished version of the scene.""

Of course these two will play central roles for the rest of the series, though we imagine their newfound alliance will be stressed further if the revelation about Jon's true parentage comes to light to the both of them.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1501503288-1501489674-jon-snow-danaerys.jpg"
"Game of Thrones Twitter Is Losing It Over that Olenna/Jaime Moment","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a47032/game-of-thrones-season-7-episode-3-olenna-tyrell-reactions/","This week's episode of Game of Thrones saw Jon Snow meet Daenerys, Sansa and Bran reunite, and the Unsullied conquer Casterly Rock—all while the Lannisters sneakily took their army to Highgarden to plunder its gold for themselves. Jaime was charged with killing off the last living Tyrell, Lady Olenna, but she made sure to go out in style, admitting to gruesomely killing his son before breathing her last. It was the perfect end to a jam-packed episode, and Twitter couldn't handle it.

Lady Olenna straight savage until the very end #gameofthrones pic.twitter.com/qxOmzMOP1D — Ally Nicotra (@allynicotra) July 31, 2017

""I want her to know it was me."" #GameofThrones pic.twitter.com/QMoCk4Pnbi — Ian Zelaya (@IanDavidZelaya) July 31, 2017

Olenna: Thank him for being so kind and noble



Inner Olenna: Tell him u killed his son and enjoyed it#ThronesYall #GameofThrones pic.twitter.com/Ik6lxRPLN2 — Kumquat (@savage_inspire) July 31, 2017

""Before I go tho, just wanted to let ya know I killed ya lil son. Tell your sister girlfriend about me."" Olenna the Gawd #ThronesYall — Melanie Dione (@beauty_jackson) July 31, 2017

I want to die just like Olenna Tyrell, chug a glass of poisoned wine and say one last savage comment #GameofThrones — Stephanie Lyle (@stephlyle) July 31, 2017

Me at the end of this #GameofThrones episode pic.twitter.com/nnRMoYWLOK — ef (@wtm_kevin) July 31, 2017

I'm sad Olenna is gone, but her dying moment was amazing. #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/WHzJDi6iLE — masc potatoes (@CertifiedFool_) July 31, 2017

I will go to my grave mourning House Tyrell #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/px4xuS8BQo — SIAN (@sianoIivia) July 31, 2017

THIS WAS ME WHEN OLENNA TOLD JAIME THAT SHE WAS THE ONE WHO KILLED JOFFREY #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/5Ox7I3A5d3 — julia (@feastforvalyria) July 31, 2017

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And, finally, the ultimate compliment:","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/31/1501473614-hbz-got-1501469833.jpg"
"We Lost the Best Character in Game of Thrones and We're Not Happy About it","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47025/game-of-thrones-recap-season-7-episode-3/","Man, Jon Snow made it to Dragonstone a lot faster than I anticipated. The Acela from Winterfell is very impressive! Missandei politely requests he and his entourage hand over their weapons, which only results in a momentary bitchface. Watching Jon and Ser Davos hit the floor when they see their first dragon is well worth the price of admission to the episode, by the way. It really makes giving up your pointy sticks seem like a fairly symbolic gesture.

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The Red Lady and Varys have a fun little moment on the cliffs when he notices that she's ducking Jon's notice (and, I have to imagine, Ser Davos'). He suggests she skip town permanently; she says something typically Red Ladyish about having ""joined fire and ice"" and how she'll be back here to die. No one in Westeros is ever like, ""It's been nice! I'll send you a postcard!"" Anyway, she also drops a bomb: He's going to die there, too. Not sure why he's surprised! This is GAME OF THRONES.

No one in Westeros is ever like, 'It's been nice! I'll send you a postcard!'

As to higher-level power struggles, the literal second that Dany and Jon meet we start hashing out the whole King in the North vs. Queen of the Seven Kingdoms bit. We've been waiting to see these two go toe-to-toe for a while now. Shocker: He does not plan on bending the knee. Dany DOES apologize for the whole ""my dad burnt your ancestors alive"" thing, which is nice. Jon's still not having it. I guarantee he's about to bring up his bugbear, the good ol' Army of the Dead. (Me, I'd be fine with ""Warden of the North,"" but I wasn't born to lead. I was born to recap prestige television and look good doing it.)

Jon: ""LET'S NOT QUIBBLE. EVERYONE YOU KNOW WILL DIE BEFORE THE WINTER IS OVER. THE ARMY OF THE DEAD IS ON THE MARCH."" Surprise!

Sidenote: Dany's throne is fantastic. It's very Brutalist and bold and asymmetrical.

HBO

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Dany gets to do her ""I have confidence in me"" speech, which I respect. Ser Davos and Jon are like ""I don't know her"" and just as things are looking dicey, Varys literally jogs in with whispery news about, I ASSUME, the Euron Greyjoy disaster. The Jon vs. Dany battle gets put on hold for a wee second.

Cut to FUCKING THEON getting dragged out of the water. As you can imagine, the Ironborn who fished him out are underwhelmed by his heroism. But he's alive, I guess. Which probably means he's doing to redeem himself somehow, eventually.

Euron, the man of the hour, is merrily dragging the Sand Snakes and Yara through the streets of King's Landing. I think Yara is taking it better than the Sand Snakes, being used to a garbage life in a terrible dump. Ellaria looks fantastic; if you're going to get handed over to your worst enemy, your abs might as well be on point.

Looking great at the onset of your doom. HBO

Cersei implies to Euron she'll marry him ""when the war is done,"" but I've read enough fairytales to know that when an powerful ruler says you'll get ""the desire of your heart,"" it usually means something terrible, like a tail made of poop or the golden crown that Drogo gave Viserys, and not the thing you really really really actually want. Watch your back, Euron.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501472984-game-of-thrones-dany-jon-ep-3.jpg"
"Daenerys and Jon Snow's Meeting Went Surprisingly Well on Game of Thrones","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a47026/daenerys-targaryen-jon-snow-game-of-thrones-meeting-season-7-episode-3/","Since when do things go well on Game of Thrones? History would dictate that some messed-up shit would go down in a much-anticipated meeting between two beloved characters on this show. But that wasn't the case tonight, as Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow finally met for the first time in the entirety of its seven seasons.

It was tense, sure, but overall it went better than expected! If George R.R. Martin were still writing this, Davos would be beheaded and Jon Snow would be getting tortured right about now. But instead, Jon and Daenerys had a bit of a tricky conversation about them both being conflicting rulers. Daenerys demands Jon swear loyalty to her, but—even though Jon cares about the whole murderous horde of zombies than power—he knows the lords of the north won't follow Daenerys. So the meeting is uneasy, as the two discuss their fathers, their claims, and their respective wars going on. And Daenerys must have pulled a Jared Kushner and texted Varys to get her out of an awkward meeting, because he runs in before they can finish things.

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But, thanks to Tyrion, they figure it out: Daenerys is going to let Jon Snow mine the Dragonglass, and I guess just ignore that whole refusing-to-kneel-to-her thing.

There's still a chance things could go bad for this rocky alliance though, and the theory about Jon Snow getting burned by Daenerys can still come true. For now, however, this relationship seems to be going surprisingly well.

Maybe you noticed, though, that Jon and Davos seem hesitant to reveal that Jon died and was resurrected. Which makes sense, because if they're trying to build trust with people and convince them to believe that an army of the undead are invading, the best thing to do wouldn't be to claim that you were murdered and resurrected by a magic woman.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/1501470323-landscape-1501469512-gameofthronesseasonseven.jpg"
"The Real Red Woman Speaks","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a46977/carice-van-houten-melisandre-death-prophecy-game-of-thrones/","Carice van Houten was in Spain recently when a man twice her size approached her and recoiled in mock-terror. ""He said, 'You're not going to burn me alive, are you?'"" says van Houten. ""It was a joke, but…."" She gets that a lot these days, she says while mixing milk and honey into her tea at a quiet hotel bar in Amsterdam, where she lives. On Game of Thrones, van Houten plays Melisandre, a Red Priestess who worships R'hllor, the Lord of Light. The character cuts a formidable figure on screen—a stoic woman draped in crimson, who uses sex, trickery, dark magic, and straight-up atrocities to get what she wants. Even as the character has been revealed as woefully fallible in recent seasons, shrinking away from her zealous self-assuredness, people van Houten meets in real life are still intimidated when she walks into a room.

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""Everyone expects this stern, straight-backed woman,"" says van Houten, ""not someone who walks in and trips over the fucking floor."" In person, van Houten is slighter than you'd expect, something she says she hears a lot. She references Friends and jokes that if she's Phoebe, Melisandre is like Phoebe's pot-stirring twin Ursula. Van Houten is dressed in a chicly ornate white blouse and tailored pants when we meet, but says her friends usually tease her for dressing ""like Oliver [Twist], a messy little street kid.""

She's famous in the Netherlands for playing complex, vulnerable characters on screen—""confused or lonely or depressed or psychotic or dying—I've played all of them!""—as well as for a side-hustle in music (she released an album in 2012 and has collaborated with Antony and the Johnsons). Before Game of Thrones, she'd been wholly unfamiliar with the fantasy genre. ""I saw one Lord of the Rings film once and that's it,"" she says. Early on, she was even asked to audition for the role of Cersei—the queen Lena Headey plays with a trademark sneer—and declined. It wasn't until Seth Meyers, whose brother, Josh, van Houten had once dated, upbraided her for not following the show that she watched the first season and became hooked. So when she was asked to come in for Melisandre, she jumped at the role.

As the seventh season ratchets up and Melisandre helps move the Thrones chess pieces towards their end game, van Houten spoke exclusively to ELLE.com about dropping one more prophetic bombshell in the seventh season's third episode, what she thinks it all means, and why the most notoriously difficult scene for fans to watch was her favorite to shoot.

Oversized hat with veil, Demure Amsterdam, shirt with oversized collar, Jacquemus, earring Bodes & Bode Wendelien Daan

Melisandre's encounter with Varys was brief, but it may have massive repercussions.

If Melisandre is any one thing, van Houten says, ""she's quite economical""—at least in how she uses her screen time. Though she often operates in the fringes, many of Melisandre's scenes will forever live on in small screen infamy. Lest we forget (although we never would, because ""the North Remembers""): She gave birth to a shadow monster who killed Renly Baratheon, clearing the way for his brother Stannis to usurp his army; convinced Stannis to burn his young, innocent daughter Shireen alive as a sacrifice to the Lord of Light; used leeches on poor Gendry's genitals so that she could cast more powerful spells with his ""king's blood""; resurrected Jon Snow; and revealed her true centuries-old self.

""I've had some really epic scenes,"" van Houten agrees. ""In fact, I'm spoiled because now I feel like, Where was my big, crazy scene this year?"" Melisandre leaves the seventh season having only had two brief appearances. But each will have seismic effects on Westeros. First she appeared in front of Daenerys at Dragonstone to encourage a meeting between her and Jon Snow, and hinted that Dany might in fact be the prophesied Azor Ahai, or the Prince(ss) That Was Promised—because the term is in fact gender-neutral. (Her interest in uniting the two leaders also plays into some fans' theories that Azor Ahai may return as not one, but two or three saviors).","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501196476-index.jpg"
"All the Fan Theories About This Week's 'Game of Thrones' Ranked from Least to Most Likely to Come True","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a47024/fan-theories-game-of-thrones-season-7-episode-3/","It's basically impossible to watch Game of Thrones and not get sucked into the fan theory vortex. We are now living in a time of episode-by-episode theories and here are this week's, ranked from least to most likely to come true.

Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow will get married and/or make out immediately upon meeting each other.

This week's episode brings us the long-awaited meeting of Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen. Fans have been eagerly anticipating this moment for years for a number of reasons.

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First, the book series Game of Thrones is based on is called A Song of Ice and Fire, which couldn't scream: THIS SERIES IS ABOUT JON AND DANY more unless it were called Several Books About a Mopey Man from the North and an Amazing Fireproof Queen. Second, both characters nicely fit the prophecy about Azor Ahai, the one person who can save the Seven Kingdoms from the White Walkers. Third, people are thirsty AF for Jon and Dany to get together. They're probably the only couple shipped as OTP who go more than six seasons without meeting once.

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Because the thirst is so real, there's talk about love at first sight for Jon and Dany. While there might be some lust at first sight (Targaryens are into marrying within the family), it's much more likely that these two will butt heads at first—probably in a big way.

Tyrion will be fired as Hand of the Queen.

Last week's episode saw Tyrion writing personally to Jon Snow to ask him to come meet with Dany in Dragonstone. The only problem? Dany specifically said she wants Jon to bend the knee and Tyrion conveniently left that detail out of his letter.

Meaning? Jon is about to show up to Dragonstone completely NOT prepared to bend the knee and Dany is unlikely to be cool about that. After the way she tore into Varys last week, some fans worry she might turn on Tyrion for this omission. While there's a good chance Tyrion will get a stern talking to, it seems like a stretch that Dany would fire or demote him for this.

It does, however, seem reasonable that this might be the final push she needs to take Olenna Tyrell's advice to act like a dragon (aka attack King's Landing with all of her fire power).

Varys will ditch Dany and follow Jon.

This theory springs from Varys' grand speech about his loyalties lying with the realm, rather than with any one ruler. Dany is the best ruler he's found for the realm, but he hasn't met Jon Snow yet. Where Dany wants power and a seat on the throne, Jon does not. He only accepts power because he feels a responsibility to the people who look up to him—and that's basically Varys' definition of a good ruler.

Grey Worm will die.

After Grey Worm and Missandei finally took their love to the next level, people started to fear for the popular couple's safety. Thrones loves to dangle happiness in front of characters just before killing them off.

Grey Worm is on his way to Casterly Rock for battle and it wouldn't be surprising if he didn't make it out alive.

Cersei's gift will be Ellaria.

When Euron Greyjoy met with Cersei, he promised her the greatest gift in the Seven Kingdoms as a way to woo her for marriage. Last week, he overtook Yara's navy and captured not just his niece, but Ellaria Sand and her only surviving daughter, Tyene.

Since Ellaria was responsible for the murder of Cersei's only daughter, Myrcella, there's a good chance that her revenge (or her ""justice"" if this is what the episode's title, ""The Queen's Justice,"" refers to), involves Tyene dying while Ellaria watches.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/980x490/1501452912-1501452651-jon-snow-dany.jpg"
"These 'Game of Thrones' Actors May Have Revealed a Spoiler About a Character Fans Thought Was Going to Die","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a47022/game-of-thrones-lena-headey-cersei-lives-until-season-8/","Game of Thrones is famously brutal when it comes to killing off characters, including some fan favorites. No character is safe and even the actors don't know what's in store for their characters until they get the newest scripts.

""The first thing I really do when I get the scripts is I go to the last page of the last episode and then look backward until I find my name to see if I survive,"" Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion Lannister, told Entertainment Weekly earlier this summer.

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The actors are also sworn to secrecy about the show's plot, naturally, so when something big happens, they have no one to fan out with but each other. Lena Headey revealed that Dinklage has texted her in shock about some of the twists in the script.

""Last year, Pete Dinklage sent me a text that said 'Oh my God, have you read them,' and I hadn't. I'd just had my second baby so I was a bit crazy and full of milk,"" she told Time earlier this month. ""He just said 'Holy s--t,' and I was like 'What the f---?!' He went, ""Oh my God, I'm not telling you,' so I [assumed] oh, I'm going to die. And then, I went straight to the end. I was really in shock. I think obviously, now, there's got to be some body count at the end of [season] 8.""

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Now, when it comes to those Dinklage texts, Headey appears to have been referring to Cersei's (literally) explosive move in the Season 6 finale, but something about this quote is very interesting. Headey says she assumed she was going to die, found out she was wrong, and now expects a body count at the end of Season 8—not seven, which is the season we're currently in. Did she just accidentally confirm that her character makes it to Thrones' final season?

This is significant, since many fans weren't counting on Cersei to make it to the end of this season alive (the popular Mad Queen theory has her being taken out by her brother/lover, Jaime). It's possible that Headey just misspoke and meant to say Season 7. It's also possible that she's just messing with us, throwing us off the scent so that Cersei's demise is all the more shocking. But it's also possible that the fiercest Lannister makes it further in the game than we all thought, which would be pretty amazing.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1501439854-1501438054-cersei-tyrion.jpg"
"Miley Cyrus Just Revealed That Her Sister Noah Never Texts Her Back","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a47023/miley-cyrus-just-said-her-sister-noah-never-texts-her-back/","Miley Cyrus took part in Ask Anything Chat on YouTube this weekend, and as usual, she revealed a lot about herself. But the revelation that really hit home involved her sister Noah Cyrus.

One lucky fan asked, ""Can you text Noah and tell her that the two of you need to record a song together?"" Most people will agree that the idea of Miley and Noah recording a duet is superb. But half way through reading the question out loud, Miley exclaimed, ""Ugh, if she'd ever text me back.""

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So, just like the rest of us, even Miley Cyrus can't get her little sister to reply to her texts.

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After agreeing that a duet was an awesome idea, Miley said, ""Yeah, I text Noah all the time, and she never texts me back."" Please, Noah, just look at your messages. The world really needs the Cyrus' sisters to record a single together.

As well as bemoaning the lack of texts from her baby sister, Miley also shared the names of all seven of her dogs: Mary Jane, Dora, Bean, Happy, Emu, Little Dog, and Tani. So, now you know.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501469888-elle-miley-cyrus-noah-cyrus.jpg"
"Celebrities Support the Trans Community Following Trump's Military Ban Tweets","http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/news/a47021/celebs-support-trans-community-trump-prejudice/","President Trump made a shocking announcement this week, tweeting that transgender individuals will be banned from serving in the U.S. military. In the series of tweets, Trump wrote, ""Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.""

People all over the world have been standing in staunch opposition to Trump's bigoted announcement, with celebrities using social media to make their feelings on the matter clear. And now, GLAAD and Billboard have brought together a group of musicians and artists who refuse to let Trump's hateful ideas, about transgender military personnel, win.

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The video features Sia without her trademark wig, Rita Ora, Dua Lipa, Michael Stipe, cast members of Orange Is The New Black and RuPaul's Drag Race, and other celebrities who refuse to stand by while President Trump attempts to implement discriminatory legislation.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501439489-trump-2.jpg"
"Everything We Know About 'The Princess Diaries 3' So Far","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47020/princess-diaries-3-release-date-casting-news/","It's hard to believe that The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement came out way back in August 2004. While the past thirteen years have just flown by, fans of the Disney series have never given up hope on getting another sequel. And if new reports are to be believed, The Princess Diaries 3 is finally on the way, but will Anne Hathaway and Chris Pine return? Here's what we know so far.

There's Already a Script!

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Author of The Princess Diaries book series, Meg Cabot told Entertainment Weekly that a script exists. She also said that if the movie gets made, it'll happen ""kind of as a tribute"" to Garry Marshall, director of the first two movies, who sadly passed away in 2016. But Cabot refused to reveal any further details, apart from saying that the movies would likely deviate from the book series. She said, ""I think of them as two different universes.""

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Garry Marshall Was Planning the Third Instalment Before He Died

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In an interview with People in March 2016, Marshall said, ""I was with Anne Hathaway a couple weeks ago. It looks like we want to do The Princess Diaries 3 in Manhattan."" Sadly, Marshall's plan never came to fruition, but it's possible that the sequel will still be set in New York, to honor his idea.

Anne Hathaway Has an Idea for the Sequel

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Julie Andrews, who plays Queen Clarisse Renaldi in the movies, told Buzzfeed in February 2017, ""Annie had an idea that she wanted to pursue about it, and I'm all for it, so if she'd like to…"" And, yes, the ""Annie"" she's referring to is Anne Hathaway. Andrews also confirmed, ""I would very willingly and happily do it.""

However, It Might Be Some Time Before 'The Princess Diaries 3' Comes Out

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Hathaway's rep reportedly told Buzzfeed in March 2017, ""it's way too premature to discuss this project.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501431859-princess-diaries.jpg"
"Khloé Kardashian Just Posted a Bikini Pic of Kris Jenner and WOW","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a47019/kris-jenner-bikini-picture-khloe/","We've seen a fair bit of Kardashian-Jenner skin in our time, but this new picture has still managed to make our jaws drop.

Khloé Kardashian posted the bikini selfie on Instagram, and at first glance we thought it was a snap of herself. Or sister Kim. Or even Kourtney.

But oh no, proving exactly where in the gene pool the girls get their looks and killer curves from, it was 61-year-old Kris who had posed for the mirror selfie while wearing a white patterned bikini.

Kris Jenner looking like a snack! 👀 I see you mommy! #6KidsAndBad! A post shared by Khloé (@khloekardashian) on Jul 29, 2017 at 9:05am PDT

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Let's just take a moment to remind ourselves that this beauty has not only had six children of her own, but she is also a grandmother-of-six.

Writing alongside the snap, Khloe told her 68.5 million followers: ""Kris Jenner looking like a snack! I see you mommy! #6KidsAndBad!""

It's fair to say fans have gone wild. One commented: ""Damn Kris, work it girl!!!"" Another gushed: ""Omg what!! Look at Kris Jenner's body!""

#naptime A post shared by Kris Jenner (@krisjenner) on Jul 30, 2017 at 12:39am PDT

*Reaches for the wrinkle-busting Olay while doing some stomach crunches*","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1501426785-kris.jpg"
"'Westworld' Season 2 Isn't Going to Air Until 2018","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47018/westworld-season-2-airdate-2018/","HBO officially confirmed Westworld's return with a first look at Comic-Con – but Season 2 won't be hitting our screens until Spring 2018, according to Screen Rant.

Season 2 of the hit sci-fi drama series is already in production, and we've been given teasers about who's returning to the park, and who will be entering for the first time.

It was recently revealed that Jimmi Simpson – aka Young William, aka The Man in Black – will be coming back to answer some of those as-yet-unanswered questions.

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""There [are] a few more questions that they're gonna answer for us as far as exactly how that transition occurred and what it felt like to him and other people,"" Jimmi explained.

In equally great news, Luke Hemsworth is also set to return for Season 2 as MIA Head of Security, Ashley Stubbs.

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Stubbs has been mysteriously missing from Westworld after a run-in with park warriors, but it looks like he might be making a comeback. Perhaps Elsie will too?

But if you don't want any clues as to what Westworld has in store for characters old and new, then you might want to stay off Reddit, according to the show's co-creator Lisa Joy.

Watch a Season 2 teaser for Westworld right here:","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501423526-westworld-2.jpg"
"The 'Sweet Valley High' Movie Is Happening, With 'Legally Blonde's Screenwriter","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47017/sweet-valley-high-movie-adaptation-writers/","Sweet Valley High is set for the big screen as the movie adaptation has landed a new pair of writers. Deadline reports that Paramount Pictures has signed up Kirsten 'Kiwi' Smith and Harper Dill to co-write an adaptation of Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley High book series, which was turned into a TV show in the 1990s.

Smith is best known for Legally Blonde and 10 Things I Hate About You, while Dill is currently writing for Fox's sitcom The Mick. It will mark their first collaboration, and we think it's a promising duo to do justice to Sweet Valley High.

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Throwing down some #SweetValleyHigh awesomeness for your Thursday! For more sweet nostalgia, check out the Throwbacks section on The Sweet Life! #TheSweetLife #balancemeetsbeauty #throwbacks A post shared by Brittany + Cynthia Daniel (@brittanyandcynthiadaniel) on Jul 20, 2017 at 11:10am PDT

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If you never saw the TV series or read any of the more than 600(!) books, Sweet Valley High follows two beautiful twins, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, who move to the fictional town in California.

Last year, Brittany and Cynthia Daniels – who played the twins on the TV show – turned 40 and barely looked any different to when they were on the show from 1994 to 1997.

Good morning Monday! Ready for our next adventure today. Life is more fun when you have your best friend by your side. #adventure #twins #travel #Monday #Thetwintravelers A post shared by Brittany + Cynthia Daniel (@brittanyandcynthiadaniel) on Jun 27, 2016 at 8:13am PDT

Here's hoping that the movie adaptation finds room for a cameo from the twins, as well as one of the best TV theme tunes of all time.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/1501421156-landscape-1501420376-sweet-valley.jpg"
"The Queen's Former Page Boy Just Posted a Shirtless Selfie","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a47016/queens-former-page-boy-arthur-chatto-shirtless-selfie/","Arthur Chatto is 23rd in line to the British throne, and is causing quite a stir on the internet right now. According to Mashable, he used to serve as Queen Elizabeth's page boy. And now, he's 18, and posting shirtless selfies on the internet!

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Mashable also reports Chatto currently is enrolled in Combined Cadet Force training at Eton College, which is prepping him for military service, and likely how the whole ""I flex in my Calvins"" thing came about. Not that anyone is complaining.

ARTHUR CHATTO THO — brynn (@crawnikflip) July 28, 2017

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"These Celebs Totally Lost It at Frank Ocean's Show Last Night","http://www.elle.com/culture/music/news/a47015/frank-ocean-celebs-losing-it/","Last night, Frank Ocean headlined Panorama Music Festival in New York, and he did not disappoint. In fact, fellow celebs were so impressed by Ocean's headline set, that they took to social media to share praise for the musician. Basically, celebrities totally lost it over Frank Ocean's show, and who can blame them?

Kendall Jenner

you legend A post shared by Kendall (@kendalljenner) on Jul 28, 2017 at 10:24pm PDT

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Bella Hadid

I am in awe. A once in a life time human being . Can't stop smiling. This show means so much to me and my friends. So many emotions 💜Thank you💜 A post shared by Bella Hadid (@bellahadid) on Jul 28, 2017 at 11:17pm PDT

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Justin Timberlake

Personal. Intimate. Beautiful. #FrankOcean #blonded A post shared by Justin Timberlake (@justintimberlake) on Jul 28, 2017 at 10:42pm PDT

Martha Hunt

FRANK A post shared by Martha Hunt (@marthahunt) on Jul 28, 2017 at 10:17pm PDT

Hailey Baldwin

wowza. A post shared by Hailey Baldwin (@haileybaldwin) on Jul 28, 2017 at 9:58pm PDT

With legendary movie director Spike Jonze behind the camera, footage of the gig is sure to surface at some point so we can all experience just how magical Ocean's performance was.

Until then, everyone can pick up the t-shirt Frank Ocean was wearing, that carried the slogan, ""WHY BE RACIST, SEXIST, HOMOPHOBIC, OR TRANSPHOBIC WHEN YOU COULD JUST BE QUIET?"" from Green Box Shop.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501354033-frank-ocean.jpg"
"Beyoncé's Post-Baby Workout Allegedly Includes Lots of SoulCycle","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a47014/beyonces-post-baby-workout-soulcycle/","Following the birth of their twins, Rumi and Sir Carter, Beyoncé and Jay Z have apparently been hitting the gym. According to reports, the couple are working out together following Beyoncé's pregnancy, and that involves attending SoulCycle classes.

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According to People, Beyoncé is apparently ""slowly starting to get back to her 'normal' life. Her babies are now six weeks old, and she started working out again."" People also report that Jay Z was recently seen leaving SoulCycle's Beverly Hills branch.

Beyoncé and Jay Z's SoulCycle routine seems to be confirmed by E! News, who report that the couple allegedly attend classes run by an instructor named Angela in Santa Monica. If true, Angela's classes are about to become fully booked until the end of time.

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E! also quoted a source as telling them, ""She was totally into the music and bopping her head and grooving along."" E! claim that the famous couple avoided attention by arriving to the class late, and leaving early, which is a super smart move.

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Basically, it sounds as though it won't be long before both Beyoncé and Jay Z are back in the spotlight once more, and hopefully touring.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501471047-elle-beyonce-post-baby-workout.jpg"
"Caitriona Balfe Talks Outlander Season 3, Romantic Reunions, and Sam Heughan","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47013/caitriona-balfe-outlander-season-3-interview/","Okay, she might have thought Jamie was dead, but still, when Outlander's Claire went back to her 1940s life, leaving him to deal with the Battle of Culloden in ye olden days, it did seem a bit harsh. But fear not—as we've seen in the Outlander season three trailer, our favorite time-traveling couple will finally be reunited after 20 years on Starz come September. Sounds like the most romantic moment ever, doesn't it?

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But, according to Caitriona Balfe, who plays Claire, reality might get in the way of the mushy lovefest we're expecting. ""I think maybe the obvious way of doing the reunion would be violins playing, and angels singing, and a sun shaft coming through the window,"" she told ELLE.com at Starz's TCA party in Los Angeles. ""I hope that what we've done is try and ground it as much in realism as we can. I think it's really awkward, and funny, and sweet, and endearing.""

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It's only natural that after 20 years apart, a lot has happened to the two as they've lived separate lives. Claire and Jamie have a daughter he's never seen, Claire's become a doctor, and there's major drama with her husband Frank. So, just a few small issues then.

""I think Claire and Jamie have both had each other on pedestals for 20 years,"" Balfe said. ""So when you finally see the object of your love and desire again in the flesh, it throws out everything you thought you would do."" Their separation doesn't sound like the kind of thing that a quick catch-up over coffee would adequately cover, but luckily it sounds like the pair's off-the-charts chemistry will win the day. ""I think they're not quite sure what to do with their bodies or their words,"" she said. Sounds like things will get pretty steamy, then.

But will the couple stay together for good this time? ""I think that physically and emotionally, even though we don't show this part of the journey ever, of her passing through time, I think it takes an awful lot from someone,"" Balfe said of Claire's time-traveling. Still, given just how difficult her travel through the stones is, she's not going to undertake it lightly: ""I think each time is quite dangerous. You're never sure if you're going to land in the right time, or any of those things. I would have to imagine, and I don't know, because I have not read past book four, but I would have to imagine that once she finds Jamie again, she's not going to let him out of her sights for too long.""

It also helps that Balfe doesn't hate playing opposite the gorgeous Sam Heughan as Jamie. ""I feel very fortunate that I have a partner like him to work with, it's all good,"" she said. Then she gave us a cheeky smile and added, ""He's a god, let's be honest. He's as good in real life as he is on TV.""

A god? Good, we're on the same page then.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501347511-gettyimages-530961284.jpg"
"Mindy Kaling Is Five Months Pregnant, According to Oprah","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a47012/oprah-mindy-kaling-is-five-months-pregnant/","The reveal of the A Wrinkle in Time trailer earlier this month at Disney's D23 Expo, made it clear that Mindy Kaling and Oprah Winfrey are pretty close now. And in a new interview with People, Oprah has revealed how she found out about Mindy Kaling's exciting pregnancy news.

While Kaling has remained tight-lipped on the rumors, and has apparently decided not to disclose who the baby's father is, Oprah has revealed that her co-star told her the big news while standing in the film's press line at the Disney Expo.

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Oprah told People, ""That's when she told me. My mouth dropped. 'What did you just say?' She said, 'Oh, Oprah, I don't think you know. I'm 5 months pregnant.' And I said, 'WHAAAAT?!'""

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Basically, Kaling's announcement to Oprah regarding her new pregnancy is nothing short of perfection. From Oprah's disbelief, to her reaction to the news (""we just kept smiling""), to the moment she apparently asked Reese Witherspoon if she already knew. And just like the rest of us, Oprah exclaimed that she's ""excited for"" her friend and co-star to become a mom.

As always, Oprah knows all.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501346824-oprah-mindy-kaling.jpg"
"New 'Outlander' Season 3 Footage Reveals Jamie and Claire Living Separate Lives","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47011/outlander-season-3-new-trailer/","As Season 3 of Outlander draws ever nearer, fans are getting understandably excited about seeing Jamie and Claire on screen once more. However, as new footage released by Starz reveals, the pair must endure a separation spanning two decades before any reunion can take place.

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In the clip ""Parallel Lives"", it becomes clear that Claire and Jamie will spend a lot of time struggling with their separation. While Claire's timeline spans the 1940s through to the 1960s, Jamie goes into hiding after the Battle of Culloden. As the new footage makes clear, Claire raises her child, works on her marriage, but never forgets about Jamie, and he most definitely does not forget about her, either.

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Speaking at the Television Critics Association press tour on Friday, Caitriona Balfe, who plays Claire on the show, said, ""Anyone who has read Diana's books knows it's just a sequence of twists and turns. You're constantly being kept on your toes. Who would have thought we'd end up on ships and in Jamaica this season?""

Variety also reported that, according to Outlander's showrunner Ronald Moore, Claire and Jamie will reunite in Episode 5 of the new season. So that means only four episodes of absolute misery, then?

Outlander returns to Starz on September 10, and that date really can't come soon enough.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1501340392-jamie-claire.jpg"
"Could 'Wonder Woman' Be the First Comic Book Movie Nominated For the Best Picture Oscar?","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a47010/wonder-woman-oscar-best-picture/","There have been 537 films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and 89 winners. None of these have ever been a movie based on a comic book. Of these, only a small percentage of nominees have even been science fiction and fantasy films. And most of these nominees came after 2009, when the Academy expanded the category to include up to 10 movies.

For the last eight years, a number of genre films that would have been unheard of as Best Picture nominees in the previous decades have made the list: District 9, Avatar, Inception, Gravity, Her, Mad Max: Fury Road, Arrival. That's a big jump in genre films even though classics like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial all earned nods for Best Picture. (The biggest—and only—genre movie to win the award was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2013.)

Warner Bros.

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Even if these genre films are long-shots to get a win, a nomination is enough of a badge of honor for films usually considered blockbuster money grabs. Finally, science fiction and fantasy is getting the respect it deserves at the Academy Awards, and studios are fighting for those one or two genre nomination slots to extend the life of a hit movie into the history books.

With 2017 half over and in full summer movie swing, it's time to consider which popular genre movies could get nominations among the dramas and arthouse films. Right now, the leading contenders are Get Out, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Wonder Woman.

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And, as Variety reports, Warner Bros. is going to make a big push to get Wonder Woman a nomination for Best Picture and Patty Jenkins for Best Director. Given the film's massive box office success ($781 million grossed globally), it'll be worth the big dollars to make the Oscar push. Variety notes that ""the road to the Oscars keeps getting costlier. Big dollars are spent on taking out advertising, making watermarked DVDs, setting screenings, and paying for talent to travel to both coasts, to remind voters how hard they suffered for their craft.""

This would give it an edge, at least, over a smaller movie like Get Out. But at this point both Get Out and Wonder Woman both have phenomenal reviews and a strong narrative to propel each to the Academy Awards. That's assuming highly anticipated genre films like Blade Runner (whose director Denis Villeneuve also helmed the Oscar-nominated Arrival) or It (which looks great) don't swoop in this fall to steal the glory. And these two films might have an edge over Wonder Woman because they're not comic book films—a genre that has never been nominated for Best Picture. In fact, the category expanded to 10 films the year after The Dark Knight failed to get a nomination.

As Variety notes:

Although blockbusters like Gravity and The Martian have made the cut, a comic book movie has yet to compete in the top race. That's because the Academy is still too stodgy to recognize Batman or Deadpool as art. But Warner Bros. executives have been wondering if new membership expansions, which have increased the voting body to include younger members and more diversity, will boost Wonder Woman's chances. (Among the new class of voters is star Gal Gadot, who will presumably support this mission.)

At this point, things are looking good for Wonder Woman, but the year isn't over yet.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501335515-gal-gadot-wonder-woman.jpg"
"It's Maxine Waters' Time; We're Just Living In It","http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/news/a47004/maxine-waters-reclaiming-my-time/","First of all let's get one thing straight, honey: you're on Maxine Waters' time and you'd be wise not to waste it. Representative Waters—who did not come to play, is not here to play, and does not foresee playtime included on any future agendas—had to let Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin know about it yesterday. True to form, she did not mince words and, in so doing gave all of us a brand new way to say ""you tried it.""

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The Secretary of the Treasury was testifying before the House Financial Services Committee on the State of the International Financial System. As the ranking member on the committee, Rep. Waters was the first to question Secretary Mnuchin after the Chairman's remarks and she cut right to the chase. She wanted answers about financial impropriety between foreign banks and the administration and she's wanted them for a hot minute. ""Are you familiar with the May 23rd letter I sent to you along with several Democratic members of this committee ?"" she asked, which is the congressional way of saying ""Boy, didn't you hear me calling you?""

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She later continued, ""Given your department's statement that the agency takes responsiveness to congressional requests very seriously... is there some reason why I did not get a response to the letter that I sent May 23rd?""

In case you can't hear the read written into every word of that statement, that's the congressional way of saying ""Honey, you're acting brand new and I gotta let you know.""

Secretary Mnuchin began his response by thanking Rep. Waters for her service to California. Like Mikayla at the Olympics, Rep. Waters was unimpressed. She cut him off, ""We don't want to take my time up with how great I am,"" effectively winning the gold medal in interrogation with a breathtaking move called The You Got The Wrong One Today, Friend.

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You don't have to tell Rep. Waters how great she is. She is aware. Are you new? This isn't a Lifetime Achievement Award dinner, this is a congressional hearing. Rep. Waters is trying to get the president impeached by lunch time and take the rest of the afternoon off. Let's speed this up.

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Poor Secretary Mnuchin; he never stood a chance. Rep. Waters doesn't even let bespectacled boo-thang Chris Hayes get a word in and she actually likes him. You think you can just come up in here and give your life story when she wanted a simple answer? No, you cannot. Secretary Mnuchin showed up like that person at church who gives a testimony for 45 minutes and Maxine Waters is the organist who plays him off with a quickness. ""Wrap it, buddy. Save it for the Rapture.""

First of all, if Maxine Waters writes you a letter, you better pull out your good stationary with the watermark, brush up on your Mavis Beacon skills and get to replying. How you gonna leave Rep. Waters on read? You tried to ghost her like a Tinder date.

Rep. Waters wants you to know her she's not one of your little friends you can ignore. She is a congresswoman and when she sends you correspondence you better make like a Jane Austen heroine and write back.

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Alas, you tried to play her like whoever was on the other side of Lady Gaga's call in ""Telephone"" and she's not here for it.

Second of all, when she calls you in front of congress to ask you why you didn't make like Alexander Hamilton and write your way out, the last thing you want to do is try to talk until her time runs out. Did you forget to set your watch forward, sir? We're on Maxine Standard Time. No questions, please.

Exasperated by the Secretary's reticence, Maxine ""I Was Born Over It"" Waters, interrupts him with the new siren call of the Resistance. ""Reclaiming my time! Reclaiming my time!"" she called. Honey, I screamed.

Mnuchin just about screamed, too.

Mnuchin: I was going to answer that.

Waters: Just please, go straight to the answer.

BLOOP.

Mnuchin: Mr. Chairman, I thought when you read the rules, you acknowledged that I shouldn't be interrupted and—

Waters: What he failed to tell you was, when you're on my time, I can reclaim it.

BLOOP. BLOOP. ALL THE BLOOPS.

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Welcome to today's screening of the film A Waters in Time. It lasts until she says it's over.

Honey, there is no better response than ""Reclaiming my time."" It's the congressional way of saying ""What you're not going to do is..."" It is beyond saying ""I don't have time for this."" It says ""I have time for this and you can't have it."" Maxine has conquered time, y'all. She's the new Dr. Who up in here and she is over your Dalek nonsense today, friend.

I am going to use Reclaiming my Time for every situation, everywhere, for the rest of my life. We all should.

""I was told by AppleCare—""

""RECLAIMING MY TIME. Your phone is broken. Get over it.""

""You owe taxes this year—""

""RECLAIMING MY TIME. Miss me with that. Take my money out of the wall budget, comrade.""

""McCain is such a maverick, he—""

""RECLAIMING MY TIME. Collins and Murkowski and every Democrat have been against this from jump.""

""Why are you checking Instagram at work?""

""I'm RECLAIMING MY TIME. When is lunch, btw?""

Anyway, I gotta go. Rep. Waters is giving me the ""Wrap it up"" signal and I'm going to listen. It's Maxine's time; I'm just borrowing it.

Follow R. Eric Thomas on Twitter.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501277981-elle-maxine-waters.jpg"
"Fans Think This Game of Thrones Character Is Going to Die Next","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a47000/grey-worm-game-of-thrones-death-season-seven/","Warning: Spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones' season 7 episode ""Stormborn."" And potentially spoilers for Sunday night's episode, too.

Something just didn't feel right when Grey Worm and Missandei got it on in last week's episode of Game of Thrones. If we've learned anything from the last six seasons, it's that usually things go horribly wrong for characters on this show. It's impossible not to remember at least one unexpected character death that made you gasp and want to writhe around on your couch, like Joffrey at the Purple Wedding.

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Most recently, Grey Worm, the chosen commander of the Unsullied, got his long-awaited happiness when he and Missandei finally took their slow-burning relationship to the next level. While Game of Thrones viewers have seen more than a few sex scenes over the last six years, never has the show featured one so loving and intimate—and consensual. Armed with the knowledge that no one on this show can truly be happy, fans immediately became skeptical. How can two nice, helpful characters just have a cute relationship? How can they get what they've always wanted without some kind of consequence? Does this mean Grey Worm will have to pay for his one, rare moment of happiness?

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Since he and his men were set free by Daenerys back in season three, the Unsullied commander has served the Mother of Dragons faithfully. Now, though, he's being sent to lead his men on a siege of the Lannisters' Casterly Rock, which immediately spells trouble in the eyes of Grey Worm fans. In new promotional photos for ""The Queen's Justice,"" Grey Worm can be seen in full armor, prepared for battle and ready to defend his queen. This definitely means we should expect to see him in action soon. Let's just hope he makes it out alive.

HBO/courtesy of Helen Sloan

According to a theory from Mashable, the outlook for our favorite Unsullied leader is grim. Daenerys' plan in ""Stormborn"" certainly doesn't make anyone feel more secure about Grey Worm staying alive much longer. Not to mention, the show has gotten particularly loose with the levels of foreshadowing they've been dishing out. While this has pretty much destroyed any chance at a shock or major plot twist for viewers, it's also made it increasingly easier to predict when our favorite characters are going to die.

Even Jacob Anderson, the actor who plays Grey Worm, revealed that he's worried about the fate of this noble warrior. On the red carpet for the show's season premiere, he told Insider, ""Yeah, no one can be happy in this show, can they? It's just not allowed. So yeah, I worry for them — those kids. Those crazy kids."" If Grey Worm himself is worried, then what do the fans have left to cling to as a source of hope?

Missandei seems to be safe at Dragonstone with Daenerys, but our favorite Unsullied soldier is about to ride off into battle before our very eyes, potentially for the last time. Even though we have every reason to believe Grey Worm is done for in the next episode, maybe the writers will actually shock us and diverge from the predictability of killing everyone off. Maybe they will let two characters just be happy for once.

Then again, maybe they won't. It's probably best to mentally prepare yourself now, just in case the Internet is right about this one.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501269035-grey-and-missandei.jpg"
"7 Things You Didn't Know About Princess Diana, According to Her Biographer","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a47003/princess-diana-biographer-andrew-morton-interview/","When Princess Diana was desperate to get her story out, she turned to one writer: Andrew Morton. His book, Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words, was a blockbuster, and completely changed how people saw both the princess and the royal family. And until she died, Morton kept Diana's involvement a secret.

Morton reflects on Diana's life and enduring legacy in the upcoming TLC documentary, Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason?, which premieres on July 31 at 8 PM EST. He spoke to HarpersBAZAAR.com about what it was like to secretly access the innermost thoughts of the most famous woman in the world—and how her life and death changed the face of the royal family.

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Watch an excerpt from Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason? below.

Diana secretly tested Morton to see if he was the right author.

Morton says as a reporter, he had met Diana on a few occasions but did not know her well. He did know her friend, James Colthurst, and when she was looking for a trusted author, she picked Morton in part because he was an independent writer. Because he was not affiliated with a newspaper, television station or radio station, her message wouldn't be filtered through a media outlet. And before she went with him, she tested him. ""She filtered out some information and I was able to write a story about it,"" he says. ""And it gave her a sense of control in a life that was out of control. What I didn't realize, what nobody realized, was how desperate she was to get her story out.""

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Her participation in the book was a secret—and it almost got out.

Diana recorded herself on tape and transmitted the audio to Morton through Colthurst, so she had deniability with the royal family. Technically, she could honestly tell the Queen she never spoke to Morton for the book. Diana actually did try to meet with Morton one time, but they almost got caught. ""We did make an arrangement to see one another for dinner once, and she was followed by paparazzi who hung around at the end of the street where we were due to meet, so we canceled it,"" he said. ""It was too dangerous."" If the palace had found out Diana was the source for Morton's book, ""it would have just blown everything sky high,"" Morton says.

Prince Harry sticks out his tongue on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in 1988.

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Diana had a terrific sense of humor.

In Morton's view, not enough people take the time to talk about how funny Diana was, and instead focus on the tragedy and drama of her life. But William and Harry recently spoke out about how funny their mother was, from playing practical jokes to giving them sweets to hide under their shirts. ""The focus, until William and Harry spoke, it was always making Diana out to be a rather gloomy, depressive character. She wasn't,"" Morton says. ""She was amused by life, and the tapes that I've got, there's a lot of humor in them. That's one of the elements that's always missing. But Diana never took herself too seriously.""

Her desire for freedom threatened her safety.

Princess Diana ended up declining royal protection after her divorce. ""One of the things she used to talk about all the time was the fact that she wanted to travel light, without a bodyguard. She felt that she could do everything herself,"" he says. ""She did find it intrusive because she couldn't speak to who she wanted or do what she wanted when she knew that someone else was in the car listening."" But some say if she had a bodyguard the night of her death, she would have been warned to put on her seatbelt—and that could have saved her life.

There's a reason people still suspect a conspiracy in her death.

Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason focuses on many conspiracy theories surrounding her tragic death. And though multiple investigations have debunked them, people still hold on to their ideas of what really happened to Diana. Morton thinks this is because of how she was treated when she was alive. ""In a way, she was kind of conned by the establishment,"" he says. ""When you look at her life, she was being told throughout her adult life—from the age of 20 until the separation—that her husband's relationship with Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, was just perfectly platonic, a friendship.""

But Morton shrugs off one particular detail conspiracy theorists latch onto: that she wrote a letter saying Charles was going to kill her, and a car accident would be involved. ""While I was writing the book, Fergie was often in touch with Diana about all kinds of messages and prognostications from [astrologers],"" he says. ""So I often wonder, if she was so concerned about car crashes, and she was, why on earth didn't she wear a seatbelt that night?""

Diana would be like Jackie O if she were still alive.

Before she died, Diana was working on separating herself from her royal life, ""not as a princess of Wales but as a princess for the world,"" Morton says. ""The nearest parallel I can think of is Jackie Onassis."" She was focusing on her humanitarian work and wanted to use her leverage for good in the world. But at the same time, she was looking for a stable relationship, and was heartbroken when her relationship with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan ended. ""Like Jackie Onassis, it was very difficult to find someone who would fit the bill, someone who was prepared to accept that level of intrusion and focus,"" he says.

Diana with Prince William and Prince Harry in 1995.

William has carried on Diana's legacy—and some wish he were king next.

Prince William and Prince Harry are both incredibly popular royals, and that's in a big part thanks to their mother. ""William seems to incorporate the best of Diana and the best of the queen,"" Morton says."" [He's] cautious, thoughtful, stoic on one part of it, which is traditionally royal, but sensitive, human, and accessible on the other, which is very Diana.""

But Diana's popularity has led many onlookers to wish the monarchy would skip Charles and go straight to William. ""I think most people just see the next reign, the reign of King Charles III, [as] an interregnum, and the continuity of the monarchy will take place with William,"" he says. ""Quite frankly, for the last 25 years, that's been the drumbeat beneath the melody playing inside the monarchy, to skip a generation. That's not going to happen, but it does mean that Charles is not going to have the same sort of support and authority as the queen.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x799/1501268071-hbz-diana-new-1-1501264477.jpg"
"A High-Profile Florida Couple Is Blaming Donald Trump for Their Divorce","http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a46999/trump-divorce-florida-couple/","The wife of a Florida Democratic state prosecutor says she is getting divorced, in part because she supports President Donald Trump and her husband doesn't.

Lynn Aronberg said in a press release Thursday that she is ""amicably"" divorcing Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg. Lynn says she is a ""staunch Republican and supporter of President Trump,"" while her husband is not. This fact led her to feel ""increasingly isolated in the marriage.""

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The 37-year-old former Miami Dolphins cheerleader and public relations consultant said she is getting a $100,000 settlement, including a new BMW and $40,000 in cash.

Happy Anniversary to my beloved bride, @lynnaronberg! Grateful to have you in my life. #paperanniversary ❤️ A post shared by Dave Aronberg (@davearonberg) on May 10, 2016 at 10:34am PDT

Dave Aronberg is a former state senator who was elected to his current office in 2012. The spokesman for the 46-year-old prosecutor said that Aronberg had no comment.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/1501261628-trump-divorce-1501257305_1.jpg"
"Saint West Has a Voice","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a46998/saint-west-speaks-for-first-time-on-kims-snapchat/","Saint West, the second Kimye child, had his first big speaking role on his mom Kim Kardashian's Snapchat yesterday:

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""Saur!"" he says, for dinosaur. He also roars in oh, the cutest way. Granted, the voice was disguised a bit by the Snapchat filter, but it marks the first time Saint's voice has been heard period on any of Kim's social platforms. North West, get used to sharing the Kim K Snapchat spotlight.

Saint has a cool five months to enjoy his time as the youngest West—the family is expecting another member, via surrogate, reportedly due in January.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501259717-saint.jpg"
"Leonardo DiCaprio and These Models Declare It Leo Season","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a46997/leonardo-dicaprio-models-on-yacht/","Your boo boo Leonardo DiCaprio, ambassador of bro-y summer fun, had a quiet start to his favorite season this year. He was fresh off a breakup with Nina Agdal; there were no photos of him on his beloved Citibike or out with a water gun or new blonde model.

But that was before Leo season truly kicked off. DiCaprio is back to his Leo-est ways in St. Tropez, France. He was photographed out yesterday spending a day with his friend Tobey Maguire and ""a harem of girls"" on a yacht, as the photo agency put it.

Backgrid

Backgrid

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It's good to know in these crazy times, Leo and his love of beautiful women will always be a constant.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501258329-gettyimages-623819100.jpg"
"No One Noticed Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart Secretly Holding Hands in This Comic-Con Interview","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a46996/cole-sprouse-lili-reinhart-secretly-holding-hands-interview/","Riverdale fans have been speculating since this spring that costars/onscreen love interests Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart are dating in real life.

Cole posted some dreamy, romantic pictures of Lili on Instagram in March and April that got people talking.

🌷🌼🌷🌼👩🏼🌼🌷🌼🌷 A post shared by Cole Sprouse (@colesprouse) on Mar 18, 2017 at 11:30am PDT

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And then the rumors took on new life after reports that Cole and Lili had been spotted kissing, cuddling, and generally canoodling at Entertainment Weekly's Comic Con party.

Even though neither actor has commented publicly on the maybe-relationship, we have new evidence that Bughead is a thing IRL. During an otherwise totally standard, normal cast interview with TV Line at Comic-Con, Cole and Lili shared a ~look~ and stealthily stroked hands on camera.

There was actual caressing happening, guys. Let's slow that down:

Watch the full interview yourself below (and skip to 8:05 for the magic moment):","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/980x490/1501256207-1501251438-bughead.jpg"
"George Clooney Vows to ""Prosecute"" Following Paparazzi Incident With Twins","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a46995/george-clooney-paparazzi-photos-of-twins/","Not even two months have passed since Amal and George Clooney welcomed their twins into the world, but the paparazzi's desperation to get photos of the newborns is already reaching dangerous levels.

The actor released a statement regarding a paparazzi incident that occurred at the Clooney household over the weekend. Photographers allegedly scaled the fence of the Clooneys' home in order to take photos of the couple with the newborn babies inside their personal home. The photos were later run in Voici, a French tabloid.

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""Over the last week photographers from Voici magazine scaled our fence, climbed our tree and illegally took pictures of our infants inside our home. Make no mistake the photographers, the agency and the magazine will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The safety of our children demands it,"" Clooney said in a statement.

George and Amal have not yet released photos of their two-month-old twins, instead opting for privacy in their time as new parents. This paparazzi incident is just the latest in celebrities having to go the extra mile to protect their children from photographers crossing the line.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/1501255118-1487771332-1487669904-george-amal-clooney.jpg"
"Here's Why So Many Trans People Enlist","http://www.elle.com/culture/news/a46993/heres-why-so-many-trans-people-enlist-in-the-military/","Petty Officer First Class Sarah S. knew growing up that she wanted to join the Navy. ""Being in the Navy is all I could ever remember wanting to do since I was a child, but I came from a poor family with military background, and I was enamored by the Blue Angels,"" she says. But at this moment Sarah, a 15-year veteran of the Navy who declined to give her last name, finds her childhood dream at risk. Sarah is transgender.

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This week, President Trump announced in a series of tweets that transgender troops would be banned from serving in the armed forces in any capacity, a reversal from a previous Obama administration policy encouraging trans people to begin the process of coming out and transitioning to serving their country openly. ""It feels like we were lambs led to the slaughter,"" Sarah says. ""We were told, 'It's okay, we want to help you thrive,' and now we may be forced out, some only a year or two from retirement."" Trump's ban is a cruel strike against a community that is twice as likely to serve its country than the general population.

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Despite previous Pentagon policies barring trans troops from enlisting, trans people have always served in the military, with many staying in the closet for the duration of their careers. It's estimated that the U.S. military is the single largest employer of transgender people in the world. But what would possess someone to sacrifice so much of their own personhood on behalf of a country that simply refuses to accept them?

I spoke with Emily Crose about what motivates trans people to serve their country. Crose transitioned just over a year and a half ago after five years as a U.S. Army Civilian and writes extensively about issues facing transgender troops. ""[Many trans women enlist because] the military offers them a chance to validate a masculine part of themselves that they don't feel in touch with. Being socialized in a male society means that you have to be or act a certain way,"" Crose says. ""For those of us who felt uncomfortable being forced into that particular mold, the military gives us a shot to learn how to do it right.""

Nick, who has served since they enlisted in 2010 and declined to give their last name, rank, or branch of service for fear of reprisals from the administration, just wanted to escape a toxic home situation and have a chance at a life they may not otherwise be able to access. ""I wasn't fitting this other idea of whatever my parents expected. I joined the military because it felt like my best option for a better future,"" Nick says. ""There was also the added bonus of learning a marketable skill as an intelligence analyst, the possibility of having future college decisions paid for, and an easy out of minimum-wage hell. It's very easy to convince conservative parents you want to serve your country.""

Many trans folks simply want to prove their worth as service members, regardless of their transitioning status. ""Trans service members have a unique way of taking the adversities they face, mixing it with the small opportunities afforded to them and churning it into leadership and work skills,"" Nick says. ""More than anything we just want to prove we are just as, if not more, capable and competent as other service members.""

If history is any guide, trans people will adapt and survive. Many many decide that staying in the closet and denying their own truths will give them the lives and careers they've dreamed of. Even if the ban becomes official policy, trans people will continue enlisting for various reasons: to protect the country, to fulfill a dream, to open up new professional opportunities. ""There are a lot more questions we have to ask ourselves about this decision and if we're okay with this being imposed on our military,"" Crose says. ""In the meantime, trans people will be left holding the bag like we always are, and we will continue serving our country despite it all.""

Katelyn Burns is a freelance journalist and a transwoman in accordance with the GLAAD transgender style guide. Her previous work can be found in The Washington Post, Esquire, and VICE, among many others. She lives in Maine with her two small children. You can follow her on Twitter @transscribe.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501254329-elle-trans-in-military.jpg"
"Motherhood Is Rotten for Women's Self-Esteem. Here's How We Can Make It Better.","http://www.elle.com/culture/news/a46877/motherhood-is-rotten-for-a-womans-self-esteem-heres-how-we-can-make-it-better/","Our long history of viewing motherhood through rose-colored lenses has left us with a good many blind spots toward the more disagreeable parts of making and raising children. Only recently have doctors and researchers begun to examine the physical and emotional fallout, documenting how and why the transition to motherhood is so hard for so many women.

A recent example of this comes from Norway, where researchers conducted a study for which they tracked nearly 85,000 women from pregnancy through the first three years of their children's lives and asked them questions about how having children affected their self-esteem. The findings are dispiriting, if unsurprising.

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The team, led by psychologist Manon A. Van Scheppingen, had participants fill out questionnaires rating their self-esteem and relationship satisfaction throughout this time period. They found that self-esteem generally decreased during pregnancy, increased for a six-month period after childbirth, and then gradually decreased until the child reached 3 years. Fortunately, it's not all downhill from there.

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While self-esteem tended to take a hit in the early years, the researchers found that ""having children did not trigger substantial long-term changes in maternal self-esteem."" But it also didn't lead to increased self-esteem, at least over a period involving two pregnancies. This assessment is supported by the comparison they made between the self-reported self-esteem levels of the mothers who took the survey twice, for two different children.

The study also asked mothers about relationship satisfaction and found, unsurprisingly, a positive correlation between how women feel about their partnerships and how they feel about themselves. The less happy a woman was with herself, the less happy she was with her partner. However, while self-esteem declined during pregnancy, relationship satisfaction remained steady during this period. But once the baby came, partner-derived contentment took a big hit, and continued to steadily decline until the child turned 3. According to another study referenced by the authors, the decline in relationship satisfaction was especially strong for women who stopped working when they had their first child.

There are some limitations to note here, qualifications that might help mitigate the quiet desperation, or, perhaps, white-hot rage, such findings might inspire in women of childbearing age. One, as the authors acknowledge, the women did not fill out questionnaires before getting pregnant or after their children's third birthdays. As a result, there is little insight into the long-term effects of having children. Also, these findings might be influenced by the likely self-esteem-boosting fact that these women were all living in a country where maternity leave is universal and well-paid (though paternity leave is, unfortunately, less so), and child care is affordable. That said, according to anecdotal accounts, there is a monoculture surrounding parenting in Norway that sounds oppressive and possibly self-esteem deflating. Lastly, the concept of self-esteem is nebulous and subjective, and anyway, the value of having a good self-esteem might matter less than many of today's young parents were taught to believe.

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Some of the self-esteem dip found among mothers of young children is an inevitable byproduct of taking on something as demanding, and life-altering, as having a child. It would be strange to not harbor a few self-doubts when taking on such a daunting task while simultaneously stopping doing much of whatever it is made you feel like you. ""New mothers are primed, biochemically, to attend to the needs of their children. It's a state of hypervigilance,"" says Miriam Schultz, a reproductive psychiatrist. But the external forces, surely a factor here too, don't help. We're making babies in a world where the definition of ""good mother"" is still rigid. We not only feel like we have to mother in a certain fashion, we also feel like we have to sincerely effervesce while mothering in that fashion, and then go and perform this joy in a world where the value of care work has yet to be truly acknowledged. Extra points for keeping all physical evidence of motherhood to a minimum during pregnancy and erasing it all as quickly as possible afterward.

""There is so much messaging out there, and it doesn't just tell women that there is a right and wrong way to do this, but also that's there's a more right way than what they are doing. It's, at best, exhausting. At worst, it evolves into significant self-doubt and depression,"" Schultz says.

Roshie, a mom in Las Vegas, said her self-esteem took a hit when she had children. She found her field of broadcast journalism to be particularly inhospitable to pregnancy and early parenthood, so she stopped working and put her ""individuality on hold.""

""Growing up, you hear how important it is to be a mom. It's almost ingrained in our culture that all women are supposed to have kids, and if you don't want them there's something wrong with you. But when you do finally have them, you're penalized for it,"" she says, explaining why she believes she lost her bearings. Kristina, a mom in San Diego, says she felt similarly. ""It stripped me of my sense of identity. I don't know how to evaluate myself. I feel like I am floating in space."" She notes that other moms seem to get a self-esteem boost from the act of parenting, be it sleep or potty-training, but it's never worked like that for her.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501270205-elle-motherhood-self-esteeme.jpg"
"The 14 Best Twitter Reactions to Obamacare's ""Skinny Repeal"" Getting Rejected","http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/news/a46991/twitter-reactions-senate-rejects-skinny-repeal/","https://twitter.com/anildash/status/89092622314002...

In a shocking vote on the Senate floor, Republicans' attempt to introduce a so-called ""skinny repeal"" of the Affordable Care Act was shot down thanks to three votes: Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and John McCain (R-Arizona). The bill would have taken away healthcare from 16 million people and denied funding to Planned Parenthood—but now it's not happening.

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The vote happened in the wee hours of Friday morning, which is prime time for people to react to crazy news on Twitter. And the Internet did not disappoint. Check out some of the best reactions to the big political news of the day.

GOP: I know we have John McCain's vote.



McCain: pic.twitter.com/zvLhjzrJaP — Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) July 28, 2017

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studio exec, on monday: john, we love your script, but the final act is missing some drama.



mccain: fam, say no more — Rembert Browne (@rembert) July 28, 2017

When you tweeted a bunch of bad stuff about John McCain and he actually came through pic.twitter.com/TMtGrR5eV3 — Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 28, 2017

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Congratulations to John McCain, new recipient of the James Comey ""Wait, Does Everyone Now Like This Guy Again?"" Award. — Jody Avirgan (@jodyavirgan) July 28, 2017","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501246287-gettyimages-823746344.jpg"
"Keke Palmer Slams Kylie Jenner for Caving Into Pressure to Make Herself ""Beautiful""","http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a46990/keke-palmer-slams-kylie-jenner-social-media-standards/","Keke Palmer called Kylie Jenner out for being a bad role model for young women because she believes Jenner has completely changed who she is to fit in to the modern stereotype of what women are told they should look like.

The Scream Queens actress says social media makes it hard for people to remain true to themselves and has used Jenner, 19, as an example of why that's so sad.

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Talking to Yahoo Beauty, Palmer said that social media and the internet in general has become so judgmental that people will either put themselves down before a troll gets the chance to comment, or they conform to what they are being told is the way they should look. And she believes the Kardashians are a big part of the problem.

""In the sense of the Kardashians, it's like I'm going to show you so much perfect and be everything a woman should be or everything a man would like or love. And I'm going to be exactly that so you can't bully me anymore.

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""Specifically in the situation with Kylie, where you've had a young girl people have seen on television since she was a kid and they literally told her she was so ugly… the ugly person in the family.

""She went and did apparently everything the world deems as beautiful. The even crazier part is that everybody loves her for it.

""You can be profitable for not being who you truly are,"" she added.

""That's the thing we really have to be careful of and why I'm so honest about everything I'm going through—whether that's sadness, happiness, depression, anger, boredom, whatever it may be. We all go through it.""","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501249076-elle-kylie-jenner-keke-palmer.jpg"
"Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon Will Reunite in Just-Announced TV Show","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a46989/jennifer-aniston-reese-witherspoon-tv-show/","Here is a headline you've seen a million times: two enormous stars are slated to ""reunite"" on the small screen. You're elated! You click so hard your keyboard goes up in flames. But when the smoke dissipates, you realize you've been duped. The duo isn't teaming up for a buddy comedy directed by Ava DuVernay. They're just scheduled to guest-star in the same episode of Madame Secretary. You're crushed!

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Not this time.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon will 100 percent, no-ifs-ands-or-buts reunite on a show that will witness Aniston's return to TV more than a decade after Friends went off the air.

Aniston and Witherspoon, who once played sisters to great comedic effect on Friends, are attached to star in a series set in the world of New York's rabid, competitive morning shows. And the still-untitled show, which hasn't been snapped up by a network just yet, is shaping up to be ""one of the largest TV packages to date,"" the Hollywood Reporter writes. The show is the brainchild of former HBO exec Michael Ellenberg. Aniston will serve as an executive producer.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x800/landscape-1501250145-elle-jennifer-anniston-reese-witherspoon.jpg"
"The Cast of Mean Girls: The Musical Actually Looks Perfect","http://www.elle.com/culture/news/a46988/mean-girls-musical-cast-broadway/","It's never too early to start saving for something as epic as the upcoming Mean Girls musical, which will begin a limited run starting Oct. 31 at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. That's right, Mean Girls is premiering on Halloween, so if you score tickets, don't even think about showing up without a zombie bride or mouse costume. The official cast was unveiled on Thursday. Here's what Cady, Regina, Aaron Samuels and company look like.

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Erika Henningsen (Cady Heron)

Early morning. Waiting for the bunny. 📸: @s.e.henningsen A post shared by Erika Henningsen (@erikahenningsen) on Apr 16, 2017 at 1:10pm PDT

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Erika most recently played Fantine in the Broadway production of Les Misérables in New York City, so you know she can sing. Based on her Instagram, she loves the great outdoors, group selfies, and dogs, especially her dog brother Theo.

Taylor Louderman (Regina George)

Stepping into @kinkybootsbway next week! 😍🤗👠💋 A post shared by Taylor Louderman (@taylizlou) on Jan 13, 2017 at 8:04pm PST

Taylor will also make the trip from New York to DC, as she stars in the current production of Kinky Boots as Lauren. She's also appeared in another '00s classic-turned-musical: Bring It On.

Ashley Park (Gretchen Wieners)

I love chemistry 💡🌱🔮😊 #dallas A post shared by Ashley Park (@ashleyparklady) on Jun 16, 2017 at 5:27am PDT

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Ashley's lengthy resume includes productions of Sunday in the Park with George, The King and I, Mamma Mia! and Cinderella. One time, Ashley drank out of a lightbulb (which was properly disinfected and what not before it became a cute Instagram-worthy drink).

Kyle Selig (Aaron Samuels)

""Boyfriend's Club"" meeting here in the Anthropologie stairwell. A post shared by Kyle Selig (@kaselig) on May 13, 2017 at 1:28pm PDT

Before practicing for the perfect ""What day is it?"" line, Kyle made his Broadway debut in The Book of Mormon while still in drama school. Kyle loves Haim, waiting in the ""Boyfriend's Club"" area at Anthropologie (side note: great chat), and unlike you, has seen Hamilton.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1501244127-mean-girls-2017-1501182730_1.jpg"
"The New American Horror Story: Cult Teaser and Poster Are Straight-Up Disgusting","http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/news/a46986/the-new-american-horror-story-cult-teaser/","Ever since the new American Horror Story theme was revealed at Comic-Con—Cults! Yes!— we've all been waiting for the inevitable horrifying teasers and images to start seeping out. And voila! They're finally here! And they're just as repulsive as we've come to expect from Ryan Murphy and co. Hooray!

First, there's this creepy-ass poster, featuring a clown with a brain made of bees:

Be of like mind. The official poster for #AHSCult is here. pic.twitter.com/oRGmYQXXia — AmericanHorrorStory (@AHSFX) July 27, 2017

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And then there's this terrifying teaser, which is pretty cryptic, but features yet another clown and the text ""Find us"" followed by ""AHSCULT.com.""

American Horror Story: Cult premieres Sept. 5.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1501243934-american-horror-story-season-7-1501204374.png"
"Here Are the Best Quotes From Anthony Scaramucci's Explosive New Yorker Interview","http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/news/a46987/the-mooch-steve-bannon-suck-own-cock/","Today, the Mooch truly became the Trump administration's communications director. He formally joined earlier in the week, but today Anthony Scaramucci really arrived: In a remarkable interview with The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, the Mooch ranted about White House leakers, shivved a couple of colleagues, and dove into a level of vulgarity that, like so much about this administration, is surely unprecedented from a White House official in an on-the-record interview. Below is a collection of his very best one-liners.

""I'm not Steve Bannon, I'm not trying to suck my own cock.""

""Reince is a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac. 'Oh, Bill Shine is coming in. Let me leak the fucking thing and see if I can cock-block these people the way I cock-blocked Scaramucci for six months.'""

""They're trying to resist me, but it's not going to work. I've done nothing wrong on my financial disclosures, so they're going to have to go fuck themselves.""

""What I'm going to do is, I will eliminate everyone in the comms team and we'll start over...I ask these guys not to leak anything and they can't help themselves...You're an American citizen, this is a major catastrophe for the American country. So I'm asking you as an American patriot to give me a sense of who leaked it.""

""Okay, I'm going to fire every one of them, and then you haven't protected anybody, so the entire place will be fired over the next two weeks.""

""They'll all be fired by me. I fired one guy the other day. I have three to four people I'll fire tomorrow. I'll get to the person who leaked that to you. Reince Priebus—if you want to leak something—he'll be asked to resign very shortly.""

""What I want to do is I want to fucking kill all the leakers and I want to get the President's agenda on track so we can succeed for the American people.""

""Okay, the Mooch showed up a week ago. [Yes, he is referring to himself as The Mooch.] This is going to get cleaned up very shortly, okay? Because I nailed these guys. I've got digital fingerprints on everything they've done through the F.B.I. and the fucking Department of Justice.""

""Yeah, let me go, though, because I've gotta start tweeting some shit to make this guy crazy."" [He soon tweeted, then deleted, a felony accusation against Priebus.]

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What a time to be alive.","http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/17/30/1600x808/1501243948-1501190692-themooch.jpg"
"Over a Dozen GOP Senators Have Voted against the Health Care Bill. So Why Are Only the Women Getting Attacked?","http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/news/a46974/gop-congressmen-threaten-susan-collins-lisa-murkowski-violence/","Update: A few hours after midnight, the Senate 's proposed ""skinny repeal"" failed to win the 50 votes it needed to pass the chamber. Every Democrat and three Republican senators voted against it; they were John McCain (R-AZ), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

Ah, the Republicans. The Grand Old Party; the conservators of family values; the guardians of all the old-fashioned moral values that once made this country great. This week, America has gotten a nice, long look at at least one of those apparent Republican creeds. For example, the one that maintains it's a-OK to threaten your female colleagues for disagreeing with you.

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In the past week, not one, but two white, male Republican politicians have threatened women in their own party with words that imply physical violence. The Republicans who have voted against the latest ACA repeal efforts have been disproportionately female. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) all voted against a repeal-only bill; on Tuesday, Collins and Murkowski were the only Republicans to vote against opening Trumpcare to ""debate.""

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The hint of a gender rift in the Republican Party is heartening. The response from the dudes of the GOP is anything but.

""Listen, the fact that the Senate does not have the courage to do some of the things that every Republican in the Senate promised to do is just absolutely repugnant to me,"" Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) insisted on talk radio show ""Keys 1440 AM."" ""Some of the people that are opposed to this — there are some female senators from the Northeast — if it was a guy from South Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this

Dear all
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