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A group of Silicon Valley billionaires’ plan to construct a utopian “city of yesterday” remains on hold until at least 2026. In the meantime, California Forever is pursuing an alternative option for some of its 60,000 acres purchased through years of stealth real estate dealings. According to Rio Vista mayor Edwin Okamura, early discussions are underway to transform a portion of California Forever’s land into a largescale shipbuilding port.

“A proposed site for this initiative is near Collinsville—an area long suspected as a potential port,” Okamura wrote last week in a social media post. Preliminary conversations also included potential tax incentives, federal infrastructure funding, and “immediate job creation.”

The Solano County town of Collinsville is located roughly 40 miles from San Francisco on the Sacramento River, which ultimately feeds into the Pacific Ocean. Attempts to build a new shipbuilding port in the area date back to at least 1989, and focus on an estimated 1,400 acres previously identified for maritime industrial uses.

Although no longer the hub it once was, Solano County and the surrounding region has a deep shipbuilding history that dates back to the opening of Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINS) in 1854. MINS was central to the development and expansion of US naval capabilities for nearly 145 years, particularly when it came to World War II build-up efforts. It also served for decades as a submarine port. The US government finally closed operations for around 7,500 remaining MINS employees in 1996.

California Forever publicly announced its $900 million East Solano Plan in August 2023. Envisioned as an idyllic “city of yesterday,” the new town’s founders boasted it would feature “novel methods of design, construction, and governance.” California Forever’s pitch arrived after years of aggressive real estate dealings funded by a group of secretive investors led by former Goldman Sachs trader Jan Sramek. Backers were eventually revealed to include wealthy Silicon Valley venture capitalists like LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Lauren Powell Jobs, billionaire philanthropist and widow of Steve Jobs.

The East Solano Plan received almost immediate pushback from both local residents and politicians, who criticized the organization’s opaque real estate dealings and lofty promises. Meanwhile, environmental groups criticized the project’s supposed eco-friendliness, with the Sierra Club describing the overall goals as a “hostile takeover” of vital agricultural and natural landscapes. Facing mounting pushback, California Forever withdrew an initial measure to fast-track plans that was slated for inclusion on the region’s November 2024 election ballot. Representatives at the time said they would instead pursue the East Solano Plan through standard channels, including a full, independent environmental impact review along with preparing a development agreement with local county supervisors.

“I know from where I stand today, I support this maritime industrial opportunity,” Vacaville mayor John Carli told California’s Daily Republic newspaper last week, adding his belief that it presents “one of the most significant opportunities we have here in Solano County.” Carli also confirmed representatives from the US Navy were a part of the early discussions.

The latest pivot arrives less than a month after President Trump announced intentions to revitalize US ship manufacturing. During his first state address on March 4, Trump referenced an impending executive order aimed at jumpstarting efforts to compete with China’s longstanding commercial shipbuilding dominance. A draft of the “Make Shipbuilding Great Again” executive order obtained by The Washington Post also claimed the president would direct Congress to appropriate funds towards the creation of a US Office of Shipbuilding. Executive orders are not functionally identical to federally passed laws, and can be legally challenged.

Meanwhile, maritime experts have already expressed doubts about the feasibility of the Trump White House’s vows for a quick return to domestic ship and naval manufacturing. 

“It appears to be written by people who have absolutely no idea how the maritime supply chain works,” Lars Jensen, CEO of Copenhagen’s Vespucci Maritime consultant agency, said of the EO earlier this month. Jensen cited President Trump’s ongoing tariff war provocations, particularly those affecting steel and other manufacturing imports, as counterintuitive to any domestic shipbuilding goals. The “Make Shipbuilding Great Again” order has yet to be published.

“We used to make so many ships. We don’t make them anymore very much, but we’re going to make them very fast, very soon,” President Trump vowed earlier this month.

In an email to Popular Science, a California Forever spokesperson clarified that even if shipyard plans do progress, the project isn’t a “shift away from the city,” but did not provide more details at the time of writing.

The post Billionaire utopian city launches new shipyard plan appeared first on Popular Science.

Earth’s oceans may not have always been as brilliantly blue as they are today. In fact, there may have been a time when they weren’t blue at all. According to researchers at Japan’s Nagoya University, Earth’s earliest oceans glimmered with green hues for over 2 billion years. The ramifications may not only better our understanding of Earth’s distant past—it may help expand our search for life elsewhere in the galaxy.

Although Earth itself cohered into a planet around 4.5 billion years ago, most estimates suggest it took at least another 800 million years before the earliest lifeforms developed. But while lifeless during that time, the planet was already covered by vast oceans dotted with hydrothermal vent systems that released large amounts of ferrous iron into the water.

The earliest cyanobacteria, commonly known today as algae, emerged around 4 billion years ago as some of the first organisms to perform oxygenic photosynthesis. While modern plants use chlorophylls for this process, ancient cyanobacteria also collected the sun’s energy through phycobilins in their antennae. Cyanobacteria’s rise ultimately helped kick off a period roughly 2.4 billion years ago known as the Great Oxidation Event. During this time, oxygen accumulated in Earth’s atmosphere, which in turn had major ramifications for the evolution of life. But the reason why cyanobacteria needed those phycobilins remained a mystery to researchers for years.

A group led by Taro Matsuo at Nagoya University recently explored one potential explanation in a study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. Using advanced computational chemical simulations, Matsuo’s team was able to approximate how the light spectrum diffused underwater during the Archean era 4–2.5 billion years ago. They determined the increasing amounts of oxygen produced by organisms like cyanobacteria eventually interacted with an ocean’s iron content, changing it from ferrous to ferric iron.

Unlike ferrous iron, ferric iron is insoluble, which means it precipitates out of water in the form of rust-like particles. These ancient iron-heavy oceans interacted differently with light wavelengths, with ferric iron particles absorbing mostly blue and red light and leaving the green to refract into the water. According to Matsuo’s team, this would have given oceans a much greener tint to the human eye (had humans been alive at the time). Consequently, cyanobacteria continued to evolve phycobilins in order to absorb light through all that green.

“Genetic analysis revealed that cyanobacteria had a specialized phycobilin protein called phycoerythrin that efficiently absorbed green light,” Matsuo said in a statement. “We believe that this adaptation allowed them to thrive in the iron-rich, green oceans.”

Matsuo wasn’t always a believer in his green ocean hypothesis. When he first began pondering the idea in 2021, he was “more skeptical than anything else. “

“But now, after years of research, as geological and biological insights gradually came together like pieces of a puzzle, my skepticism has turned into conviction.”

A major moment in this journey occurred in 2023 during a field study on the Satsunan archipelago’s Iwo Island. Located southwest of Kyushu, the area’s ocean water is known for its unique coloration.

“From the boat, we could see that the surrounding waters had a distinct green shimmer due to iron hydroxides, exactly like how I imagined the Earth used to look,” said Matsuo.

The implications also go beyond Earth itself. While blue-tinted planets may hint at potential water elsewhere in the galaxy, Matsuo believes astronomers could consider expanding their color palettes.

“Remote-sensing data show that waters rich in iron hydroxide, such as those around Iwo Island in the Satsunan archipelago, appear noticeably brighter than typical blue oceans,” he explained. “This leads us to think that green oceans might be observable from a longer distance, making them easier to detect.”

The post Earth’s oceans weren’t always blue, scientists say appeared first on Popular Science.

Psst! Are your gaming sessions feeling less than stellar latelyl? It’s not your controller or headphones that are the issue—it might be your gaming PC. If the load speeds or graphics aren’t working the way they should, you might be surprised to hear that your device needs an OS upgrade.

You probably haven’t updated your PC’s OS in a long time, which means this deal for Windows 11 Pro has come around at the right time. Ready to start using your gaming PC to its fullest potential? Grab lifetime access to Windows 11 Pro, especially since it’s now price-dropped to only $14.97 (reg. $199) until Mar. 30.

An all-around internal PC upgrade

Windows 11 Pro isn’t designed solely to make your digital conquests and adventures more exciting, but it sure seems like it since it comes with DirectX 12 Ultimate. This addition can boost gaming graphics and maximize your PC’s hardware, making you really feel like you’re in the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout 4 or living the Elden Ring IRL.

If you also use your gaming PC for work or other projects, you’ll love Windows 11 Pro’s productivity tools. Enjoy snap layouts, multiple desktops, easy redocking, and enhanced voice-typing. Oh, and this OS is redesigned with rounded corners, so it’s easier on your eyes.

You’ll even get an AI-powered assistant in Copilot, which is powered by GPT-4 Turbo. Copilot can help you write work proposals, answer your questions, generate images and code, and even help you study for certifications or exams.

No one wants their data out on the black market, so you’re likely concerned about safety. Luckily, Windows 11 Pro is outfitted with plenty of security measures, including TPM 2.0, Smart App Control, biometrics login, and additional authentication and antivirus defenses so that your PC and personal data are protected from tampering and cyber threats. 

Ready to give your PC the gaming upgrade you never knew it needed?

Get this lifetime license for Windows 11 Pro, now just $14.97 until Mar. 30 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Supplies are limited, so act now to get your gaming PC up-to-date.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

 

Microsoft Windows 11 Pro – $14.97

Only $14.97 at Popular Science

What makes this deal special

For starters, Windows 11 Pro is typically nearly $200, and this offer brings a lifetime license to your PC for less than $15 for life. It’s not only a smart internal upgrade for your PC’s overall performance and security, but gamers can benefit from the DirectDirectX 12 Ultimate feature and enjoy a more immersive gaming experience. And since this is the latest edition of Microsoft’s beloved OS, users can enjoy AI integration and assistance from the Copilot feature.

The post Your gaming PC is seriously missing out if you don’t have Windows 11 Pro appeared first on Popular Science.

Hydrogen water bottles are all over social media, and even Kim Kardashian was spotted sipping from one on her show. But is this just another overpriced wellness trend, or is there real science behind it? 

While there still needs to be more research on their effectiveness, the idea behind the gadget is to use Solid Polymer Electrolysis (SPE) and Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) technology to boost the regular benefits of drinking water. Some companies charge hundreds for one, but you can get the Aquaala hydrogen-infused water bottle for just $37.99 (reg. $69.99).

Why use a hydrogen water bottle?

Everyone knows they should be drinking more water, but the benefits could be even greater if you’re drinking hydrogen-rich alkaline water. 

Celebrities and social media influencers probably hopped on the trend because they heard that such sciencey water might improve their digestion, metabolism, blood circulation, or energy. But remember: None of this has been proven (yet) by researchers.

How do you use a hydrogen water bottle?

Using the bottle is simple. Simply fill it with whatever water you normally drink (though electrolyzed or mineral water is best), tap the button, and your hydrogen water is ready in only three minutes. You’ll get up to 20 uses before the bottle needs to be recharged via USB.

The bottle is glass for the best-tasting beverages, and the base is silicone to prevent slipping. 

Get your portable hydrogen water bottle for $37.99 (reg. $69.99) and discover the potential health benefits for yourself.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

 

Aquaala Hydrogen Infuser Water Bottle – $37.99

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What makes this deal special

Hydrogen water bottles are trending, but many brands sell them for hundreds of dollars—making it tough to justify the hype. Whether you’re a wellness enthusiast or just curious about the science behind hydrogen-infused water, this deal lets you test it out for a fraction of the price. For $37.99, you get a bottle with the same advanced electrolysis technology used in high-end models, minus the luxury markup. Plus, it’s USB rechargeable, portable, and designed for easy everyday use. 

The post Meet the gadget that uses advanced electrolysis to supercharge your drinking water appeared first on Popular Science.

Laptops are the Goldilocks of electronics. Their screen size is bigger than a smartphone’s, but their weight and portability are better than a laptop’s. They typically come at an affordable price, like this Lenovo 11.6″ 100e Chromebook 2nd Gen, currently on sale for $59.99 (reg. $329).

See all the things this $60 Chromebook offers

If you’re particularly hard on your electronics, or you’ve been on the market for a device for the kiddo in your life, this Lenovo Chromebook is an excellent choice. It’s designed with tough rubber bumpers and a drop-resistant build that can handle everyday bumps and falls from up to 29.5 inches, making it incredibly durable for kids.

The 11.6-inch HD screen features anti-glare technology, which reduces eye strain, and its 720p HD camera ensures clear video calls—perfect for learning or keeping in touch. The Lenovo Chromebook 100e is perfect for running apps and multitasking smoothly, whether for school, work, or play.

With 4GB of RAM and 16GB of eMMC storage, you’ll have plenty of space for photos, videos, and documents. Plus, it has up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge, so it will last through a full school day or long road trips.

This 100e Chromebook is Grade A refurbished, meaning it arrives in near-mint condition with minimal signs of prior use. 

Get this Lenovo 100e Chromebook 2nd Gen for just $59.99 today!

StackSocial prices subject to change.

 

Lenovo 11.6″ 100e Chromebook 2nd Gen (2019) MediaTek MT8173C 4GB RAM 16GB eMMC (Refurbished) – $59.99

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The post We’ve found the perfect Chromebook for kids—and it’s only $60 appeared first on Popular Science.

Before remotes became sleek slabs of glass with touchpads and voice assistants, they used to click. And we liked the way that felt. The Function101 Button Remote for Apple TV brings back that retro feel—no Siri, no swipey-swipes, just big, satisfying buttons that do exactly what you expect. It’s simple. It works. And it’s on sale for just $19.97 (30% off) until March 30.

If you’ve ever flipped through channels with your thumb while eating cereal on a Saturday morning, this remote will feel like home. You don’t need to learn new gestures, and it ditches the voice command gimmicks in favor of an intuitive layout that gives you quick control over volume, power, and navigation.

It’s made to work with all Apple TV and Apple TV 4K models, so you can swap it between rooms or keep it on standby when the original remote inevitably disappears into the couch abyss. No pairing drama, no voice command nonsense—just a reliable, ready-to-go remote that anyone in the house can use without asking how it works.

Not just a satisfying upgrade for your current Apple TV setup. It’s also a smart backup. This remote is a no-brainer if you’ve got multiple Apple TVs in the house. It also syncs to most TVs and soundbars in seconds using infrared technology—just point and press.

Snag the Function101 Button Remote for Apple TV for $19.97 (Reg. $29.99) before the deal peace’s out on March 30 at 11:59 P.M. PST.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

 

Function101 Button Remote for Apple TV/Apple TV 4K – $19.97

See Deal

What makes this deal special

This Apple TV remote replacement is a steal, especially when you consider Apple’s official Siri Remote sells for $59. Whether your Apple TV remote isn’t working, you’ve lost it, or you want a simpler option, this remote delivers a more affordable and reliable alternative. It works with Apple TV 4K, has a traditional button layout, and even syncs with your TV’s power and volume—no touchpad, no hassle, just a better way to control your Apple TV.

The post I like big buttons and I cannot lie—this Apple TV remote is fly appeared first on Popular Science.

Human-looking bipedal robots can already run, jump, breakdance, punch, and generally perform broad feats of athletic prowess most humans could only dream of. One thing they are still pretty bad at though is walking a straight line without looking like they are moments away from soiling themselves. Figure AI, one of the buzziest startups in the humanoid robot space, now says it has engineered a solution to help address their machine’s stiff shuffle-step. 

The more natural-looking stride was achieved by analyzing thousands of virtual humanoid robots walking simultaneously in a simulated digital environment, Figure explained in a recent blog post. The company used reinforcement learning, rewarding the virtual robots for actions like synchronized arm swings, heel strikes, and toe-offs (when the toe leaves the ground) that more closely resemble human movement. Figure says this simulated approach allows it to generate years worth of data in just days. The refined “Learned Natural Walking” model was then applied to a physical Figure 2.0 humanoid.

Working towards walking in the real word

As the demonstration video above shows, the new stride isn’t perfect, but it’s an improvement over what the company’s robots displayed just a month earlier. The latest version moves more naturally, especially in its heel and lower leg movements. Figure exposed its horde of simulated robots to a variety of different terrains. It also had them adapt to unexpected scenarios like being tripped or shoved. The company sees this all as a step toward making its robots move more like humans in a real, unpredictable physical world.

“These initial results are exciting, but we believe they only hint at the full potential of our technology,” Figure writes. “We’re committed to extending our learned policy to handle every human-like scenario the robot might face in the real world.”

Research suggests that humans tend to respond more positively to robots when they appear more human-like and can hold a conversation. This same trait also makes people less likely to bludgeon the machines—a factor that could become increasingly important as humanoid robot manufacturers push for wider adoption across various industries. Figure AI has already secured a deal with BMW to test its robots in a South Carolina manufacturing facility, while Amazon is reportedly trialing humanoid robots from Agility Robotics in some of its warehouses.

Robots are finally getting better at the little things 

Humanoid robots have been performing backflips and dance routines for years, but they often struggle with the simple tasks humans take for granted. This contrast—where robots excel at challenges humans find difficult but fail at tasks humans find easy—is often referred to in robotics as “Moravec’s Paradox.” While advances in AI models have helped narrow this gap in recent years, there’s still a long way to go.

Google DeepMind just last year made a major breakthrough by finally teaching a robot how to tie a shoe. Even then, after decades of robotics research, the robot did a worse job than some school-age children. At the same time, robots today still struggle to lightly grip various objects without crushing them and often have about as much sense of balance as a human after one too many margaritas. 

The post Fancy humanoid robot no longer walks like it urgently needs a toilet appeared first on Popular Science.

Try to outrun a horse and you’ll likely lose. Despite the persistent myth that our species evolved to chase down prey on the savanna, horses will generally beat even the most elite human endurance athletes in contests of speed and distance. New research helps explain why and how horses have an athletic advantage.

A study published March 27 in the journal Science finds that a unique and ancient spate of genetic mutations was key to the evolution of horses’ exceptional aerobic fitness. Together, these changes enable horse muscles to use oxygen quickly and efficiently, without incurring the cellular damage normally associated with burning through lots of fuel. 

“It really lets horses have their cake and eat it too,” Gianni Castiglione, a study co-author  and a biologist at Vanderbilt University, tells Popular Science. The mutations partially account for why horses are able to maintain such a high proportion of muscle relative to their body mass, why they can sustain such a high concentration of mitochondria in their muscle cells, and why their maximum ability to uptake and use oxygen (or their VO2 max) is more than double that of a human athlete. 

The gene and resulting protein at the center of the adaptation isn’t just for horses– it also has serious clinical implications for health research. It’s possible that, by uncovering the mystery of horse athleticism, scientists could find new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases in humans like Alzheimer’s or even therapies to stall the declines of normal aging.

A first of its kind mutation in mammals

Castiglione and his team began their quest with a broad survey of genes across the tree of animal life, looking for how genetic sequences with known importance in people differ or remain the same in other species. Unexpectedly, they homed in on a specific equine alteration that helps explain how horses (along with zebras and donkeys) achieve their propulsive power. “We found this entire phenomenon in horses–something we would have never predicted,” Castiglione says.

Adding to the intrigue, the change in horses is closely related to one also found in birds, says Elia Duh, a study co-author and an ophthalmologist and biomedical scientist at Johns Hopkins University. Castiglione and Duh published previous research in 2020 on that avian discovery, and believe the change is a major part of why birds are able to fly, despite how energetically taxing all of that flapping is. 

“It implied convergent evolution,” Castiglione says. But once the scientists dug deeper, they found that the genetic shift in horses is far more complicated than the bird mutation. Horses, it turns out, had to clear many more evolutionary hurdles to make it to their final, fit form. One of these hurdles is so rare, it’s a type of mutation only previously seen in a subset of viruses.

The protein factor

To understand how horses found their athletic stride, it’s first important to understand two proteins: NRF2 and KEAP1. NRF2 is basically identical across almost all vertebrates. It has antioxidant effects in the body, neutralizing damaging molecules. It also plays a role in the production of the molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the energetic currency of cells. Mitochondria AKA the “powerhouse of the cell” burn ATP as fuel. The more ATP available, the more work cells can do. 

Though NRF2 performs some very important functions, it can also be deadly if it runs amok. In many vertebrates, overactive NRF2 triggers big problems like tumor growth. “It’s very much a Goldilocks situation,” says Castiglione. Animals “have to tightly regulate NRF2 and only turn it on when they need it.”

[ Related: Why studying horses could help humans stay healthy, too. ]

That’s where KEAP1 comes in. It keeps NRF2 in check by glomming onto NRF2 and clogging up its active site under normal cellular conditions. When enough oxidizing molecules, also  called free radicals, show up as an unavoidable byproduct of cells using energy, KEAP1 gets deactivated. This frees NRF2 to fight off the free radicals and minimize cellular harm. 

In birds, changes to the gene that codes for KEAP1 render the protein non-functional. Avians developed strategies to compensate for some of the consequences of having unregulated, constantly active NRF2 proteins–while still reaping the reward of enough energy to fly. “There’s definitely a balance, and–for different organisms–it’s a matter of what’s the optimal balance,” Duh says.

Horses harness the power of ‘recoding’

In horses and their close relatives, things are a little more convoluted. The study authors found a single nucleotide change early on in the gene that codes for KEAP1, which would normally halt protein production. However, through protein sequencing, cell culture experiments, and comparisons with mouse and human cells, Duh and Castiglione discovered that horses don’t have a non-functional, stunted protein. Instead, the equine version of KEAP1 is even more sensitive to stress, and more responsive to free radicals than the kind that exists in other vertebrates. 

Horses do this through a phenomenon called recoding. During recoding, a gene sequence normally read as a stop sign is translated into an amino acid which allows the rest of the protein to be built. A suite of complementary genetic changes had to happen to enable the recoding, but it’s not clear if those came before or after the KEAP1 gene mutation itself. Either way, the resulting horse KEAP1 protein is just different enough to offer benefits, without any obvious, major downsides.

This particular type of recoding has only previously been documented in viruses that infect bacteria–or bacteriophages. Finding the process in a vertebrate mammal reveals a whole new realm of possible genetic weirdness lurking in complex organisms. “It just speaks to the uniqueness of horses,” says Duh. 

[ Related: Horses once had multiple hoofed toes. ]

The sheer number of DNA shifts that must have occurred in rapid succession to create this synchronous outcome also reflects the strong pressure horses were likely under to become fast and tireless. The first horse-like animals were about the size of dogs and faced several predators in their open grassland habitat. To avoid being eaten to extinction, they adapted. It was an “intense evolutionary crucible” and ancestral horses had to innovate to survive, suggests Castiglione. 

It’s not clear exactly when in horse history these changes happened. It could have been just before the origins of the genus Equus between 4 and 4.5 million years ago. Or, it may have been as distant as 55 million years ago, just after the common ancestors of contemporary rhinoceros and horses split. The genetic record is too incomplete to draw detailed conclusions about the timeline, Castiglione notes. “We can only infer what happened once upon a time– unless you have a time machine. That’s always a limitation with evolutionary work.”

Future applications in humans 

Despite the unanswered evolutionary questions, Castiglione and Duh believe that their findings are firm enough to spur biomedical advances. KEAP1 and NRF2 are critically important proteins in many human diseases and in aging. Knowing that a single DNA nucleotide and amino acid swap can significantly change how the protein complex functions could be useful for addressing some of the malfunctions that pop up. 

Then there’s the fact that horses evolved a workaround to avoid getting stuck with a shoddy KEAP1 protein, despite a mutation that should have halted the production line. “In 10 to 15 percent of human diseases, you have a premature stop codon,” says Castiglione. If horse ancestors found a way to still produce a functional protein, perhaps a similar, equine-inspired gene therapy could be developed for humans too.

Yet for those future possibilities to materialize, there needs to be continued investment in exploratory and fundamental research, says Castiglione. “All of this work was funded by the [National Institutes of Health],” he tells Popular Science. “It’s because of their willingness to fund basic research that now we’ve found things of clinical value that we would have never been able to predict.” Under the current administration, NIH is facing major funding cuts. 

The post Scientists discover why horses are such exceptional athletes appeared first on Popular Science.

Homer’s The Iliad recounts one of history’s greatest legendary epics. It also describes a round of drinks shared by the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus.

“Hephaestus spoke, then stood up, passed a double goblet across to his dear mother… As he spoke, the white-armed goddess Hera smiled,” Homer writes. “She reached for her son’s goblet. He poured the drink, going from right to left, for all the other gods, drawing off sweet nectar from the mixing bowl.”

It doesn’t take long for the deities to soon begin laughing “irrepressibly” while “all that day they dined, until sunset.” In the end, “No one’s heart went unsatisfied.”

According to recent analysis of ancient relics recovered from the real ruins of Troy, wine wasn’t restricted to Greek divinity and wealthy humans. It was likely enjoyed by everyday residents, too. The new findings published in the April edition of the American Journal of Archaeology also further support a longstanding theory that Homer based The Iliad on actual historical events.

The ruins of Troy were rediscovered over 150 years ago by a German businessman and amateur archeologist named Heinrich Schliemann. Among the artifacts Schliemann recovered in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey, were a number of slender, two-handled drinking vessels made from clay. Experts have since excavated over 100 of these depas goblets (depas amphikypellon) from Trojan dig sites, which date back to 2500-2000 BCE. More have also been found across the Aegean, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia. Each depas goblet measures roughly 4.7–15.75 inches tall, and can hold between 0.25–1 liter of liquid.

Today, the University of Tübingen in Germany’s classical archeology collection contains one depas goblet and two vessel fragments from Schliemann’s original excavations. At the time, Schliemann believed depas goblets were used for communal celebrations similar to those described in The Iliad. But without modern chemical analysis methods, his hypothesis could not be tested.

That recently changed thanks to a collaborative team from the Universities of Tübingen, Bonn, and Jena. After milling a two-gram sample from each of the two vessel fragments, researchers heated them to 716-degrees Fahrenheit and analyzed the mixture with gras chromatography and mass spectrometry equipment. Two types of molecules stuck out in the results: succinic and pyruvic acid.

“They only occur when grape juice ferments. So now we can state with confidence that wine was actually drunk from the depas goblets and not just grape juice,” study co-author Maxime Rageot at the University of Bonn said in an accompanying statement.

Depas goblets weren’t everyday items, however. Wine was the most expensive drink available during the Bronze Age, and the majority of recovered goblets have been found in palaces and temples. Experts previously believed this implied that wine consumption was primarily relegated to societal elites. But in their same study, researchers also conducted a similar analyseis of common Trojan cups found outside the city’s central complex. Those results also proved wine was more accessible than researchers once thought.

“These vessels also contained wine,” confirmed study co-author Stephan Blum from the University of Tübingen. “So it is clear that wine was an everyday drink for the common people, too.”

Just how often middle- and lower-class residents of Troy drank wine remains unclear. But with the latest findings, historians and archeologists now know that fermented grapes weren’t only reserved for the likes of Hera and Hector.

The post Trojans of all classes enjoyed a nice jug of wine appeared first on Popular Science.

Americans, as you may have noticed, like to supersize things. Soda cans are bigger here, and so are hotel rooms, houses, and cars. Here in the U.S., giant pickup trucks and SUVs are the norm; visit any school at pickup time and you’re likely to see Chevrolet Tahoes, Jeep Grand Wagoneers, and Ford Expeditions in the carpool line. It would be easy to pick on the GMC Hummer EV because it’s massive; the battery alone is as heavy as a Honda Civic. But the Hummer EV is such a blast to drive that it gets a pass. 

Per a report from the EPA, the average vehicle footprint expanded by six percent between 2008 and 2023, a “historic high.” James Jenkins, department head of Product Planning for Honda and Acura vehicles at American Honda, says customers in America want more space for their things so the brand wants to provide that. 

“Larger cars, like the Accord, are more comfortable to drive on long trips with the longer wheelbases, which lends itself to the driving habits in the U.S.,” Jenkins says. 

Bigger roads and cheaper fuel

There are two main reasons why vehicles are bigger in the U.S., says Ed Kim, the president of automotive marketing research AutoPacific. “Ultimately, it comes down to the price of fuel,” he says. “Sure, we Americans complain about the price of gasoline, but the reality is that gasoline is taxed far less than almost any other country in the world.” 

In other words, he explains, cheap fuel allows Americans to drive far larger vehicles and less fuel-efficient vehicles compared to drivers in most other parts of the world. According to business forecasting site Kiplinger, a gallon of gas cost $3.75 last summer in the U.S. Compare that to the cost per gallon in the UK ($6.98), Singapore ($7.64) or Hong Kong (a whopping $12.16!). 

Related, American roads are designed to accommodate the larger vehicles we have due to the cheaper fuel we’ve historically had. Streets are wide, and even most parking spaces are sized to accommodate larger vehicles. 

Europe was developed before America, its cobbled streets designed for pedestrians and horses. If you’ve never traveled along a narrow road in Portugal in a Range Rover SV, which is 6-feet, 8-inches wide without the mirrors, I can promise you the walls feel very close. That’s a major reason why cars in countries like France, Spain, and Italy are so small; it’s much less stressful to pilot a Volkswagen Polo or Dacia Sandero through tight roads that would generously be called alleys in the U.S.

As automakers develop more fuel-efficient hybrids and EVs, size matters less than ever. 

“We’re at a stage where you can get bigger products with little impact to fuel economy,” Jenkins agrees. 

Last year’s EPA report showed promise for the environmental future as new technologies for reducing emissions comes to light: “Preliminary data suggest that the average new vehicle CO2 emission rate and fuel economy will continue to improve in model year 2024,” the report reads, “and that the impact of BEVs and PHEVs will continue to grow.”

The perception of safety

I’ve heard more parents say they want their new teen driver to have a big SUV or truck because “it’s safer in a crash.” The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety backs up that notion, stating that a bigger, heavier vehicle provides better crash protection than a smaller, lighter one (assuming no other differences between them). The area of the car between the front bumper and the cabin is designed to absorb energy from crashes by crumpling. Longer front ends offer better protection in frontal crashes, and, the IIHS says, heavier vehicles also tend to continue moving forward in crashes with lighter vehicles and other obstacles, so passengers are subject to less force.

“Large vehicles aren’t as big a threat to people in small vehicles as they used to be,” says the IIHS. “A lighter vehicle will always be at a disadvantage in a collision with a heavier vehicle. But in recent years automakers have reduced the threat that SUVs and pickups pose by lowering their energy-absorbing structures so that they line up with those in cars.” 

It becomes a cycle: as more people buy larger cars, the tendency to want to match the size increases. That’s especially true in suburban areas (thus, the big Chevy Suburban SUV in neighborhoods all over America), where there’s more space and bigger driveways.

Companies like Telo are making small, city-sized electric trucks to fill the niche demand in the U.S. for those who want something a little cozier. 

This story is part of Popular Science’s Ask Us Anything series, where we answer your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the ordinary to the off-the-wall. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

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