Touchscreens Touch Back, Security Selfies and Ridiculous History - Today on HowStuffWorks NOW

Apr 11, 2016 04:04 pm   Today on HowStuffWorks NOW   When Touchscreens Touch Back In the future, you may not need to carry around your smartphone. Instead, your hands will become smart technology — and you'll be able to feel it.       Products for Your Period Finally Enter the 21st Century Even though almost every woman gets a period, the number of products available to manage it is shockingly small. But the 21st century has seen a flurry of innovation.       Ridiculous History: When Benjamin Franklin Remade the Alphabet Ben Franklin was the kind of guy who couldn't help tinkering with everything he touched, whether it was eyeglasses, catheters or ... the alphabet.       'Security Selfies' May Make Passwords Obsolete Remembering another password? How about replacing those codes with a simple selfie snap? Amazon and other companies are banking on pay-by-selfie as the future.       Marked at Birth: Your Birth Month, Allergies and DNA Are Linked Although scientists knew that birth season affected people's allergy risk, they didn't know why this happened. A new study gets us one step closer.       Should We Cloak Earth to Hide It From Evil Aliens? Columbia University researchers say they've found a way to hide our planet from extraterrestrial eyes.       Where Does 'Rogue One' Fit in the Star Wars Universe? "Rogue One" might be the biggest gamble from Disney in their initial "Star Wars" slate. But where does it fit on the timeline?       Shunning the Suez: Tankers Take the Long Route to Save Cash With oil prices dropping, a report showed some cargo ships found it cheaper to sail around South Africa, rather than paying $465,000 to go through the Suez Canal.     Copyright © 2016 InfoSpace LLC, All rights reserved. HowStuffWorks, 675 Ponce de Leon Ave, Atlanta, GA 30308 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

"Off Switch" for Appetite, Allergy Inherited After Transplant and Giant Tree Takes Sea Cruise - Today on HowStuffWorks NOW

Apr 07, 2016 06:00 pm   Today on HowStuffWorks NOW   Meet Gigantopithecus, the Extinct Giant Orangutan in 'The Jungle Book' The character of King Louie gets a serious primate upgrade in the new Disney live-action-meets-CGI film. Did the ape also serve as inspiration for sasquatch and yeti?       Millions of Americans Aren't Repaying Their Student Debt. Are You One of Them? But just how many are we talking, really?       How the FBI Cracked the iPhone Case … With a Little Help From Outside And the FBI already has said it'll help other law enforcement agencies with locked phones.       Computers Create a Rembrandt 2.0 Rembrandt may not be able to create his masterful paintings anymore, but computers can.       Newly Discovered Trap-Jaw Spider Captures Prey With Astonishing Speed Researchers had to use special high-speed cameras recording at up to 40,000 fps to even witness the 'lightning speed' chelicerae jaw structures snapping shut.       The (White) Doctor Will See You Now: Why Racist Hospital Patients Often Win Bigoted requests aren't as rare as you might think in hospitals. It's also not rare for hospitals to accommodate such requests. Why?       Crunch Time: Hearing Yourself Chew May Prevent Overeating Food scientists dub sound 'the forgotten flavor sense.' A new study looked at how sound factored into how much we ate, with some interesting results.       Is Knowing Your Full Genome a Right or a Privilege? You want to know what your 6 billion letters of genetic code say about you, and one company wants to tell you. Will it ever get the chance?       Persistent Stigma of 'Pit Bull' Label Hinders Dog Adoption Regardless of what a dog's breed actually is, if it's labeled a "pit bull," its chances of adoption drop. Pity the poor pit pup.       Linguists Find Fascinating Quirk in How Amazonian Language Expresses Time The indigenous language Nheengatu uses something called "celestial pointing" in place of words, making it a language that's both auditory and visual.       Anyone Can Make Vladimir Putin Smile Yep, real-time motion capture and re-enactment just got faster (and funnier).       Geekdom Is on the Rise FanBolt founder Emma Loggins and Farrago Comics co-founder Martin Fleischmann talk about what it means to be a geek.       Climate Change Is Affecting French Wines — For Good and Bad Might we one day see a Burgundy region sans pinot noir or a Bordeaux without cabernets? A new study shows how global warming temperatures affect grape harvests.       Gender-specific Bathrooms Are a Relatively Recent Invention Bathrooms have been a social battleground in the U.S., from the civil rights' movement of the 1960s to the contemporary struggles for equality. What's the big deal?       Blackout Tattoos: Now That's Some Serious Ink Blackout tattoos were once reserved for things like covering up the name of your short-lived (but very passionate) crush you had inscribed on your body. No longer.     Copyright © 2016 InfoSpace LLC, All rights reserved. HowStuffWorks, 675 Ponce de Leon Ave, Atlanta, GA 30308 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list