How to fly with power banks and spare batteries
Spare lithium batteries and power banks have to fly in the cabin, not in checked bags. Here is how the watt hour limits work and how to pack them safely.
What causes the tides, and why they vary by coast
The Moon and the Sun pull on the whole ocean, creating two bulges of water. Here is how that becomes two tides a day, and why no two coasts look the same.
How two-factor authentication works and where it fails
Two-factor authentication stops a stolen password from being enough. Here is how the factor types differ, where the gaps remain, and what to turn on first.

Why the sky is blue and sunsets are red
One process, Rayleigh scattering, explains both a blue midday sky and a red sunset. The difference is how much atmosphere the sunlight crosses.

Why language apps work for some people and not others
Language apps are excellent at habit and vocabulary, and weak at conversation. Learners who succeed add the parts an app cannot supply on its own.

What travel insurance usually covers and what it does not
Travel insurance usually covers emergency medical care, evacuation and baggage loss, but not undeclared conditions or risky activities.

What a VPN does and does not do for your privacy
A VPN hides your traffic from the network you are on, but it is not anonymity. Here is what it truly protects and what it leaves exposed.

What a light-year really measures
A light-year is a distance, not a span of time. It is how far light travels in a year, and it doubles as a measure of how far into the past we look.

Walking for fitness: how to make every walk count
Walking is the easiest exercise to start and the easiest to underdo. Here is how to turn everyday steps into a real workout.
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