Slowly but surely, we are making good on the gadgets we imagined, as kids, that the future would hold. Penny Brown’s video watch from Inspector Gadget? Check. The Starfleet tricorder from Star Trek?

This week in science: what your brain's doing when you zone out; the world's largest spider web; game over for simulation theory; and much more! A comprehensive meta-analysis has shown that fasting ...

It’s well understood that spiders have poor eyesight and thus sense the vibrations in their webs whenever prey (like a fly) gets caught; the web serves as an extension of their sensory system. But ...