Best Countertop Water Filters of 2025

All of the countertop water filters we test use carbon filtration to clean tap water. These filters are lined with black granular activated carbon, which, like a magnet to metal, pulls solid and gas contaminants from the water and air that flows through it. Activated carbon-block technology is good at filtering funky tastes and odors,…

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Best Toilet Paper for You—and Your Plumbing

If you’ve ever found yourself in a restroom with single-ply toilet paper you needed to use a lot of, you know what I mean.  Comfort and softness are critical to a good roll of toilet paper, but other factors come into play as well. We tested 15 different types of toilet paper through rigorous testing…

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Research Reveals the Optimal Way to Optimize

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. In 1939, upon arriving late to his statistics course at UC Berkeley, George Dantzig—a first-year graduate student—copied two problems off the blackboard, thinking they were a homework assignment. He found the homework “harder to do than usual,” he would later recount, and apologized to the…

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A Labubu Rave Offers a Salve for the Darkest Timeline

Inside the cavern of Catch One nightclub on the last Friday in August, neon laser beams shower the dance floor and bodies sway in devotional harmony, as ravers from every corner of Los Angeles flock to deliver an offering at the altar of Labubu. Everyone is here. The true believers and truly curious, the trend…

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Best Under-Sink Water Filters of 2025

If you want to improve the taste and the purity of your tap water without cluttering your countertop or attaching a bulky appendage to your faucet, an under-sink water filter may be the answer. In addition to being out of sight and generally improving the taste of your water, many under-sink water filters can remove…

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14 Best Fitness Trackers (2026), Tested and Reviewed

Other Fitness Trackers to Consider Photograph: Adrienne So Garmin Instinct 3 for $400: Garmin’s Instinct line doesn’t have as many high-end features as the Fenix 8, but it’s popular because it’s cheaper and it has a cool, chunky retro aesthetic that I love. This year’s updates include the built-in flashlight and a new reinforced bezel,…

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