Electric-powered vertical-take-off-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft, or flying cars, are a growing trend. Many companies are creating different designs, ranging from big drone-like vehicles to those similar to tight spider webs. However, these won’t be like family cars from the“Jetsons”cartoon; flying them will need a pilot’s license, and they’ll likely first be used as air taxis.

One company, Pivotal,has focused on a project that lets people fly their own vehicle.Their creation, Helix, is a one-seat vehicle, similar to a flying motorbike. Made to fit U.S.regulations for small aircraft, it can be flown without a pilot’s license in open areas.

It has been a hairy ride. Pivotal, was started by Marcus Leng, a Canadian mechanical engineer. In 2011, he began to pursue his interest in flight. He believed electric-powered flight was possible and built a model in his backyard. Named BlackFly, it was a simple construction using carbon-fiber and even a chopstick for support. But it flew only once, marking the first human flight in an eVTOL.

After 12 years of improvements,Pivotal now has a market-ready product. Helix has undergone several changes but kept its basic design. It has two sets of wings and eight propellers(螺旋桨), looking like a squeezed “H” from below. There’s no landing gear; Instead, its belly is curved in a way like a humpback whale’s, so it rocks to stability after landing.

Pilot’s licence or not, buyers must train to fly Helix. The vehicle’s software limits the pilot to its built-in safety mechanisms. If something goes wrong, there’s a parachute that can be spread for a safe landing.

The Helix’s top speed is a respectable 100kph, but its range is only 30km. And charging it is a bit of a pain. Charging takes 4.5 hours with a regular plug, but a special charger can reduce this to 75 minutes. So, it’s not quite like the futuristic Jetsons yet, but a possible step on-or perhaps above-the road

Anger is good for you, as long as you control it, according to new psychology research. A new study from Carnegie Mellon University shows anger may help people reduce the negative impacts of stress and help you become healthier.

“Here getting emotional is not bad for you if you look at the case of anger,” said Jennifer Lerner of Carnegie Mellon. “The more people display anger, the lower their stress responses.”

Lerner studied 92 UCLA students by asking them to count back from 6,200. They must say out loud every thirteenth number. Researchers disturbed them by asking them to count faster or ask them other questions. If they made any mistakes, they had to restart from the very beginning. Many students felt depressed about making so many mistakes or got angry.

Lerner used a hidden video camera and recorded all their facial expressions during the test. The researchers describe their reactions as fear, anger and disgust.

Other researchers recorded the students’ blood pressure, pulse and production of a high-stress hormone (荷尔蒙) called cortisol. People whose faces showed more fear during the experiment had higher blood pressure and higher levels of the hormone. Both can have lasting effects such as diabetes (糖尿病), heart disease, depression and extra weight gain.

When people feel fear, negative impacts increase, but when they get angry, those negatives go down, according to the study.

“Having that sense of anger leads people to actually feel some power in what otherwise is a maddening (令人发狂的) situation,” Lerner said.

Lerner previously studied Americans’ emotional response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks two months after the incident. She found people who reacted with anger were more optimistic. These people are healthier compared with those who were frightened during the event. So in maddening situations, anger is not a bad thing to have. It’s a healthier response than fear.

Two separate research groups in the UK and Denmark have come up with the same idea for a study that could help save endangered species, and have gotten the same results. It involves sucking environmental DNA from the air that animals leave behind.

“We use a really small pump that pulls the air through, and we hope the DNA gets caught on the filter (过滤器),” said Elizabeth Clare, the lead researcher. “It’s a bit like making coffee. You make coffee by sucking water through a filter and leaving the coffee grounds behind. That’s basically what we’re doing; we’re just sucking the air through and hoping that the DNA gets left behind.”

Clare says the concept has been used for years in different ways. Scientists sample pathogens (病原体) from the air, which has been used to help track COVID-19. Environmental DNA can also be collected from water to help ease invasive species.

A big goal for both research teams with the new study is to be able to locate endangered species and help save them. It is important to note that this type of DNA sampling can only be picked up if a species is in the area, so if there were two of the same animal, scientists would not be able to tell which one the DNA came from.

Both research groups also reported certain DNA samples not showing up when they knew an animal had been in the area. They also can’t tell yet how long an animal’s DNA will stick around after it’s been in one area. Clare says she’d like to plan more researches to get these answers.

But one thing is for sure after conducting the study. Clare says she has a whole new perspective on taking a deep breath. “As you know, I’m walking through a jungle or the park or taking my dog for a walk or my kids out to play, and I take a deep breath; I think I just inhaled information about all the things that have been here before, and as a scientist, that’s exciting to think that the information that I’m trying to gather is literally hanging in front of me,” she said.