Month: February 2023

(credit: Jeff Dunn)

Whether you want to enjoy higher-fidelity music or are looking to cancel out ambient noise, the Dealmaster is here with deals on some of the top headphones on the market.

If you're an Apple user, the Apple AirPods Max or the AirPods Pro (2nd Gen) are easy to pair to your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or MacBook. Though more expensive than competing options, Apple's AirPods line has received strong praise for audio fidelity, noise cancelation performance, and features like spatial audio and solid battery life. On the Android side, Samsung users are starting to see some of these features in the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. Platform-agnostic users may want to look at the Bose 700 headphones, which deliver a terrific noise-canceling headphone experience, or Sony's affordable WF-C500 earbuds.

Top deals for noise-canceling headphones

Apple AirPods Max headphones. (credit: Apple)

Apple AirPods Max for $500 ($550) at Amazon: Known for their tight integration with Apple's hardware ecosystem, Apple's AirPods Max make it easy to connect to devices without making you fumble with Bluetooth settings. The headphones offer good audio and noise-canceling performance and a comfortable experience for those who like to listen to music throughout the entire workday. Apple's fabric-covered earcups aren't as supple as leather options, but they also don't make your ears sweat.

Enlarge (credit: VICTOR de SCHWANBERG/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY)

Psychedelic drugs are often used for entertainment purposes. But there have been some recent indications that they can be effective against PTSD and treatment-resistant depression. Figuring out whether these substances work as medicinal drugs can be challenging because (as one researcher helpfully pointed out) it's difficult to do a controlled experiment when it's easy to figure out who's in the treatment group. Still, we've made some progress in understanding what's happening with psychedelics at the molecular level.

Many psychedelics seem to bind to a specific receptor for the neural signaling molecule serotonin, activating it. That would seem to make sense for antidepressive effects, given that many popular antidepressants also alter serotonin signaling (such as in SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). But SSRIs don't produce any of the mind-altering effects that drive non-medical interest in psychedelics, so things remain a bit confusing.

New data suggests that psychedelics may activate serotonin signaling in a very different way than serotonin itself can, reaching the receptors in parts of the cell that serotonin can't get to.

Enlarge / Watch out, if SMB3 is any guide, he breathes lasers...

Nintendo is often referred to as "the Disney of video games." But while Nintendo has long matched Disney's reputation for family-friendly home entertainment, it had nothing that could compare to Disney's domination in the physical world of theme parks.

That started to change in 2021, when Super Nintendo World finally opened in Osaka's Universal Studios Japan. Now, a very similar experience is coming to America with the opening of the Super Nintendo World section of Universal Studios Hollywood.

Ars got a sneak peek at the new section of the park just ahead of its Friday opening and came away utterly enchanted by the charming interactivity and Disney-esque attention to detail apparent throughout the park's newest themed area.