What's New

Electric pressure cookers hit it big in American home kitchens a few years back because, along with the perceived lower risk of dinner on the ceiling, they cook food fast. Something like beef stew, which takes all day in a slow cooker, needs as little as 25 minutes under pressure. With an extra hit of power, Instant Pot's new six-quart Max promises to take that speed and turn it up to 11, getting dinner to the table even faster. Could it? I wondered. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Emily Calandrelli, host of Xploration Outer Space and correspondent on Bill Nye Saves the World, thinks there aren’t enough female science geeks in fiction. She wants to help change that with her Ada Lace series of children’s books. “What I wanted to do was create a character that was female who had these types of adventures and did these types of science experiments,” Calandrelli says in Episode 318 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The new movie Hereditary, a supernatural thriller about family secrets, is one of the scariest films in years. But the movie was more than just frightening, says horror author Paul Tremblay. “From the opening frames of the film there was just this wonderful atmosphere of dread,” Tremblay says in Episode 317 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A fun game if you ever find yourself at a comics convention: Try to spot as many gender-swapped cosplayers as you can. Throughout years of going to Comic-Cons and other fan gatherings, I’ve spotted women in drag as Loki, Harry Potter, and—before Paul Feig's reboot—various Ghostbusters. (However, this tends to be a one-way phenomenon; rarely, if ever, have I seen men dressed as Catwoman or Stranger Things' Eleven, at least in a way that wasn't going for laughs. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Here's the truth: Comic book publishing—yes, just the business of selling printed comics—is a billion-dollar industry. This month, 1,194 new comic books and 391 new graphic novels and collections will hit shelves. That's a lot of titles for a single month, and those aren't uncommon numbers. Comics are everywhere; even your grandma knows who Thanos is. If anything, comics are a bigger deal now than they've ever been. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It is a parent’s job to think her children are exceptional. Up to this point, I had spent many hours crafting a tale for myself that Leo’s fascination with fans was, in fact, proof of his genius. Now I was imagining a roomful of Leos, all in tiny white lab coats, all saving the world one vactrain at a time. Their origin stories were the same: “It all started,” they would say, “with the Lasko Wind Machine. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

André Prager turns away from me for a moment, rummaging through a pile of stuff on the cart he has pulled into the small conference room. There are lots of cut-up pieces of cardboard, with a few bags of colorful plastic odds and ends mixed in. “I think the most valuable things in this building are cardboard and tape,” he says. He shows me a rectangle of foam-core with a straw, a broken pen, and a few thumb tacks stuck to it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Amazon is one of the largest and most formidable companies in the world. It’s run with brutal efficiency, a keen focus on keeping its customers happy, and a deep thirst for innovation. Its $50 billion of revenue per quarter makes the company worth more than $850 billion, which is enough to buy Walmart three times over and still have more than $100 billion in change. (It’s also enough to make founder Jeff Bezos the richest man in modern history. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Democrats just gained a Republican ally in the battle to save net neutrality. Today, Representative Mike Coffman (R-Colorado) became the first House Republican to sign a petition to force the House to vote on legislation that would reverse the Federal Communications Commission's decision to jettison rules banning broadband providers from blocking or discriminating against lawful content. The proposal already passed the Senate, where three Republicans crossed party lines to support it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It's that time of year yet again—time for Amazon's blockbuster sales event. We've combed the spreadsheets and chased every link to find the best deals in a variety of categories. From home entertainment, to PC components, and even some awesome high-tech kitchen necessities, this is the list of the best Amazon Prime Day deals you'll want to peruse first. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices