Andrei Mihai ZME Science

Will Tesla's Gigafactory be the largest man-made structure on Earth?

Tesla’s newest up-and-coming building could be larger than previously thought – much larger. At a presentation about the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, Dean Haymore, from Story County Commission, mentioned that Tesla bought an extra 1,200 acres next to the ongoing construction, and will buy 350 more. While this hasn’t yet been confirmed by Elon Musk, this […]

Into the Earth: The Mind Blowing Cave Photography of Robbie Shone

Robbie Shone is one of the most talented and hard working cave photographers in the world. Over the past ten years, Robbie’s passion has taken him to China, Papua New Guinea, Borneo, Uzbekistan, Sudan, the Picos, the Alps and Crete. He has also worked closely with scouting groups in California, and documented scientists in Portugal, Switzerland […]

1000 Year Old Viking Sword Dug up by Archaeologists

Norwegian Archaeologists have unearthed a unique Viking grave dated 1040 AD. Within the grave they found coins, a battle ax with a shaft coated in brass and a magnificent sword with intriguing silver and golden decorations. The sword almost certainly belonged to a wealthy man in the late Viking Era, quite possibly one that fought in […]

50 Million Year Old Sperm Found by Accident in Antarctica

Scientists have stumbled on some incredibly old sperm in the wall of a fossilized cocoon in Antarctica. The remains of the long, thin cells represent the oldest animal sperm known to man - 50 million years old.

The Netherlands Plan to Pave their Roads with Recycled Plastic

We sometimes get the feeling that the Netherlands is like a Think Tank for countries – they just come up with some of the most creative ideas ever. Now, they’ve tackled a very important part of the infrastructure: road paving. They want to use recycled plastic, and they want to do it soon – in […]

Australian Biologists Discover Volcano Cluster by Mistake

A chance discovery revealed an impressive cluster of extinct volcanoes 150 miles off the coast of Sydney, three miles below the water surface. The four volcanoes, which are now calderas, may reveal why Australia and New Zealand separated between 40 and 80 million years ago. Don’t you just hate it when you go searching for lobsters […]

Book Review: 'Narrative Networks - Storied Approaches in a Digital Age'

“Narrative Networks” By Brian Alleyne SAGE Publications Ltd, 224pp | Buy on Amazon What’s a narrative? That’s a question we don’t ask ourselves, even though narratives are all around us – from the books and movies that we enjoy, to Facebook, and to this website. This book challenges and inspires readers to think about narratives in […]

Book Review: 'Measuring Happiness: The Economics of Well Being'

“Measuring Happiness” By Joachim Weimann, Andreas Knabe, Ronnie Schob MIT Press, 224pp | Buy on Amazon What is happiness, and how does money relate to it? Is more really better? Then why aren’t richer people happier? But why are poor people generally less happy? The economics of happiness is an extremely controversial field, without any definitive answers; […]

Sleep on the cliffs above a sacred valley in Peru

Some 150 meters above ground level (400 feet) in the Sacred Valley of the Incas three eerie, transparent capsules hang on the cliffs. These weather resistant polycarbonate call the most unfazed adventurers to sleep inside them, offering an almost 360 view of the valley. Skylodge Adventure Suites was created by the company Natura Vive, a group of young […]

These images show how different and unique tears really are

In our day to day lives, we don’t give much thought to tears – we usually focus more on the emotions that cause them than the salty droplets themselves. Well, tears are much more complex than we give them credit for, as Dutch artist Maurice Mikkers showed. Tears Caused By Emotional Response: There are actually three […]

Australian Prime Minister Wants to Block $10 Billion Investment in Wind Energy

Tony Abbott, the Australian PM has been warned he is putting international investment at risk after ordering the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to finance new wind power. Abbott, who is a firm support of the waning coal industry has escalated his war on renewable energy, attempting to block massive investments. Wind power is […]

Thursday, Denmark produced 140% of its energy needs from wind

Most days are windy in Denmark, but Thursday was unusually so – it was so windy that the country got its entire energy needs and more solely from wind turbines. During the afternoon it was already reported the Nordic nation’s wind turbines were producing 116 per cent of Denmark’s electricity needs, and the figure rose to […]

Book Review: 'Global Sustainability Inside and Outside the Territory'

“A History of Future Cities” By Carmine Nardone, Salvatore Rampone World Scientific Publishing, 156pp | Buy on Amazon This book contains the proceedings of the international workshop on global sustainability held in Benevento, Italy, on February 2014. It features 10 published papers regarding dealing with broad range of aspects of sustainability in a global scenario including food […]

Book Review: 'Fluvial Depositional Systems'

“Fluvial Depositional System” By Andrew Miall Springer, 316pp | Buy on Amazon This book definitely goes out to the earth scientists out there – it’s not a book for the general audience. In fact, I’d describe it as a book-length scientific article, though one that properly explains all the concepts it uses throughout. Those working in […]

Book Review: Decarbonising the World's Economy

“Decarbonising the World’s Economy” Editors: Terry Barker, Douglas Crawford Brown Imperial College Press, 376pp | Buy on Amazon We have to make the transition from a fossil-fuel based economy, to a greener, sustainable economy – but won’t that cause economic downfall? That’s a misconception too often repeated by both the media and policy makers. We […]

Life on comets? Not so fast, astronomers say!

Yesterday, we presented an article in which we detailed the claims of two astronomers, Director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology professor Chandra Wickramasinghe and his colleague Dr Max Wallis from the University of Cardiff; they proposed that Rosetta’s lander Philae may have actually landed on an inhabited comet – as the black slime on the […]

Georgia Guidestones -- mysterious instructions for the post-apocalypse

Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite and Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature. There's a really powerful vibe in here.

Warming oceans could destroy corals in the Pacific and Atlantic, researchers warn

Coral populations are crucial to the health of oceanic environments, but corals are also extremely vulnerable to changing conditions. Researchers warn that warming waters and ocean acidification lead to coral bleaching which can cause massive damage across both the Atlantic and the Pacific.

No more ketchup stuck on the bottle - new technology slides onto the shelves

The days of wasting condiments, toothpaste and other products that stubbornly stick to the sides of the bottle or package are coming to an end thanks to a new coating developed by MIT researchers. The LiquiGlide spinoff has signed a deal with Orkla (a Norwegian company) that will allow them to use the new coating […]

Adidas unveils new sneakers made from recycled ocean trash

Adidas new shoes are trash – literally. The German company has announced the creation of a new type of shoes made from recycled garbage pulled out of the ocean; the sustainable prototype has the upper part made entirely of yarns and filaments reclaimed from illegal deep-sea gillnets and other ocean waste, while the bottom part is […]

Germany to shut down several coal plants to lower CO2 emissions

Germany is taking some serious strides in its attempt to reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent until 2020: the European country announced that it will shut down several coal-fired plants and move towards more sustainable energy sources. “Coal-fired plants with a capacity of 2.7 gigawatts will be shut down,” said the government sources, who declined to […]

Eating green leafy vegetables keeps your brain strong

Something as simple as eating more leafy veggies could significantly slow down cognitive decline and keep your brain healthier for a longer period of time. A new study found that nutrients and vitamins found in plants such as spinach, kale, collards and mustard greens help keep your mental abilities sharp.

Blue eyes linked to higher levels of alcohol dependence

According to an unusual study conducted by University of Vermont researchers, people with blue eyes may be more likely to become alcoholics – and researchers are trying to figure out why. Human eye color is a pretty strange thing – it’s an inherited trait influenced by more than one gene. These genes cause small changes […]

Ocean-going spiders use their legs to windsurf on the water

Spiders are more adaptable than we give them credit for, and they can make pretty good sailors – a new study has found that some spiders can use strands of silk to windsurf on the ocean surface. It’s been reported for centuries, even Charles Darwin noticed it: “ballooning” spiders flutter from the air into the sails […]

Koch-Backed Group Calls for no More National Parks

Remember the Koch brothers? They're industrialists and businesspeople who own the second largest privately owned company in the United States (with 2013 revenues of $115 billion); their main business is in manufacturing, refining, and distribution of petroleum.

Want to power up your home with renewables without making an investment? Here's how

We come to you today with something a bit different than what we usually do – a new, creative way of supporting renewable energy. We were simply fascinated by this approach and we just had to share it with you. It’s a way of powering up your home or business with green energy without actually installing […]

American Museum of Natural History Releases Vintage Drawings of Seashells

The American Museum of Natural History has released a set of postcards you can buy when you visit them – The Seashell Collector. I thought the set looks quite brilliant, and it’s definitely worth sharing, along with some basic information Seashells The word seashell is often used to mean only the shell of a marine mollusk […]

So, you think you can crack actual medical mysteries? Here's where you can try it

A startup will allow voluntary internet detectives to study unusual medical cases and attempt to solve them. Millions of people suffer from rare or complex medical conditions for which they have received no diagnosis, but where a handful of doctors have failed, the collective force of the internet can do it – we can do it. […]

A Danish Festival Will Recycle Participants' Urine to Make New Beer

Call it Beercycling – gallons of beer-urine will be used to fertilize barley, which will ultimately become beer, and then urine again. It’s the perfect cycle. Denmark’s Roskilde festival is the largest music festival in Scandinavia and one of the largest in the world. Roskilde Festival 2013 had more than 180 performing bands and gathered around 130,000 festivalgoers, […]

U.S. Wildlife Service: We Won't Protect Wild Horses

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected a proposal to list North American wild horses as threatened or endangered, arguing that a horse is a horse, wild or tame, and proponents have failed to show how the behaviour of wild horses differs from that of domestic ones. The number of North American wild stallions has […]

Seahorses may inspire new generation of armored robots

Seemingly small and delicate, seahorses are actually much more resilient than they look. Engineers have demonstrated that the seahorses’ prism-like tails are mechanically superior to the cylindrical ones; the discovery could lead to the development of more resilient robots. There are 54 species of seahorses, and while they may be significantly different one from the other, […]

Japanese company repurposes golf course into huge solar power plant

Environmentalists and engineers have often argued against golf courses (especially abandoned golf courses), considering them a waste of space and resources, and for good reason. Golf courses cover huge areas of ground which could be used for something more productive. Now, Japanese company Kyocera is building a huge solar power plant on such an abandoned course.

This mirror lets you see how you look with different clothes on

A new hi-tech mirror allows clients to see how they would look like in different outfits, without having to actually try them on. From what I could find, there are two companies working on different versions of this product (one in Japan, one in America), but the bad news is that so far, it only […]

Cuban scientists express environmental concerns with US influence

As the US starts to thaw its relationship with Cuba, important economy, touristic and cultural prospects start to emerge; but as these prospects emerge, so to do environmental concerns. Cuban scientists are worried that as American tourists and money start flowing into their country, the environment will be the one to suffer. “We don’t have […]

Saber-tooth cats grew their fangs faster than human fingernails

Saber-tooth cats, the bane of early humans (and pretty much every creature that co-existed with them), roamed the Earth for 42 million years before going extinct at the end of the ice age. Now, a new study has found that their trademark teeth may have evolved later in their evolutionary stage, but when they grew, they grew […]

Google photo software labels black people ‘gorillas’

It's the kind of error you never want to pop up in your code: Google’s automatic image recognition software has apparently classified two black friends as 'gorillas'.

Today's Recipe - Making Tortillas... in Space!

Samantha Cristoforetti, an astronaut currently on board the International Space Station was allowed to take some extra food with her (astronauts are allowed to take “comfort food” with them for psychological reasons – a little something that reminds them of home). Today, she’ll be telling us how to make some space tortillas. Cooking in microgravity […]

German City Issues a Parking Ticket to a Modern Sculpture That It Commissioned

The Germany city of Karlsruhe celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2015, and they wanted to do something special to commemorate it. So officials booked Austrian sculptor and performance artist Erwin Wurm to do a modern sculpture, which he did. Here’s what the city said: “For the city’s anniversary, Wurm has a bright red truck reverse up a […]

Language is not restricted to humans: Scientists find bird species with its own language

Joining sounds together to create a meaningful language was thought to be a human characteristic, but a new study published in PLoS Biology found that blabber birds also developed their own phonetic language, just like we did! Researchers also believe that studying these birds could give us hints of why and how our language evolved to what […]

Earth-loving Hades: meet the centipede from Hell

Deep below ground level, 3,500 feet (1000 meters) down a Croatian cave, scientists have discovered a new species of centipede. They named this incredibly resilient creature Geophilus hadesi – earth loving Hades – in honor of Hades, the Greek God of the underworld and ruler of Hell. Centipedes are elongated arthropods with one pair of legs per body […]

The Great Wall of China is Slowly Wasting Away

The Great Wall of China, one of the most marvelous constructions on Earth is slowly fading away due to the reckless behavior of humans. The effects of travel and recycling of the stones for other constructions is taking a monumental toll on the Great Wall, and almost 30 percent of the structure is now gone.

I can't believe this hasn't existed before - one simple app fed 600,000 people

It's so simple and incredibly useful I can't believe no one developed it before - a way to give leftover food from parties and meetings to homeless people who really need it.

400 Million Fewer Animals Were Killed for Food in 2014 Because People Eat Less Meat

Whether it’s Meatless Monday, Weekday Vegetarianism or simply cutting down meat consumption – people from developed countries are eating less meat, and it’s already making a difference. Even though some argue that cutting-back-consumption campaigns don’t push enough of a paradigm-shift, we’re already seeing the changes: 400 million animals were spared in the US alone in 2014 because […]

Radiologists miss out on 7% of cancers - this computer algorithm doesn't

Among the many tools it has in its arsenal, cancer is also very good at hiding - so good that according to a study, we miss 7% of cancers even when we have an X-Ray. But a company is looking to change all that an employ the help of accurate computer algorithms.

Like mustard and wasabi? You should thank this catterpillar

In a paper published this month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a group of scientists explain the process through which plants like mustard came to be - as it turns out, an evolutionary arms race with a caterpillar played a key role.

The science of soap bubbles [with great pics]

A soap bubble is a very thin sheet of water sandwiched between two layers of soap molecules. They are an evanescent childish wonder, but also hold some valuable mathematical and physical insights: let’s have a look at the science of soap bubbles. We see them as fun and childish, blowing them around in the summer, but […]

500 million year old worm had impressive spiky armor

Paleontologists working in China have discovered fossils of an impressively armored worm that lived during the Cambrian, 500 million years ago. Called Hairy Collins’ Monster, this is one of the first creatures to develop a spiky armor. Today, the 180 species of velvet worms are pretty similar – they have tiny eyes, antennae, multiple pairs of […]

Scientists predict the existence of a liquid analogue of graphene

By now, we've all hopefully at least heard of graphene, the new wonder material that promises to revolutionize a swarm of applications. But now, a team of researchers from Finland have predicted the existence of atomically thin, free-standing 2D liquid phase - a liquid analogue of graphene.

Meet Puka and Rocket Larry: The Unlikely Dog-Tortoise Friendly Duo

You wouldn’t expect a dog and a turtle to be best friends, but as we’ve learned on the Internet, the animal kingdom can create some surprising friendship relationships. It all started when Christine Hilberg, a 29-year-old photography retoucher and animal Instagrammer rescued Puka, a 4-year-old mixed breed with a cleft lip from a homeless man in Los […]

Tomorrow, the world is getting one extra second - what are you gonna do with yours?

Tomorrow, something extraordinary will happen, even though you might not notice it: right before 8 p.m. Eastern time, we will be adding an extra second – a leap second. Aside for being an interesting quirk, this is another reminder that our time isn’t exactly synced with solar time, and every once in a while, we need […]

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