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NASA is requesting 30 million dollars to begin working on a mission to Jupiter’s moon, Europa, hoping to unlock some of the secrets of alien life. Despite having a frozen surface, the satellite is one of the likeliest candidates for extraterrestrial life in the solar system. Europa is a weird place. At a first […]
A whopping 66 out of the country’s 74 major cities don’t meet the basic air quality requirements, China’s Ministry of Environment said in a report they released. Beijing, the country’s capital, is actually the 8th most polluted city of the country. China has a long standing history with pollution, and despite some laudable measures being […]
We often hear about China being polluted, about the hard to breahe are, the smog, the soot, the carbage flowing on the rivers, but these pictures show just how bad the situation really is. Keep in mind though that an image is just a moment captured in time and they don’t tell the whole story. […]
Coffee beans undergo several processes before they become the delicious brew we all know. The coffee beans we’re used to seeing, the brown ones with a delightful flavor, are roasted. Raw coffee beans have a different color and smell very differently. So what makes roasted coffee look, smell, and taste so different from raw coffee? The […]
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that after more than half a year, the number of new cases of Ebola in West Africa has fallen under 100 - which means that the focus is shifting from containing the epidemic to actually ending it.
At least in the US, there is a huge difference between what the general public thinks and what scientists think – and this is a big problem. Science is at the core of any nation – it influences the economy, the public life, the health… pretty much everything – everybody agrees on this; but despite this […]
Sir David Frederick Attenborough is an English broadcaster and naturalist, with a voice recognized by millions. In an interview from 2013, he used his well known voice to speak against the damage that people are causing to the planet. He said that we need to drastically limit our population growth, as we are currently acting like […]
If you’re one of those people who believe green coffee pills can do wonders for your health, then I’ve got some bad news for you. Not only do they not work, but the marketer who supported them was given a huge fine for misleading and lying about his product. Remember the “magic” green coffee pills […]
Book Pages In one of the most beautiful projects I’ve seen in a while, artist Pyanek uses macro photography to show everyday things in astonishing detail. This is the first public release of his work (that I could find at least). Be sure to follow him on Facebook and YouTube. If you enjoy his work, you can […]
Although generic drugs are often identical to their brand-name counterparts, the effect is often not the same. It's not because the more expensive drugs do something different or better - in fact, it's all in your head. A new study has found that expensive placebos can work better than cheap placebos.
When the US Senate finally agreed that global warming is real, I thought we’re finally going to get some progress. The leaders of the US were finally starting to acknowledge the environmental damage we’re causing and maybe even start taking measures against it… it was too good to be true. While the senate agreed that […]
An ancient skull found in Israel indicates that early Homo sapiens likely interbred with Neanderthals 50,000 years ago. The female skull is the first skeletal evidence to support the idea that Neandertals and moderns mated. The finding is published in the journal Nature. The Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) are closely related to modern humans, differing in DNA by only 0.12%. Genetic […]
The living standard of everybody in the world can be increased while also reducing CO2 emissions and limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius – that’s the conclusion of The Global Calculator, a new free, interactive tool developed by UK scientists in collaboration with organisations from India, US, China,and Europe. Calculating the future The Global Calculator can be […]
If life is a balancing act, then I hope it looks like Michael Grab‘s work. The artist and photographer first dabbled into rock balancing in 2008 while exploring the beautiful landscape of Boulder Creek, Colorado. Since then, he’s come a very long way. Grab finds the process spiritual and therapeutic – it has become a source […]
A PhD student from Netherlands has demonstrated a technique which could massively cut down the production costs of graphene. With this technique, producing the “wonder material” could be 1,000 times cheaper. For his thesis, Shou-En Zhu from the Delft University of Technology described a way to create an “endless sheet” of graphene. The way he does it […]
The Bangkok’s New World Mall is one of the most dystopian places on Earth – initially 11 stories high, now the building can only boast 4, and it has no roof. A population of fish thrived in the post-apocalyptic setting, but now, with the building being set for demolition, the fish are finally going to be […]
According to a new study, water once flowed on the surface of Vesta, the second-largest asteroid in the solar system. This took astronomers by surprise, as no one was really expecting to find this.
A team of Mexican researchers found a way to save 20 trees and 56,000 liters of water for every ton of paper produced – just make them from old plastic bottles. Plastic is one of the main pollutants in the world – the ocean is basically a cemetery for used plastic, with at least 5 […]
For most people, brains are pretty similar – our connections follow the same pattern, and while there are certainly exceptions, you could say that our brains are connected in pretty much the same way. But for autistic people, things are very different. A new study has found that each autistic brain has unique, highly idiosyncratic […]
What is it like to see for the first time? Most of us can't even imagine that, because it happened when we were babies and we can't recall our first visual memories. But Kathy Bleitz, a Canadian woman, certainly will - for the first time, she was able to see using a new technology called eSight. The first thing she saw was her baby.
Some fires are big enough to see from outer space, others burn for a very long time, but from what I could find, this is the oldest continuous fire in the world. Beneath an Australian mountain, a fire has been burning continuously since 4000 BC.
Aboriginals around what is today Melbourne have been telling a story for thousands of generations – a tale of waters rising after the ice age. Without using written languages, they passed it down orally, generation to generation, with surprising accuracy. Now, a new study concluded that the story is actually really accurate, despite being passed […]
The harbor in Hong Kong sparkled with an eerie blue glow, creating a surprising and beautiful picture. But few people know that the cause of this lovely landscape is actually pollution - pig manure, fertiliser and sewage. This nutrient-rich pollution encouraged a bloom of Noctiluca scintillans, commonly known as "Sea Sparkle."
In the video above, you can see PhD student Mason Bretan from the Robot Musicianship Group at Georgia Tech in the US jam with some of the robots he helped create. The robots got rhythm, and they got the skills. Just look at that amazing marimba solo at the middle of the video – that was completely […]
Piotr Naskrecki, a Harvard biologist, did what few people would have the courage to do – he let maggots grow inside his skin, then documented the entire process. The result is, while very gross, spectacularly interesting. Proceed at your own risk. I’ve got you under my skin The Human Bot Fly from Piotr Naskrecki on […]
Divers off the coast of Norfolk have discovered a submerged prehistoric forest, hidden underwater for 10,000 years. The forest was part of Doggerland – a land area which connected Germany and Great Britain up to 8000 years ago. This is a forgotten part of Europe, hidden under 200 meters of water. Divers discovered it after […]
The states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais are running out of water. According to a Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira, the three states are experiencing the worst drought in recorded history, and the facts are painting a bleak picture for the future. Authorities have already implemented water saving measures, and rations may be implemented in the near future.
The big news in climate is that 2014 is the hottest year on record - but the bigger picture is even more disheartening: global warming trends have remained constant since 1998, and ocean warming is going off the charts.
A team of researchers has managed to make metallic glasses from pure, monoatomic metals. These metals are amorphous like glass, but they retain some of the properties of metals - like ultrafast cooling and solid state reaction.
“The Oldest Living Things in the World” By Rachel Sussman University Of Chicago Press, 304pp | Buy on Amazon When Rachel Sussman takes pictures of the oldest living things in the world, something spectacular happens; not only does she capture the resilience of adaptability of life, but she also captures its vulnerability – and indirectly, […]
“Colliding Worlds” By Arthur Miller W. W. Norton & Company, 352pp | Buy on Amazon Scientists are logical, calculated and rational, while artists are passionate and effervescent… or so we’re told. But is it really that way? More often than not, there’s a lot of passion and uncertainty in science, and you can’t really have art […]
For the first time, scientists have developed a treatment for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) that actually reverses the disability. Dr. Richard K. Burt performed the first hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) for a multiple sclerosis (MS) patient in the United States at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and the treatment shows great promise.
The Permian was a geologic period that ended some 250 million years ago, with the largest extinction our planet has known. Geologists have now found evidence that global acidic rain accentuated or even caused the massive extinction.
It's a remarkable day for NASA and space observations: the Solar Dynamics Observatory has taken its 100,000,000th photo! The mission, which has been in continuous operation since 2010 has greatly contributed to our understanding of the Sun and the Sun-Earth relationship.
Based on latest evidence and calculations, our entire galaxy, the Milky Way, might be a a huge wormhole, stable and navigable. Astrophysicists combined the equations from general relativity with a distribution of dark matter to reach this conclusion
It's hilarious and sad at the same time: the US Senate had to vote whether or not climate change is real, and not a hoax. Thankfully, the vast majority of the Senators agreed with science, and by 98 to 1, they voted that climate change is indeed real.
If you find it hard to focus, you're feeling a lack of enthusiasm or simply are stressed, a walk during lunch hours might do wonders for you. A new study has found that just with a walk, you could fight all those issues.
The magnetic field of asteroids lasted for a surprisingly long time, a new research has found. According to it, it may have lasted for millions and millions of years – long enough to potentially protect life forms hitching through the solar system. Asteroids and Life Asteroids are considered to be minor planets, with the larger […]
Changing bad habits into good ones can be quite a challenge, but having a partner that does the same goes a long way. A new study has found that if your partner works out and quits smoking, then you are much more likely to do the same thing.
There are millions of dollars in gold and other metals in the sewage sludge in major cities. A new study has found that in a city with 1 million inhabitats, there’s as much as $13 million worth of valuable metals, including gold and silver.
Recently, a video published on Vine by Logan Gendizzle went viral. The video claims to show what the guitar strings look like up close while the author is playing Weezer’s “Say it Ain’t So”. The result is pretty spectacular, it got tons of shares and likes... and it's fake. The good news is that reality is even cooler.
I recently came across this really great infographic with the space events of 2015. This list is of course not exhaustive and some things may change their date (it’s still just January), but it’s a pretty good reference. Check it out: So, the main events are: Atlas V MUOS 3 Rocket Launch 2015 NASA Innovative […]
Using a new X-Ray technique, archaeologists may be able to read the words from the charred, rolled up scrolls that survived the Vesuvius eruption that wiped out the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum nearly 2000 years ago. This could open up a new window to the past, revealing much information about the way the Romans lived and is a spectacular technological achievement in itself.
After a continuous decline in numbers, tigers are finally getting some good news. Indian authorities have announced that the number of tigers has increased by 50% in 7 years, from 1,400 to 2,226.
Even crippled, NASA’s Kepler telescope makes awesome findings: using data acquired previously, the telescope discovered three planets just a little bigger than Earth orbiting a star relatively close to our solar system. Kepler is a space observatory launched by NASA to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars launched back in 2009. Kepler’s main mission was to […]
What do you do if you need to catch your own food... but you're just not fast enough? That's the problem cone snails had to face, and the solution they came up with is pretty amazing: they kill fish by lowering their sugar levels with a unique type of insulin, researchers found
NASA's Dawn spacecraft is getting closer to Ceres - the largest object from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The space agency released some new pictures of the dwarf planet, and while these aren't the best pictures of Ceres yet, as the shuttle moves closer and closer, the pictures will get better and better.
We like big butts and I know why: because it helps babies develop their brains properly. Researchers have found that especially during breastfeeding, the development of babies’ brains relies on fat supplies stripped directly from the mother’s thighs and bottom.
Inspired from mud daubers (a species of wasp), designer Massimo Moretti managed to develop a new 3D printing technology for creating cheap houses. Working with architects, he developed bio-architecture which may go a long way towards fighting the housing crisis in some parts of the world.
In 2014, Germany installed 543 offshore wind turbines, reaching a capacity of 2.35 gigawatts (GW), getting closer to their plans of having 6.5 GW of wind energy infrastructure installed and connected by 2020.
