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At a homeless shelter in Atlanta residents can grow their own vegetables. The shelter has a large rooftop garden that can yield a great amount of healthy greens.
Hands up anyone who, like me, has ever wondered what the deal is with those little bumps on your F and J keys.
A spectacular image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) gives us a glimpse into how the Sun will look at its death.
It’s absolutely baffling that we’ve reached a level where we can not only study the geology of the Earth, but also that of other bodies in the solar system – in this case, the Moon. This is a false color mosaic constructed from a series of 53 images taken through three spectral filters by Galileo’s imaging […]
Awesome? Undoubtedly. Useful? Well, according to Kagome, which claims to be Japan's largest supplier of ketchup and tomato juice, people taking part in the Tokyo marathon really need this.
The science of happiness is still a youthful and controversial field, but one thing seems to be clear: there’s only so much money and comfort can bring. Economic growth doesn’t translate to happiness. Sure, people in developed countries often tend to be happier than those in developing countries, but generally speaking money doesn’t bring more happiness – […]
Wind gusts are so unforgiving that the trees themselves molded into weird and crooked shapes. There's an almost surreal beauty to their shape, though -- it brings harshness to life. You won't find anything like it anywhere else in the world.
“Cleopatra was a poet and a philosopher, she was incredibly good at maths [..] but when we think of her, we think: big breasted seductress bathing in milk.” Dr Bettany Hughes argues that women have been largely written out of history and this seems to be a recurring theme. Bettany Hughes, an English historian and author discussed with […]
Ignored for centuries, this vegetable might be slowly making a comeback in England.
Four shelter dogs rescued from the slums around Sao Paulo, Brazil, were trained as “ball dogs” for an exhibition match at the Brazil Tennis Open tournament. Not only was it a heartmelting and emotional moment, but it also went pretty well, as you can see: The dogs seemed to enjoy the task, despite the stressful environment […]
We tend to think of slavery as something that’s long extinct, but according to several reports, there are more slaves today than at any time in history. Now, a new study found that forced labor among migrant domestic workers is widespread in Asia. More than 70 percent of 4,100 women surveyed, citizens of the Philippines and Indonesia, said […]
Astronaut Scott Kelly is returning home after a year in space, aboard the International Space Station. While there, Capt Scott Kelly shared spectacular images of our planet via Twitter, as well as documenting everyday life in outer space. Here are just a few of them, with the accompanying tweets:
A research team from University College in London has calculated that in the last five years, the ten biggest cities have increased their climate adaptation spending by a quarter. But they also found that it’s capital, not people, that we’re investing the most to protect. Beyond the moral implications this entails, it also means that poor […]
It's official - New Zealanders can now tie the knot in spaghetti. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is now legally recognized as being allowed to carry on wedding ceremonies.
The focus point of prosthetics today is, understandably, restoring ability, function and form to those who have lost a limb. But the same technology can be used to augment a healthy body, allowing a person to perform tasks outside of our body's limitations.
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) unveiled a new bedazzling image of the Milky Way, snapped by the APEX telescope in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
It’s quite possibly the most common unit of measure; we often guide our lives based on the humble kilogram, but what is a kilogram really? In other words, how do we know when a kilogram really is exactly a kilogram? In a few days, one of the most reliable measures of a kilo will be […]
The photo was taken with NASA’s Landat 8 satellite. Landsat is the longest-running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth, with the first one being launched in 1972. Since the end of the Little Ice Age, the ice fields of Patagonia and other parts of South America have been shrinking as global temperatures have […]
The Sun is easily the most recognizable and important star that humanity has ever known. And yet, those who want to study it come face to face with a tiny weensy problem -- it tends to burn your retinas if you look at it.
While 3-D scanning the Columbia command module used by the Apollo 11 astronauts to splash down back on Earth, researchers found some amazing artifacts: graffiti markings.
Following ISIS's attack and destruction of the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq, Italy and the United Nations have joined forces to protect cultural heritage sites in conflict zones.
Part of NASA JPL's Exoplanet Travel Bureau series, these 14 posters show such locales as Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa, Saturn's vapor-spewing moon Enceladus, and the dwarf planet Ceres. They're all available for free in massive resolution (PDF and TIFF format), so you can download, print and hang in your living room. Enjoy!
Limericks are a very specific type of poetry that emerged in England in the early years of the 18th century. It was popularized by Edward Lear in the 19th century although curiously, he didn’t coin the term “limerick”, and we don’t know where it came from. Your units are wrong! cried the teacher. Your church weighs […]
It's hard not to love video mapping, especially if you've seen a show up close and personal.
The discovery of green fluorescent proteins heralded a revolution in cell biology, enabling researchers to monitor cellular processes by applying themselves to a variety of protein and enzyme targets. Over the years, they’ve enabled thousands of successful experiments, triggering events that ultimately saved many lives. In 1961, Osamu Shimomura and Frank Johnson, working at the Friday Harbor […]
How fast can your camera shoot? 60 frames per second, maybe 100? If you’ve got a good one, maybe 1000, or maybe you’re super pro and you shoot 10.000 fps. Puh-lease! The new MIT camera shoots at 1 trillion fps – that’s 1.000.000.000.000 frames every second ! Think of it this way: 1 trillion seconds […]
The picture was taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS), focusing on two snow-covered volcanoes in Russia’s Far East. The volcano in the center of the image is called Bolshaya Ipelka and it measures 40 kilometers (25 miles) at its base. The volcano has been inactive for a long time, but the valleys cut by glaciers along its […]
It's a song of ice and fire - scientists have just witnessed the eruption of the Big Ben volcano in the sub-Antarctic area.
China’s National Space Administration released a trove of images from their lunar rover and they’re spectacular. We’re talking hundreds of tantalizing, HD and never-before-seen images of the Moon! You can set up an account on China’s Science and Application Center for Moon and Deepspace Exploration website and have a look for yourself, view and download all the […]
The French government announced its plan to build a 1,000 kilometer (621 mile) long stretch of solar panel-paved roads over the next five years. The locations for deployments have yet to be revealed. The fossil fuel tax is expected to bring in between 200 to 300 million euros ($220 to 440 million) of funding for the project coined "Positive Energy" .
Some 2,000 years ago, there were only 170 million people in the whole planet. How did we get to 7 billion?
Belemnites are an extinct order of cephalopods ("cephalo" meaning head and "pod" meaning leg) that lived during the Mesozoic era, some 200 to 65 million years ago. They were elongated organisms, resembling today's squids, only tinier and cuter.
'Don't judge a book by its cover' right about sums up the Human Library Project. The concept is simple, but very powerful: instead of checking out books, you sit with a random stranger for half an hour and listen to his life story. Titles include Child Of The Holocaust Survivors, The Gypsy Tale, Iraq War Veteran, or Orphanage Boy. Just like a book, you'll be exposed to a unique experience, only you'll also interact with the author, ask questions and learn much more.
A North Sea wreck has been identified as a German world war one U-boat, announced ScottishPower Renewables. The vessel found its resting place 90 kilometers (56 miles) off the Norfolk Coast.
Look at this photo. What do you see? A bunch of camels, right? Well, that's right... but look closer - where are the camels?
The 62 richest people in the world are worth as much as the poorest 3.5 billion people in the world.
Mushrooms are pretty awesome in themselves, but some are just off-the-charts awesome. Take Omphalotus olearius for example, also called the jack-o’-lantern mushroom. Sure, it may be poisonous – but not only does it glow in the dark, you can make glow-in-the-dark paint with it. Appearance The most important thing about the Jack-o’-lantern mush is how to avoid […]
Wikipedia celebrates 15 years of feeding eager minds with knowledge and helping undergraduates turn reports on time. To mark the occasion, the website was gracious enough to post some interesting stats, among which its most edited entries. Eight years since he left office, George W. Bush tops the list to this day with 45,862 edits since the list was compiled by Wikipeda last week suggesting he's maybe the most controversial public person in recent history.
Tatarenko Vladimir Nikolaevich, a Russian inventor, has designed an audacious new safety mechanism for airplanes: a detachable passenger and cargo cabin that springs away from the aircraft in case of emergency. Once unhooked, the cabin deploys parachutes that safely touch down the cabin on land or water.
MIT scientists have developed a material that can absorb solar energy, stores and release it on demand to produce heat. Made from a film of polymer, the material could be used to used to tailor cold climate garments that charge up during the day and keep you pleasantly warm in the evening.
Indiana University scientists have built a highly efficient bio-material that can serve as a catalyst for hydrogen production. This material takes us halfway towards the long sought-after "holy grail" of splitting water to make hydrogen and oxygen for fueling cheap and efficient cars that run on water.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced clients to brace for a "cataclysmic year" with a global deflation crisis, warning that many major stocks will fall and oil may reach $16.
According to the United Nations, 20 to 40 percent of fresh food is thrown away by farmers because they don't look as appetizing as they should to sell. Besides looking a bit crooked, twisted or shrugged, these fruits and vegetables are perfectly edible and taste no different than the perfectly shaped ones you're always on the lookout for in the supermarket.
Apollo 11: Eagle Has Landed NASA’s mission to better understand the Universe around us resulted not only in text, images and video, but also in a huge number of sounds. The space agency posted rocket sounds, the chirps of satellites and equipment, lightning on Jupiter, interstellar plasma and radio emissions and of course, famous vocal clips […]
“Anyone who wants to be here now has a shot to be here,” MIT President L. Rafael Reif said. “They have a chance to prove in advance that they can do the work.” By now, you should know that MIT posted many of their courses and materials for free, on the internet. If you didn’t, […]
The very hot winter of 2015 is having some unexpected consequences: squirrels are getting fat. The winter season for overindulgence has come and passed, but for these little critters in North America and Europe, it left behind a big mark. The mild climate of this winter meant that trees had lots of seeds and nuts, […]
Where do we find the space for trees in our cities with all the buildings already vying for the limited space available? Dutch collective Mothership's answer is waterways. The group plans to install the "Dobberend Bos" (Bobbing Forest) in Rotterdam's Rijnhaven harbor next spring.
Complete and absolute relaxation.
In a rather hilarious turn of events, Google translate has been making some conversions that most people would find a tad inaccurate. When going from Ukrainian to Russian, the word "Russia" would show "Mordor," "Russians" translated to "occupiers," and Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov became "sad little horse."
A new study looking into how Mexico's soda tax is impacting consumer habits one year after implementation. The results show a decrease in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption accompanied by an increase in sales of untaxed drinks throughout the country.
