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Earth’s Most Destructive Day Ever: Chicxulub Crater Evidence Study Tells a New Story
No wonder the dinosaurs didn’t survive. By Passant Rabie – The day a massive asteroid hit our planet about 65 million years ago may have been the most chaotic day on Earth, and we’re not just talking about the mass extinction part. New …
New geothermal battery directly converts heat to electricity
By Michael Irving – A new battery cell design could help us tap into the vast stores of geothermal energy beneath our feet. OlgaSinenkoBO/Depositphotos. – One of the largest natural sources of renewable energy could be right under our feet – literally. The Earth …
Thermoelectric generator harvests renewable energy from the cold of space
By Michael Irving – The thermoelectric generator uses a black aluminum disk to radiate heat into the atmosphere, and a polystyrene enclosure to keep the air inside warm. Aaswath Raman. – As effective as solar panels are, one of their major downsides is that …
Loch Ness DNA analysis suggests monster could be a big ol’ eel
By Ben Coxworth – The majority of the environmental DNA found in the study came from eels – although not necessarily giant ones. mikelane45/Depositphotos. – Last year, we heard about a scientist who was headed to Loch Ness to search for the monster’s DNA. …
Study Finds Yet Another Way Lefties’ Brains Are Special
Not that they need another reason. By Peter Hess – Whether it’s a hassle with spiral notebooks or a struggle with scissors, left-handers don’t have it easy in this right-handed world. But new research suggests that their uniqueness shows up in more significant …
A woman who ran for president in 1872 was compared to Satan and locked up. It wasn’t for her emails.
Woodhull sought to unite a coalition of African Americans, abolitionists, laborers, suffragists and 19th-century Spiritualists — groups that found themselves without a voice in government and relegated to the fringes of power. By Kayla Epstein – Five women are running for president of …
Wearable device harvests energy from bending of the knee
By Ben Coxworth – A diagram of the energy-harvesting device. Gao et al. – As compared to most other joints in the human body, the knee has quite a large range of motion … so why not put that motion to use, as a …
Scientists Recreate What Happened to an Ancient Continent Shoved Beneath Europe
Meet Greater Adria. By Sarah Sloat – Around 180 million years ago, Earth fundamentally changed when Gondwana began to dismember. Today, present-day places, including South America and Australia, are visible chunks of this former ancient supercontinent, as well as not-so visible slices of …
Scientists Detect Water for the First Time on a Planet Outside Our Solar System
The exoplanet K2-18b isn’t exactly Earth, but it’s as close as it gets. By Passant Rabie – Good news: We’re all moving 110 light-years away! Well, maybe not quite yet, but scientists just made a major breakthrough in the search for habitable worlds …
New beaked whale species discovered off the coast of Japan
By Michael Irving – The new whale species, Berardius minimus, in the wild. Tadasu K. Yamada et al., Scientific Reports. – New species turn up on Earth with surprising regularity, but most of the time they’re small, like ants and tarantulas. You’d be forgiven …
Cryptocurrency on iPhone? Apple Could Solve One of Its Biggest Problems
Apple Pay, but for crypto? By Mike Brown – Is cryptocurrency coming to the iPhone? While Apple’s smartphone supports apps that provide access to wallets and exchanges, recent comments from an executive have suggested the company could offer deeper integration. “We’re watching cryptocurrency,” …
Chemical secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls revealed
By David Szondy – High-resolution mapping of the distribution of elements in a sample from the 2,000-year-old Temple Scroll, as shown by the colors at the right of this image, is providing insight into the scroll’s ancient fabrication method. James Weaver. – A …
Organic, Protein-Packed Batteries Could Sustainably Store Clean Energy
Researchers at Texas A&M University want to make batteries a bit more eco-friendly. By Mike Brown – Organic batteries that use protein to transfer electrons could one day hold the future of power storage. Researchers at Texas A&M University have discovered a means …
‘Iron Man’-Like Helmet Has Augmented Reality to Aid Search-and-Rescue Teams
The helmet could offer more vital information faster. By Mike Brown – Ready to leap into action, Iron Man-style? Hypergiant Industries took the wraps off its prototype augmented reality helmet Thursday, which can be used by firefighters and rescue teams to help save …
Elon Musk Says Advanced A.I. Could “Take Down the Internet”
By Jack Crosbie – The internet is about to become a vicious, chaotic battlefield, and Elon Musk says advanced A.I. could make the carnage even worse. According to a short exchange on Musk’s Twitter feed, the systems that keep the internet running are …
What Happens to Your Body After a “Long Feast Weekend”
Yo-yoing between eating well during the week and binging on junk food over the weekend is likely a bad idea. By Margaret Morris – A relatively healthy but complex community is living together peacefully until an unruly mob of hooligans begins unsettling the …
T-Rex inspires MB&F’s latest off-the-wall clock
By David Szondy – You can’t get more whimsical than a clock set on metal legs modeled from the bones of an actual Tyrannosaurus Rex. MB&F. – For their 11th collaboration, MB&F and Swiss clockmaker L’Épée 1839 have gone prehistoric: meet the T-Rex desk …
Pomegranate juice may protect unborn babies’ brains
By Ben Coxworth – Pomegranates – and their juice – are rich in polyphenols. Is992007. – Affecting one out of every 10 infants that are still in the womb, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a potentially-serious condition that can limit brain development. According …
Water harvester wrings drinking water out of dry desert air
By Michael Irving – Researcher Mathieu Prévot with water collected from the new device that can wring water out of even very dry air. Grant Glover, University of South Alabama. – As vital as clean water is for human life, unfortunately it’s not always …
Face of oldest human ancestor comes into focus with new fossil skull
By Michael Irving – A facial reconstruction of Australopithecus anamensis, based on a newly found, almost-complete skull. Matt Crow – – A new fossil discovery means we’re finally able to look upon the face of our oldest ancestor. Paleontologists have discovered an almost-complete skull …
Accurate marijuana breathalyzers are almost here, but do THC levels even mean anything?
By Rich Haridy – New research shows breath THC levels can correlate with blood THC levels, but does this offer authorities an objective way to catch stoned drivers? zstockphotos/Depositphotos. One of the many challenges authorities are currently facing, following the growing spread of …
Hollywood directors unite to launch “Filmmaker mode” for TVs
By Rich Haridy – Amazon Prime, LG, Panasonic and VIZIO have all expressed support for a new “Filmmaker Mode” UHDA. A new television setting called “Filmmaker Mode” should soon be incorporated into a number of modern TVs, after months of consultation from Hollywood …
Aptera returns, promising a 1,000-mile hyper-aerodynamic EV
By Loz Blain – Aptera’s Steve Farmbro and Chris Anthony. Aptera. After two previous efforts to get this incredibly aerodynamic, insanely efficient and wild-looking electric car off the ground, Aptera’s founders are back in the saddle and preparing for a third attempt. The company …
A short selfie video on your smartphone can now measure your blood pressure
By Rich Haridy – A new system that measures blood pressure using a phone video is currently 95 percent accurate but has not yet been tested on a large variety of different skin tones. Nuralogix – An exciting new technology, called transdermal optical imaging, can turn …
The supervolcano that can wipe out the U.S. and kill billions may be overdue for an eruption
An extinction events expert sounds a dire warning. By Paul Ratner – Supervolcano eruptions are rare, and occur approximately every 50,000 years. Credit: Getty – Contributor. The supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park could cause an “ultra-catastrophe,” warns an extinction events writer. The full …
Plants have awareness and intelligence, argue scientists
Research in plant neurobiology shows that plants have senses, intelligence and emotions. By Paul Ratner – Are plants smarter than we think they are? (Photo: brewbooks/Flickr) – Image source: mnn.com/earth-matters. The field of plant neurobiology studies the complex behavior of plants. Plants were …
One Type of Sitting May Pose a Greater Risk to Heart Health Than Others
There’s a big difference between sitting at home and sitting at work. By Emma Betuel – As a society, we sit too much. We sit in the car, we sit at our desks, and we flop down on the couch when we get …
Dark matter detector reveals material with longest half-life ever – 18 sextillion years
By Michael Irving – The XENON1T experiment may not have found dark matter, but it has now revealed the element with the longest half-life ever recorded. The Xenon Collaboration. Although the many experiments searching for evidence of dark matter have yet to …
Art Spiegelman: golden age superheroes were shaped by the rise of fascism
Created in New York by Jewish immigrants, the first comic book superheroes were mythic saviors who could combat the Nazi threat. They speak to the dark politics of our times. By Art Spiegelman – Captain America lives on … The Avengers (2012) Photograph: …
Franky Zapata successfully crosses the English Channel on his jet-powered Flyboard Air
By Loz Blain – At speeds over 100 mph, Franky Zapata has become the first person to cross the English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard Zapata – After ending up in the water on his first attempt, flying Frenchman Franky Zapata has now successfully …
Volocopter introduces its most powerful flying taxi yet
By Nick Lavars – The VoloCity aircraft, as it is now known, has been designed to meet the certification standards laid out by the European Aviation Safety Agency. – Little by little, Volocopter has continued to refine the design of its flying taxi …
Record Number of Wildfires in Brazil Will Have Global Consequences
Sao Paulo plunged into darkness after forest fire smoke filled the sky. By Sarah Sloat – Recently thousands of people took to Twitter to share the hashtag #PrayforAmazonia. The viral movement came as the skies above Sao Paulo blackened with the smoke from …
Sweltering cities – How US cities are scrambling to protect people from extreme heat
With cities facing both rapid growth and radical, permanent climate change, urban authorities are faced with an increasingly vulnerable population Cooling goo sidewalks and other strange new weapons in the war on urban heat Cities is supported by About this content By Oliver …
Origin of Life: Study Suggests Only 2 Ingredients, Plus Heat, Were Needed
They could have been the “Adam and Eve of chemical evolution.” By Yasmin Tayag – Hydrogen cyanide is best known as a poison, historically deployed as a murder weapon in gas chambers and by federal executioners. But much further back in Earth’s past, …
How the Silent Cosmos Led Humans to Fear the Worst
The eerie silence above may tell us something ominous about the future of our own civilization. By Thomas Moynihan – It is 1950 and a group of scientists are walking to lunch against the majestic backdrop of the Rocky Mountains. They are about …
Interview – George RR Martin: ‘Game of Thrones finishing is freeing, I’m at my own pace’
By Sarah Hughes – The TV series may have reached its conclusion, but with two books to finish as well as a host of spinoff projects, the writer of the novel series that spawned it is busier than ever. Sun 18 Aug 2019 …
An ancient planet, 10 times bigger than Earth, may have crashed into Jupiter
By Michael Irving – An artist’s impression of a collision between Jupiter and a large, ancient planetoid that would have disrupted its core. (Credit: K. Suda & Y. Akimoto/Mabuchi Design Office/Astrobiology Center, Japan). Jupiter is a gigantic ball of churning gas clouds, and …
The fashion line designed to trick surveillance cameras
Adversarial Fashion garments are covered in license plates, aimed at bamboozling a device’s databases. By Alex Hern in Las Vegas @alexhern – An Adversarial Fashion dress, modeled by its designer, Kate Rose. Photograph: Kate Rose. Automatic license plate readers, which use networked surveillance …
IPCC looks to the land in fight against climate change
Paul Ridden – A special report from the IPCC entitled Climate Change and Land will form the basis of scientific input for upcoming climate and environment negotiations. (Credit: kevron2002/Depositphotos). A Special Report of Climate Change and Land by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate …
This map shows the most common surnames in Europe
By Louis Doré – An infographic map made by Czech linguist, mathematician, and artist Jakub Marian has described the most popular surnames in Europe. For example, the most popular surname in the United Kingdom is Smith, deriving from the metalworking practice, compared to …
Earth’s Most Destructive Day Ever: Chicxulub Crater Evidence Study Tells a New Story
No wonder the dinosaurs didn’t survive. By Passant Rabie – The day a massive asteroid hit our planet about 65 million years ago may have been the most chaotic day on Earth, and we’re not just talking about the mass extinction part. New …
New geothermal battery directly converts heat to electricity
By Michael Irving – A new battery cell design could help us tap into the vast stores of geothermal energy beneath our feet. OlgaSinenkoBO/Depositphotos. – One of the largest natural sources of renewable energy could be right under our feet – literally. The Earth …
Thermoelectric generator harvests renewable energy from the cold of space
By Michael Irving – The thermoelectric generator uses a black aluminum disk to radiate heat into the atmosphere, and a polystyrene enclosure to keep the air inside warm. Aaswath Raman. – As effective as solar panels are, one of their major downsides is that …
Loch Ness DNA analysis suggests monster could be a big ol’ eel
By Ben Coxworth – The majority of the environmental DNA found in the study came from eels – although not necessarily giant ones. mikelane45/Depositphotos. – Last year, we heard about a scientist who was headed to Loch Ness to search for the monster’s DNA. …
Study Finds Yet Another Way Lefties’ Brains Are Special
Not that they need another reason. By Peter Hess – Whether it’s a hassle with spiral notebooks or a struggle with scissors, left-handers don’t have it easy in this right-handed world. But new research suggests that their uniqueness shows up in more significant …
A woman who ran for president in 1872 was compared to Satan and locked up. It wasn’t for her emails.
Woodhull sought to unite a coalition of African Americans, abolitionists, laborers, suffragists and 19th-century Spiritualists — groups that found themselves without a voice in government and relegated to the fringes of power. By Kayla Epstein – Five women are running for president of …
Wearable device harvests energy from bending of the knee
By Ben Coxworth – A diagram of the energy-harvesting device. Gao et al. – As compared to most other joints in the human body, the knee has quite a large range of motion … so why not put that motion to use, as a …
Scientists Recreate What Happened to an Ancient Continent Shoved Beneath Europe
Meet Greater Adria. By Sarah Sloat – Around 180 million years ago, Earth fundamentally changed when Gondwana began to dismember. Today, present-day places, including South America and Australia, are visible chunks of this former ancient supercontinent, as well as not-so visible slices of …
Scientists Detect Water for the First Time on a Planet Outside Our Solar System
The exoplanet K2-18b isn’t exactly Earth, but it’s as close as it gets. By Passant Rabie – Good news: We’re all moving 110 light-years away! Well, maybe not quite yet, but scientists just made a major breakthrough in the search for habitable worlds …
New beaked whale species discovered off the coast of Japan
By Michael Irving – The new whale species, Berardius minimus, in the wild. Tadasu K. Yamada et al., Scientific Reports. – New species turn up on Earth with surprising regularity, but most of the time they’re small, like ants and tarantulas. You’d be forgiven …