Monthly Archive: December 2019
… A notorious class of chemicals could have invisible effects that take a toll over time. By Emma Betuel – You may not remember the last time you sprayed a carpet to make it waterproof, but those chemicals are likely still floating around …
By Mike Rothschild – It’s time to find the real stories behind Christmas legends and holiday myths. With over 2,000 years of history, the Christmas holiday comes with a host of myths, legends, lies, misconceptions, and commonly believed things that are just …
Scientists surprised by haul of crustaceans and tardigrades in undisturbed subglacial lake. Ian Sample Science editor @iansample – Tardigrade, a tiny aquatic invertebrate, is also known as a ‘water bear’. Photograph: Steve Gschmeissner/Getty Images/Science Photo Library. Scientists have found the remains of tiny, …
Merry Christmas, indeed! By Johnathan J. Dalzell – Christmas and mistletoe: Have you ever simply asked yourself … why? I have studied plant parasites like mistletoe for almost 10 years, and I’m here to tell you that the answer is absolutely fascinating. In …
Physicist plans to karate-chop them with super-fast blasts of light. By Robby Berman – (Oleksiy Mark/Borys Magierowski/Shutterstock/Big Think) Gérard Mourou has already won a Nobel for his work with fast laser pulses. If he gets pulses 10,000 times faster, he says he can …
Even if you avoid industrial farm produce it’s likely that your veggies will have been grown with the help of manure and other animal products. Jessica Glenza in New York @JessicaGlenza – A tractor spreads muck over field of stubble. ‘Most organic agriculture …
Crisco’s main ingredient, cottonseed oil, had a bad rap. So marketers decided to focus on the ‘purity’ of factory food processing. It’s all about having faith in the purity of the process. (Melissamn/Shutterstock.com) By Helen Zoe Veit, The Conversation via Smithsonianmag.Com – …
These holiday mainstays are potent fire hazards. By Alexandra Pattillo – A single spark from a broken string of lights or a jumping flame from a fireplace can transform Christmas trees from magical decorations into raging infernos. The holidays are a notoriously bad …
By Bridget Borgobello – Canadian entrepreneurs Mike Medicoff and Damien Vince have created a toothpaste that comes in the form of a tablet. Change Toothpaste. – In order to combat the hundreds of millions of empty toothpaste tubes that are destined for landfills …
If a tiny bug’s brain can do math, so can you. By Nina Pullano – With their intricate honeycombs and careful selection of flowers to pollinate, it’s no surprise that honeybees are smart little guys — despite their tiny brains. But bees …
