News
by Philip Perry – What qualities define a good leader? Is it vision, the ability to understand and negotiate with people, drive, an expectation of excellence, or a stunningly brilliant intellect? A new study finds that the last one may actually be …
by Robby Berman – The dangerous Comet Swift-Tuttle in 1992. (Credit: Jim Scotti, University of Arizona). The Perseids are arguably the most famous annual meteor shower. Silently streaking across the mid-August heavens each summer, it’s a profound and beautiful event for anyone …
by Frank Jacobs – The Yangtze alone discharges as much as 1.5 million tons of plastic waste each year. Cheap, durable and multifunctional, plastic is one of humanity’s most successful inventions. From the 1950s to 2015, we’ve produced 8.3 billion metric tons …
by Robby Berman – Plants learn and remember (Pakorn worasang/immfocus studio/Big Think) Monica Gagliano studies learning and memory in plants. She’s an “evolutionary ecologist” who performs behavioral experiments on plants that are adapted from studies of animal intelligence. Her work has convinced her …
by Scotty Hendricks – What remains of the Cologne library. (Hi-flyFoto/Roman-Germanic Museum of Cologne) Workers in Cologne, Germany have stumbled upon a 2000-year-old library while preparing a car park site for construction. The find, one of many archeological discoveries in the ancient city, …
By Jessie Yeung, CNN – China claims to have successfully tested its first hypersonic aircraft, a big step forward in aerospace technology that could intensify pressure on the US military. The China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA), based in Beijing and part of …
by Frank Jacobs – About 41% of all land in the coterminous U.S. is dedicated to cattle. Yes, this is America. The borders are all new, but the areas are correct; this is a map of land use in the contiguous United …
Loz Blain – The Rezvani Tank Military Edition is 300 grand’s worth of street-legal badass (Credit: Rezvani). . Anyone who felt Rezvani’s original Tank XUV (eXtreme Utility Vehicle) was a touch underdone can now stump up US$295,000 or more for a Military Edition, …
Michael Irving – A simulation of antimatter particles being concentrated and accelerated into a positron beam (Credit: Imperial College London) Particle accelerators have plenty to teach us about the mysterious forces and matter that makes up the universe, but these facilities aren’t …
Paul Ridden – The Masterkey 4.0 projects a laser keyboard on the desk and a display on the wall (Credit: Masterkey 4.0). Smartphones are pretty much everywhere, and can be pretty powerful computing machines. But tapping away on a touchscreen can be …
