WEIRD FACTS
Pirates did roam the Gulf Coast, but more myths than facts have inspired the regional folklore. Taken in 1922, the ship José Gaspar passes the Lafayette Street Bridge in Tampa during the Gasparilla Festival (University of South Florida Library) – By Nora McGreevy …
Few events in American history have matched the Framers’ definition as clearly as the insurrection of January 6th. Photograph by Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency / Getty – By Jeannie Suk Gersen SOURCE: The New Yorker 2021 Jan 28 – For years, Carlton F. W. …
Adding capsaicin, the chemical responsible for making chile peppers spicy, improved the efficiency of solar cells in experiments. A group of perovskite solar cells that have been treated with capsaicin. (Jin Yang) – By Alex Fox SmithsonianMag.Com 2021 Feb 02 – New research …
North Korea has a long history of hacking targets in the U.S. Chris Price/Flickr, CC BY-ND – By Paulo Shakarian, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Arizona State University 2021 Feb 04 – North Korean hackers have staged an audacious attack targeting cybersecurity researchers, …
PETA alleged last year that its investigators found young monkeys were chained and trained to pick coconuts at multiple farms in Thailand. Following appeals from PETA and two PETA Asia undercover investigations into the use of captive monkeys, who are kept chained and …
The ugly message “Murder the media,” etched into a door of the Capitol by an angry mob of violent Trump supporters January 6, reflects the deep lack of trust in American journalism stoked by a demagogic President and his enablers over the last …
Scientists have developed materials that can propel themselves, such as this self-jumping polymer shell. Yongjin Kim, UMass Amherst – By Nick Lavars 2021 Feb 01 – Inspired by the way plants like Venus flytraps can snap closed and reset themselves, scientists have developed new …
Permafrost is thawing across the Arctic, releasing microbes and organic materials that have been trapped in the frozen ground for thousands of years. NOAA via Wikimedia Commons – Authors: Jessie Creamean, Research Scientist, Colorado State University – Thomas Hill, Research Scientist, Colorado State …
Deicing salts keep winter roads passable but do a lot of harm in the process. Gregory Rec/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images – By Monika Bleszynski, Research Scientist and Adjunct Professor, University of Denver 2021 Jan 29 – Many people associate a …
New Mexico city faces a crisis as Covid ravages the tourism-based economy and newcomers crowd the housing market. Santa Fe, New Mexico, has one of the tightest rental markets in the US. Photograph: Sean Pavone/Alamy – By Cody Nelson in Santa Fe Last …