WEIRD SCIENCE
One of America’s biggest sources of trash could become clean energy. By Thor Benson – Americans waste a lot of food. As a country, we throw away over 150,000 tons of food every single day. Up to 40 percent of our food is …
New research tracks a rocky, interstellar object’s ability to transport life to another planet. By Passant Rabie – Around 4 billion years ago, Earth was under attack. The planet’s surface was bombarded by asteroid after asteroid and a whole host of other interstellar …
Using time-tested techniques, scientists are figuring out how to measure artificial organ growth. Very carefully. By David Grossman – What if a child with a failing organ could, instead of waiting on a donor list, simply have their new liver or heart grown …
Increasing temperatures and populations threaten a precious element and pose a serious problem. What can we do about protecting our most vital resource? By Tim Smedley – The next time you open a can of soft drink, consider where the water inside it …
Some puzzling studies appear to show that tiny airborne particles may contribute to obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Should we be concerned? By David Robson – Take a deep breath, and exhale. Depending on where you live, that life-giving lungful of air might …
The air we breathe could be changing our behavior in ways we are only just beginning to understand. By Melissa Hogenboom / Images by Emmanuel Lafont – * This story is featured in BBC Future’s “Best of 2019” collection. Discover more of our picks. …
By Michael Irving – A composite image comprised of optical data from the Isaac Newton Telescope and X-ray data from Chandra showing the stellar association Cygnus OB2. X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Drake et al; H-alpha: Univ. of Hertfordshire/INT/IPHAS; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Spitzer. – The cosmic beauty of space …
By Nick Lavars – Using a novel manufacturing method, scientists have discovered a way to turn plastic bottles into a useful new aerogel. National University of Singapore. – Recycling plastics is far from a simple undertaking, with only a small portion of what …
By Ben Coxworth – Treatment-resistant warts, along with other skin lesions, may be no match for nano-pulse stimulation. Tiler84/Depositphotos. – Although it’s possible to remove warts by freezing them with liquid nitrogen, they often grow back, requiring multiple treatments. New research, however, suggests …
By Ben Coxworth – The lingonberry is native to the boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from Eurasia to North America. Evgeniy_Bobkov/Depositphotos. – If you suffer from high blood pressure, you might want to try making lingonberry juice part of …
