WEIRD SCIENCE
A microbial organism pulls electricity from water in the air. By Robby Berman – Image source: ncristian/daniiD /Shutterstock/Big Think – Hidden in the mud along the banks of Washington D.C.’s Potomac River may be a profound new source of electricity. The microbe makes …
A colored electron microscope image of MRSA. NIH – NIAID/flickr. Sriram Chandrasekaran, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan – Imagine you’re a fossil hunter. You spend months in the heat of Arizona digging up bones only to find that what you’ve …
Patients infected with COVID-19 rest at a temporary hospital in Wuhan, China, Feb. 17, 2020. Getty Images/Xiao Yijiu. Marilyn J. Roossinck Professor of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, Pennsylvania State University – Editor’s Note: You may sometimes have felt like you “have …
By Loz Blain – Australian company HB11 says it’s well on the way to nuclear fusion energy generation without the radioactive fuels or super-high temperatures. kuligssen/Depositphotos. – “We are sidestepping all of the scientific challenges that have held fusion energy back for more than …
Draft of Brown study says findings suggest ‘substantial impact of mechanized bots in amplifying denialist messages.’ By Oliver Milman in New York, @olliemilman – The researchers examined 6.5m tweets posted in the days leading up to and the month after Trump announced the …
By Nick Lavars – Experts are concerned Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is on the brink of another severe bleaching event. TanyaPuntti/Depositphotos. – A hotter climate poses a threat to our environment in all kinds of ways, but one ecosystem that is really feeling the …
A police officer in Beijing adjusts his face mask, which millions in China are using in hopes of preventing coronavirus infection, on Feb. 9, 2020. The virus is causing major disruptions. AP Photo/Andy Wong. – By Christine Crudo Blackburn, Andrew Natsios, Gerald W …
By Ben Coxworth – An illustration depicting the protein nanowire film, with one of the electrodes visible at top. UMass Amherst/Yao and Lovley labs. – We’ve already heard about so-called “fog harps” that use thin wires to collect airborne water droplets, providing drinking water …
By Sarah Leupen Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County – Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@TheConversation.Com. – How do we …
By William Akoto, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Denver – Two CubeSats, part of a constellation built and operated by Planet Labs Inc. to take images of Earth, were launched from the International Space Station on May 17, 2016. NASA. Last month, SpaceX …
