WEIRD SCIENCE
By Genevieve Carlton – Updated November 21, 2019 – What was it like to live at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project? As thousands worked to build a top-secret atomic device, the US military tried to keep the entire city secret. All …
By Michael Irving – The discovery of a novel protein in a meteorite strengthens the argument that life’s building blocks arrived from space. paulfleet/Depositphotos. – Scientists have discovered a full, previously-unknown protein inside a meteorite for the first time. Named hemolithin, the new protein …
By Ben Coxworth – A microscope image of the cured glue, showing the layers of cellulose nanocrystals. Aalto University. – Although so-called superglues can be quite useful, they’re typically made from harsh chemicals, plus it’s very difficult to “unstick” them once they’ve set. …
By David Szondy – Micro-fossils of the one-billion-year-old seaweed were uncovered in China. Virginia Tech. – Two paleontologists at Virginia Tech have found one billion year old fossils of green seaweed in China. Called Proterocladus antiquus, the tiny fossils are the oldest green seaweed …
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 …
