WEIRD SCIENCE

 

How weeds help fight climate change

Most people see weeds as a problem. But one farmer has found they can help make dry, damaged land lush again – not to mention absorb carbon from the atmosphere. By Georgina Kenyon – More than 60 years ago, when he was a …

An atomic marker hidden in plain sight

Most visitors will walk past 109 East Palace Avenue in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and have no idea that they are passing the site that once served as Robert Oppenheimer’s office. By Larry Bleiberg, 29 January 2020 – In the courtyard of a …

Why your zodiac sign is probably wrong

As the Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun appears to move through the ancient constellations of the zodiac. Tauʻolunga/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA.  By James Kaler, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – I was born a Capricorn (please don’t judge …

Lab-grown snake organs produce actual venom

By Ben Coxworth – A batch of the snake venom organoids.  Ravian van Ineveld, © Princess Máxima Center.   Although snake venom generally has a pretty nasty effect on people, it’s also used in the production of life-saving antivenoms, along with various other …