WEIRD SCIENCE
Michael Irving – An artist’s rendition of fast radio bursts, being detected by the ASKAP telescope in Western Australia (Credit: OzGrav, Swinburne University of Technology). Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one of the most intriguing celestial mysteries out there at the moment. …
Ben Coxworth – Egyptian blue is considered to be the world’s first synthetic pigment (Credit: Maugli/Depositphotos). Thousands of years ago, the ancient Egyptians created a blue pigment which they used in their depictions of gods and royalty. Derived from calcium copper silicate, the …
We’ve started searching for rare earth elements in some unlikely places Laura Mast, Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. U.S. National Archives on Flickr. Rare earth elements — elements like scandium, neodymium, and dysprosium — have found their way into every aspect of our …
“The impacts on human well being, including mental health, may be catastrophic.” By Sarah Sloat – A landmark United Nations report revealed that catastrophic events induced by climate change could become regular occurrences as soon as 2040. In the report, published recently, the …
Rich Haridy – A new technique successfully edited a single genetic mutation prenatally, resulting in healthy mice being born (Credit: spgirolamo/Depositphotos). In a remarkable proof-of-concept study, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have, for the first time, …
Nick Lavars – A compound found in the venom of the Australian funnel-web spider was found to kill off melanoma cells in the lab (Credit: pelooyen/Depositphotos). Discoveries of potentially life-saving peptides in the venom of deadly animals are, counter-intuitively, not all that …
Michael Irving – The first steps towards brain-to-brain interfaces for collaborative problem solving are being made in the laboratory (Credit: Andreus/Depositphotos). The internet has made it easy for groups to collaborate from pretty much anywhere, but this experimental brain-to-brain “social network” could be …
By Mark Kaufman – The red-tinged Martian surface. Image: nasa/JpL Scientists don’t expect to get their hands on Martian soil anytime soon, so they’re making their own.Created by University of Central Florida astrophysicists, this red soil, called Mars “simulant,” is designed to …
By Ashley Strickland, CNN – An Artist’s Conception of the Mysterious Planet X. (CNN) While searching for the mysterious Planet X that some astronomers believe lurks on the edge of our solar system, researchers instead found an extremely distant object they dubbed “the …
Hello, tipping point. Brandon A. Weber – Lake Esieh, in Alaska – Chris Mooney. It’s in a part of Alaska that’s in the Arctic Circle. Each day the lake emits methane at a rate equivalent to about 6,000 cows. If more like it …
