WEIRD SCIENCE
A “quantum time travel simulator” suggests that the butterfly effect doesn’t apply to the quantum realm. MikhailLeonov/Depositphotos – By Michael Irving 2020 Jul 29 – Time travel movies have different rules about what happens when you start messing around with the timeline. If you’ve …
The oleander plant is beautiful but deadly because of a toxic chemical called oleadrin. Alvesgaspar/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA – By Cassandra Quave, Assistant Professor of Dermatology and Human Health; Herbarium Curator, Emory University 2020 Aug 18 – With COVID-19 cases and deaths rising …
Franklin’s lifelong quest was spreading scientific knowledge to regular people. Mason Chamberlin, CC BY – By Carla J. Mulford, Professor of English, Pennsylvania State University – By the time he was 20 years old, colonial American Benjamin Franklin had already spent two years …
Ordinary food coloring suspended in tiny droplets in the air can generate oxygen free radicals that collide with airborne virus particles. wwing/iStock/Getty Images Plus – 2020 Aug 20 Authors Young Kim Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University Hee-Jae Jeon Postdoctoral Fellow, Biomedical …
Alexander von Humboldt – self-portrait. – By Richard Gunderman, Chancellor’s Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University – Alexander von Humboldt sought to see and understand everything. By the time he drew his self-portrait at age 45, Humboldt had tutored himself …
Pipes absorb a litany of chemicals from fires and firefighting, which leach into the water. Jiroe via Unsplash – A version of this story originally appeared on The Conversation – Authors: Andrew J. Whelton Environmental Engineering, Purdue University Caitlin R. Proctor …
The Sun may once have had a twin that was later lost. M. Weiss – By Michael Irving 2020 Aug 19 – While the Sun is very clearly a solo act nowadays, some astronomers theorize that it once had a binary companion star. Now, …
The inventor at rest, with a Tesla coil (thanks to a double exposure). Dickenson V. Alley, Wellcome Collection, CC BY – By Richard Gunderman, Chancellor’s Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University Updated 2020 Aug 14 – Match the following figures …
Hyperion’s hydrogen-powered supercar – By Peter Valdés-Dapeña, CNN Business Updated 2020 Aug 12 – Hyperion, a California-based company, has unveiled a hydrogen-powered supercar the company hopes will change the way people view hydrogen fuel cell technology. The Hyperion XP-1 will be able to …
Vintage woman – Shutterstock – By Debra Kelly/Updated: 2020 Jul 14 – History is filled with episodes that prove mankind is just sort of making everything up as it goes. There’s no shortage of things that can kill us or do horrible, terrible …
