African Scientist: African Corruption Made Ebola Worse
Since last week, there has been some good
news on the Ebola front: a suggestion that the epidemic in Liberia is
beginning to slow down, with fewer new cases reported. At the same time,
there is a new outbreak in Sierra Leone, in a part of the country that
thought it had beaten the disease […]
Horny Deer Make November Driving Risky
Most deer collisions happen in October and November. Can we find a way to drive safer?
Dropping Objects in World’s Largest Vacuum Chamber
Fiddling around with the physics behind the BBC Human Universe video of a bowling ball and a feather being dropped in a vacuum chamber.
What’s Up With That: Boarding Airplanes Takes Forever
Waiting to get on an airplane sucks. Is it possible that there's a better way?
This High-Tech Greenhouse Tests What Crops Will Survive Climate Change
It may have a glass roof and be filled with
plants, but the Advanced Crop Lab at the Durham, North Carolina,
headquarters of agricultural biotech firm Syngenta does a lot more than a
typical greenhouse. Scientists can program its dozens of rooms with
individual climates in order to test new crops that might flourish in
our sweltering, drought-filled future.
Alvin dives to new depths
With the completion of the new Alvin, the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s storied deep-sea submersible, 50
million square miles of previously inaccessible seafloor real estate is
now open to scientific investigation. Before its upgrades, Alvin was
rated to dive to 15,000 feet, but a new titanium personnel sphere means
it can now dive as deep as 21,000 feet—and that depth rating opens up 98
percent of the seafloor to Alvin’s robotic fingertips.
These Submersible Sensors Measure All the Ways Dams Brutalize Fish
Scientists have created small fish-sized
sensors that record how the little swimmers get spun, stunned, and
barometrically burst in the hydroelectric gauntlet.
A Word on Last Week’s Failures
In May 1968, during its first run in
theaters, the classic science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey
captured my six-year-old imagination. A few months later, in the real
world of spaceflight, Apollo 8 orbited the moon. I watched in wonder on
Christmas Eve as an overexposed Earth glared from the black & white
TV […]
Lava Flows Slows Near Pahoa on Kilauea, Town Waits
As lava from Kilauea approaches the small Hawaiian town of Pahoa, the debate about whether to divert the flow is reignited.
The Creature Feature: 10 Fun Facts About the Hagfish
Hagfish are slimy, disgusting, and hugely important to oceanic ecosystems.
Using Sensors to Monitor Head Impacts in Sports
Triax head sensors send data to either a
phone or a computer to give parents and coaches quick info on the
severity of a head impact.
Formaldehyde and Chicken Eggs: What’s Inside a Flu Shot
Caren Alpert Flu virus All flu vaccines
start with flu viruses: genetic material packaged in an envelope of
proteins and fats, studded with yet more proteins—antigens—that push the
body’s immune system into action. With thousands of possible flu
variants out there, the World Health Organization looks at info from 141
labs around the world to […]
How Ebola Healthcare Workers Get Dressed
Workers start with gloves, then don Tyvek suits, boots, masks, eye protection, aprons, and another pair of gloves.
Mysterious Missing Pulsars May Have Gotten Wrapped in Dark Matter and Turned Into Black Holes
The center of the galaxy should be
chock-full of rapidly spinning, dense stellar corpses known as pulsars.
The problem is, astronomers can't seem to find them.
15 Incredible Photos That’ll Remind You to Be Awed by Planet Earth
One photo captures the astonishing moment
before a wildebeest plunges into a stream in Kenya’s Maasai Mara
National Park. And another image chronicles the unlikely escape of a
penguin from the looming jaws of a leopard seal. From the ethereal
colors of a ghostly aurora to the undersea adventures of a young kid in
the Philippines, these photos – and the others in this gallery – are
some of the winners of the California Academy of Sciences' BigPicture
competition.
Dressing Up a Rover as a Baby Penguin—For Science!
Scientists who study wild animals want to
get as close as possible to their subjects without stressing them out or
disrupting their natural behaviors. One possible solution:
remote-controlled rovers.
Turrialba in Costa Rica Has Largest Eruption Since 1866
Turrialba had its largest eruption in almost 150 years on Saturday, with an ash plume reaching at least 19,000 feet.
Charting the World’s Easiest—And Most Punishing—Marathon Routes
November’s New York City Marathon is a
little bit Jekyll-and-Hyde, combining benevolent descents with sinister
climbs; the equally prestigious Boston course gifts a runner with
merciful downhills. And if the there-and-back Whiskey Row race in
Arizona looks too hellish, head to Berlin.
No Automation, One Shot at Landing: It’s Really Hard to Fly SpaceShipTwo
Friday morning, Virgin Galactic’s
spaceship, meant to eventually take wealthy passengers on brief rides
into space, crashed during a test flight over southern California. One
of the pilots onboard was killed, the other suffered serious injuries
and was transported to the hospital. It’s a serious setback for the
space tourism effort, but is unlikely to kill the enterprise altogether.
The program is quite advanced, and Richard Branson’s employees have put
a ton of effort into finding a reliable way to get people into space.
Here's how they plan to do it once they're back on track.
Space Tourism Isn’t Worth Dying For
Today, a brave Virgin Galactic test pilot
is dead and another one critically injured---in the service of a
millionaire boondoggle thrill ride.
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