Hopefully that bag isn't made out of organic cotton. (Credit: Vasiliy Ptitsyn/Shutterstock)
We all care about the environment at least a tiny bit. Some
of us more than others. But there are things a few of us do with the best
intentions that, it turns out, fall somewhere between not helpful and
completely counterproductive. Here are some of the worst offenders and how to
avoid them.
Recycling something “just in case”
Yeah, sadly, “aspirational
recycling” is not h ...read more
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Imagine trying to bend an inflated bicycle tire tube in half. It's a bit difficult, though not impossible. When you let go, the pressure inside snaps the tube back to its normal shape, as if spring-loaded.
What you're doing when you bend the tube is essentially storing energy inside it, to be released all at once when you let go. The trick isn't very useful when it comes to bike tires, of course, but scientists have found that a species of midge has a unique way to put this tech ...read more
(Credit: Quality Stock Arts/Shutterstock)
If you’re a doomsday prepper or were alive during the Cold War you may already be aware – and fearful – of an imminent electromagnetic pulse (EMP) event. It’s a disaster scenario that’s captured the imaginations of filmmakers and video game creators, as well as legitimate organizations, like the United States government.
EMPs are brief but powerful jolts of high-frequency electromagnetic waves that can fry electronics ...read more
Galaxies with central black holes can take various forms depending on the angle at which astronomers see them. (Credit: NASA)
Every large galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center. And some of those black holes are actively ejecting huge amounts of high-energy light out into the cosmos.
Astronomers divide some of these active galaxies, which otherwise look like normal spirals, into two types, so-called Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 galaxies. Seyfert 1 galaxies have distinctive light ...read more
Some fish, like the bluefin tune pictured here, are accumulating higher levels of mercury due to human activities. (Credit: Guido Montaldo/Shutterstock)
The USDA recommends Americans eat at least two servings of seafood every week. Most of us turn to tuna – canned or otherwise – and cod. Fish tacos and fish and chips? Yes, please!
But now researchers find mercury levels in these popular seafood options are on the rise thanks to overfishing and climate change. Scientists say the ...read more
Frances "Poppy" Northcutt at work in the Mission Planning and Analysis room at NASA's Mission Control (Houston) during the Apollo program, circa 1968.
The 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 came and went in a blaze of nostalgia for the moment when humans made their first awkward footfall on another world--a moment when (for the true believers, at least) it seemed like humans might keep going and start exploring the whole solar system in person. But Apollo was about much more than Apollo 11, and ...read more
Many older people and their families worry about a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. (Credit: Nadya Chetah/Shutterstock)
Many people who have problems with their memory, especially if they are elderly, worry that they have Alzheimer’s disease, which afflicts at least 5.5 million people in the U.S. and brings tremendous burdens to families as well. This concern is paramount among those who have seen a family member, friend or colleague develop this insidious progressive disease.
...read more
The galaxies are clear to ALMA’s radio vision, but disappear in Hubble’s visible light coverage. (Credit: Image (c) 2019 Wang et al.)
The universe is 13.8 billion years old, but scientists have trouble seeing back to its earliest days. This cosmic dawn has been obscured by time, distance, and the rest of the universe. Part of the problem is that light gets stretched as it travels across the cosmos. The longer the journey, the more stretched out its wavelengths become.
So our e ...read more
A computer model of Earth's magnetic field. (Credit: U.S. Department of Energy)
North, I was once surprised to learn, is not always north. There’s geographic north, “up” on maps toward the North Pole, and then there’s magnetic north, which is where compass needles point. Right now the two kind of line up, but that isn’t always the case. Earth’s magnetic field — which guides compasses, animals and auroras — likes to wander, and it’s reverse ...read more
Photo by NASA/JPL-CalTech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin Gill
Looking a bit like earthly thunderheads, a white band of high-altitude clouds emerge above the colorful, swirling patterns of Jupiter in a photo taken last summer by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet, has no Earth-like surface. Instead of an outer crust, the gas giant consists mainly of hydrogen and helium that condenses into liquid the deeper you go, all wrapped in an atmosphere of clouds made up of ...read more
