Drive In movies are few and far between, but the summer blockbuster lives on. In this newsletter, check out our selection of summer citizen science projects paired with the films you’ll want to watch alongside them.Girls Night InFor the aptly named Eat Popcorn for Science project, you'll eat popcorn and watch a movie while contributing to important medical research (Credit: yousafbhutta via Pixabay)You can contribute to scientific research by inviting your friends, or science-curious pet, to w ...read more
Fatal attractions are a standard movie plot line, but they also occur in nature, with much more serious consequences. As a conservation biologist, I’ve seen them play out in some of Earth’s most remote locations, from the Gobi Desert to the Himalayan Highlands.In these locales, pastoralist communities graze camels, yaks and other livestock across wide ranges of land. The problem is that often these animals’ wild relatives live nearby, and huge, testosterone-driven wild males may try to mat ...read more
Only about 600 people have ever traveled to space. The vast majority of astronauts over the past six decades have been middle-aged men on short-duration missions of fewer than 20 days.Today, with private, commercial and multinational spaceflight providers and flyers entering the market, we are witnessing a new era of human spaceflight. Missions have ranged from minutes, hours and days to months.As humanity looks ahead to returning to the Moon over the coming decade, space exploration missions wi ...read more
A paralyzed Superman rose from a wheelchair and walked, during a 2000 Super Bowl commercial. The advertisement drew criticism, because, to some, it promised false hope. The ad’s star, Christopher Reeve — famous for playing the caped superhero in a series of movies — was rendered quadriplegic in a 1995 horse-riding accident. The actor turned activist pushed for more research funding in general, and an end to a ban on embryonic stem cell research in particular.Reeve, who died in 2004, would ...read more
Imagine an ancient mammal that looks like a blend of a pig and an anteater but is more closely related to horses and rhinos. This is the tapir, a fascinating creator that has roamed Earth for tens of millions of years. With their strange prehensile snouts, sturdy bodies, and curious behaviors, tapirs have long intrigued scientists and nature enthusiasts alike. Here, we’ll explore what makes tapirs so unique, their habitats, their diets, and the critical conservation efforts needed to protect t ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine