Here is yet another jewel from one of the holiday issues of the British Medical Journal, sent to us by a reader (thanks, Ben!). It’s pretty straightforward, so instead of an introductory blurb, we’ll warm you up with this video of a “fart” caught on an infrared airport camera (it’s likely a prank, but still pretty fun):
http://youtu.be/T1FxI3aVBOs
Hot air?
“It all started with an enquiry from a nurse,” Dr Karl Kruszelnicki told listeners t ...read more
Satellite images centered on Houston taken on May 2, before Harvey, and Aug. 31, 2017, afterward. (Source: NASA Worldview)
As Harvey has lumbered to the northeast, the clouds have dissipated, finally giving satellites a clear view of what the 1,000-year flooding event in southeast Texas looks like.
The animation above tells the tale.
Image source: NASA Worldview
I created it using images acquired by NASA’s Terra satellite, the first on May 2nd, long before Harvey stormed asho ...read more
(Credit: Essento)
A Swiss supermarket is doing its part to get Westerners hooked on the eco-friendly superfood of the future: bugs.
Coop is one of Switzerland’s largest food retailers with over 2,200 outlets throughout the country, and it operates as a co-op with some 2.5 million members. Recently, Coop started stocking bug burgers and bug balls (like falafel) that are made by fellow Swiss company Essento. And according to Essento, the burgers and balls, made with ground mealworm and othe ...read more
Researchers on their way into the field. (Credit: Gail Ashton)
A perennial problem for climate science is that much of it lies in the realm of abstraction. Various models and forecasts compete for relevance, based on arcane statistical formulations that appear as so much gibberish to science reporters and readers alike.
Well, rest easy, weary travelers — here’s a climate study that leaves the ponderous math behind in favor of a real-world simulation of warming A ...read more
Yes, Frog and Toad Are Friends, but they aren’t moral authorities for your children. That’s the finding of a new, fun-spoiling study on little kids and picture books. It found that kids learned a lesson about sharing from a book with human characters—but not from a book about a cute raccoon.
Many children’s books, of course, feature animals that act like people. And anthropomorphized animals have been imparting moral lessons since the time of Aes ...read more