How Mushrooms Turn Agricultural Biowaste Into Packaging, Furniture And More Link: We already know that plastics are choking up our oceans and they are evenpoisoning our food, but are there any viable alternatives? From discarded eggshells to bananas, we’re not short of potential feedstocks for bioplastics. But one company is taking the idea a step further — instead ofcreating bioplastics from plants, it wants to replace plastics outright with a mushroom-based material that it grows.
Fukushima Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Starts Generating Link: A development to harness the power of the wind about 20 kilometers (12 miles) off the coast of Fukushima, site of the March 2011 nuclear disaster, began generating power on an operational basis today.
The Little Light That Helped One Man Raise Over $1.5 Million Link: Meet Luci—she’s a compact, waterproof, very cool-looking solar-powered lantern on a big mission to provide affordable and portable light to those who play or live “off the grid.” From recreational campers, to those in the aftermath of a natural disaster, to the Samburu tribe in a remote part of Africa, the makers of the Luci say, “Let there be light!” The CEO and co-founder of MPowerD Jacques-Philippe Piverger believes his little light will help change the world.
Science Trumps the Force to Create a Real-Life Lightsaber Link: Lukin says this new bond between photons could also have practical applications for contemporary chipmakers working to convert light into electric signals. Most mind-blowing of all, he also suggests the breakthrough could one day lead to technologies that allow for the creation of complex 3D structures, like crystals, made out of light. Dude, these Cambridge smarties didn’t just make “Star Wars” real, they’ve brought “TRON” to life at the same time!
Scientists Discover Children’s Cells Living in Mothers’ Brains Link: The link between a mother and child is profound, and new research suggests a physical connection even deeper than anyone thought.
Eerie “Apocalyptic Noises” Piercing the Air in British Columbia, Experts Blame Electromagnetic Radiation Link: A creepy noise haunting the Canadian sky has locals whispering about UFOs and the end of the world, but one scientist thinks he knows the source of the awful screeches, and it’s just as weird.
UK Scientists Secretly Create 155 Human-Animal Hybrids Link: Scientists in the UK have been accused of committing “emotional blackmail” by secretly creating human-animal hybrids in their labs while telling the public they’re doing so in order to “cure every illness known to mankind.”
Where Do House Cats Go All Day? GPS Maps Reveal Their Secret Lives Link: About a year ago, we reported on new KittyCam technology that uncovered just how much wildlife our house cats kill. Turns out they’re murderous little buggers.
DNA Study Clarifies Relationship Between Polar Bears And Brown Bears Link: Unusual population of brown bears on Alaskan islands turns out to have a remarkable and revealing history.
5 Examples Of How The Languages We Speak Can Affect The Way We Think Link: Economist Keith Chen starts today’s talk with an observation: to say, “This is my uncle,” in Chinese, you have no choice but to encode more information about said uncle. The language requires that you denote the side the uncle is on, whether he’s related by marriage or birth and, if it’s your father’s brother, whether he’s older or younger.
Has Dark Matter Finally Been Found? Big news in the search for dark matter may be coming in about two weeks, the leader of a space-based particle physics experiment said Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
New Whale Species Unearthed in California Highway Dig Chalk yet another fossil find up to roadcut science. Thanks to a highway-widening project in California’s Laguna Canyon, scientists have identified several new species of early toothed baleen whales.
U.S. Professor Finds Longest Prime Number With 17,425,170 Digits After running 1,000 computers non-stop for 39 days to uncover the world’s largest prime number yet, a Missouri college professor said this week he is starting all over to top his own record.
Help Scientists Name Pluto’s Moons The discoverers of Pluto’s fourth and fifth moons are letting Internet users have a say in what they should be named, by throwing the question open for a non-binding advisory vote.
Cupid’s Arrow: Research Illuminates Laws of Attraction We’ve heard the clichés: “It was love at first sight,” “It’s inner beauty that truly matters,” and “Opposites attract.”
15 Year Old Invents New Method of Diagnosing Cancer Jack is a fifteen year old freshman in high school.
Animal Magnetism: First Evidence That Magnetism Helps Salmon Find Home Salmon appear to seek the magnetic signature of their home river during their spawning migration.
Air Pollution Linked to Low Birth Weight Mothers who breathe the kind of pollution emitted by vehicles, coal power plants and factories are significantly likelier to give birth to underweight children than mothers living in less polluted areas, according to international findings published Wednesday.
