The axolotl (scientific name: Ambystoma mexicanum), also known as the walking fish, is a species in the class of amphibians that attracts people’s attention with many features – most notably their “smiling faces”. They are close relatives of the tiger salamander. Here are 10 amazing Axolotl facts:
Continue reading “10 Amazing Axolotl Facts”10 Kamchatka brown bear facts
The Kamchatka brown bear (scientific name: Ursus arctos beringianus) is a subspecies of brown bear. They are native to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, hence the name. They are also known as the “Far Eastern brown bear”. Here are 10 amazing Kamchatka brown bear facts.
Continue reading “10 Kamchatka brown bear facts”5 interesting interspecies friendships between animals
Sometimes, animals from different species become good friends. Here are 5 interesting interspecies friendships between animals.
Continue reading “5 interesting interspecies friendships between animals”Why do stars twinkle?
When you look up in the sky on a cloud-free night, you see many thousands of stars, if you are not in a light-polluted area, of course. One thing you’ll quickly notice is that the stars twinkle, while the planets do not.
Continue reading “Why do stars twinkle?”Orbits of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids
NASA has published a disturbing image of the orbits of potentially hazardous asteroids on the APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) website. The image shows the orbits of the asteroids which are more than 140 meters (450 feet) across and will pass within 7.5 million kilometers (4.66 million miles) of Earth. If hits, a space rock that big could wipe out the entire human race from the Earth.
Continue reading “Orbits of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids”We Need to Reduce the Risk of Waste in the Food Industry
2020 was not friendly to food sustainability. Restaurants struggled to meet conventional production rates during the pandemic. A decreased demand for food increased waste, generating sustainability challenges. In the Midwestern United States, potato farmers were forced to dump billions of pounds of potatoes in landfills when supply chain issues made it impossible to find a market for their produce.
Continue reading “We Need to Reduce the Risk of Waste in the Food Industry”Debunking the myths about Nuclear Energy (video)
Professor David Ruzic of the University of Illinois debunks the myths about nuclear energy in this live lecture he gave to high school seniors and college students, emphasizing the need for nuclear power and countering its common objections.
Prof. Ruzic’s other videos on his Youtube channel have much more detail on each topic and this lecture is meant as an overview.
Continue reading “Debunking the myths about Nuclear Energy (video)”Math is sexy. Here’s why
Mathematics = Intelligence = Sexy ∴ Math = Sexy
Mathematics has been an essential tool for human progress and development since the origins of humankind. It is truly amazing how math has become a fundamental piece behind almost everything we do in our daily lives, without most of us even noticing it. However, due to its extensiveness and complexity, many have wrongly labeled the general application of mathematical knowledge as a tedious or unattractive endeavor when it’s quite the opposite.
Continue reading “Math is sexy. Here’s why”Competition and Cooperation in Evolution
Despite the old adage “nice guys finish last”, cooperation is common in life – from the scale of genes or cells through to entire societies. Although these two ideas seem to contradict each other, Dr. Egbert Giles Leigh Jr. has demonstrated throughout his career at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama that working together has been the key to the success of multicellular life. Here, he explains his view of how competition and cooperation both played essential roles in bringing forth productive, diverse ecosystems.
Continue reading “Competition and Cooperation in Evolution”How can we cool things down environmentally friendly
The ability to keep food, medicines, vaccines, and our buildings cool underpins much of our modern way of life, but it is also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. If the world is to meet its development goals and climate change targets over the coming decades, we need to rethink how we keep things cold, says Professor Toby Peters, an expert in the cold economy at the University of Birmingham in the UK.
by Richard Gray
Continue reading “How can we cool things down environmentally friendly”