Jan 07 Photo essay: The bizarre, brilliant and useful inventions of Cuban DIY engineers By Travis Daub, Jenny Marder Long walled off from world trade and modern technology, Cuba has developed a robust culture of DIY engineers who turn household items into useful inventions. Water pump motors propel bicycles, clothes dryers are repurposed into coconut shredders. Cuban artist Ernesto… Continue reading
Jan 07 You can read a star's age by its spin By Justin Scuiletti It turns out, like us, stars slow down in their old age. That observation is the key to a new method astronomers are using to accurately tell the age of cool stars — stars that match the size of, or… Continue reading
Jan 06 Hubble's new high-definition pic shows Pillars of Creation fading away and stars being born By Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy In 1995, the Hubble Telescope snapped a stunning photo in the Eagle Nebula, 6,500 light years from Earth. The photo revealed three gigantic columns of cold gas, illuminated by the ultraviolet light from nearby young stars. The Pillars of Creation… Continue reading
Jan 06 WATCH: This machine turns human waste into water By Ruth Tam The Janicki Omniprocessor converts sewer sludge into water, electricity and fertilizer. Continue reading
Jan 06 SpaceX delays rocket launch until Friday By News Desk Private spaceflight agency SpaceX scrubbed its launch early Tuesday morning of a rocket intended to supply the International Space Station, because of a technical glitch with the booster’s upper-stage motor, NASA reported. Continue reading
Jan 05 Can protection from aging be found in a whale genome? By Justin Scuiletti The secret to giving humanity a longer life and protection from age-related illnesses could be hidden within the genome of the longest living mammal. Continue reading
Jan 05 Why ground squirrels turn into ninjas over nothing By Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy In a standoff with a rattlesnake, the California ground squirrel stares down its opponent. It might kick sand at the snake, whipping its fuzzy tail back and forth in a “come and get me” taunt. The snake lounges and the… Continue reading
Jan 02 Watch 4:11 Luck, not lifestyle, may be to blame for more cancers than previously thought By PBS News Hour Continue watching
Dec 31 Why are snowy owls moving so far from their Arctic home? And where can I spot one? By Lorna Baldwin Why are so many snowy owls popping up thousands of miles from their Arctic stomping grounds? Bird experts say the most likely reason is an abundance of rodents (lemmings are their prey of choice) in northern Quebec last year, and… Continue reading
Dec 31 Ebola outbreak started with bat-filled hollow tree, study finds By Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy A group of researchers from the Robert Koch Institute in Germany found that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa likely began when a young boy played too close to an infected group of bats. Their findings were published Tuesday in… Continue reading