Why menthol makes it harder to quit.
New Scientist reveals how menthol – something originally added to cigarettes to soothe smokers’ throats – actually makes cigarettes more ‘cigarette-y’… Read the rest “Why menthol makes it harder to quit.”
Month: December 2014
Electric eels are puppet masters
New Scientist pulls back the curtain on how electric eels “remote control” their prey, freezing them right next to their hungry mouths:
… Read the rest “Electric eels are puppet masters”The experiments that untangled these
Graffiti older than Neanderthals
Nature looks over some triangles – not unlike capital letter As – etched into a shell on Java and determines they were carved by Homo erectus, 500,000 years ago:
… Read the rest “Graffiti older than Neanderthals”By 40,000 years
Considering Orion.
Scientific American takes a moment, after all the hubbub last week, to think over what the success of the Orion launch means for NASA and the future of human spaceflight:
… Read the rest “Considering Orion.”“We haven’t had this
Dancing to the beat makes fiddler crab sexual… failures.
New Scientist turns our human expectations upside down once in the world of fiddler crabs. They seem musical (thus the name, after all), and they use that rhythm to win mates. But on closer… Read the rest “Dancing to the beat makes fiddler crab sexual… failures.”
Science Art: Age of Oceanic Crust, NOAA, modified by Rapture2018.
This is how the the gooey inside becomes the crusty outside… oozing up from rifts.
New materials are really cool. Like, make-your-own-unplugged-AC cool.
The Economist is following Stanford researchers who are (literally) making some really cool stuff:
… Read the rest “New materials are really cool. Like, make-your-own-unplugged-AC cool.”Fully 15% of the electricity used by buildings in the United States is devoted to [air
Bullet-proof fabric and cheap hydrogen fuel… and it comes from carbon.
Nature celebrates more wonders – potential ones, from flexible armor to affordable fuel cells – that we can make from graphene:
… Read the rest “Bullet-proof fabric and cheap hydrogen fuel… and it comes from carbon.”Protons’ ability to travel through graphene
Worried? Forgetful? Is there mold in your walls?
Science News breaks some scary news to the fungus-phobic and those of us living in old buildings or moist climates. Researchers at CUNY have discovered exactly *how* household mold is bad… Read the rest “Worried? Forgetful? Is there mold in your walls?”
Talk to a friend in space. Or friends of a friend in space.
Business Insider, among other sources, has a neat piece on an even neater app that lets you talk to someone on the ISS:
… Read the rest “Talk to a friend in space. Or friends of a friend in space.”talian astronaut Samantha Cristoferetti is currently aboard the International