Today’s batteries are better.
Ars Technica busts a long-running myth about batteries – that they’re always five years away from any real improvement – with a look at how better batteries are already… Read the rest “Today’s batteries are better.”
Articles by grant
Science Art: Circular Twilight Halo at Sunrise (Kreisförmiger Dämmerungsschein Bei Sonnenaufgang) by Eduard Moritz Pechuël-Loesche, 1884
A soft and beautiful drawing of distant, unimaginable destruction. Eduard Moritz Pechuël-Loesche was a naturalist in Hereroland (now Namibia) when he painted this watercolor in late… Read the rest “Science Art: Circular Twilight Halo at Sunrise (Kreisförmiger Dämmerungsschein Bei Sonnenaufgang) by Eduard Moritz Pechuël-Loesche, 1884”
The world’s oldest tattoo gear.
Science News looks at some sharpened bones found at a site in Tennessee. They seem to be 3,600-year-old Native American tattoo tools:
… Read the rest “The world’s oldest tattoo gear.”These pigment-stained bones are the world’s oldest
Wormholes in space and time could be engineered.
Scientific American reports on new findings about wormholes. Theoretically, these black hole-related phenomena make a great part of science fiction, giving people the ability to instantaneously… Read the rest “Wormholes in space and time could be engineered.”
SONG: Lawns are the Enemy
SONG: “Lawns are the Enemy”.
ARTIST: grant.
SOURCE: Scientific American, 9 Apr 21, “Brood X Cicadas Could Cause a Bird Baby Boom,” as used in the post “… Read the rest “SONG: Lawns are the Enemy”
Science Art: Alternator by Ganz & Co, 1905
This is a Wechselstrommaschine, an alternator. The wheel goes around, and the spokes hit contacts – one set makes the electricity go in one direction and the other goes in the opposite… Read the rest “Science Art: Alternator by Ganz & Co, 1905”
Wild bees do $1.5 billion-worth of pollinating for six crops alone.
Science News looks beyond the domesticated honeybee for unsung pollination heroes: the bumblebees, mason bees, carpenter bees and other native bees that do an enormous amount of crop … Read the rest “Wild bees do $1.5 billion-worth of pollinating for six crops alone.”
SONG: Science (a penitential cover)
SONG: “Science (a penitential cover)”
ARTIST: grant.
SOURCE: This has no scientific source data; it’s a penitential cover for being late for the April song. It was … Read the rest “SONG: Science (a penitential cover)”
Picture your hand writing a message, and this brain-implant computer will type it.
I’ll just copy the Science News headline here and say “Brain implants turn imagined handwriting into text on a screen“:
… Read the rest “Picture your hand writing a message, and this brain-implant computer will type it.”A 65-year-old man had two grids of tiny electrodes
Science Art: Schematic illustration of skeleton of Glyptotherium arizonae (modified for Glyptotherium after Burrmeister and Hoffstetter), 1981.
The giant armadillo of Pleistocene-era Arizona, from David D. Gillette’s Smithsonian publication, Glyptodonts of North America, found on archive.org.
Based on their teeth and… Read the rest “Science Art: Schematic illustration of skeleton of Glyptotherium arizonae (modified for Glyptotherium after Burrmeister and Hoffstetter), 1981.”
Really old poop yields really new microbes – and new medical treatments.
Omaha digs deep for a story on how millennia-old feces has reintroduced us to some long-lost germs in the human gut biome – that might be able to help heal modern humans:
… Read the rest “Really old poop yields really new microbes – and new medical treatments.”Previous research
The US is building a big wind farm.
Bloomberg reports on a Biden-administration initiative to build a massive, $2.8 billion windmill installation off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard:
… Read the rest “The US is building a big wind farm.”“The whole industry has been
Science Art: Acrosome Reaction Diagram
Happy Mother’s Day!
Wikimedia Commons user LadyofHats made this image of motherhood. And fatherhood, I suppose. Technically, this fertilization is happening in a sea urchin, … Read the rest “Science Art: Acrosome Reaction Diagram”
Bees trained to detect COVID can speed up testing.
Reuters has a sweet story on honeybees that have been trained by Wim van der Poel at Wageningen University to expect a treat every time they smell a COVID-infected sample – so within… Read the rest “Bees trained to detect COVID can speed up testing.”
On the memory of trees.
Scientific American looks at the work of ecologist Suzanne Simard, and her efforts to preserve “mother trees,” which have intelligence, memories, and even look out for their… Read the rest “On the memory of trees.”