July 18, 2008 – What do you get when you mix a frizzy-haired, grandfatherly chemist with his younger, cackling, explosion-loving sidekick? The Periodic Table of Videos! More »
July 17, 2008 – Your desire to lie around the house isn't because you're a slacker: it's in your genes. New research from scientists at the University of North Carolina shows that there's finally a good reason why some people would rather read comic books and play video games all day than, say, go run a marathon. More »
July 16, 2008 – For a while there in 2004, the newly-discovered asteroid 99942 Apophis looked like it had Earth's number. Then scientists crunched some numbers, and the odds of a terrestrial bullseye dropped to 1 in 45,000, where they stand today. More »
July 15, 2008 – Known for spewing liquid rock, ash clouds, and noxious gases into the atmosphere, volcanoes seem unlikely candidates for solving Global Warming. But the rocks the fiery mountains leave behind may be exactly that, according to scientists at Columbia University. More »
July 14, 2008 – Whales have given us a reliable source of energy for centuries: oil for our lamps, wax for our candles, and of course margarine. All that's required to harvest these lovely fuels is wholesale slaughter of the harmless creatures, and that's starting to go out of fashion, mostly because the whales... More »
July 10, 2008 – There is an organism living on this planet who can travel through space without a suit. Cute, unassuming little invertebrates, these organisms are called tardigrades, or water bears, and usually spend their days crawling around on a piece of nice wet moss in a forest, or meandering through our... More »
July 9, 2008 – For his new project "Life in Space," artist Nasser Azam plans to paint aboard a "vomit comet"-style airplane ride while in zero-g 23,000 feet in the air.
July 8, 2008 – Using animals to grow human body parts has been done, but how about using a live sheep for dialysis? The idea comes from one design student Revital Cohen. More »
July 7, 2008 – Ever since the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to a dwarf planet (does it even deserve a capital "P"???) in 2006, astronomers around the world have been at odds to describe just what they mean when they say the word "planet." For the moment, the solar system is holding steady with... More »
July 3, 2008 – Imagine waking up one morning and being unable to speak. Your mind still churns away, trying to form words, but no sounds will come out. It's like the bleak ending of Harlan Ellison's I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream only, you know, real. More »
July 2, 2008 – Far from just a few hours of psychedelia, a trip on magic mushrooms could stay with you your whole life - in a good way, according to Roland Griffiths, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University. More »
July 1, 2008 – Donald Olson, an astrophysicist at Texas State University has a habit of taking well-known historical facts and turning them upsidown. Using the stars and Moon and a little bit of math, he's re-dated the original running of Marathon in 491-490 BC, precisely determined the spot in which Edvard Munch... More »
June 30, 2008 – One hundred years ago today, June 30th, 1908, a great explosion rained Hell over Siberia, flattening 830 square miles of forest. Easily big enough to destroy a city, the 30-meter diameter space rock missed Moscow by about 4 hours. More »
June 27, 2008 – One of the most terrifying, destructive forces in nature may help keep your lights on. Louis Michaud, a retired engineer living in Ontario, Canada thinks he's created a tornado-powered generator. More »
June 26, 2008 – For a small planet, Mars sure knows how to go big. It's about half as large as Earth, but it's got the hugest volcano in the solar system in the Arizona-sized Olympus Mons and the grandest of all canyons in the 7 kilometer-deep Vallis Marineris. More »
June 25, 2008 – When it comes to regneration, the salamander is nature's gold standard. Scientists have studied the animals for years trying to figure out how they regrow tails, legs, and even eyes, but despite a few baby steps, they've made little progress. More »
June 23, 2008 – One of the most well-respected climatologists in the world, James Hansen was pissed off about global warming way before it was cool to be 'green' — More »
June 20, 2008 – When it comes to comet impacts, the denizens of Earth may be living on borrowed time. Of course, comets are only about half the problem — there are plenty of asteroids whizzing around the inner solar system too — More »
