Tag Archives: science

How sustainable are bioplastics? – Physics World

At face value, taxing consumption of materials derived from petrochemicals and subsidizing production of bioplastics both sound like they’d encourage sustainable consumption. But applying these policies to meet a hypothetical 5% target for bioplastics use reveals a different story, according … Continue reading →

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USDA Study Shows Significant Greenhouse Gas Benefits of Ethanol Compared with Gasoline – ScienceBlog.com

A new study released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finds greenhouse gas emissions from corn-based ethanol are about 39 percent lower than gasoline. The study also states that when ethanol is refined at natural gas-powered refineries, the greenhouse gas … Continue reading →

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Endocannibals of Yanomami tribe

Yanomami is an endocannibalistic tribe living in the rainforests of Brazil and Venezuela – they eat the flesh of their dead relative to preserve the tribe’s unity. Not being eaten after your death means that your soul will be trapped … Continue reading →

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Fossil Site Reveals Day That Meteor Hit Earth and, Maybe, Wiped Out Dinosaurs

Sixty-six million years ago, a giant meteor slammed into Earth off the coast of modern-day Mexico. Firestorms incinerated the landscape for miles around. Even creatures thousands of miles away were doomed on that fateful day, if not by fire and brimstone, then by … Continue reading →

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Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong

What really causes addiction — to everything from cocaine to smart-phones? And how can we overcome it? Johann Hari has seen our current methods fail firsthand, as he has watched loved ones struggle to manage their addictions. He started to … Continue reading →

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Genomes Throw New Light On Origins of Modern Humans

Researchers from the University of Huddersfield, with colleagues from the University of Cambridge and the University of Minho in Braga, have been using a genetic approach to tackle one of the most intractable questions of all — how and when we … Continue reading →

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Astronomers Have Found One of The Universe’s Oldest Star Clusters in Our Own Galaxy

After decades of research, an analysis of light has finally identified the age of an ancient star cluster in the Milky Way. It’s called HP 1, and it’s roughly 12.8 billion years old. That makes it one of the oldest … Continue reading →

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The Equinox Isn’t What You Think It Is

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The science of static electricity – TED Ed – The Kid Should See This

What is static electricity? Why do we get a tiny spark when we’ve walked across a carpet and touched a doorknob? Or have you ever pet a cat and then picked up something metal, like a spoon to stir up … Continue reading →

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Earth at 2° hotter will be horrific. Now here’s what 4° will look like. | David Wallace-Wells

This is what the world will be like if we do not act on climate change. – The best-case scenario of climate change is that world gets just 2°C hotter, which scientists call the “threshold of catastrophe”. – Why is … Continue reading →

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What Makes Music Special to Us? – Nautilus

We are all born with a predisposition for music, a predisposition that develops spontaneously and is refined by listening to music. Nearly everyone possesses the musical skills essential to experiencing and appreciating music. Think of “relative pitch,”recognising a melody separately … Continue reading →

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Can This Magic Bush Cure Cancer and Cast Spells?

If you’ve ever been on an African safari, chances are your ranger crafted a bush toothbrush for you at some point. Cutting a twig from a Magic guarri tree and fraying the ends into bristles is a common ranger’s ploy … Continue reading →

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