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Artist’s impression based on a real atomic force microscopy (AFM) image showing conductive supramolecular fibers trapped between two gold electrodes spaced 100 nm apart. Each plastic fiber is composed of several short fibers and is capable of transporting electrical charges with the same efficiency as a metal.
Researchers from CNRS and the Université de Strasbourg, [...]
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Dr. Julie Palais (left), NSF-OPP Glaciology Program Manager, and Anais Orsi (right) inside a back-lit snow pit at WAIS Divide
Because of global warming, ice sheets in Antarctica are melting and ancient creatures, which have been trapped there for hundreds of thousands of years, are being released into the world.
A well-worn premise for a sci-fi movie? [...]
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Signs of the impact on the regional ecosystem are ominous: mutated shrimp, fish with oozing sores, underdeveloped blue crabs lacking claws, eyeless crabs and shrimp – and scientists and fishermen point fingers towards BP’s oil as being the cause.
Two years after BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, fishermen are finding deformed [...]
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In an article in today’s New York Times, “A sharp rise in retractions prompts calls for reform,” Carl Zimmer documents and analyzes the sharp increase in the proportion of papers retracted in the scientific literature. From 2000-2009 the trend is disturbing (pictured above).
The article notes:
In October 2011, for example, the journal Nature reported that published [...]
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From senior executives identifying the profit motive as an obstacle to sustainability to corporations questioning the very nature of capitalism as we know it, the plus side of the recent financial crisis and ongoing slow recovery has been that tough questions are finally being asked about how our economy functions and whose interests it serves.
On [...]
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Wind can create both power and water?
Throughout the developing world, millions of people struggle with a shortage of clean water and steady electricity. This wind turbine could solve both problems in one shot by pulling both power and water straight from the wind.
The WMS1000 Wind Turbine was invented by Marc Parent and is built by [...]
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Is this the shape of the future?
If you happen to be curious about what the future home of your grandchildren might look like, take a glance at Remistudio’s concept hotel called The Ark. Russian architect, Alexander Remizov, is the mastermind behind the project, he believes that his floating “slinky,” which can hold up to 10,000 [...]
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Population density map with more than 5 people per square mile.
Derek Watkins created a fun interactive map showing population density across the world. You can use a sliding bar to change the display. The above screenshot shows the parts of the world with more than five people per square mile. Slide the bar up [...]
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Grand Challenges create a new vision of the future.
Tom Kalil of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy gave a presentation today about Grand Challenges, such as the ones proposed by futurist Thomas Frey HERE. Kalil called them “ambitious yet achievable goals that capture the public’s imagination and that require innovation and breakthroughs [...]
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Heavy metal bands around the world.
Some maps are beautiful because of their rich complexity. Others capture our attention because they are so starkly simple. This map reflects the number of heavy metal bands per 100,000 inhabitants for each country in the world.
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Treating and caring for people with dementia currently costs the world more than US$ 604 billion per year.
Nearly 35.6 million people live with dementia worldwide. By 2030 this number is expected to double (65.7 million) and more than triple by 2050 (115.4 million). Dementia affects people in all countries, with more than [...]
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Gas prices are a supreme motivator.
Drivers tend to convert to the fuel-efficiency religion once they get severely wounded in the wallet. It’s a sad fact that environmental concerns alone are often not enough… Of course, the best ways to save on gas costs are to walk, bike, and take transit (for an example of a [...]
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In a controversial study released 40 years ago, recent research supports the conclusions of that study: The world is on track for disaster. So says Australian physicist Graham Turner, who revisited perhaps the most groundbreaking academic work of the 1970s,The Limits to Growth.
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The upcoming Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, which will be attended by many latinamerican heads of state as well as Barack Obama, is set to be an historic debate over the legalization of drugs and the end of the war on drugs. Jamie Doward writes in the Guardian…
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Imidacloprid is in a lot of commonly used products.
The likely culprit in sharp worldwide declines in honeybee colonies since 2006 is imidacloprid, one of the most widely used pesticides, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)…
