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What Is the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics?
(via Royal Institution) Why is there a zeroth law of thermodynamics? What use is such a simple-sounding law? And how can it be used to smash glass? Chemical engineer Valeska Ting explains in the first film from our 2016 advent calendar, all about thermodynamics.
Can Bird Poop Make Clouds?
(via Gross Science) Bird poop could help clouds form, keeping our planet a little bit cooler.
What Cellphone Smudges Could Reveal About Your Lifestyle
Smudges on your cellphone could form a kind of "chemical signature" that can reveal gender, diet, medications and even places you've visited, a new study suggests.
The Birds That Vomit to Defend Themselves
(via Gross Science) If you're attacked you could run away, fight back...or you could barf.
Is a Scientific Career Predictable?
(via Nature) Research on creativity has shown that people tend to produce their most important works when they are young. This is true for scientists too. But a new study finds that this is simply because scientists are more productive in their early years. When the study's authors discounted ...
Inbreeding Isn't Always Bad
(via Gross Science) Inbreeding...It's hugely taboo for us, but lots of organisms do it.
Video Shows Bacteria Evolve Resistance to Antibiotics
(via Harvard Medical School) In a creative stroke inspired by Hollywood wizardry, scientists have designed a simple way to observe how bacteria move as they become impervious to drugs. The experiments are thought to provide the first large-scale glimpse of the maneuvers of bacteria as they...
A New Origin Story for Dogs
(via The Atlantic) How and when did wild wolves turn into domestic pets? Science tells us that humans were behind the domestication of what is now man’s best friend—but the timeline of the transformation has always been mysterious. In this video, Atlantic science writer Ed Yong explains the...
Is There a Fifth Fundamental Force?
(via PBS Space Time) A laboratory in Hungary has has witnessed a startlingly strange reaction between Beryllium-8 atoms. It seems to point to the existence of a fundamental force beyond the four we already know. And this new force may have something to do with dark matter.
The EpiPen Shows What's Wrong with U.S. Healthcare
(via Healthcare Triage) Three times in the last two weeks, people — a patient, a colleague and my wife — told me stories about how out of control the price of EpiPens were. Monday, my New York Times colleagues recounted in detail how expensive the devices have become in recent years. All...
The Simple Solution to Traffic
(via CGP Grey) The way we can make traffic disappear.
Politicians' Favorite Logical Fallacies
(via PBS IDEA Channel) In the US it’s presidential election season. There are lots of people expounding upon about all kinds of high stakes topics: what’s best for you, the country, what’s gonna keep everyone safe, and successful. Candidates, pundits, your pals: making points, making...
Why the Human Body Isn't Ready to Go to Mars...Yet
Technologically we may be close to sending astronauts to Mars, but is the human body ready for it? Dr. Camille Alleyne from the International Space Station Program describes how the six to eight month trip to Mars could cause vision impairment, muscle atrophy, and bone density loss, and she...
NASA: Lasers Could Help Us Get to Mars in 3 Days
NASA scientist Philip Lubin and his team are working on a system that would use Earth-based lasers to allow space travel to far-away places in just a fraction of the time needed with current technology.
Is the "5 Second Rule" Legit?
Sometimes, life presents us with unbearable dilemmas—like when you drop your last cookie on the kitchen floor. Do you quickly pick it up and eat it? Does eating a cookie off the floor make you a savage? When you drop a piece of food on the ground, how much time do you really have before it...
How Vaccines Work
(via TEDEd) The first ever vaccine was created when Edward Jenner, an English physician and scientist, successfully injected small amounts of a cowpox virus into a young boy to protect him from the related (and deadly) smallpox virus. But how does this seemingly counterintuitive process...
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