Springtime Plants and Sheltering in Place
Springtime plants are proving their worth more than ever as most of the world continues to shelter in place from COVID-19.
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Photographer in Alaska: Grazing Grizzly Bears
By Max Goldberg, Contributing Photographer Grazing Grizzly Bears: This is the second installment of wildlife photographer Max Goldberg’s latest Alaskan Adventure. After spending a few days at Brooks Lodge, my father and I went back to Anchorage, Alaska, and took three flights to our next destination: the Natural Habitat Ursus. The Ursus is an old crab–fishing boat converted into a floating home–from–home, and our base for the next week. Every morning, we would eat breakfast, put on our waders, get into a skiff, and go to shore looking for bears. …
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Solar Energy that Doesn’t Block the View
A company is making completely see-through solar energy panels for our phones and tablets. Next, for our car and home windows. By Kate Stone A team of researchers at Michigan State University has developed a new type of solar concentrator that, when placed over a window, creates solar energy while still allowing people to see through the window. It is called a “transparent luminescent solar concentrator” and it can be used on buildings, cell phones, and anything else that has a clear surface. According to Richard Lunt of MSU’s College…
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How to Ask Your Boss for a Treadmill Desk
The adverse effects of sedentary office work have given adjustable desks, standing desks, and treadmill desks new attention, but treadmill desks are not everyone’s cup of tea. Now, the latest research from Brigham Young University reveals the impact that treadmill desks can have on job performance. So You Want a Treadmill Desk If you are interested in using a treadmill desk at the office, your greatest challenge may be convincing your boss that it will not have a negative impact on your job performance. Some employers worry that standing or…
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Jellyfish Do More than Drift
Jellyfish don’t just drift. They can detect ocean currents, navigate, and move. They are more advanced than you might think.
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Your Household Robot Is on the Way
A household robot to help with the daily chores is surely every busy person’s dream. But who would want a clumsy robot that’s always getting under your feet? That is the challenge being addressed by researchers at MIT. They have built a sophisticated robot and are teaching it to work together with people. In a recent article, we reported on the robots being put to work at the retail giant Amazon to serve our holiday shopping needs. But the future may very well have interactive and collaborative robots in our…
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Holograms You Can Touch and Feel
Holograms that you can touch are being developed by scientists at the University of Bristol. This video shows the first tangible holograms in action.
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Robots Fulfilling Your Amazon Orders
Robots are hard at work this holiday season in the warehouses and fulfillment centers of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). In time for the holiday shopping frenzy, the company unveiled its eighth generation fulfillment centers (where customer orders are processed) which now use a variety of gadgets including Kiva robots, vision systems, and a whole host of other software and mechanical innovations that would make Santa and his elves weep. Amazon is currently operating 10 of these new centers in the United States. Amazon gets a staggering number of orders throughout…
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How Humans, Birds, and Grasshoppers Breathe
This informative illustration of how three different animals breathe is the work of Eleanor Lutz, a designer with a degree in molecular biology. The animated infographic shows how humans breath in and out in sequence through the nose and mouth. Birds have multi-chambered lungs that can process incoming air and outgoing air simultaneously– a very efficient system for running and flying. Grasshoppers, on the other hand, essentially breath with their whole bodies. As Lutz explains, “I decided to illustrate how different animals breathe, and I picked three species that I…
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