Far side of the Moon

This week China not only landed on the dark side of the moon, but they also started growing plants there. Not in the lunar soil….yet. But they did wait to water the seeds until the craft touched down on the far side of the moon, and have now begun to …

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Shrinking to the Nanoscale

Discover how a team of MIT researchers have taken cues from “Honey I shrunk the Kids” and made it real. Shrinking to Nano 3D printing in the nanoscale has been a challenge for researchers around the world. While we have a desire to fabricate parts smaller and smaller, our abilities …

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Bringing Star Trek to Earth: Ion Thrusters and Airplanes

MIT ion thrusters featured

‘Anti-gravity’ ion thrusters can power a tiny plane. When we think of getting on an airplane we think of the constant hum of the engines running. Even other vehicles that fly, such as drones, or helicopters, rely on the whirl of a motor and the drip of fuel. This is …

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Bionic Mushroom Power

bionic mushroom featured

Mario’s mushroom power. Super Mario Brothers is a long-loved game where magical mushrooms can give Mario or Luigi extra powers. While these mushrooms won’t give you extra powers, they might be able to give your house a little extra power. We can thank our mushroom power to a few things: the mushroom, some tiny …

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Dinosaur eggs in your backyard

Dinosaur eggs in your backyard - howpigments tell a story of evolution featured

THE DESCENDANTS OF DINOSAURS LIVE ON. We have known for a long time that thousands upon thousands of dinosaurs still roam the Earth: birds. While we can look at the pterodactyl and other avian dinosaurs and see the direct resemblance of this prehistoric period flying in our skies, there is another …

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Plastic in your Poop

microplastics on a beach featured

Microplastics are making their way through you. A recent discovery presented at the United European Gastroenterology conference this past week had some shocking findings – there is plastic in your poop. In fact, of 8 people studied, all 8 had microplastics found in their stool samples. You might want to …

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Ross Ice Shelf brings the Spooky to Halloween

Ross Ice Shelf - recent discovery that scientists can listen to the singing of the ross ice shelf surface to learn about near surface events like storms or melting

Spooky sounds Researchers recently stumbled upon a spooky soundtrack, courtesy of the largest ice shelf around, the Ross Ice shelf. Wind whipping around this ice shelf doesn’t make howling noises audible to the human ear. In fact, the wind isn’t what makes these spooky sounds. Instead, it is the wind …

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Heidi’s Hearing Plants

Dr. Heidi Appel – The scientist who listens to plants Did you know plants can ‘hear’ and react? That is the newest discovery about plants presented in Oecologia. Plants can send sense vibrations. Recent studies have shown that their roots can use certain vibrations to seek out water. And an …

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