Maybe you drink Four Loko and think you’re bad. But kids used to drink wine mixed with cocaine.
The strange history of cocaine and soft drinks, and how one of the most maligned drugs in the world became that way.
Black holes are a singularity from which nothing can escape, even light. A white hole is the opposite. A singularity that nothing can reach. In other words – a black hole reversed in time.
They’re theoretical and have never been seen, but according to the physics, they could exist.
Our culture and mythology is littered with unknown creatures and monsters, known as cryptids. While most are misidentified animals or tall tales, there are some that could actually exist. Here are 5 of them.
The Orang Pendek is a human-like primate thought to exist in Indonesia with a strangely human face – thought to possibly be a new species of orangutan.
The Nunda is a large cat species thought to live in Tanzania. It was blamed for a series of deaths in the 1920s.
The Dobhar-chú is a predatory otter-like sea creature from Ireland primarily around Sraheens Lough in County Mayo.
The Chupacabra is famous at this point for raiding livestock in the Southwest US and Mexico. Chupacabra means “Goat Sucker” in Spanish.
The Acurinis are thought to be an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon. What makes them different is they apparently have a very out of place European look to them. Their possible existence spawned many legends of a lost tribe.
Visible light is only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum, but some people see more of it than others. Let’s take a look at why.
Kaspar Hauser is an enigma that has puzzled historians for nearly 200 years. From his sudden appearance in Nuremberg in 1828, his origins – and untimely death – are shrouded in mystery.
Imagine if getting into space were as easy as a plane flight?
One of the most promising technologies is an engine called SABRE that would enable a plane to climb all the way into space.
And the space plane attached to that engine could be the Skylon Space Plane from Reaction Engines. But does it have the right stuff?
A surprising number of lottery winners say that winning the lottery was the worst thing that had ever happened to them. There are endless stories of heartbreak and tragedy among lottery winners. Is the lottery cursed?
How does non-conscious matter create consciousness? The “hard problem of consciousness” is a question that has plagued philosophers, psychologists, and neurosurgeons for centuries. A new theory suggests it’s all about vibrations and synchronicity. It’s called The General Resonance Theory of Consciousness.
We hear a lot about EV batteries, but not so much about the motors that give the cars such high performance. So today I’ll be talking about the 3-phase AC Induction motor, created by Nikola Tesla, and why it’s taking over the auto industry.
We’ve been talking about going to Mars since the end of the Apollo program. Now there’s a new wave of interest in traveling to the Red Planet – but the challenges that wait for those who take the trip are bigger than most think – and possibly unsurmountable.
The human body is adapted for living here on Earth and nowhere else in the universe. Just a few of the problems we’ll find going to Mars are:
The effects of weightlessness. Astronauts who have been on long-duration flights to the ISS have experienced vision problems, cardiovascular issues, bone loss, elevated CO2 levels, reduced cognition, and more.
All of these issues will be exacerbated on a Mars trip because the shortest trip to Mars would be far longer than the longest any human has ever been in space (Valeri Polyakov spent 14 months in space in 1995).
Radiation and cosmic rays will be an issue. Almost all of the time we’ve spent in space has been in low Earth orbit (LEO), which is under the Earth’s magnetic shield. The trip to Mars would expose the passengers to all the solar radiation and comic rays that our magnetic shield blocks, and studies have shown that the 24 Apollo astronauts that flew to the Moon showed a 5x greater incidence of cardiovascular disease later in life.
Immune system issues. Studies have shown that astronauts’ immune systems are reduced when weightless and bacteria become stronger at the same time. Outbreaks in the enclosed environment on Mars would be an issue.
The conditions of Mars. Mars only has 1% of the atmosphere of Earth and even that is carbon dioxide, which we can’t breathe. It also makes temperatures vary widely. Plus the soil is filled with perchlorate, which affects our endocrine system and can cause breathing problems.
