Thanks.
Taking today to say what I’m thankful for.
(Hint: It’s you)
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Human cloning has been a hot topic since the first mammal, Dolly the sheep, was cloned in 1996. And while no human clones have been made – that we know of – the research into cloning is saving lives through stem cell therapy.
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Japan’s JAXA is making headlines with a string of victories involving the smallest orbital rockets in the world, and asteroid landings and sample return missions. Let’s talk about what these guys are doing.
It’s not that uncommon to find glowing animals in nature, this is called bioluminescence. But can people do this as well? Turns out… Sort of.
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Do you make your own decisions? Science says maybe not. Not really, anyway.
Starting in the 1950s, neuroscientists turned to split brain surgery in an effort to cure epileptics with uncontrollable seizures. Split brain surgery cut the corpus callosum, a band of nerves that connects the two hemispheres of the brain.
By doing so, they discovered some amazing side effects that basically suggest that there are subconscious modules in your brain that make decisions without your conscious awareness, and an interpreter module in your brain that translates those decisions to your conscious brain.
These tests, performed by Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga, have brought up endless questions about how we make our decisions, who’s actually in charge in our brain, and whether we have actual free will.
There was a time when traveling circuses and freak shows were the preeminent form of entertainment of the day. Some people made a great living as human oddities, showing off their natural (and unnatural) bodies. Here are 10 of the most famous.
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If we’re ever going to reach other star systems, we need a new type of revolutionary propulsion system. NASA’s Eagleworks Lab is exploring the fringes of physics to find exactly that.
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With rising global temperatures and a rising population, the way we produce and consume food is going to have to undergo a fundamental change around the world. Here are some of the technologies and innovations that could find their way to our dinner plates in the future.
The United States faced a crisis in the Great Depression, not just of economic issues, but ecological as well. The Dust Bowl turned some of the most fertile land in the country into a desert due to overproduction of crops.
Today we face similar, even more intractable issues with population rise and climate change, and our current methods of production and consumption are going to have to change for things to be sustainable in the future. So here are some of the most promising techniques and technologies that could make their way to our dinner plates in the future.
Edible insects are a thing in many cultures around the world, and due to their high protein content and feed consumption ratio, we may find ourselves following suit.
Companies like Impossible and Beyond Foods have created meat from plants, with blood and everything. The science behind it is remarkable and could transform how we eat.
Nebraska is not known for growing warm-weather foods like oranges and citrus, but Russ Finch has created simple and effective geothermal greenhouses that make it possible for people to grow their own food in extreme environments.
As we approach 9 billion people on Earth, the need for leafy greens will go up, and we don’t have much more space to plant them. Luckily plantscrapers and vertical farms make it possible for a lot of food to be grown in a small space.
And a potential replacement to the plastic bottle could be found in water balls, made of digestible and biodegradable seaweed extract.
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We’ve put a lot of things in space over the last 60 years. It’s time we got some of that down.
To celebrate hitting the 20 million view milestone, I asked viewers to vote on their favorite questions and I picked the 20 most-upvoted questions and answering them here. Enjoy!