Shinrin-yoku The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. — John Muir Many of us inherently sense the benefits of the woods. A few of our patron thinkers – Thoreau and Muir, amongst others – tied their lives to the notion that humans should not be separated from the wilderness. For …
Petrichor Today’s topic sits at the center of the Venn diagram comprised of “fascinating science,” “fun vocabulary,” and “fantastic aromas.” This trio might rest near the top of the rankings for possible The Mountains Are Calling Venn diagrams. Some scents occupy unique positions in our experiences and memories. We all have things we enjoy smelling, but most …
They Can Talk When we think of animals and speech, the paragon is the bird. Our avian friends are the only other creature on the planet that can produce human speech. Though they cannot currently ape human vocalizations, gorillas and chimpanzees can employ sign language. Despite the fact that we can intuit how many species feel …
Necrobotic Grippers Perhaps no other topic to date better fits the dual classification of “science” and “horror” better than today’s case. If you’re like us, you’ve never before encountered the term “necrobotic.” You’re not behind the curve; this phrase is a neologism. The prefix “necro” is from the Latin for “death, corpse, or dead tissue.” …
Chronostasis To the younger readers out there, the following statement may shock you: in the Dark Ages, clocks were not on phones and their faces contained things other than numbers. Timepieces were, bizarrely, not digital at all. For the vast majority of the existence of clocks, they were mechanical creations of analog wonder. Clocks …
Sand Batteries Renewable energies – mainly solar and wind – are the future. They undoubtedly make sense, too. Not only will they arrive on an unlimited time scale, but they are safe to harness and free, beyond the initial infrastructure and sporadic upkeep. With current technology and usage, a solar panel the size of Nevada …
The Apple II Houses in Doom Town [This article contains very minor spoilers from Season 4, Part I, of Stranger Things. If you haven’t watched it yet and want a completely spoiler-free viewing experience, put this issue aside and come back later. If you’ve already watched the show, read on. If you don’t care about that program, …
The Shape of Sound The air on our planet is (mostly) transparent. Sound is a mechanical phenomenon. A sound is caused by the pressure changing in a medium, as particles of the medium bump into other particles of the medium. Here on Earth, since that medium is air, it’s kind of hard to see a sound wave. Barring …
How Long Can You Hold Your Breath? Give it a shot. We’ll wait. According to the National Library of Medicine, the average human can hold their breath for 30 to 90 seconds. In the realm of survival skills, the ubiquitous maxim is the Rule of Threes. One can survive three weeks without food, three days …
Miracle Fruit In 1725, French explorer, cartographer, navigator, and slave-ship captain, Chevalier des Marchais noticed something incredible as he journeyed through West Africa. In addition to charting the continent, des Marchais also took a keen interest in the native flora of the region. He noticed the Indigenous people rummaging through forest undergrowth for a particular …