Spiral galaxies, like Messier 77 shown here, helped astronomers learn about the existence of dark matter. NASA, ESA & A. van der Hoeven, CC BY Dipangkar Dutta, Mississippi State University Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. […]
George Hodan – Public Domain If you’ve ever wanted your dinner to reenact The Borrowers live on your kitchen table, great news: there’s a mushroom for that. In Yunnan, China, a perfectly respectable wild fungus being sold in markets can cause full-blown “lilliputian hallucinations” if undercooked. What kind of hallucinations, you ask? Tiny. Dancing. People. […]
You know that maddening moment when you absolutely know the answer: your third-grade teacher’s name, the actor from that movie, the word that starts with… something… but your brain refuses to cough it up? Congratulations, you’ve entered the dreaded tip-of-the-tongue state, a universal mental glitch that somehow feels both hilarious and infuriating. This video digs […]
Have you ever slammed your keyboard during a deadline meltdown and thought, “Surely this raw chaotic energy could power something”? Well, good news: it can! Bad news: it’s roughly enough to warm a microscopic droplet of water or lift a squirrel the height of four sheets of paper. Truly, the future is now. This video […]
In this episode of “Vaccine Support,” the folks from WIRED sat down with pediatrician Dr. Paul Offit to answer the internet’s biggest questions about vaccines, and he delivers it all with the calm energy of a man who has explained this a lot… and still somehow kept his sense of humor. He covers how vaccines […]
Carbon capture and storage projects capture carbon dioxide emissions from industrial facilities and power plants and pipe them underground to geological formations. Nopphinan/iStock/Getty Images Plus Ramesh Agarwal, Washington University in St. Louis As AI data centers spring up across the country, their energy demand and resulting greenhouse gas emissions are raising concerns. With servers and […]
In a few billion years, the Milky Way and Andromeda, the nearest spiral galaxy, might collide. Future observers could be treated to fantastic views. NASA; ESA; Z. Levay and R. van der Marel, STScI; T. Hallas; and A. Mellinger Stephen DiKerby, Michigan State University Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If […]
Ever wondered what happens when a fluid is both a liquid AND a gas at the same time? Steve Mould just fired up one of the rarest devices on Earth to show off the bizarre world of supercritical CO₂, the same stuff used to decaffeinate coffee. Inside a transparent, pressure-proof chamber, CO2 shifts from solid […]