China’s battery repurposing business is great for the environment
The quirky thing about lithium-ion batteries is that they remain useful long after the device they power is retired. Letting them go to waste is, well, wasteful, and only spurs more lithium mining, which is terrible for the environment. That’s why repurposing—putting old batteries to use in new Read More...
High-intensity exercise dramatically improves the heart health of mid-lifers
Attention middle-aged people: even if you haven’t been an avid exerciser throughout your life, getting in shape now can help you restore your aging heart. According to new research, doing higher-intensity exercise regularly can make your heart notably less stiff and help it to process oxygen more Read More...
The simple trick to becoming a genius
If you were to form a surface-level impression of Leonardo da Vinci, it would be hard to come to any other conclusion other than that he was a genius. Plain and simple. And that conclusion would indeed be right. But was he born a genius? Not necessarily. The key to Leonardo da Vinci’s genius was Read More...
Urban heat: can white roofs help cool world’s warming cities?
It has long been known that installing white roofs helps reduce heat buildup in cities. But new research indicates that making surfaces more light-reflecting can have a significant impact on lowering extreme temperatures – not just in cities, but in rural areas as Read More...
What’s a proton battery? Three things you need to know.
Most of your everyday electronics run off of lithium batteries — you know, the ones that you can never seem to find in your drawer when the remote is dead? Yet the days of the double-A may be ending. Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia have created a prototype of an alternative Read More...
Politeness can sometimes hurt more than it helps
Ryan — a brilliant, enthusiastic young scientist — spent a two-year layover in my neuroscience laboratory between his undergrad studies in Vancouver, B.C., and graduate school on the East Coast. On his last day in California, we sat over drinks, reflecting on his plans for the future. I offered Read More...
Why acting like a lion will help you win—and why no one should want to be a goat
When tourists travel halfway around the world to go on safari, what do they want to see? Which animal is at the top of their list? Usually, it’s the lion. When they show pictures of their trip to friends back home, the first question they hear is, “Did you see any Read More...
Protecting tigers could be beneficial for their prey
Protecting one of Asia's most formidable apex predators may not seem like the most obvious way to help another species that might be on its dinner menu, but that is precisely what Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is doing in Sumatra's Kerinci Seblat National Park, the second-largest national Read More...
MIT scientists aim to bring nuclear fusion energy to the grid within 15 years
The promise of harnessing safe, zero-carbon energy from nuclear fusion may soon become a reality thanks to a newly available superconducting material. The problem thus far with fusion energy is that it only produces net energy at temperatures too hot for any solid material to withstand. With this Read More...
Immunotherapy is becoming more powerful thanks to new cancer-killing hydrogel
Researchers have developed a new hydrogel that can be injected directly to the site of a tumor, where it stays to slowly release its payload of immunotherapy drugs for longer. By doing this, the immunotherapy drugs can gradually and precisely target cancer cells until the job is done. In studies so Read More...