The idea that huge herds of cows produce enough methane from various bodily functions to effect the earths climate has been floating around for awhile now.  Although one common misconception is that most of this methane comes from, well… cow farts.  In actuality most of the methane is burped up during digestion.  Cellulose in the grasses the cows eat are digested by [...]

The good folks over at SETI are asking for people to write their congressmen and women and urge them to support two potential funding bills (Senate Bill S. 2862 & House Resolution H.R. 3737).  If these two funding bills are not passed the Arecibo will not have the resources it need to continue operations.
Besides gathering vast amounts of data for [...]

Recently you may have heard a lot about Al Gore, global warming (or climate change), and the energy crisis. But what are we supposed to make of all this? New evidence presented to the Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change may shed new light on this problem. The History channel recently aired a special on just [...]

A week or so ago we covered a story about a series of illnesses apparently caused by a meteor impact. A follow up report by how stuff works sheds some light on what really happened.
It turns out that it was not some alien space flu that was released on impact, nor was it radiation. [...]

New research indicates that too much sleep may be just as harmful as too little.

With seven hours seen as the optimal amount of sleep for the average adult, the study subjects who cut the duration of their sleep from seven hours to five hours a night had a 1.7-fold increased risk of death from all [...]

This very cool bit of NASA news popped up recently. NASA is apparently accepting astronaut applications! As expected a proper background is required, but it is not as stringent as one might think. A bachelors degree in engineering, science or math is required. Plus three years of experience of relevant professional experience. [...]

Humans have always been driven by our need to explore and discover. Through out history that drive has often landed the human race in hot water with each other and with our environment. I’m sure most of us at one point or another have looked up at the night sky and wondered who [...]

In this recent article, the presence of flame-retardant chemicals, (or PBDE’s) have reached unprecedented levels in the US food supply. These chemicals can end up in the air, from which they encompass an alarming percentage of airborne particles… Who could have known that dust could kill you?
Don’t bite the dust…

Fusion is always bantered about as the ultimate solution to our power needs, as it is clean and produces huge amounts of energy. The problem is that until now the huge amount of energy that goes into start the process has actually been greater than the amount we can get the reaction to [...]

Imagine a world in which humans suddenly ceased to exist. What would happen to our cities, technology and infrastructure? How long would it be until the planet to start to take back spaces once claimed by humans? You might be surprised by the answers. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, [...]