Science

Why next year will be Super Pi Day.

[VIDEO] Now this is the right way to use a drone.

Yasur volcano on Tanna island, Vanuatu. Amazingly no phantoms were harmed while filming!

FYI, the Republic of Vanuatu is about 1,000 miles (1750 km) east of Australia. Here’s the wiki page for Tanna Island.

It’s a race against time, and the Tomnod web site is pulling together a crowdsourcing effort to help comb through high resolution satellite imagery to find clues to the location of Malaysia Flight 370.

China has a real problem on its hands. On a bad day in Beijing, visibility can be measured in tens of yards.

China declared a “war on pollution” this week, and is now fortifying its arsenal with a new weapon: smog-clearing drones. The drones work by shooting chemicals into the air, freezing pollutants and making them fall to the ground, according to state media. The unmanned vehicles currently carry about 176 pounds of haze-scrubbing chemicals, while future versions will hold more than 1,500 pounds.

Will this work?

This is real. If you’ve got kids, there’s a chance they might learn a completely different way of doing math than the way you were taught. Love it or hate it, there’s no question this is an interesting and logical way to solve a subtraction problem.

I don’t tend to run into this problem a lot, but if you’ve ever wondered how to tell the difference between a real diamond and a chunk of cubic zirconium, give this a read.

For those who are subjugated to this madness, don’t forget to move your clocks ahead one hour (from 2a to 3a, for example) tonight.

You can read about daylight saving time here.

Kayla Montgomery, 18, was found to have multiple sclerosis three years ago. Defying most logic, she has gone on to become one of the fastest young distance runners in the country — one who cannot stay on her feet after crossing the finish line.

Her M.S. is blocking signals that cause pain in other runners, allows her to push through, extend her tolerances.

I remember exactly where I was when both Challenger and Columbia disasters unfolded. Like it was yesterday. Still get chills when I think about it.

Read the linked article. Incredible story, well told. My heart is still racing.

Globally, cousin marriages are still going strong, with an estimated 10% of all marriages in the world being between cousins, and has high as 50% in some regions of the world.

I had no idea!

Kentucky gives kids an option, kids who might otherwise not have room on their schedule for a programming class.

Be forewarned, the pictures in the linked paper are not for the squeamish. But they are fascinating if you have any interest in the structure of the brain. I could not tear my eyes away from Figure 1, “Ventral surface of H.M.’s brain”.

I love the videos from CrazyRussianHacker. This is super easy. You’ll need 12 Q-tips, a hot glue gun, and some dish soap or bubble liquid. Got kids? They’ll love it!

Fresh water sources throughout the southwestern US are dwindling.

The Colorado basin states tried in the 1920s to stave off future fights over water by splitting it, 50-50, between the upper-basin states of Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming and the lower-basin states of Arizona, Nevada and California.

In fact, the deal underestimated how much water the fast-growing lower-basin states would need. During most of the wet 20th century, however, the river usually produced more than enough water to offset any shortage.

Now, the gap between need and supply is becoming untenable.

This is truly harrowing. Diana Hardeman lived a healthy lifestyle, took care of herself, ate right. And then she had a stroke.

This makes me want to go to Christmas Island (it’s northwest of Australia, south of Indonesia) between October and January to watch these critters do their thing. Bucket list.

Came across this yesterday. Sprite as a hangover cure? Sure.

But yet, there’s actual science behind this claim.

Tag the sharks with shore proximity sensors so the sharks tweet when they get too close to shore. Such a great idea.