Valleys May Funnel Tornado Winds

 Posted on September 28, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  537 words  |  Patria Henriques

Fans of the TV series "Storm Chasers" may be disappointed — not all tornado scientists race after dangerous weather. Some are more like crime scene investigators, only showing up after the damage has been done. Such forensic experts can learn a lot from studying the aftermath of a fierce tornado, said Christopher Karstens, a meteorologist at Iowa State University in Ames. Karstens recently traveled to Alabama to survey the toll of a particularly deadly storm, gaining valuable insights into how cyclones behave when they're forced to churn through mountainous territory. [Read More]

What is Mechanical Engineering?

 Posted on September 28, 2022  |  6 minutes  |  1097 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Mechanical engineering is one of the oldest branches of engineering, dating back to when the first wheels were put to practical use by mounting them on an axle to make a cart. Throughout recorded history, people have been inventing and building increasingly more sophisticated devices and machines in order to improve the conditions of life. Many of the machines we encounter every day — cars, appliances, tools and climate control systems — were made possible by mechanical engineers. [Read More]

What's Crazy? Sexual Fetishes Spur Psychiatric Manual Controversy

 Posted on September 28, 2022  |  7 minutes  |  1356 words  |  Trudie Dory

Should a sexual fixation on shoes or a predilection for pain land you in the psychiatrist's bible of diagnoses? Plenty of kinksters say no, but psychiatrists say yes — for now.  The newest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, known as the DSM-5, is due out in May. The book sets the standard criteria for psychiatric diagnoses (not to mention health insurance reimbursement), making its pronouncements crucial to mental health treatment. [Read More]

Why Don't Any Animals Have Wheels?

 Posted on September 28, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  589 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

From the magnetic compasses of migratory geese and dolphin sonar to beaver dams and ant agriculture, most of the ingenious stuff we humans have invented arose millions of years earlier in nature, via the slow-but-steady process of evolution. Why not the wheel?   Animals flap, flutter, float, run, walk and hop. They swim, slide, skate, oscillate, glide and paddle. Occasionally, they'll even curl up into balls and tumble head over heels. [Read More]

Why Don't We Drink Milk from Animals Other Than Cows?

 Posted on September 28, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  530 words  |  Trudie Dory

Maybe the "camel-ccino" will be the drink that finally leads America to stray from the cow's udder. The Dubai café chain Cafe2Go has begun to make its lattes and cappuccinos with camel's milk, an old Bedouin staple that's booming in the United Arab Emirates' modern food scene, Reuters reported. But any baristas looking to import the craze stateside would have to contend with strict regulations from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and more than that, they would have to overcome America's apparent reluctance to embrace non-cow milks. [Read More]

Why Oklahoma's Deadly Twister Was Widest Ever

 Posted on September 28, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  630 words  |  Fernande Dalal

The tornado that struck near the Oklahoma City suburb of El Reno last Friday (May 31) has been upgraded to an EF5 strength — the strongest rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale. National Weather Service (NWS) storm surveyors also put the tornado's path at a whopping 2.6 miles (4 kilometers) across at its widest point, making it the widest tornado on record. The tornado was part of an outbreak that hit the area around the Friday rush hour and endangered thousands of people on local highways. [Read More]

14th Hole's a Killer: 2 Deadly Snakes Fight in Golf Course Video

 Posted on September 27, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  435 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

It's not uncommon for animals to wander onto the lush grounds of golf courses, but a golfer in South Africa recently happened upon an unusual sight on the 14th hole: two of the world's deadliest snakes locked in a confrontation that resembled a spiraling dance. The venomous black mamba snakes were seen fighting at Leopard Creek Country Club, just outside Kruger National Park in Malalane, South Africa. Golfer Cara Treherne captured a video of the black mambas' fight and shared it with the Kruger Sightings YouTube channel and website LatestSightings. [Read More]

2017 March for Science: What You Need to Know

 Posted on September 27, 2022  |  6 minutes  |  1207 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Are you ready to march for science? On April 22, scientists and science advocates will gather in Washington, D.C., and in hundreds of other cities around the world to take part in the March for Science, a historic event that may well be the biggest march in history in support of science. First proposed Jan. 22 in a conversation on Reddit, the March for Science quickly gathered more than 1 million followers on social media. [Read More]

5 Ways We Waste Water

 Posted on September 27, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  655 words  |  Patria Henriques

Water is a resource that much of the developed world takes for granted, but that many in the developing world struggle to find enough of every day. That struggle could spread as climate change and other manmade pressures change the availability of water around the globe, and as Earth's population grows ever larger, making the need for that resource even more acute. The number of humans on the planet could reach 11 billion people by the end of the century, the United Nations projects, up from just over 7 billion people now. [Read More]

6 Questions with the Man Who Had Sex on the Moon

 Posted on September 27, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  1023 words  |  Trudie Dory

In 2002, Thad Roberts was a 25-year-old intern at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Like so many young lovers, he had promised his girlfriend the moon. Uniquely, he decided to actually deliver on the promise, and stole 17 pounds of moon rocks from the space agency that had been brought back to Earth by Apollo astronauts. He got caught selling the rocks on the Internet. The stunt landed Roberts in prison for 100 months. [Read More]