bear catching salmon in Alaska Science and Art Zoology 

Photographer’s Adventures with Grizzly Bears

Up and coming wildlife photographer Max Goldberg describes his visit to Katmai National Park in Alaska to photograph grizzly bears. Writing and Photography by Max Goldberg  After an eight-hour plane ride from Chicago, and a day to get over the jet lag, the first stop for my father and I on our week-and-a-half trip to Alaska was Brooks Lodge. Brooks Lodge is a camp in the heart of the Katmai National Park, and it is famous for two things: fishing and bears. Upon getting off the float plane that got…

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People walked over the Hongo River in Fukuyama City, Japan on the MB4.0 temporary bridge. (Photo courtesy of Hiroshima University, Japan Construction Method and Machinery Research Institute, Hoshikei-kinzoku Industry Co.,Ltd., Akashin Co.,Ltd., Sankyo Tateyama, Inc., and Yokoyama Kisokouji Co.,Ltd.) Engineering 

Temporary Bridge for Emergency Evacuation

By Kate Stone Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, and landslides, and other natural disasters can damage infrastructure, such as bridges. What can be done to aid the rapid evacuation of survivors and delivery of aid? Enter the Mobile Bridge® Version 4.0 (MB4.0), a new concept in temporary bridge construction. In the aftermath of a natural disaster, rapid repair of infrastructure is crucial. Expanding in just five minutes and capable of carrying automobiles, MB4.0 is being hailed as the world’s fastest, largest, strongest, and lightest expanding temporary bridge. It’s a new type of…

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Truly transparent solar energy Engineering Environment New Technologies Physics 

Solar Energy that Doesn’t Block the View

A company is making completely see-through solar energy panels for our phones and tablets. Next, for our car and home windows. By Kate Stone A team of researchers at Michigan State University has developed a new type of solar concentrator that, when placed over a window, creates solar energy while still allowing people to see through the window. It is called a “transparent luminescent solar concentrator” and it can be used on buildings, cell phones, and anything else that has a clear surface. According to Richard Lunt of MSU’s College…

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Apollo 11 crew, candid photo, NASA Astronomy and Astrophysics 

Apollo 11 Astronauts’ Customs Form

Customs declaration forms are familiar documents to international travelers. But what about space travelers? When the Apollo 11 astronauts splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after visiting the moon over 40 years ago, they had to go through customs, too. About the Apollo 11 Astronauts’ Customs Form This historic customs form is signed by all three Apollo 11 astronauts: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. They declared their cargo of moon rocks and moon dust, and listed their travel route as starting at Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral) in…

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Worms and slugs: A slug Arion spec. commonly found in northern Germany, now known to be used by hitch-hiking nematodes for transportation (Carola Petersen, Hinrich Schulenburg, Kiel University) Biology Zoology 

Worms Use Slugs as Public Transit

By Kate Stone Nematode Worms on the Move Buses and trains may not always be the cleanest ways to get around, but at least they aren’t as messy as slugs, which are a mode of transit in our gardens. According to a new study, slugs and other invertebrates provide essential public transport for small worms in search of food. Nematode worms (including Caenorhabditis elegans) are about a millimeter long and often live in temporary environments, such as a piece of decomposing fruit or other rotting plant material. Because their habitats…

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Pluto Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI Astronomy and Astrophysics 

New Horizon’s Pluto Flyby

NASA’s spacecraft New Horizons entered its closest approach with Pluto yesterday, as part of its nine-year mission to study the last of the nine “classical” planets in our solar system. Later today, we will receive the first “phone home” communication from the spacecraft. Here on Earth, scientists are eagerly awaiting today’s transmission from New Horizons. One of them is Noemi Pinilla-Alonso, an astrophysicist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and formerly of NASA. Our friends at ResearchGate recently chatted with Pinilla-Alonso about her hopes and plans for the long-awaited data.…

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Raptor Dinosaurs: Artist’s Digital and graphite restoration drawing of Velociraptor mongoliensis (By Matt Martyniuk GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons) Paleontology Zoology 

Friendly Neighborhood Raptor Dinosaurs

Raptor dinosaurs large curved talons on the  second toes of their feet. A similar feature is seen on some modern raptors such as eagles and hawks. Why? By Steven Spence Raptor dinosaurs, formally known as dromaeosaurids, had very large curved talons on the  second toes of their feet. A similar feature is seen on some modern raptors (eagles and hawks), and some scientists believe this is an example of a similar functional evolution. Meet the Raptor Dinosaurs Instead of using the “killing claw” as a slashing weapon, as suggested in…

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