Category Archives: Life

CIA Releases “X-Files”

A photograph of two very young buddhist monks, showing one of them sitting in an alley while the other is seemingly levitating in front of him. The image is stamped by the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Real X-Files

As the X-Files series enjoy a revival on TV, the American spy agency has decided to place thousands of declassified documents detailing government research into UFOs on its website.  The CIA documents also confirm the reality of humans with ‘Special Abilities’ able to do seemingly impossible things. 

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Ode to the Contrarian or Why Intelligence May Not Be the Best Strategy in Life

An image showing two fish bowls. One is full of gold fish, the other one is empty of fish. One of the gold fish jumps out of the crowded first tank into the other one.
Disclaimer…

You.  Yes, YOU!  You’re rather bright, aren’t you?  Intelligent, smart.  Let’s face it a little-known genius!  And you have a unique opinion on just about everything.  Not specifically one subject.  Because you’re a contrarian. or as I like to call it: a “brainiac”. 

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Spice of Life? The Health Cost of Synthetic Cannabinoids and the Adverse Effects of Full Agonists

An animation symbolising the dreadful health toll of synthetic cannabinoids in the form of a cartoon Egyptian-style eye, reminiscent of the Spice logo, shedding black tears while the image background turns increasingly dark. Artwork: NaturPhilosophie
What is Spice?

Synthetic cannabinoids were designed for recreational use. Many used them legally in an attempt to recreate the effects of organic cannabis, or to achieve similar psychoactive effects, until they were banned in May 2016.  But they promised more than they delivered.  Spice is one of them. 

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Temperature Inversions, City Pollution and Defunct Jet Engines

A photograph showing a typical temperature inversion layer over the Scottish city of Glasgow. The Sun is shining bright, and the sky is clear and blue, above a thick blanket of smog, located at ground level. Photograph: NaturPhilosophie
Pollution City

Temperature inversions are meteorological phenomena which can occur over busy cities under particular environmental conditions.  Retired jet engines could be used as “virtual chimneys”, and draw upwards the resulting smog that clouds the air over some of the World’s most polluted cities. 

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The Fog Harvesters of Lima, Peru

A photograph showing a man collecting drinking water from a fog net installed in the Atacama desert. Tiny droplets of fog condensate in the net and run through pipes ready for collection. Photograph: Neil Hall/Daily Mail
Fog Harvesters

Many places in the World have limited sources of drinkable water, whether it is because of limited rainfall or because of polluted water resources.  Without sufficient potable water, the health of possibly billions of people remains at risk.  In Lima, Perú, a simple technology helps people harvest water from the fog. 

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Compound Interest: An Antidote to Sarin

A rotating molecular model of Sarin. Animation: Naturphilosophie
About Sarin

Sarin is a deadly compound.  Colourless, odourless, and fatal even at low concentrations. A new drug designed to fight against the deadly effects of organophosphorous nerve agents, like sarin, is in sight. 

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Feeding of the Nine Billion – The Future of Photosynthesis and Increased Crop Productivity

A photograph showing a young Asian boy eating a corn cob. Artwork: Naturphilosophie
Improving on Nature’s Photosynthesis

Agronomic engineers have managed to improve upon one the most important biological process on the planet – photosynthesis.  The increased yield in crop could be as much as 15%. 

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Fifty Years of Turmoil in One Minute – The Recent Living Respiring Dynamic Earth

A screenshot of the Global Volcanism Program's Map of Eruptions, Earthquakes and Emissions $ ($E3$ )$ from The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, taken at time t = August 2010, showing details of the Icelandic volcano eruption of Eyjafjallajokull on 14th April 2010.
Visualizing Dynamic Earth

We live on the ever-changing planetary surface of Earth.  Now, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s “Eruptions, Earthquakes, & Emissions” (“E3”) web application reveals a time-lapse animation of the data held on volcanic eruptions and quakes on Earth since 1960.  The dynamic Earth at one glance!

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Sailing the Lower Midnight… – The Uncharted Frontier of Modern Deep Sea Exploration

Deep Sea Exploration: A photograph of the not-so-friendly, and frankly scary-looking, footballfish, a deep sea-predator from the anglerfish family.
What lies 5,000 metres below the sea?

It’s cold down there.  Icy cold.  It’s dark.  Pitch black, in fact.  And the crushing pressures make the deepest parts of the oceans into some of the most hostile places on our planet.

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Fantastic Beasts of the “Misty Isle” – Welcome to Jurassic Skye!

Artwork collage focusing on a drawing of Megalosaurus dinosaurs running on the shores of the Jurassic Isle of Skye. Image: Naturphilosophie
Welcome to Scotland’s Jurassic Park

Welcome to Jurassic Skye!  While dinosaurs might be long dead and no threat to puny humans, the rich fossil record of the Scottish island of Skye – the “Misty Isle” – has provided palaeontologists with important clues to the lives of prehistoric predators and their preys. 

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