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5 Questions: Laura Ingalls Wilder
Tuesday, February 7, 2017 – 01:45
From bath bombs shaped like the Harry Potter sorting hat to bath bombs that resemble Pokeballs, the scented products can make the simple act of taking a bath more interesting. Some—like this set modeled after all the planets (and the sun) in our solar system—can even help you soak in a more out-of-this-world experience.
Each of the nine bath bombs features a colorful design that resembles that of its corresponding planet and is made natural ingredients. The “Sun” is made up of ginger and jasmine, “Mercury” makes use of Moroccan spices with activated charcoal, “Venus” includes guave goji, “Earth” smells like an olive grove, “Mars” incorporates rose and peony, “Jupiter” features saffron and honey, “Saturn” smells like lavender, and finally, “Uranus” and “Neptune” share black raspberry and vanilla.
The whole set of nine can be purchased on Uncommon Goods for $48.
February 7, 2017 – 6:30am
6 Stops on the Hunt for the Holy Grail. The relic might be nowhere at all, but the places in the legend’s history are real.
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Like the CIA and DARPA before them, the FBI will no longer receive FOIA requests by email as of March 1. You’ll have to use fax machines or snail mail.
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Secrets of the Centenarians. They all attribute their longevity to something different, so maybe it is just luck.
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The Rock Springs Massacre. In 1885, the mining community of Rock Springs, Wyoming, exploded in anger over Chinese laborers in the mines, leaving 28 dead.
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The first episode of The Walking Dead may still be the show’s finest hour. Six years later, the series is less than it could be.
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During World War II, the U.S. Saw Italian-Americans as a Threat to Homeland Security. Over half a million came under government restrictions.
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The First Underwater Portrait. The 1899 technology that enabled it was rather dangerous.
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17 Spooky Photos of Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary. It’s easy to believe the place is haunted.
February 7, 2017 – 5:00am
The Terminator is back—this time, in board game form. Space Goat Productions, a Washington-based comic book studio, has announced that it’s launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund an official game based on the classic 1984 movie. The campaign is slated to go live on February 15.
Space Ghost Productions has teamed up with Lynnvander Studios—the Canadian game design studio responsible for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the Board Game and Galaxy Quest: the Board Game—to design The Terminator game. In a news release, it’s described as “an asymmetrical strategy game played across two boards, one in 1984 and one in 2029.” One player controls the game’s Skynet machines (Hunter Killer flying machines, Terminator Endoskeletons, and a few new robots), and other players are members of the human resistance fighting against the machine uprising.
The Terminator Kickstarter isn’t live yet, but fans of the movie can sign up to receive email updates. Once it’s up and running, the campaign will provide backers with a discount on The Termination Box, a box of game accessories and miniatures. For more information, visit the game’s website.
February 7, 2017 – 3:00am
Even in an increasingly digital world, there’s still a need for printed text. But wasting paper could be a thing of the past with new technology under development by a research team from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; the University of California, Riverside; and China’s Shandong University. This new paper is printed with light instead of ink, allowing it to be reused up to dozens of times, Co.Design reports.
The paper, described in Nano Letters, is blue rather than white, and it’s covered in a nanoparticle coating that is sensitive to UV light. These titanium dioxide nanoparticles are mixed with Prussian blue pigment (the blue color in blueprints), which becomes colorless when its particles gain electrons. The reaction that occurs when these pigments are exposed to UV light turns the blue clear. After about five days—or 10 minutes at 250°F—the paper fades back to solid blue, erasing the writing.
Image A shows the paper before anything has been printed on it. Images D-F show text 10 minutes, one day, and two days after it has been printed, respectively. Image Credit: Wang et al., American Chemical Society (2017)
A UV light printer can either print white text on a blue background or be programmed to print the background itself instead, resulting in blue text against a white background. The nanoparticle coating can be used over and over again, allowing one sheet of paper to be reprinted 80 times before it has to be thrown away.
The researchers hope to one day be able to print in full color with a similar system. They are currently working on a laser printer compatible with their light-printable paper. Until it hits the market, you’ll have to content yourself with buying notebooks that can be erased in the microwave.
[h/t Co.Design]
February 7, 2017 – 1:00am
Earning a degree usually entails sitting in classes, meeting with fellow students in study groups and stopping by your professor’s office to ask questions. But online universities allow students to earn a degree or certificate without attending classes in person or meeting instructors face-to-face. Although some people are still skeptical of online education, more and more students are opting to learn this way. Take a look at these nine common myths about online degrees.
Contrary to popular opinion, most online programs offer rigorous curriculum and personalized instruction. And attitudes about the quality of online education are shifting; in addition to online-only institutions, many top-ranked universities now offer online and distance learning courses as well.
Accredited online programs offer coursework that is just as challenging as what you’d get in a traditional in-person class. While online students may have more scheduling flexibility, they still have to complete assignments on time, participate in discussions and study the same curriculum as traditional students.
Some people think that students opt for an online degree because they’re too lazy to get dressed and show up to class, but most online students actually have high levels of self-discipline. Because they’re not in the same room as their professor and fellow students, online students must manage their time well (often while juggling a job or other commitments) and motivate themselves to engage with the material to do their best.
It’s true that many students choose online degree programs because they need to continue working while they obtain their degrees. But, just as traditional colleges run on a quarter, trimester or semester schedule, online degree programs follow a set schedule that may require a significant amount of study and class time. Students can typically choose to attend part-time or full-time, and both represent a significant time requirement. Online students must regularly participate in online discussions, work on group projects and meet due dates and deadlines.
Although they’re not in the same room as their professors, online students have plenty of opportunities to interact with them. Besides asking questions about the material via email and online chat, online students may also talk to their professors on the phone, communicate via video chat or have lengthy discussions on message boards. Some professors even offer online office hours to give students personalized attention and another opportunity to connect one-on-one.
It’s definitely easier to cheat on an exam when you take it at home without a proctor. But studies show online students don’t cheat more than traditional students. To prevent cheating, some online students have to turn on their webcam when taking timed tests, and professors use software to detect plagiarism, just as professors at traditional colleges do. And frequent assignments throughout the semester give professors a good idea of the quality of a student’s thoughts and writing, so they can easily spot any deviation from the norm.
Online students don’t sit next to their fellow students in class, but they do have opportunities to exchange ideas, debate issues and socialize. Students are often assigned group projects, which provides them an opportunity to learn from each other and collaborate. Students can talk to one another in live chats, discussion boards and video chat.
Not all students who start studying at one school finish their studies there, so the ability to transfer credits, which can save students time and money, is important. Different online degree programs have varying rules, but most students can transfer any credits they earn in an accredited online program to another school, online or not. Students should check with their new school to determine specific requirements for transferring credits.
On-campus students have convenient access to their school’s auxiliary services such as libraries, career counseling centers and job placement offices. But online students can also take advantage of these services. They can access digital books by logging on to their school’s library website, discuss course requirements with their academic advisor over email or talk to a career counselor over video chat. Some online students who live within driving distance of a campus may also have the option to visit a library or have a meeting with faculty members in person.
Although employers and hiring managers once dismissed most job candidates with online degrees, attitudes towards such candidates are shifting. Today, fewer employers view candidates with online degrees with skepticism. To encourage their current employees to learn new skills, some employers even pay for them to participate in a part-time online degree or certificate program.
There’s no need to put your life on hold while you work towards your Master’s degree. Florida Tech offers in-demand programs—including an MBA—online, which gives you the flexibility to study on your own time. Click here to learn more about the convenience of online learning with Florida Tech.
February 7, 2017 – 12:00am
The Irish Parliament has just passed a bill to halt all public funding of coal, oil, and gas companies. If the bill becomes law, Ireland will become the first country to completely divest from fossil fuels.
The Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill saw wide support from almost all of Ireland’s major political parties and will require the nation’s massive Strategic Investment Fund to sell off all existing investments in fossil fuel industries by 2023.
Deputy Thomas Pringle, who introduced the bill, says he sees divestment as a necessary action for people and for the planet.
“Ethical financing is a symbol to these global corporations that their continual manipulation of climate science, denial of the existence of climate change, and their controversial lobbying practices of politicians around the world is no longer tolerated,” Pringle told the Independent. “We cannot accept their actions while millions of poor people in underdeveloped nations bear the brunt of climate change forces as they experience famine, mass emigration, and civil unrest as a result.”
In October, the Irish government also voted to ban fracking, but Ireland isn’t the only European nation taking steps to distance themselves from fossil fuels and address the causes of climate change. Norway divested from coal in 2015, yanking €7.4 billion (nearly $8 billion) back from their investment fund. And in January, Sweden’s fierce deputy Prime Minister signed a law mandating zero emissions by 2045.
Just signed referral of Swedish #climate law, binding all future governments to net zero emissions by 2045. For a safer and better future. pic.twitter.com/OqOO2y8BU6
— Isabella Lövin (@IsabellaLovin) February 3, 2017
February 6, 2017 – 7:30pm
Thanks to the lovely creations of jewelry designer Isabell Kiefhaber, you can wear an entire landscape on your finger.
February 6, 2017 – 7:00pm
The fishing pole of the future might just be a robot. Researchers at MIT have created a soft, transparent device that’s capable of catching and releasing a live goldfish, LiveScience reports. Described in a study in Nature Communications, it’s made of a hydrogel that can change shape when water is pumped into or out of it.
The researchers created three different types of hydrogel robots to test the material’s capabilities, each made of small tubes inspired by glass eels—a transparent, juvenile eel. One robot was shaped like an appendage of a claw machine; the other, like a pool noodle; the third, like a fish’s fin that flaps back and forth. The noodle-shaped hydrogel robot was capable of enough force to kick a ball underwater, while the claw-shaped robot was quick enough to catch a live fish—and gentle enough not to squish it in the process.
Because the hydrogel is mostly water, and the robots are powered by water, they could be made invisible in the future. But they could also be used for less-than-sneaky purposes, like to assist surgeons. They’re wet and soft, so they could be more delicate than human hands in manipulating organs and tissues during a procedure, the researchers suggest in a statement.
[h/t LiveScience]
Teaser image courtesy Hyunwoo Yuk/MIT Soft Active Materials Lab
February 6, 2017 – 6:30pm
This Valentine’s Day, show your love with the help of science. These nerdy gifts take their inspiration from laboratories and science classrooms.
Instead of giving your partner the standard assortment of flowers, give them this bouquet of plush germs. The pack includes cuddly chlamydia, herpes, and mono. There’s two of each, so you can share.
Find it: ThinkGeek
Way, way out in space (7500 light years from Earth), there is a very romantic nebula that gives off red gas and looks like a heart. Uncommon Goods put the aptly named Heart Nebula (which is part of the Heart and Soul complex) on a pair of cufflinks to create the perfect gift for astronomers and space enthusiasts.
Find it: UncommonGoods
Scientific minds like to break things down and examine them from every angle—including kissing. In this book, author Sheril Kirshenbaum looks into the history and science of smooching, from when humans first started puckering up to why men and women kiss differently.
Find it: Amazon
When this coaster set is stacked, it creates a full image of an anatomically correct heart. Each of the six coasters has a different slice of the heart printed onto a transparent slide.
Find it: Amazon
This unique Valentine’s Day gift starts as a simple bean. Plant it, add a little water, and wait: After three to five days, the plant will sprout and eventually display the phrase “I love you.”
Find it: ThinkGeek
This anatomically correct heart takes a different approach to romantic jewelry. The delicate pendant is hand-cast in bronze and plated in rose gold.
Find it: UncommonGoods
Pluto might be out of the solar system, but at least it has its moon buddy, Charon. This T-shirt’s charming illustration depicts a happy relationship between the planet and moon. All the shirts are printed to order, which means you can’t return or exchange, so be careful when ordering.
Find it: Busted Tees
The chemical dopamine is often associated with love, desire, happiness, and excitement. Hopefully you and your partner feel these things when you’re together, so celebrate the wonderful chemical with a 24-karat rose gold plated necklace.
Find it: Etsy
Miss Frizzle and The Magic School Bus helped a lot of children get interested in science. If your significant other loves science thanks to the iconic cartoon, get them a print of everyone’s favorite eccentric teacher. The design also comes on clothes, a clock, or a mug.
Find it: Society6
Skip the cliché box of chocolates and go for something a little more … intellectual. These pink chocolate brains are perfect for studious individuals and zombie lovers alike. Each box comes with 12 individually wrapped brains.
Find it: Etsy
February 6, 2017 – 6:00pm