IBM and partners are working on solving one of the biggest barriers to widespread electric vehicle adoption: limited battery range.
Under its Battery 500 project — an effort to build a battery capable of powering a car for 500 miles — Big Blue has designed a battery that produces power by taking in oxygen and then recharges itself by expelling that oxygen.
In one of the last surviving lowland forests in Madagascar, an area half the size of Manhattan, researchers found 36 frogs which look to be new to science.
In a new paper published in Biodiversity Conservation, Gonçalo M. Rosa, notes that up to 24 of the 76 unique frogs in the forest may be found nowhere else in the world but in the Betampona Nature Reserve, which covers just 8.6 square miles (2,228 hectares).
A teenager who lost his home in Japan’s devastating tsunami now knows that one prized possession survived: a football that drifted all the way to Alaska.
A man found the ball with the youngster’s name inscribed on it while beachcombing on an Alaskan island, and his wife, who is Japanese, talked with its owner, 16-year-old Misaki Murakami, by phone over the weekend.
They plan to send the ball back to him soon.
(READ the AP article via CBS News)
For decades, everything to come out of the Democratic Republic of Congo has not been good: civil war, child soldiers and atrocities against women. The fact that an orchestra managed to exist in the midst of all of this was something remarkable.
200 musicians in the Congo continue to defy the poverty of their war-torn country playing in a symphony orchestra that makes music to move the hearts of all who hear.
For decades, everything to come out of the Democratic Republic of Congo has not been good: civil war, child soldiers and atrocities against women. The fact that an orchestra managed to exist in the midst of all of this was something remarkable.
200 musicians in the Congo continue to defy the poverty of their war-torn country playing in a symphony orchestra that makes music to move the hearts of all who hear.
Recently, there has been a growing recognition of the benefits that higher education can bring to refugees, and to countries like Afghanistan, Somalia and the DRC which will require a new generation of teachers and other professionals when peace finally comes.
A program is now making use of internet technologies and partnerships with academic institutions to reach a large number of refugees through distance learning at no cost, and effect future generations of learners in the process.
Animal activist Jane Goodall collaborated with Disney on the new movie “Chimpanzee.” The film tells the story of an adorable chimp named Oscar who is left orphaned after his mother is killed.
Filmed in the wild over a four-year period, documentary cameras were poised waiting for anything to happen within a large family of chimps.
Something amazing did happen, as ‘Oscar’ was suddenly alone and an older male chimp decided to raise the baby himself — a rare occurrence.
Animal activist Jane Goodall collaborated with Disney on the new movie “Chimpanzee.” The film tells the story of an adorable chimp named Oscar who is left orphaned after his mother is killed.
Filmed in the wild over a four-year period, documentary cameras were poised waiting for anything to happen within a large family of chimps.
Something amazing did happen, as ‘Oscar’ was suddenly alone and an older male chimp decided to raise the baby himself — a rare occurrence.
One problem with making paper from trees — or even recycling paper — is the water and energy use needed for the manufacturing process.
A ton of virgin paper creates 16,000 gallons of contaminated waste water; a recycled ton of paper creates 9,000 gallons of waste. It also takes a lot of energy to make paper.
But, what if paper could be made of stone? FiberStone paper has become an eco-friendly alternative that uses 1/3 the energy of recycled paper and zero waste water. Best of all, the rock paper products are waterproof, like wax paper, grease-proof, and tear resistant.
One problem with making paper from trees — or even recycling paper — is the water and energy use needed for the manufacturing process.
A ton of virgin paper creates 16,000 gallons of contaminated waste water; a recycled ton of paper creates 9,000 gallons of waste. It also takes a lot of energy to make paper.
But, what if paper could be made of stone? FiberStone paper has become an eco-friendly alternative that uses 1/3 the energy of recycled paper and zero waste water. Best of all, the rock paper products are waterproof, like wax paper, grease-proof, and tear resistant.
Biological diversity does not come easily in one of the most crowded and disadvantaged neighborhoods of Los Angeles County.
In that setting, Leo Politi Elementary School wanted only to make a dreary corner of campus more inviting to its 817 students. So three years ago they ripped out 5,000 square feet of concrete and planted native flora.
What happened next was unforeseen. It was remarkable.
Stacie Tonn was headed down a Kansas highway behind a livestock truck. A small piglet suddenly fell out, but the semi-trailer kept going, so Stacie brought the animal home to her husband who is a veterinarian.
Lucky to be alive, the pig was unconscious for two days.
That’s when Stacie’s dog stepped in — licking the pig clean while she was force-fed with a bottle of milk.
The piglet now thinks she is a dog and friendship has taken hold, with the retriever and the orphan farm animal becoming best friends.
Stacie Tonn was headed down a Kansas highway behind a livestock truck. A small piglet suddenly fell out, but the semi-trailer kept going, so Stacie brought the animal home to her husband who is a veterinarian.
Lucky to be alive, the pig was unconscious for two days.
That’s when Stacie’s dog stepped in — licking the pig clean while she was force-fed with a bottle of milk.
The piglet now thinks she is a dog and friendship has taken hold, with the retriever and the orphan farm animal becoming best friends.
A new government survey shows the bear population in a crucial part of northern Canada is far larger than many scientists thought, and might be growing.
The number of bears along the western shore of Hudson Bay, believed to be among the most threatened bear sub-populations, totals at least 1,013, according to the results of an aerial survey released Wednesday by the Government of Nunavut.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced yesterday the hiring of approximately 1,600 mental health clinicians – to include nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers – as well as nearly 300 support staff to supplement its existing 20,590 mental health staff.
Anticipating the needs of returning US Veterans, the VA says it is moving quickly to ensure that all Veterans have access to quality mental health care.
7-year-old Annie Clark has just won a national handwriting award, even though she has no hands.
The Pennsylvania first-grader was born without hands but has learned determination in her quest to be a good student.
Her school, Wilson Christian Academy, first honored her penmanship as the best of any student in her school. As a first-round winner, she advanced to the next level and Wednesday received one of two Zaner-Bloser national penmanship awards — the second disabled student to win the new award.
Annie received the Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellent Penmanship, a trophy and $1,000.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story at Pittsburgh Gazette)
7-year-old Annie Clark has just won a national handwriting award, even though she has no hands.
The Pennsylvania first-grader was born without hands but has learned determination in her quest to be a good student.
All the great old baseball parks in America are gone — except Fenway Park. Today marks 100 years since the Boston Red Sox played their first game at Fenway, tangling with the “Green Monster” in left field and testing their skills against historic rival the New York Yankees.
This evening the Red Sox and Yankees pair up again for the centennial celebration of the quirky building squeezed into a downtown neighborhood, which turned out to be the most beloved aspect of being a Boston fan.
For many Americans, the lasting legacy of Dick Clark will be his role as a stroke survivor determined to live a normal life
Clark died of a heart attack Wednesday at age 82. He had suffered a debilitating stroke in 2004 and had to learn to walk and talk again — often with difficulty.
But Clark didn’t give in to the symptoms of that stroke, which included slurred, slowed speech and partial paralysis. It was assumed that Clark would have to step down from his iconic “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” duties, but he came back in 2005 co-hosting with Ryan Seacrest.
A painting – nearly five centuries old and worth millions – that was taken by the Nazis in World War II has been returned to the heirs of its original Jewish owner by U.S. officials.
“Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged By A Rascal” by Italian artist Girolamo de’ Romani was one of 70 items plundered from the collection of Frederico Gentili di Giuseppe, an Italian Jew who had lived in Paris, according to the Reuters article, here.
Also in the news recently, a touching story about a girl who survived the Holocaust and the surprising kindness of her childhood neighbors.
The former neighbor of the Dutch Holocaust survivor traveled to the United States to hand-deliver two sets of china, dishes that her family left behind before they fled to Switzerland. The family instead was led to Auschwitz where the girl’s brothers and parents were killed in a Nazi death camp. Last week, the now-elderly woman celebrated the heirloom’s return serving dinner with the bowls and plates.
(WATCH the video below from KING-TV)
