Enlarge (credit: Justin Lewis) Medical authorities have spent years convincing people to use sunscreen to limit their exposure to UV light. But that effort has had a bit of a setback, as several locations have recently banned the use of sunblocks by beachgoers. Those bans took effect after local waters were found to have high […]
Enlarge (credit: Krisana Antharith / EyeEm) Earth Day was April 22, and its usual message—take care of our planet—has been given added urgency by the challenges highlighted in the latest IPCC report. This year, Ars is taking a look at the technologies we normally cover, from cars to chipmaking, and finding out how we can […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty images) There have been a variety of demonstrations of the capabilities that atomically thin materials can bring to electronics—extremely small size, excellent performance, and some distinctive properties. But almost all of these demonstrations required that the electronics being tested were essentially assembled by hand. Materials like graphene are often placed on a […]
Enlarge / Fossilized spider from the Aix-en-Provence formation in France seen in hand sample overlain with fluorescent microscopy image of the same fossil. UV illumination causes the fossil to glow brightly, revealing more details about its preservation. (credit: Olcott et al., 2022) Scientists have long puzzled over the exceptional preservation of certain fossils of Cenozoic-era […]
In the age of NIL and PEDs, college athletes must be cautious about every ingredient in any protein shake or supplement is reckless. Read more…
Enlarge / Don’t you hate it when ice crystals form and make your ice cream all crunchy? Scientists at the University of Tennessee found that plant cellulose could work better than the additives manufacturers currently use to slow the growth of ice crystals. (credit: Sally Anscombe/Getty Images) We’ve all made the mistake of leaving a […]
Enlarge / NIST researchers collaborated with the National Gallery of Art and other organizations to study “metal soaps” found in oil paintings. The soaps can cause the painting to degrade over time. (credit: National Gallery of Art/A. Centrone/NIST) Scientists at the National Institute of Standards of Technology collaborated with the National Gallery of Art and […]
Enlarge / Close-up of fresh SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) used in kombucha. (credit: Whitepointer/Getty Images) The refreshing kombucha tea that’s all the rage these days among certain global demographics might also hold the key to affordable, environmentally sustainable living membranes for water filtration, according to a recent paper published in the American Chemical […]
Enlarge / A vessel from the Wari site of Conchopata features the tree and its tell-tale seed pods sprouting from the head of the Staff God. (credit: J. Ochatoma Paravicino/M. E. Biwer et al., 2022) Lacing the beer served at their feasts with hallucinogens may have helped an ancient Peruvian people known as the Wari forge […]
Enlarge / Two recovered and restored portraits of 19th century Portuguese physician Vicente Urbino de Freitas, suspected of poisoning several of his wife’s family members in the particular “Crime of Flores Street”—Portugal’s first major forensic case. (credit: Ricardo Jorge Dinis-Oliveira, 2019) On January 2, 1890, a Portuguese man named Jose Antonio Sampaio, Jr., died in […]