Environment

November 11, 2015

Specially Designed Pencils Can Be Recycled to Become a Blooming Garden

When you wear a pencil down to a stub, what do you do with it? More often than not, these worn-out writing utensils end up in the trash, which winds up becoming a significant amount of waste. Around 15 billion pencils are made each year and in an effort to limit the waste created from them, three MIT students created a multifunctional alternative called Sprout Pencil.

Read Article


October 28, 2015

Extraordinary Entries from the 2015 National Geographic Photo Contest

Last month, we featured a selection of the spectacular entries in the 2015 National Geographic Photo Contest, and we're pleased to share even more works from the competition. The chosen entries showcase the stunning diversity of our world, through both landscape and culture. They depict an exciting buffalo race in Bali, a dream-like field of blue flowers, and the mystical light of Machu Picchu.

Read Article


September 9, 2015

13 Iridescent Clouds That Light up the Sky with Colorful Rainbows

In the late afternoon, on a hot and humid day, you might look up and be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of iridescent clouds that gleam with the colors of the rainbow. The rare phenomenon occurs when sunlight diffracts off of uniformly sized water droplets in the atmosphere, scattering different amounts of sunlight, with different colors being deflected by different amounts.

Read Article