science

Air pollution is making us dumber, study shows:

The team found that both verbal and math scores “decreased with increasing cumulative air pollution exposure,” with the decline in verbal scores being particularly pronounced among older, less educated men.

Study links urge to pee with impairment:

Snyder and his team ran the study on eight individuals, who each drank 250 milliliters of water every 15 minutes until they reached their “breaking point,” where they could no longer hold their urine. As subjects’ self-reported pain levels increased, so too did their levels of cognitive impairment as measured by simple tasks on the computer that tested attention and working memory.

A 50-50 blend of morning glory juice and latex created rubber with maximum bounciness, while a 75-25 mix of latex and morning glory made the most durable material.

It seems they were making bouncy balls for fun and sport. But, to be clear about the ingredients:

Morning glory plants tend to grow near rubber trees, and both plants were considered sacred in several Mesoamerican cultures. Morning glory, for example, was also used in religious ceremonies for its hallucinogenic properties.

From Rachel Kaufman’s reporting on rubber chemistry and industry in the prehistoric Americas.

Nikola Tesla arrived in Colorado Springs on May 17, 1899. He was met at the train by patent lawyer Leonard Curtis, and was taken by horse and carriage to the Alta Vista Hotel, where he would reside while in Colorado. Tesla was greeted at the hotel by a group of reporters, one of whom asked him why he chose Colorado for his operation. Tesla replied, “I might as well tell you the truth, I have come here to carry on a series of exhaustive experiments in regard to wireless telegraphy — I come here for work.” The reporter asked if he was going to “flash [his] message from Pike’s Peak to Long’s Peak or another mountain of Colorado?” The question appeared to irritate Tesla who tersely replied, “No, I am here to work. It is not pleasure. I am very busy and life is short and there is a great deal to be done.”

Text taken from this history of Nikola Tesla. We should all know more about Tesla.