How Las Vegas’s Survival Depends on Its Water Sources

If there is one atypical American city, it would have to be Las Vegas. While most people come to gamble and forget about daily life for a while, many others see Las Vegas as a perfect place to raise a family.
Ads for potential homeowners show green golf courses, water-based landscapes, and life on the edge of natural surroundings. The temperature is warm, it rarely rains, and the scenery is beautiful. The city in the middle of a desert is a lush oasis of large casinos surrounded by housing developments. What Las Vegas does best is create visions.

Canyoneering in Australia’s Stunning Blue Mountains

Treading silently on moss covered trails, it is a long walk to reach your destination in Australia’s Blue Mountains.

What It Feels Like To Free-fall 15,000ft Through the Air

These amazing pictures of parachutists free-falling are a recreation of a death-defying jump by Mike Holmes where not only his main parachute failed but his reserve did as well.

The Return of Propeller Aircraft: Why Turboprops Are Making a Comeback

Think of propellers and you might immediately conjure images of Indiana Jones, World War II flying aces and creaky crop dusters.

Incredibly Life-like Home Interiors Created in Miniature

Being the proud owner of a swish interior akin to those in the glossy home magazines that line the shelves of newsagents is becoming more and more desirable.

Human Planet: How People Survive in Extreme Conditions

Since the dawn of mankind, people have had to learn how to survive in conditions that were difficult, at best, and which could often be deadly. Early humans worked out how to make fire, enabling them to survive in cold and inhospitable lands. Others had to deal with scorching heat, living in equally hostile environments. But many people still live in extreme circumstances, and Human Planet, a television series being launched by Eden, explores how they “survive by building complex, exciting and often mutually beneficial relationships with their animal neighbors and the hostile elements of the natural world.”

The Ongoing Suffering of Chernobyl’s Survivors

The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 represents the world’s worst nuclear accident. The initial explosion killed two employees and exposed 28 workers to lethal doses of radiation. An additional 106 people were hospitalized for several months with acute radiation sickness. During the long clean-up process, a further 750,000 workers, known as ‘liquidators’, were also exposed to varying doses of radiation over several years. On top of this, over 350,000 people were relocated, forced from their homes and the lives they knew.

Why Electric Cars Remain the Future

Electric cars gained ground when a stretch of Interstate Highway 5 opened for electric vehicles in Oregon, USA. This is the second section of highway in the USA to cater to electric cars. Drivers can recharge their electric vehicles at the new charging stations just off the highway. The fast-chargers recharge an electric car’s battery in about 20 minutes. Federal stimulus grants totaling $915,000 helped make this project possible.

5 Most Luxurious Autos You’d Never Guess Were Hybrids

We live in an age where the majority of us claim to be environmentally conscious. This awareness, coupled with rising gas prices, means there are few car owners who wouldn’t feel a touch guilty tanking up on gas and jumping in their cars — especially for a local journey. And yet the auto industry already has an answer to these woes. The hybrid car, which works by using two or more power sources (a conventional gasoline motor coupled with electric batteries, for instance) is a far more efficient alternative to the traditional car and a good way to assuage some of that eco-guilt.

Did T. Rex Have Feathers Too?

It’s an exciting time to be a paleontologist. More and more new discoveries are changing the way we perceive the prehistoric behemoths that dominated the earth for over 100 million years.

That some dinosaurs were feathered is now beyond dispute, but this specialization has been thought to apply only to very small dinosaurs, or to young ones that shed their downy feathers in adulthood.

What Your Armpit Hair Says About You

The sight of hair can trigger an emotional response depending on cultural expectations. One Swedish woman faced global criticism for exposing her grown armpit hair, althoughher compatriots stood by her in solidarity. Gender and culture combine to shape attitudes towards hair.

It is taboo for women to grow armpit hair in some cultures, but not in others. Men’s armpit hair is acceptable in places that reject women’s armpit hair. And the societal norms for men’s facial hair depend on the culture. The men at an American protest depicted above shaved their faces but let their armpit hair grow. Regardless of societal pressure, hair is a natural phenomenon, and one has the right to shave or grow hair as one sees fit.

10 Effective Ways to Clean Up Hazardous Waste

Hazardous waste can be found just about anywhere in the workplace, your home, and in the environment. It comes from many sources, including batteries, nuclear power, and household cleaners. Even if you don’t produce hazardous waste yourself, you’re contributing indirectly.

The business you work for or the university you attend – where computers and lights are turned on continuously – necessitate nuclear power. Businesses and universities are going green by shifting operations to run online, banking customers can do all their finances over the internet, and universities are even developing PhD online degree programs that will roll out in the near future. Yet, despite such efforts, the world continues to run on more and more hazardous materials. Here are some steps you and your business can take to help out by disposing of such waste properly.

Giant Western Gray Whale Floats Down the River Thames

The people of London were greeted by an uncommon spectacle this week as an enormous western gray whale floated down the River Thames. Bearing in mind the fact that such giants of the deep are usually only found in the Pacific Ocean, bystanders could be forgiven for wondering what on Earth the reason was behind this strange cetacean sighting.

The truth is that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) were responsible, having brought in what was in fact an 11 meter-long (36ft) life-size replica to focus attention on a threat to the species – which is already on the brink of extinction. There are thought to be as few as 130 western gray whales left on the planet, with only 26 breeding females, but today this population faces a new danger that could push them out of existence.

How the Mind Controls the Way Your Body Responds to Allergies

Allergies are a source of misery for millions of people worldwide, most of whom would probably be very surprised to hear their mind is at least partly responsible. But this was the finding of a group of neurosugeons from Neuroscience Research Australia and the University of South Australia.In two separate tests, Prof. Lorimer Moseley and his team administered histamine, the substance our body makes during an allergic reaction, to the arms of healthy volunteers. The twist was that half the volunteers were convinced, through an illusion, that one of their real arms was actually just a rubber replacement. In reality, both their real arms were given histamine.

Release of Exotic Pets Harms Florida Everglades

The Florida Everglades National Park was the first park established in the United States not for its scenic value but to benefit life. The Everglades protect fresh water, boost tourism and provide habitat for many wildlife animals including commercial and sport fish as well as game species for hunting.

Today, the Everglades are only 20% of their original size, but they are an important nursery for many wildlife species. Dozens of endangered and threatened species live in the Everglades, including the Florida panther, the American crocodile and the wood stork.

5 Unusual Facts About Stars

Orion constellation

1. Most of the stars you view from the earth at night are actually binary stars. That is, two stars circle each other creating an imagined point of gravitation, or a smaller star circles around the “main star”. Sometimes these main stars draw material from the smaller one, as they come closer to each other. There is a mass limit that a planet can hold without fusing nuclear reaction.
If Jupiter was larger it might have fused as a brown dwarf, a kind of semi-star, many moons ago. It is actually more common in other solar systems, evidenced by their relative lack of planets. This is because most of the material which is locked in the gravitational field of the main star gathers up in one place, which in the end lights up as a star and forms a binary system. There can also be more than two stars in one system, yet binary systems are more common.

10 Worst High-Rise Building Collapses in History

Image Source

The sudden, terrifying collapse of huge buildings has caused countless tragedies throughout history, highlighting the importance of sound, safe and ethical engineering. Seemingly rock-solid structures all over the world have cracked, split, and disintegrated right beneath people’s feet

Is Coal an Attractive Option?

 

Nudity in art has a long history, from ancient Greek and Roman statues to 20th-century Art Deco sculptures. Yet appreciation for the nude form depends on individual tastes. Princess Anne showed her approval for Great Britain’s largest nude artwork by agreeing to unveil Northumberlandia to the public. Part of a 46-acre park, the masterpiece is a dynamic landscape in the shape of a giant nude lady.

The Awesome Graffiti of Belgium’s Doomed Ghost Town

It’s eerie feeling: walking down the streets of a modern town where no one – or almost no one – lives. The roads are still usable, many of the houses look habitable, yet there is barely a car to be seen, certainly not moving, and the rooms behind the windows are all but empty. This is the abandoned village of Doel, in Belgium, a place one recent visitor described as “the most spooky place I have ever been; real shiver down the spine stuff.”

Incredible Pictures of Owls with Freshly Caught Prey

They are an ancient group of birds, with fossils of some living varieties dating back over 20 million years. A species does not survive that long without being efficient at finding food – in this case prey – and owls are indeed exceptional hunters and top carnivores.

Owls’ appetite for rodents, in particular, has helped maintain a natural balance in the ecosystem, and in many cases it has made them friends to farmers. Here, we’re going to take a look at these incredible creatures, while delving into some facts about their predatory habits.

Previously, we’ve shown you adorable pictures of baby owls. Now it’s time to explore a rather less cute side to these birds – through photographs of them with freshly caught kills.