Want to read the first research published from NASA's Mars Curiosity expedition? That'll be $20, per paper, for a one-day pass. Or, at least, that's how much it would cost you to read those reports through Science, the journal that published them. Last Thursday, Michael Eisen, a biologist who founded the open-access journal Public Library of Science, put up a blog post in which he released free pdfs for all five of NASA's Curiosity papers. Meanwhile, Mother Jones has a profile on Eisen, which goes more in-depth into his campaign to make taxpayer-funded research more easily available to the taxpayers, themselves.
NASA publishes first Curiosity research papers behind a paywall; Michael Eisen sets them free
Here's what really happens when you swallow gum
If you swallow chewing gum, does it really stay in your body for seven years? In this video from the Institute of Human Anatomy, "lead dissector" Jonathan Bennion reveals the truth and how much it's stretched. The video below will give you something to chew on: READ THE REST
Sex as a cure for nasal congestion, flying rhinoceroses, and cat-human communication: winners of the 2021 Ig Nobel prizes
For 31 years, the Annals of Improbable Research have awarded the delightful Ig Nobel Prizes honoring scientific "achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." Of this year's ten winners announced yesterday, here are a few of my favorites: * Lund University's Susanne Schötz, "for analyzing variations in purring, chirping, chattering, trilling,… READ THE REST
Sci-Hub, the "pirate bay of science," undergoes expansion
Sci-Hub provides free access to millions of papers and books. Its disregard for copyright makes it the target of legal threats, but its mission of providing open access to publicly-funded studies has made it overwhelmingly popular among scientists and lay readers alike. And it's growing again. "It's a place where people can find scientific studies… READ THE REST
This Indiegogo-funded charging cable does way more than charge your devices
Between the pictures from your vacation you need to send to your mother-in-law to the files you need to upload for the meeting tomorrow, your digital tasks are on overload, to say the very least. And with these, comes the need for various apps, cords, chargers, and then some. Quite frankly, it's hard to keep… READ THE REST
Clean up your storage on your Apple device with over $100 off this top-rated app
We probably all have a dozen apps right now that share and save pictures and videos. Between Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and a handful of others, there's just so much visual data floating around on our iPhones and iPads. Wouldn't it be nice to clean up some unwanted or repetitive data so our devices move… READ THE REST
Feast your eyes on 14 drones that will change your aerial video game
Whether you want to capture a bird's eye view of the coast on your seaside vacation or love to see what's going on at the neighbor's barbeque next door, a quality drone can really come in handy. But no matter what your drone needs are, making sure your money goes to a quality model is… READ THE REST
