Chernobyl's new sarcophagus took two decades to make. Bigger than Wembley Stadium and taller than the Statue of Liberty, it will seal in the entire disaster site for 100 years. World leaders jostle with global executives and anonymous men dressed in full camouflage as platters of shrimp, foie gras and cheesecake are passed around by white-gloved staff. It would all seem quite normal were it not for the fact that we’re just 100m (330ft) away from the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history.

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Submitted on February 19th 2017 by wetwilly87 with 1 comments

A French military program adapts the ancient art of falconry to the threats of unmanned flight.

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Submitted on February 22nd 2017 by Chubros with 1 comments

Last year for the San Francisco airport ended with something really uncommon – they introduced the first travel anxiety pig. Her name is LiLou and she is now a proud member of SFO Wag brigade, that has been in the airport since 2013. The wag brigade consists of 300 cats, dogs and rabbits and now their newest member LiLou the pig! They are all Certified Animal Assistant therapy animals and their main purpose is to make traveling a little bit less anxious for everybody.

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Submitted on February 21st 2017 by bradd

Experiments provide direct evidence of how phenanthrene causes irregular heartbeat and weaker contractions of heart cells.Urban air pollution, laden with PAHs, has been implicated in cardiac distress. The current study points the finger at phenanthrene, which could enter the bloodstream through respiratory pathways such as breathing.The researchers also suggest that atmospheric phenanthrene deserves more attention for the possible impact it could have on the cardiovascular health of people. Better understanding of the connection between phenanthrene and human health could potentially lead to insights regarding which aspects of fossil-fuel bur

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Submitted on February 20th 2017 by tranxene with 2 comments

“These websites are actually giving us clues as to what this administration is going to do, much more so than the very public media show that we are getting through the White House press secretary, through President Trump tweeting or through Kellyanne Conway on ‘Meet the Press,’” said Jennifer Wingard, an associate professor of rhetoric at the University of Houston. “It is intentional, these shifts in words are meaningful, and it’s smart to pay attention to them.”

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Submitted on February 19th 2017 by gladsdotter

Thousands of dead bats are dropping from trees after temperatures topped 45 degrees in parts of New South Wales. The area worst affected was Casino in the Richmond Valley region of northern New South Wales, where more than 2,000 dead flying foxes have been found. Richmond Valley Council general manager Vaughan Macdonald said many of the dead bats were difficult to access because they were scattered along riverbanks.

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Submitted on February 16th 2017 by takai

:Last week, IKEA released the plans for its latest innovation, The Growroom, a spherical multi-level garden that can grow enough food for an entire neighborhood. The plans are online and can be downloaded for free. The IKEA Growroom comes from Space10, the company's in-house design lab dedicated to creating future products.The IKEA Growroom doesn't come

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Submitted on February 21st 2017 by kxh

A newborn puppy can be a full-time job, that's why beer maker BrewDog — a Scottish brewery set to open up an Ohio location later this year — now offers a week of paid leave for employees with new puppies or rescued dogs.The company said it's the first company in the United States, and the first brewery in the United Kingdom, to offer the "paw-ternity" benefit. BrewDog, in an announcement made earlier this week, said the benefit will be offered to all of its nearly 1,000 employees across the world, including those at its soon-to-be brewery near Columbus, Ohio, which is set to open in the spring.

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Submitted on February 18th 2017 by larylin with 1 comments

Saudi Arabia is kicking off its $50 billion renewable-energy push as the world’s top crude exporter turns to solar and wind power to temper domestic oil use in meeting growing energy demand. Bidders seeking to qualify to build 700 megawatts of wind and solar power plants should submit documents by March 20, and those selected will be announced by April 10, Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said Monday in an e-mailed statement. Qualified bidders will be able to present their offers for the projects starting on April 17 through July.

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Submitted on February 20th 2017 by gottlieb with 1 comments

Last year, scientists declared a decades-old mystery solved - that bizarre monstrosity you see in the image above had for years defied classification, but two separate studies said they finally had solid evidence that it was in fact a vertebrate.

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Submitted on February 21st 2017 by kxh

A large research synthesis, published in one of the world’s most influential scientific journals, has detected a decline in the amount of dissolved oxygen in oceans around the world — a long-predicted result of climate change that could have severe consequences for marine organisms if it continues.

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Submitted on February 18th 2017 by Pfennig88

Up to 16% of hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells spill liquids every year, according to new research from US scientists. They found that there had been 6,600 releases from these fracked wells over a ten-year period in four states. The biggest problems were reported in oil-rich North Dakota where 67% of the spills were recorded. The largest spill recorded involved 100,000 litres of fluid with most related to storing and moving liquids.

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Submitted on February 21st 2017 by wildcard

Today in science that turns out to be totally bunk: Citronella candles warding off mosquitoes.

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Submitted on February 22nd 2017 by Appaloosa

Stilt-walking and half-amputated ants helped scientists solve the mystery of how the insects return straight home, even after extremely twisty trips.

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Submitted on February 21st 2017 by sjvn

The close relationship between Scott Pruitt, the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and fossil fuel interests including the billionaire Koch brothers has been highlighted in more than 7,500 emails and other records released by the Oklahoma attorney general’s office on Wednesday. The documents show that Pruitt, while Oklahoma attorney general, acted in close concert with oil and gas companies to challenge environmental regulations...

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Submitted on February 22nd 2017 by aj0690

After long-awaited snowfall in January, parts of the Alps are now covered with fresh powder and happy skiers. But the Swiss side of the iconic mountain range had the driest December since record-keeping began over 150 years ago, and 2016 was the third year in a row with scarce snow over the Christmas period. A study published today in The Cryosphere, a journal of the European Geosciences Union, shows bare Alpine slopes could be a much more common sight in the future.

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Submitted on February 17th 2017 by Apolatia

In an amusing scene captured by Dianne Mitchell of Rumford, Maine, a rather persistent snowbound orange tabby named Milo who repeatedly scraped at the window to get at a squirrel in the snow on the…

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Submitted on February 21st 2017 by sjvn

The harsh winter cold has brought not only avalanches and flooding this year, but a rare bird not seen in Utah for close to 30 years. Utahns gathered in Mountain Green Feb. 9 after someone spotted the largest owl in the world, the Great Gray Owl, on the side of a road. Utah resident Amber Watkins-Olpin said she was driving to work in the morning and saw a group of people taking pictures and looking at something.

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Submitted on February 17th 2017 by robmonk

This video has been uploaded for use by Storyful's subscription clients with the permission of the content owner. To obtain a Storyful subscription, contact sales@storyful.com.

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Submitted on February 18th 2017 by TNY

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Submitted on February 21st 2017 by Appaloosa with 1 comments