We see the devastating effects of climate change, from how super typhoons now ravage homes and establishments to how the ice at the Arctic is melting away at a faster rate than scientists would like. Believe it or not, climate change is real, and we might be running out of time to fight against it. Our problem has gotten so severe that the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) believes we may need to  invest in literally sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere to avoid climate change’s worst effects: 

There are multiple ideas for how it could be done — each with its own set of pros and cons. For example, we could suck CO2 out of the atmosphere and sequester it deep inside the Earth, but there are concerns that it could still leak out. We could also turn it into fuel, but doing so would ultimately mean we’re still burning carbon, so it’s essentially just carbon neutral, not carbon negative.

But lately, scientists and engineers have been mulling over a third option: Transforming the captured CO2 into limestone, which could then be used for a wide range of applications — from making concrete to rebuilding the world’s coasts.

Gaurav Sant, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UCLA, tells Digital Trends that the science is pretty simple.

“Think about high school chemistry. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is what you would think of as an acid, and the moment you react it with a base, which is something caustic or something that is alkaline, you’re going to produce a salt and water,” Sant says. “The salt that you produce is essentially a rock, a common example of which is limestone (calcium carbonate).”

Image via Digital Trends 

The Celtic knot is an intricate motif that can be seen in tattoos, decorations, and jewelry. Actually, some of you might have seen a design based on the motif without knowing that it is a Celtic knot. Did you know there are different kinds of Celtic knots? My Modern Met writes about the history and meaning behind the different variations of the detailed motif. Check the full piece here. 

Image via My Modern Met 

There might be hope for cold cases to be solved with the help of today’s technology. Such is the case of  Christine Munro, who was murdered twenty-five years ago. Munro was 37 when she was murdered in Redding on a summer day in 1995. Now fast forward to 2020, when a detective reviewing her case resubmitted Munro’s fingernail scrapings for analysis with DNA technology. The analysis yielded a match with that of James Watkins, a 42-year-old man serving a 14-year sentence in a Texas state prison for robbery: 

“In simple terms, Watkin’s DNA was under Christine Munro’s fingernails at the time of her murder,” Redding Police Chief Bill Schueller told a news conference Friday.

Watkins was flown from Texas to Redding and jailed on rape, kidnapping and murder charges.

Reports at the time of the murder say Munro's killer slashed her throat. The crime took place on a jogging trail in Redding along the Sacramento River.

In 1997, a convicted rapist falsely confessed to Munro's murder and there was insufficient physical evidence to tie him to the crime.

Over the years the case went cold.

Munro had four children and one of them thanked all those who help lead police to Watkins, KHSL-TV reported.

Image via Fox News 

Maybe traveling down this road will be good just to be alone and indulge in your feelings. Alternatively, this road could be the next setting for sad music videos! Route 50 is called the ‘Loneliest Road in America’, although ‘loneliness’ is subjective, the way the route crosses mountain ranges, a national park, and some ghost towns, some say that traveling down Route 50 makes them feel sentimental, lonely, or contemplative. 

Image via National Geographic

Familiar with the Harry Potter fanfiction ‘My Immortal’? No? I’ll be honest here and say you were spared reading that hell of a fic, but at the same time, how can you miss such a beloved Internet masterpiece? Red Bard takes her viewers into a full length discussion of the fanfiction’s plot and the mystery behind its author . If you’re curious as to what ‘My Immortal’ is, this video is a good way to learn more about it (if you don’t want to read the actual piece). 

Creators never stop trying to conceptualize and test new objects that might be the next big thing, whether it's in terms of sales or in terms of helping society. Chuck Hoberman, artist, inventor, and tinkerer continues to develop new materials and objects. Hoberman is now creating objects for the future, as Discover Magazine details: 

Which brings us back to that ruler and the objects to the left. They’re the future: An entirely new taxa of inflatable, origami-based structures that he’s asked me not to describe in detail, partly because they’re not published or patented yet, and partly because they’re not his alone. 

They’re the kernels of wild design projects with engineers, roboticists, computer scientists, an origami expert, mathematicians and even biologists. They run the gamut from soft robotics (how can we fold up bots that can help people in disaster areas anywhere?) to collapsible habitats (how can I pack an origami house into my backpack, and take it to the moon as a place to live?) to printable, inflatable, replaceable organs (how can I pack the most blood vessels into the least surface area?).

Image via Discover Magazine 

Leaks and rumors are all over the Internet. Whether it's about upcoming game releases, new consoles or gadgets, usually it’s spread by anonymous accounts in social media, and then people start talking. This time however, the company itself accidentally leaked the model themselves. Apple made this mistake in the latest beta version of iOS 14.3, as Forbes detailed: 

Spotted by 9to5Mac, Apple has added a new icon to the release’s internal system files showing an illustration of the first AirPods over-ear headphones. And the design has caught (almost) everyone out. 

Following leaks of an extreme minimalist design earlier this year from popular Apple tipster Jon Prosser, Apple’s new AirPods icon instead shows a much more conservative design. Prosser has expressed surprise at the discovery, noting Apple has used different placeholders in the past, though with headphones tipped to arrive in early 2021 the design will now be finalized and the time for placeholders should have passed. 

The reason I say “almost” everyone, however, is because Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman appears to have nailed it. Back in April, he said AirPods Studio would have “a retro look with oval-shaped ear cups that swivel and a headband connected by thin, metal arms” which ties in. Gurman also commented on 9to5Mac’s discovery pointing that this was “one of my better description jobs”.

Assuming Gurman is correct, Apple’s AirPods Studio will be a big departure for the company.

Image via Forbes 

We know that our world’s oceans are deep. Well, we have an idea of sorts that the ocean is deep, to the extent that we will drown if we can’t swim properly, or get lost in the deeper parts of the oceans during trips. But just how deep does the ocean go? This animation illustrates how far the depths of the oceans go. It’s a great perspective to look at. Also lowkey terrifying. 

(via Flipboard) 

Image screenshot via Flipboard

We usually do not want any disturbances when we work, especially now that many of us are working from home, we are not amenable to our family members disturbing us for no good reason. How do you drive that home when you have children? David Kuhl, a father of five from Florida might just have a solution. He came up with a great way to keep the kids out of his office during his work hours: 

David Kuhl, a father of five created the sign for a company halloween contest, according to Good Morning America.

Kuhl explained that he was trying to strike a balance between having the kids home and having to work from home. He showed his coworkers the poster during a Zoom meeting. Once he noticed that it got people laughing, he decided to then go ahead and post it on LinkedIn, where it gained the most traction.

He had put up the poster on LinkedIn at the end of October around lunchtime. He said by the time he woke up, it had over half a million views. The poster itself is hilarious. They are "rules for when dad is in a meeting." If they don't follow the rules then they will lose screen time for two days. There are answers to very common questions that kids ask. The answers to the questions include

"In the wash"

"Ask mom"

"No"

"Unless you are bleeding it is fine"

"Pieces of fruit"

Kuhl said that there was an overwhelmingly positive response to his poster, with the occasional troll who thought the "ask mom" wasn't a great answer. However, he and his wife laugh about it. He says they both joke around and tell the kids to either go ask their father or go ask their mother about whatever it is that they may be asking. His wife also stays at home and works as well.

image via Moms

There is no scientific reason or phenomenon behind this occurrence. It’s just pure cosmic coincidence, and a wonderful coincidence too! This week, seven planets (sorry Pluto, not you) in our solar system can be seen at various points in the day in our skies. Venus and Mercury are bright enough to see in the mornings, while Mars, Jupiter, Neptune and Saturn will be easier to see at night. If you’re interested in seeing all of the planets, check out CNN’s full piece here.

Image via CNN 

Meet the ClearMask, the first ever FDA-cleared, fully-transparent surgical mask that can be used in hospitals, clinics, schools, retail, hospitality and other settings. The mask was developed to help healthcare workers, teachers, and others to have less difficulty when trying to understand each other (since regular masks hide our lips and facial expressions). The mask offers a high level of protection for medical use in environments such as operating rooms, as Designboom details: 

‘after three years of research, development, and testing, we are thrilled to bring a human-centered mask to everyone who needs it, especially those who can benefit from improved visual communication, such as children, older adults, deaf and hard of hearing people, and those who do not speak the same language. the ClearMask is well-positioned to join the fight against the current pandemic,’ says allysa dittmar, president of ClearMask. 

to date, the company has provided the masks in bulk volumes, typically in the tens to hundreds of thousands. the consumer masks can now be purchased through ClearMask’s website at buy.theclearmask.com, starting at a box of 24 masks. the company has partnered with several distributors, including cardinal health canada, mckesson, oaktree products, and grainger to help get the masks out to as many people as possible.

‘regulatory clearance and mass production are two significant milestones in ClearMask’s mission to get the ClearMask out to as many people as possible,’ says aaron hsu, CEO of ClearMask. ‘this achievement is a testament to our company’s hard work and commitment to serving different communities in need during this time.’

Image via Designboom

We’d expect that in the 20th century, people would be more open to less traditional ideas, symbols, and techniques. The century opened its doors to the rise of artistic movements we know today – Expressionism and Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, Fauvism, Dadaism, Surrealism and Pop Art, among others. But the change and rise of these new movements weren’t initially welcomed with acceptance or open arms. Some were considered ‘controversial’ for the content some artworks depict or the artworks’ style. Check out the most controversial artworks of the 20th century here. 

Image via The Collector

We all know Claude Monet  from his magical paintings of landscapes. His artworks also played a key role in the development of the Impressionist movement during the 19th century, even though critics initially rejected Monet’s artworks. How did Claude Monet receive the love of the critics and enthusiasts all over the globe? Art News dedicates a feature article on the history of the painter for his birthday (November 14). 

Image via Art News 

Scientists drilling a hole through a glacier accidentally triggered an enigmatic type of flood. While it is a scary incident, it also gave the researchers a chance to study glacial floods. Scientists are still perplexed by how this type of flood occurs regularly at certain glaciers, and why they occur: 

On a field campaign to Iceland’s Vatnajökull ice cap in 2015, Eric Gaidos at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and his colleagues drilled a borehole that hit a body of meltwater encased within the glacier. Over the next five days, that pool drained through the borehole into the lake below Vatnajökull, causing a pressure increase beneath the glacier. When the pressure built up enough, a flood of icy water was released into the nearby Skaftá River.

Such an event could happen without human assistance, the authors say, if natural cracks in the glacier allowed water to drain into the underlying lake.

Image via Nature 

Listen, these crazy stunts are stupid. It doesn’t mean people will stop doing it for clout, though. This video of someone blowing substances into their Xbox Series X has gone viral. Well, to be exact, videos of people’s consoles overheating, with smoke flowing from the device. This has of course worried potential buyers of Microsoft’s next-gen console, but an unofficial Xbox Studio Twitter account has called out the videos as fakes: 

Apparently, all it takes is for someone to blow vape smoke into the console to pull off the effect.

Almost ironically, the revelation of how the “trick” worked resulted in even more people trying out this DIY Xbox Vape. The situation may have gone completely out of hand that Xbox finally made an official statement: Do not blow vape smoke into the console.

Image via Slash Gear