183161464
submission
alternative_right writes:
Most studies showing that houseplants remove pollutants share a fundamental design feature: small, sealed chambers with artificially high concentrations of pollutants introduced as a single high dose. A plant is placed inside the chamber, concentrations of pollutants are measured over time and a removal rate is calculated. This design works well for comparing plants to each other. It works poorly for predicting what happens in your home.
The critical missing variable is what building scientists call the air exchange rate. This is how quickly outdoor air naturally replaces indoor air through gaps, walls and ventilation systems. In a real building, this constant dilution is already doing the heavy lifting on pollutant concentration. When a 2019 study modeled plant performance against real-world air exchange rates, it found you would need between ten and 1,000 plants per square meter to match what a building's passive ventilation already achieves.
So the scientifically defensible answer is: houseplants can remove some pollutants, but they are not an effective standalone air-cleaning solution for homes. That does not mean the earlier studies were "wrong." It means their results were often overextended into everyday settings where the physics of indoor air are very different.
183152112
submission
alternative_right writes:
A new twin study suggests your genes may play a bigger role in your future success than your upbringing. Researchers found that IQ, which is largely genetically influenced, strongly predicts education, career, and income. Even twins raised in the same household diverged based on genetic differences. The findings hint that life outcomes may be more hardwired than many people expect.
183121404
submission
alternative_right writes:
Plant seeds can sense the vibrations generated by falling raindrops and
respond by waking from their state of dormancy to welcome the water,
new research shows.
183112032
submission
alternative_right writes:
Physicists are rethinking one of quantum mechanicsâ(TM) biggest puzzles: how fuzzy possibilities become definite reality. New research suggests that spontaneous âoecollapseâ processesâ"possibly linked to gravityâ"could subtly blur time itself.
183107930
submission
alternative_right writes:
A startup south of Austin is using robots to build homes out of clay pulled directly from the ground â" a new approach aimed at lowering costs and changing how houses are built.
183094516
submission
alternative_right writes:
Former NASA engineers with California-based Sonic Fire Tech found that using sound waves can snuff out blazes and potentially be used to stop another Pacific Palisades inferno.
In order for flames to burn it needs three things, oxygen, fuel, and heat. The technology works by targeting oxygen molecules using low-frequency sound waves that vibrate them, stopping the fire from growing.
âoeSound waves vibrate the oxygen faster than the fuel can use it, and break the chemical reaction of the flame,â Remington Hotchkis, Chief Commercialization Officer at Sonic Fire Tech told The Post.
182989112
submission
alternative_right writes:
Researchers working with data from the Internet Archive have discovered that a third of websites created since 2022 are AI-generated. The team of researchersâ"which includes people from Stanford, the Imperial College London, and the Internet Archiveâ"published their findings online in a paper titled âoeThe Impact of AI-Generated Text on the Internet.â The research also found that all this AI-generated text is making the web more cheery and less verbose.
181869626
submission
alternative_right writes:
A new technology has been proposed that could fundamentally solve the issue of smartphones overheating during high-spec gaming or extended video streaming. Researchers at KAIST have discovered the principle of processing signals using the minute vibrations of magnets (spin waves) instead of electrons. This method significantly reduces heat generation and power consumption while enabling instantaneous frequency switching within the several GHz range. This breakthrough is expected to pave the way for smart devices with less heat and longer battery life, as well as ultra-low-power, high-speed computing.
181811606
submission
alternative_right writes:
Flight data shows several aircrafts taking off from Tikkakoski in JyvÃskylà at around 7.30am. The subsequent radar images indicate that at least four of the flights went on routes that resembled the shape of a penis.
The Air Force confirmed to IL at the time that the pilots involved were students on the reserve officer course, adding that the cadets would be subject to "disciplinary" consequences.
181711304
submission
alternative_right writes:
On a recent Tuesday morning, as his parents were driving him to the federal prison in Connecticut where he'll be locked up for the foreseeable future, 20-year-old Matthew Lane sent a text message to ABC News.
"It's extremely sad, and I'm just scared," he wrote.
Barely a year earlier, while still a teenager, he helped launch what's been described as the biggest cyberattack in U.S. education history — a data breach that concerned authorities so much, it prompted briefings with senior government officials inside the White House Situation Room.
181709972
submission
alternative_right writes:
According to the audit from privacy search engine webXray, 55 percent of the sites it checked set ad cookies in a userâ(TM)s browser even if they opted out of tracking. Each company disputed or took issue with the research, with Google saying it was based on a âoefundamental misunderstandingâ of how its product works.
181709690
submission
alternative_right writes:
We are pleased to share that we have successfully demonstrated the ability to increase lucidity in dreams.
This critical milestone opens the door for our devices to ship soon.
181680412
submission
alternative_right writes:
The researchers found that problematic social media use consistently predicted subsequent increases in depressive and anxiety symptoms. Specifically, when individuals reported social media habits that were harder to control than their usual baseline, they were likely to develop greater symptoms of mental distress later on. When comparing different people, those with higher average use also exhibited higher average distress.
The researchers found that poor sleep acts as a mediator in this relationship. In scientific terms, a mediator is a middle step or pathway that explains how one event causes another. The findings suggest that compulsive social media use leads to poor sleep, which then triggers increased depression and anxiety.
Insomnia symptoms proved to be a stronger mediating factor than general sleep quality. This suggests that specific, severe sleep disruptions play a larger role in mental health decline than just having an occasionally restless night. The researchers noted that delayed bedtimes driven by a fear of missing out likely trigger a cascade of neurobiological changes linked to negative moods.
181405256
submission
alternative_right writes:
The CIA used a futuristic new tool called âoeGhost Murmurâ to find and rescue the second American airman who was shot down in southern Iran, The Post has learned.
The secret technology uses long-range quantum magnetometry to find the electromagnetic fingerprint of a human heartbeat and pairs the data with artificial intelligence software to isolate the signature from background noise, two sources close to the breakthrough said.
181209510
submission
alternative_right writes:
What do plants, toads, and mushrooms have in common? They can all produce psychedelic substances â" and now their powers have been combined in one plant, like a trippier Captain Planet.
In a wild first, scientists have taken the genes these organisms use to make five natural psychedelics and introduced them into a tobacco plant (Nicotiana benthamiana), which then produced all five compounds simultaneously.
