
Category: futurism – Page 1,092



UNESCO: Galapagos Islands
These actively volcanic islands are home to fascinating creatures found nowhere else on Earth, like marine iguanas and giant tortoises. https://on.natgeo.com/2xatIdd


Mexico City Keeps Sinking As Its Water Supply Wastes Away
The ancient Aztecs first picked the spot. They built their city atop the huge lakes that filled this valley, leaving the natural freshwater supply intact around them. The city flooded back then too, but the Aztecs, probably the last civilization to properly manage this watershed, built a system of dikes to control the problem.
The “historic mistake” kicked in around the 1600s, when Hernándo Cortés and his band of conquerors arrived. To make room for their expanding empire, over a few hundred years, they slowly but surely drained all the valley’s lakes.
By the 20th century, long after Mexico’s independence from Spain, the fresh surface water was mostly gone and the hunt for new sources had taken over. Hundreds of miles of pipes now bring in about 30 percent of the city’s water needs from faraway rivers and lakes. The rest comes from the valley’s vast underground aquifer.


8,000 people evacuated and teenager dies amid 70 blasts and fires in Boston
The sheer scale of a series of gas explosions which ripped through three Boston neighbourhoods and killed a teenager became apparent on Friday as it emerged 8,000 people had been evacuated.
Some 70 separate fires, blasts and gas odours were reported during the incident, in which 18-year-old Leonel Rondon was killed by a falling chimney.

Study Suggests Probiotic Bacteria and Superbugs Can Produce Electricity
Scientists have discovered that hundreds of bacterial species are capable of producing electricity and could very well be co-opted to create “living batteries.”
While researchers have known that bacteria found in exotic environments like the ocean floor are electrogenic, a new study published in the journal Nature marks the first time scientists have uncovered bacteria interacting with humans are also electrogenic.
These bacteria range from the sort that cause diarrhea to the ones that ferment yogurt. Many fill the human gut, and understanding how these bacteria develop electricity-producing capabilities may reveal how they infect humans — or why they keep us healthy.
