Get ready to witness a sky full of homemade rockets at Thailand’s annual Bun Bang Fai Festival in Ubon Ratchathan! From music and dance to spectacular rocket launches, this event brings together a tight-knit community of rocket enthusiasts.
This annual festival is a celebration of creativity and community, as local villages and communities go head-to-head in a rocket-building competition. While the quest for victory is undeniably thrilling, there’s a deeper purpose behind the spectacle. Each year, the participants come together with the shared hope of summoning much-needed rain for their agricultural endeavors.
One family, in particular, takes center stage in this rocket-making adventure. Meet Niyom Butprom and his daughter Tarn, who generously invite the folks from “Great Big Story” into their world, revealing how the art of crafting rockets not only ignites their passion but also brings their family closer together.
In the realm of these rocket makers, the sky truly is the limit.
In 2020, Laura Gao hoped to visit her birthplace, Wuhan, to see her grandparents. COVID caused her to cancel. How have grandpa and grandma fared? She says she’s "walking backward" toward the sun.
The world is covered with plastic pollution. That breaks down to become microplastics—tiny bits of plastic smaller than 5 mm. We know that it isn’t healthy to find these bits of plastic all over the planet (and in our bodies) but there isn’t much research on how this is going to affect mammals. A new study published this month in the International Journal of Molecular Science has tried to understand the long-term health impacts of this phenomenon and its findings are worrisome.
Coastal Animals Are Thriving on Plastic Pollution Out in the Pacific Ocean | Extreme Earth
Researchers at the University of Rhode Island exposed mice to different levels of microplastics via their drinking water to research the impacts on behaviors and how the plastics build up in their bodies. Researchers observed that the microplastics accumulated in the tissue of multiple organs, including those outside of the digestive systems of the mice. Jamie Ross, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Rhode Island who was involved in the study, said that researchers were surprised to see how much microplastic had accumulated over time.
“We expected to see the microplastics in the feces of the animal, that wasn’t altogether surprising,” Ross told Earther. “Then we found them deep inside liver cells, spleen, [and] kidneys. Not just the center of the digestive tract, but actually in the tissue of the digestive tract.”
Because the plastics were found in organs including the liver, spleen, and brain, it meant that the many bits of swallowed microplastics had entered the bloodstream. This is what allowed the microplastics to make their way into organs outside of the digestive tract.
The team of researchers also looked at behavioral changes in mice that had steadily ingested microplastics, versus those that did not and those with lower levels of exposure. After three weeks of drinking microplastics in their water, the mice were placed in something called an open-field test. They explored a low-lit chamber for 90 minutes and their spontaneous movements were monitored.
“They don’t [usually] hang out waiting to be scooped up by a predator…they feel more protective along the sides,” Ross said. “We look at that type of behavior to understand: Are they going around the outside of this chamber? Are they going into the center?”
The mice that had higher exposures to microplastics in their water were more likely to be out in the open of the “field” environment compared to mice that were not exposed and those that had lower microplastic exposures. These mice had more erratic movements and traveled longer distances in the artificial field. This was especially notable in older mice. The differences in behavior were alarming, especially because the mice intentionally ingested the microplastics for only three weeks.
When the mice were studied, researchers also noticed inflammation in their brains. They also recorded a decrease in a glial fibrillary acidic protein, which is also known as GFAP. This is a protein that supports cell processes in the brain. Lower levels of this protein are associated with early stages of some neurodegenerative diseases including mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, Ross said. The team hadn’t expected this finding, and they intend to conduct future research to further understand the role of microplastics in neurological disorders and disease.
“We want to understand the lifecycle of the microplastics in the body… understand what their fate is, once they’ve entered into the body,” Ross said. “And we want to understand how plastics may change the ability for the brain to maintain brain homeostasis.”
Ross hopes that this recently published work can be combined with other anti-pollution efforts to phase out unnecessary plastic items. “We need to rethink what kind of plastics we use, especially the single-use plastics that are not necessary for our environment, and for our health,” she said.
The achievement marks the first time an artificial intelligence system has been able to regularly beat humans in a real-world competition and could lead to better drones in the future.
WASHINGTON — The United States is making $12 billion available in grants and loans for automakers and suppliers to retrofit their plants to produce electric and other advanced vehicles, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters on Thursday.
The Biden administration will also offer $3.5 billion in funding to domestic battery manufacturers, Granholm said.
For the advanced vehicles, $2 billion of the funding will come from the Inflation Reduction Act which Democrats passed last year, and $10 billion will come from the Energy Department’s Loans Program Office, Granholm said.
Speeding grants and other subsidies to fund conversion of existing auto plants to build electric vehicles could help the White House blunt criticism from automakers and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union over proposed environmental rules aimed to help usher in the EV era.
The UAW has warned that such a rapid change could put thousands of jobs at risk in states such as Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. Shawn Fain, the UAW president, has campaigned to save a Jeep factory in Belvidere, Illinois, that Stellantis has put on track to shut down. The automaker has left open the possibility that the factory could get a new product with government aid.
The CIA wants to share what it knows about world space programs. Some of what it knows, anyway.
The United States Central Intelligence Agency, better known as the CIA, has released a new entry in its World Factbook that catalogues the programs and milestones of space agencies around the world. Over 90 countries and the European Union are represented in the new Space Programs section of the agency’s factbook, spanning from Algeria to Zimbabwe.
A CIA spokesperson told Space.com that, due to the increased visibility of space programs around the world, there is a need for the agency to provide “sound, reliable background information” for use by students of all ages, journalists, academics or anyone else looking for a “deep dive into a country and its space program.”
The Space Programs factbook includes how much each nation spends on its space program, based on available spending estimates and budget information. The resource also includes brief listings on individual countries’ key activities, both historical and current.
All of the information in the new factbook section is unclassified and publicly available, and has been gathered together from open sources. Still, it might be surprising to some readers to learn which nations do, in fact, have a space program, the CIA spokesperson added. Nicaragua, for example, a country not commonly associated with spaceflight, pledged to spend over $250 million on a communications satellite with Chinese funding in 2013, according to the factbook.
The new Space Programs section is the first new appendix added to the CIA World Factbook since 2021. Its addition coincides with the 80th anniversary of the factbook’s predecessor publication.
The agency’s spokesperson said the CIA’s Space Programs appendix is a “living document” that is expected to be updated weekly, but the agency hopes to be able to include more frequent updates in the future.
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During his visit to Japan, Youtuber Cash Jordan opted for a novel experience – a 90 square feet micro-apartment in Osaka, rented at $40 per night. While not the smallest he’s encountered, it marked his inaugural stay in such tight quarters. The apartment was thoughtfully furnished, offering all the essential comforts. Its prime location in the bustling heart of Osaka meant easy access to arcades, shops, and a variety of restaurants, making it the perfect spot for an adventure-packed stay!
Later, Jordan transitioned to a slightly larger micro apartment spanning 120 square feet, which came at a price of $60 per night. He found this unit to be a potential solution to housing challenges in the US, provided such units could meet legal requirements.
