When we typically think of an ice age, the first thing that comes to mind is often prehistoric humans hunting wooly mammoths or battling saber-toothed tigers. Technically, an ice age is a prolonged period of colder climates when polar and mountain ice sheets are unusually extensive across the earth’s surface and on geological timescales, they happen regularly....
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Imagine an exoplanet with clouds so shiny, they make it literally the shiniest exoplanet ever discovered by humans. Meet planet LTT9779b, which according to a recent study in the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics is covered in metallic clouds. Located 262 light-years from Earth, planet LTT9779b has an atmosphere made of silicates and metals like titanium....
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Children in Western countries have long been taught the virtues of recycling. Because plastic products never decompose on their own, kids are instructed to dispose of them in specially-designated bins so they can be reused. The thinking is that if plastic products are continuously repurposed instead of being simply thrown away, it will lessen the plastic pollution crisis currently choking off life on this planet....
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In Greek mythology, Narcissus is a vain young man who falls in love with his own reflection. Clinically speaking, narcissistic personality disorder is the figurative equivalent of that famous story: A narcissist places themselves on a high pedestal and engage in toxic behavior as a result. Hence, narcissists are typically chronically stubborn, entitled and envious, and/or oversensitive to criticism....
Originally posted on salon.com
Currently, there is so much plastic junk in the ocean that a large garbage patch that is essentially an amorphous island twice as large as Texas that has been formed in the Pacific. When plastic isn’t clogging up our seas, it is creeping into our bodies: Microplastics, or particles five millimeters or less across or in length, have been found in human blood and breastmilk....
Originally posted on salon.com