مستوى مبتدئ

What's better than a scoop of ice cream on a hot summer day? How about one that doesn't melt into a sticky puddle within minutes? That, believe it or not, could soon become a reality thanks to the ingenious scientists at the Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee....

While vending machines have a bad reputation generally, they are particularly frowned upon in schools. That's because most are filled with foods that are deemed unhealthy for both kids and adults. However, no one will have any objection to Jet Blue's vending machines. That's because they dispense free books!...

On Wednesday, August 19th, ten-year-old Florida resident Kaley Szarmack was wading in knee-deep ocean waters at a Jacksonville beach, when she experienced a sharp pain in her right leg. Thinking that a crab was holding on to her, the young girl looked down only to see multiple lacerations on both sides of her leg. Soon after, Kaley noticed the dorsal fin of what appeared to be a three-foot-long shark darting away from the crime scene....

In the wee hours of June 15, the audience gathered at the Huily Island Harbour in Quanzhou, China, watched in awe as a giant balloon filled with 6,200 cubic meters of helium slowly made its way up. Attached to it was a 500-meter (1,640-feet) wire ladder. This of course was no ordinary ladder, but an art installation created by Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang....

Earlier this year, Marianne Winkler, a retired postal worker and her husband were vacationing on the North Sea island of Amrum, Germany, when they stumbled upon a bottle with a message inside! And it was no ordinary letter either, but one written by an Edwardian British scientist studying undersea currents....

On August 13, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti along with officials from the water department watched as the last 20,000 "shade balls" rolled their way into the city's largest in-basin water reservoir. The release marked the final phase of the project that involved covering the 175-acre lake with 96-million four-inch black plastic balls. Their purpose? To provide shade and improve water quality....

When Ying Ying walked up on the stage at a recent audition of the Amazing Chinese Show, the judges were not sure what to expect. After all, she is just five-years-old. So you can only imagine their surprise when the poised girl began showcasing her unique "hypnotizing" skills on some unsuspecting animals....

At first sight, Mcity near Ann Arbor, Michigan looks just like any other U.S. town or city. However, look closer and you will notice that the buildings are merely facades and the sidewalks, eerily empty. In fact, the only things you will encounter are cars zipping around, many with no humans at the helm. Welcome to the world's first car city - a 32-acre vehicle haven created by the University of Michigan to test new automotive technology....

Can't decide between vacationing in the hot and arid deserts of Dubai or the freezing Arctic tundra? Then you may want to head to Stockholm's Arlanda Airport where an innovative climate portal allows travelers to experience worldwide weather with just a touch of a button....

Food waste is a growing concern. According to a recent report by the United Nations Environmental Programme, consumers in industrialized countries waste as much as 222 million tons of food annually. To put it in perspective, that is almost equivalent to the net food production of sub-Saharan Africa. Now the residents of the small Spanish town of Galdakao have devised a simple solution to help reverse the trend - a community refrigerator!...

Every year about this time, stargazers start to get excited about the Perseids, the biggest and most spectacular of all meteor showers. The "shooting stars" are already streaming through our skies at the rate of about a dozen an hour. However, from August 11 to 14, the pace will accelerate to almost a hundred an hour, making them fairly easy to spot even without a telescope. The best part is that unlike last year, there will be no "super" supermoon to steal their thunder....

To the novice listener, the Australian Chestnut-crowned babbler's sweet melodies may sound like any other birdsong. However, to ornithologists it is a series of sounds which when combined, forms a unique bird-like vocalization or what we refer to as language. The discovery is exciting because the tiny birds are the first nonhuman species known to communicate using language....

How do Londoners react when they see a stranger in distress? Do they ignore the person's plight or rush to help? That is what the folks at Action Productions, a newly established ethically driven creative agency recently tested on the streets of the bustling city....

Our eyes tear up for various reasons. The most common, known as basal, are involuntary tears that are continuously being released to keep the cornea moist. Then there are reflex tears that are shed when eyes are exposed to irritants like dust or onion vapor. And finally, emotional or psychic tears that pour out when one is experiencing extreme happiness or grief....

After bidding farewell to his job as a designer for Ralph Lauren in 2011, Foster Huntington embarked on a nomadic lifestyle, traveling around the country in a Volkswagen Syncro Camper Van. To make ends meet, he worked as a photographer and blogger and even published a book called Home is Where You Park it, about his unusual lifestyle. But all good things have to come to an end. By 2014, the young man was ready to settle down in a more permanent home....

July 4, 2015 was America's 239th birthday. To celebrate the occasion, residents hosted barbecues, sought out the closest fireworks shows and . . . watched in emotions ranging from total awe to horror, as the contestants of Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest tried to outdo each other by devouring copious amounts of hot dogs in ten short minutes....

Any designer worth his/her salt can create a chic wedding gown using silk, satin or chiffon. But to craft one from a few rolls of toilet paper takes some talent. That, however, is exactly what the ten finalists of the 11th Annual "Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest" showcased on June 17, 2015....

On June 21st, the 30,000 visitors that attended the , a six-month-long Universal Exhibition that is currently going on in Italy, were in for a special treat - a slice of the world's longest pizza! Measuring 1.59545 kilometers, or just under a mile, the delicious pie that extended across 800 tables handily surpassed the previous record holder - a 1.1415-kilometer-long pizza made by Spanish chefs in 2011....

Some people like to grow fruits, others prefer to focus on vegetables. Then there is Gavin Munro, who is partial to cultivating furniture. No, he is not a scientist with a crazy idea, but an ordinary man who is living his dream of growing "green" chairs!...

Most people think about donating blood. However, very few actually do it. According to experts, though almost 50% of the US population can be counted as potential blood donors less than 10% ever give. What's worse is that even the most consistent ones donate an average of just three to four times during their lifetime. Though these statistics pertain to the US, the situation is similar worldwide. Now the officials in Swedenare trying to to reverse the trend with the help of modern-day technology....

Recreation Vehicles (RV's) or mobile homes are an excellent way to travel around the world and experience life like a local. It is no wonder that they are getting increasingly popular not just with vacationers but also retirees and seasonal workers. The only drawbacks are that these gas-guzzling homes on wheels are not very environmentally friendly and also somewhat restrictive. That's because they depend on the grid for water and electricity....

The human tendency to gravitate towards people that are similar to them starts early. In school-age children, the behavior called homophily, or "love of the same" often has to do with how others dress or act. Adults tend to form groups based on social stature, professions or personalities. Turns out that forming cliques and shutting out those that are "different" is not just a human trait. South Africa's Chacma or Cape baboons display similar tendencies as well!...

Latte foam artwork, which is believed to have originated in has been around since the 1980's. But while many have mastered the art of sketching beautiful flowers and hearts, very few can compete with coffee artist extraordinaire, Michael Breach. The -based 'painter' who has been called the Da Vinci of barista coffee art can (literally) whip up any image that is presented to him - All he needs is a toothpick and some foam!...

To amateurs, the 1856 British Guiana One-Cent Magenta stamp that measures a mere 2.5 cm by 3.2 cm may appear to be like any other ancient postage stamp. However, for philatelists this octagonal scrap of paper that bears an illustration of a three-masted ship is a one-of-a-kind treasure, for which an avid collector recently paid $9.5 million. According to Sotheby's, the One-Cent Magenta is not just the world's most expensive stamp sold at an auction but also its most valuable object by weight and size!...