By Richard Brill Everybody knows what "greasy" means, even if only from that coating on your hands after downing a bucket of the Colonel's finest. But rendered animal fat is a different kind of grease from that used for lubrication.
By Richard Brill Listening to commercials, one would think that chemicals are harmful and should be avoided. Ads for carpet cleaning, household products, toiletries, pet foods and other products claim to be chemical free.
By Richard Brill Coral reefs are among the most complex ecosystems on the planet. Often called "rain forests of the sea," coral reefs occupy less than 0.1 percent of the world ocean surface. Their low abundance belies their great importance.
By Richard Brill Behold the ubiquitous gecko climbing a vertical wall in the blink of an eye or scurrying across the ceiling in gravity-defying dashes. For at least 2,000 years people have wondered what made geckos' feet stick, because the footpads do not feel sticky to the touch.
By Richard Brill Research has debunked the notion that we use only 10 percent of our brain, firmly filing it in the urban myth category.
By Richard Brill Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) as a means for generating electricity has been around for a long time. French physicist Jacques Arsene d'Arsonval proposed it in 1881. One of his students, Georges Claude, built a 22-kilowatt experimental system at Matanzas Bay, Cuba, in 1930.
By Richard Brill In an atmosphere that is 99 percent nitrogen and oxygen, it is easy to forget about the minor constituents that comprise the air we breathe.
By Richard Brill The rare earths are a relatively abundant group of 17 elements that are so chemically similar that 15 of them occupy a single row and column in the periodic table. They occur as oxides, or 'earths' in the old chemical jargon, and they are not really so rare.
By Richard Brill Cryogenics is the study of the very cold, how to produce extremely low temperatures and the behavior of materials at those temperatures.
By Richard Brill Data suggest that it may be dangerous to hold a cellphone while driving, but does using a cellphone cause cancer?
By Richard Brill Beginning with selection of the first astronauts in 1959 before human spaceflight operations began, NASA asked the military services to provide a list of personnel who met specific qualifications.
By Richard Brill Three-D printers create three-dimensional objects by laying down layer after layer of the printing medium only a few thousandths of an inch at a time.