The QuirkyScience articles below do not focus on pitiful human efforts to save the environment. They are about the environment itself, both our local and our global environments. We need to realize we are not separate from our surroundings, but are part of our environment. Let’s take a close look, then, at some of the quirky interactions we here share.
Quirky Environment
- Are Leaves Alive?
- Where Does Light Go?
- Buttercups Glow at Night
- Polymeric Water Clusters
- Mysterious St. Elmo’s Fire
- Why is Soapstone Slippery?
- Devils Dice – What Are They?
- Novel Wastewater Treatment
- Natural Snow Removal – How?
- What Causes Washboard Road?
- Transition of Ice to Water to Vapor
- Eastern Tent Caterpillar Dissertation
- Give that Old African Violet a ‘Facelift’
- Algae – When Life Hands You a Lemon
- Rare Earth Metals – 17 Special Elements
- What Is It Good For? The Osage Orange
- Clawing: Evidence of a Bear’s Presence?
- Why Electric Home Heat is So Expensive
- The Four Fundamental Forces of Nature
- Comparing Hemoglobin and Chlorophyll
- How the Electric Eel Produces Electricity
- Which Weighs More – Wet Air or Dry Air?
- I “Discover” The Chestnut Weevil Maggot
- The Devils Walking Stick – Aralia Spinosa
- Growing African Violets – Misconceptions
- Ammonia Plus Bleach – Why a Bad Choice
- Why Sand Filtration to Treat Wastewater?
- The Northern Catalpa in Southern Virginia
- The Dandelion – What Is It Good For? A Lot
- Using Buffalo, Cow, or Camel Dung for Fuel
- Spring Daffodils – Grim Hurricane Reminders
- Motor Oil Degradation in Automotive Engines
- Do You Notice Very Tiny Wildflower “Weeds”?
- Puffballs, Earthstars, Jelly, and Bracket Fungi
- Discovering Dragon’s Arum in Nelson, Virginia
- Honeybee Swarm Caught on Film in Spring 2016
- Pilewort the Wildflower – Weed: Practical Value?
- Purpose of the Plume Poppy (Macleaya Cordata)
- Differences Between Spider Silk and Cocoon Silk
- Black Walnut: A Beauty and a Beast Among Trees
- What Is It Good For? The Blood Sucking Mosquito
- The Curious, Ever-Circling, Bee-Eating Robber Fly
- Cedar Apple Rust Gall – A Troublesome Look-Alike
- Diamond Dust Not From Diamonds – What’s That?
- FBI “Sheiks” Visit a Virginia Superfund Cleanup Site
- The Truck Jake Brake – Quiet, Helpful Technology?
- Important Differences between Lime and Limestone
- Tree Burls and Burl Wood: So Ugly They’re Beautiful!
- Vinyl Alcohol, Tautomerism, and Earth’s Atmosphere
- Bricks and Rocket Stoves from Clay, Dung and Straw
- Why All Helium Has Not Escaped Earth’s Atmosphere
- Our Year-Round Indoor Red Wiggler Earthworm Farm
- What Factors Caused the 1840’s Irish Potato Famine?
- Cement Production Aggravates Carbon Dioxide Levels
- Maximize Carbon Dioxide Greenhouse Gas Production
- Odor Chemistry: Lady Beetle Vs. Marmorated Stink Bug
- Turpentine Pine Tree Resin Products: Why So Valuable?
- Lotus Effect: Vibrations and Superhydrophobic Behavior
- Initiating a Fission Chain Reaction: What is Critical Mass?
- Fireworks Chemistry – Start with a Bang, Add Some Color
- What is Peat Moss? How Could It Harm the Environment?
- Why You Are Allergic to Cats and They Are Allergic to You
- Stemonitis Chocolate Brown Slime Mold – A Health Threat
- Hazardous Black Ice – One Source You May Not Anticipate
- Where Does the Spit on My Plants Come From? Spittlebugs
- Why Water Coolant Is Used in Internal Combustion Engines
- Spring Webworms, Fall Webworms – What’s the Difference?
- Donkeys, Burros, Mules, Jackasses – What’s the Difference?
- I Discover a 1935 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Benchmark
- Bracken Ferns: Why and How Toxic to Grazing Farm Animals?
- Does Pineapple Weed or Wild Chamomile Grow in Your Lawn?
- What Is It Good For? Poison Ivy and Other Toxicodendron Species
- Perfluorooctanesulfonates – Beneficial, Yet Pervasive, Problematic
- Dutchman’s Breeches – Miniature Flowering Jewels of Early Spring
- Gutta Percha: From Underwater Cables to Golf Balls to Dental Work
- Corncob Destructive Distillation: Hemicellulose to Xylose to Furfural
- Surprising Insights on Global Warming by Meteorologist Jon Plotkin
- Jewelweed and Its Special Ingredient Lawsone – Poison Ivy Begone?
- Chimera African Violets – What are They? How Do I Cultivate Them?
- Fly Ash for Concrete: Lowers Cost, Rids Waste, Aids the Environment
- Can Stagnant Leaf Infusions Decrease Mosquitoes Near Your Home?
- Manufacturing Polyurethane Involves Diisocyanates: How Dangerous?
- Have You Ever Seen Beautiful Gray-Green, Tipped-in-Red, Soldier Moss?
- Black Knot Tree Fungus on Fruit Trees – Development and Health Issues