Grist List
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The highest low temperature ever recorded: 107 degrees
Not that I was under any illusions that Death Valley, Calif., is a temperate place to live, but this is nuts: The overnight LOW on July 11-12 was 107 degrees F. That ties for highest-recorded daily minimum. (The previous 107-degree night was last year, in Oman.)
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Watch the formation of an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan
These images from NASA’s Earth Observatory show Greenland’s Petermann Glacier calving an iceberg — watch the lower right quadrant of the image to see the split go from a hairline crack to a visible break. The resulting iceberg is twice as big as Manhattan.
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Reusable coffee cup collapses to fit in your pocket
Switching from disposable to reusable coffee cups lets you avoid a ton of trash — but it often means you’re left carrying an empty reusable coffee cup, which can’t be thrown away and is cumbersome to cart around. It’s a First-World problem, sure, but why have problems you don’t need to? The 16-ounce Zip Cup […]
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Boy, I sure could go for some battery-powered air conditioner pants
Is that a tiny air conditioner in your pants, or do you just feel lukewarm about me? These cargo pants from Japan have a built-in battery-powered fan that sits in an exterior pocket, blowing cold air on the outside of your thigh. This is maybe not the most effective option, since ideally you want to […]
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City takes your collected trash, gives you fresh food in return
A growing number of cities in Central and South America are giving residents what may be the best deal ever made: You give us trash, and we give you food.
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Bus driver catches 7-year-old girl when she falls from a window
Keyla McCree, an autistic 7-year-old, pushed a panel out of the new air conditioner in her Brooklyn apartment and climbed through it, out a third-story window. But she doesn’t even have a scratch, thanks to New York bus driver Steven St. Bernard, who lives in the same apartment complex. St. Bernard managed to catch Keyla […]
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‘Weed dating’ is like speed dating, but dirtier
I don’t know what you all look for in a mate, but if one of those qualities is “a willingness to trade farm labor for the possibility of romance,” you might skip speed dating and go for “weed dating.” The AP explains: Typically, speed daters meet at a bar or restaurant and switch conversational partners […]
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16-year-old scientist could turn Egypt’s plastic problem into a biofuel boom
What have you done for your country lately? Sixteen-year-old Azza Abdel Hamid Falad has figured out a way to make Egypt $78 million worth of biofuel each year. The key: an inexpensive catalyst that will turn plastic into fuel.
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In 2012, 90 percent of record temperatures were record highs
According to this chart from Climate Central, record lows are about to be an artifact of the past. This year, 90 percent of daily record temperatures in the lower 48 states were record highs. In the absence of global warming, you’d expect a 50/50 ratio between record highs and record lows.
