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Inside NASA’s Contest to Develop the Space Food of the Future

Tucked in a quiet industrial park in suburban Ohio, an office building holds some of humanity’s future food solutions. In the lobby, glass panels line a wall, each highlighting a significant achievement in food-production history, from the advent of deep-frying to the invention of canning to the development of pasteurization. This timeline is a good introduction for what lies farther inside: a company that’s creating 3-D printed foods. When I visited in August 2022, that company—BeeHex—was just one of the 18 teams selected to compete in the Phase II of the Deep Space Food Challenge, a contest sponsored by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. The teams’ task: Create foods that will not only feed a crew of astronauts on...

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What is Brownian Motion?

Brownian Motion is the random movement of particles suspended in a liquid or gas. The movement is caused by particles colliding with each other. Brownian Motion is named after a botanist, Robert Brown, who noticed pollen grains moving around randomly in water under a microscope. Even though pollen grains are much larger than water molecules, there were still enough collisions for them to be moved. Robert Brown didn’t understand why the pollen grains he observed were moving, but he was the first scientist to document this kind of movement. It was Albert Einstein who explained that water molecules were moving the pollen grains, and Brownian Motion was used as evidence for the kinetic theory of matter. This video explains Brownian...

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Finding Common Cultural Ground With Your Kids

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Good morning. Before we turn to the Sunday culture edition of this newsletter, here are some of our writers’ most recent stories to help you make sense of the situation in Russia. Why didn’t the Wagner coup succeed? Prigozhin planned this. The coup is over, but Putin is in trouble. Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer reveals what’s keeping them entertained.Today’s special guest is Atlantic staff writer Franklin Foer. Frank is currently at work on a book about...

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Try This Homemade Slip N Slide For Summer Fun

Fill your summer with joy and laughter playing on this homemade slip n slide. Make this DIY summer project and make some unforgettable family summer memories right in your backyard. How To Make A Slip N Slide In 5-Easy Steps This homemade slip n slide will only cost you a fraction of its retail price! If you are looking to save some money while having some outdoor fun this summer, then try this DIY that will give the entire family endless hours of fun!   What You'll Need: drill 3/8 drill bit hammer 2 stakes 10 foot 2×4 6 Mill Plastic (10-foot x 100-foot) water supply dish soap or tear-free shampoo   How To Make A Homemade Slip N Slide: Step...

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Our Favorite Water and Sensory Tables for Children

Have I drilled it home yet that I’m totally all about water play? Yeah, we like our water fun around these parts. What can I say? It’s summer—we want to play outdoors and keep ourselves cool as cucumbers. And, so, a water table, while not quite as action-packed as a trip to the water park, still translates to tons of family-friendly fun. Water and sensory tables make great purchases for summer fun. Our favorite water and sensory tables will give your kids hours of unplugged play in your yard or on your deck.If your summer plans involve letting your kids experiment and enjoy unstructured play time, you're going to love these toys. Start your hunt on Craigslist or other pre-owned...

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