What General Motors Did To Flint
Before its faucets ran brown, before its residents were poisoned by lead, before it was Murdertown USA, Flint, Michigan was Vehicle City.
Eighteen Million Americans Are Drinking Water That Isn’t Properly Tested for Lead
About six months ago, just as Flint began to acknowledge its lead crisis, a water testing expert from an EPA task force predicted that “every major city east of the Mississippi” was underestimating lead levels in their water. A big report from the NRDC now confirms that about 18 million Americans are living with lead…
How to Protect Your Drinking Water From Lead
After the full impact of the Flint water crisis was revealed, it was almost inevitable that more cities would start to see the same problems when it came to lead in their water supplies. Now it’s been proven that dozens of utilities are underreporting the amounts of lead in their water: 33 cities in the US have been…
Google Is Helping Flint Prioritize Which Lead Pipes Need to Be Replaced
In March, Flint, Michigan began the seemingly impossible task of replacing the pipes that delivered lead-poisoned water to its citizens. I say “impossible” because there’s no real way for the city to know with absolute certainty which pipes need to go. A team of data scientists from Google and the University of…
There's Lead In the Water of 350 US Schools, And That's Probably Only the Beginning
After Flint, it’s been disheartening to discover that lead contamination is far more widespread than originally thought. A new investigative report by USA Today claims that 350 schools and day cares across the country have tested above the EPA’s “action level” for lead content in water.
The Ambitious $55 Million Plan to Replace the Lead Pipes in Flint Will Only Take a Year
This morning, Flint’s mayor announced an ambitious plan to replace the damaged and dangerous drinking water infrastructure below the city’s streets—and work can begin as soon as next month.
What Happened In Flint Doesn't Mean You Should Stop Drinking Tap Water
Lead poisoning the drinking water of Flint is the worst possible disaster. It’s a breakdown of urban systems that could’ve been avoided. It’s an instance of smarmy politicians lying to their constituents. It’s one of the scariest stories I’ve had to write about in some time. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trust the…
Flint Mayor: Water Still Showing Lead Levels Beyond What Filters Can Remove
After lead poisoned the drinking water in Flint, residents received filters they were told would make their tap water safe. Now, tests over the last 24 hours are showing that lead levels in some homes are still too high for a filter to handle.
Flint May Be Ordered By a Federal Court to Replace Its Lead Pipes
The water contamination scandal in Flint has led to plenty of legal action, but new lawsuit filed today finally has some teeth. A coalition of advocacy groups allege that by switching drinking water sources, Flint officials violated the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, meaning a federal court could order Flint to…
Pouring Coca Cola into molten lead creates wild alien art
Coca Cola is delicious. It’s a causer of diabetes and a bringer of obesity but it is delicious. Turns out it’s also probably used by aliens to make art of their home planets. Check out what happens when you melt lead and then add that dark sugar water into the mix, it smokes and pops and goes wild but what’s left is a…
MIT Explains How To Turn an Old Car Battery Into a Working Solar Cell
There are over 1 billion cars in the world, and the vast majority of them use batteries made from lead. As lithium batteries replace these old timers, eventually there may be many of the lead suckers sitting in landfills. Which is why MIT wanted to find a way to reuse them—by turning them into a new kind of solar…
Pollution Made It To The South Pole Before The First Explorers Did
The first explorer to ever set foot on the untouched South Pole did so over 100 years ago, in 1911. Although the area may have looked pristine, it had already been contaminated by lead.
Uni-ball Kuru Toga Mechanical Pencil: Stays Sharp Forever
If I had to go back to high school math class again, the Kuru Toga Mechanical Pencil is the only pencil I'd take with me. Why? Because it has a twist and turn mechanism that automatically rotates its lead to keep a perfectly sharp point every time you write.
Incredible Earthlike planet has the density of solid lead
At first, the exoplanet 55 Cancri e didn't look all that impressive: just another large rocky planet circling its star every couple of days. But a recalculation of its orbit has revealed that it's the galaxy's densest known planet.
Bring Pleasing Visual Conformity to Cabling With the Rigid E-Line Cord
Turn your death-trap of precarious wiring into a design feature with E-Line. By placing a grooved, flexible exo-skin around the inner power cord, E-Line creates a semi-rigid cable you're able to spend hours obsessively tidying into a pleasing shape.
Snuggle Up to the Looming Nuclear Apocalypse with RST's Gamma Ray-Fighting "Miracle Material"
If Radiation Shield Technologies' Demron fabric pans out, maybe our dystopian, radiation-soaked future won't be so bad after all. At the very least, we'll be toasty-and fashionable too! RST says the fabric (available in full body suits, blankets, gloves and boots) protects against particle ionizing/nuclear radiation,…
Lead Being Outlawed Means Your Gadgets are at Risk
Small splinters that randomly occur in tin solder, which laces the insides of gadgets, usually result in circuits shorting out. NASA missions, pacemakers and energy plants have all failed at some point due to the phenomenon. Conservative estimates of the cost of such splinters, or whiskers as they are named, have…
Retro DJ Mixers Dying?
Allen & Heath make sexy mixers and a number of famous names, including Pink Floyd and the Who, have twiddled the knobs of more than one of their handmade consoles.
