The First Woman to Run the Boston Marathon Did It Again

In 1967, though there were no official rules banning women from competing in the Boston Marathon, race director Jock Semple tried to rip 20-year-old Kathrine Switzer’s bib off her mid-race. Registering without suspicion by using only her first two initials and last name, Switzer (after the ambush) finished the marathon in just over four hours. This week, 50 years later, Switzer participated in the marathon …

Debunking a Long-Lasting Star Trek Theory

Mathematician James Grime has debunked a very popular Star Trek theory by using fairly simple math. The widely held belief that “redshirts” (those who work in engineering or security) die more often than any other character isn’t true, Grime says. While technically 10 gold-shirted, eight blue, and 25 red-shirted die in the series, that calculation ignores the fact that there are more redshirts than anybody …

Extracting Water From Thin Air

Even scorching desert landscapes have water molecules floating in the atmosphere. Until now, the technology required to extract them has required vast amounts of energy. But a scientific duo from MIT and UC, Berkeley has just prototyped a new machine employing an MOF, or metal-organic framework. Here, a thin MOF powder layer absorbs water vapor—and ambient sunlight then releases it into a basin within the …