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Planet

Bill Nye launches experimental satellite that runs on solar power, sails around space

Wikipedia / LightSail2

Sometimes the most advanced forms of technology are also the simplest. The LightSail 2, a satellite conceived by Bill Nye's non-profit Planetary Society, has proven that a satellite can orbit the Earth fueled completely by the sun. The concept, dreamed up 400 years ago by Johannes Kepler, has finally become a reality.

The LightSail 2 doesn't run on solar panels but instead solar sailing – an entirely different concept. It's kind of like a sailboat, but instead of using wind to make it move, it's powered by photon particles from the sun that bounce off of a sail made from a large reflective surface. The photon particles give it a "tiny push no stronger than the weight of a paperclip," Nye told CNN.

RELATED: 15 breathtaking images from space, made possible by NASA

Photons (aka light particles) have no mass, however they do provide momentum and can be used to push the satellite through space. "It's counter-intuitive, it's surprising, and to me it's very romantic to be sailing on sunbeams," Nye said.

The LightSail 2 was completely crowdfunded. Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2015, which raised over $1.2 million for the project. All in all, the project cost $7 million, which took 10 years to collect. 50,000 supporters from 109 countries contributed, getting the most valuable return on investment of them all.

"The type of return on investment these people get is just knowledge," Planetary Society COO Jennifer Vaughn told CNN. "It's capability. That's the kind of returns these people are looking for."

RELATED: Woman breaks down how astronauts pee and poop in space in viral thread

As of now, Nye said there are no plans to do a third light sail. However, the success of the LightSail 2 could mean the technology gets incorporated into larger projects, such as those that extend beyond the orbit of the Earth. Nye wants to see the LightSail 2 complete exploratory missions such as those that monitor the sun and provide warning of solar flare-ups.

"Solar sailing is in its infancy, but it may become a game-changer," Nye said in an interview with Digital Trends. "We'll soon be able to send our solar sail spacecraft to all sorts of destinations in our solar system, and perhaps to another star system one day."

The LightSail 2 will orbit the Earth for a year and you can track its progress via a new dashboard here.

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Bill Nye has a plan to make NASCAR better than ever. But can it work?

NASCAR is right up there with football and baseball when it comes to sports Americans love.

Professional stock car racing is fast, thrilling, and a serious moneymaker. In 2012, NASCAR earned $3 billion in sponsorship money, more than double that of the NFL.

Breakneck speed and passionate fans are the cornerstone of this wildly popular sport.

But! Here's an idea: What if those loud, gas-guzzling stock cars were replaced with electric cars?

Take it easy, Tony Stewart. It's just an idea.

Think I'm nutty for even suggesting it? Don't blame me. It's all Bill Nye's idea. In a January 2016 op-ed for Aeon, the TV science guy and beloved bow-tie wearer proposed that NASCAR cars make the switch from gas to electric engines.

Nye, a Southerner and lifelong stock car enthusiast, says he is disappointed by the lack of innovation in racing and suggests that, instead of clinging to outdated modes of technology, NASCAR should embrace the future and make the transition to electric cars.

Bill Nye rocking his traditional bow tie and hand gestures. Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images.

"Despite the excitement, NASCAR kinda breaks my heart," Nye writes. "It’s a celebration of old tech." He wishes NASCAR was more like NASA, where the focus is always on the future and innovation.

"I wish NASCAR set up Grand Challenges to inspire companies and individuals to create novel automotive technologies in the way NASA does to create novel space technologies," he says. He even has a plan, a vision, for what NASCAR would look like with electric cars:

"It’s easy for me to imagine an electric race car that completely outperforms a gas-powered competitor. Instead of refueling a gas tank, the electric race car pit crew would change battery packs. The car would be designed to roll up a ramp. The battery pack would be disconnected and dropped out. Moments later, a fresh battery pack would be lifted into place, and off our electric racer would go with time in the pit comparable to what it takes to refuel and service a conventional gas-powered race car."

While this image sounds idealized, the real question is whether it's even feasible. Can electric cars even compete with their gas-powered counterparts?

Yes. Yes, they can.

Electric vehicles are already on track to compete with NASCAR.

NASCAR vehicles are built for speed. They have large, finely tuned engines that can take in huge amounts of air. They run without mufflers and catalytic converters so nothing slows down the exhaust. All the other systems on the car are built to operate at high speeds and temperatures.

All of these factors, along with a skilled driver, allow NASCAR vehicles to get anywhere from 800 to 940 horsepower and go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in about 2.9 seconds.


Jeff Gordon races during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 in November 2015. Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images.

As Nye points out, the Tesla Model S, a luxury electric car, is capable of producing 530 horsepower and goes from 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds.

It's not built to perform like a race car and weighs in about 1,000 pounds heavier than most stock cars, but initial tests make it clear that the Model S and other electric vehicles have potential for racing success.

The Tesla Model S chillin' like a villain in a showroom. Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images.

While electric vehicles can compete with gas-powered vehicles, making the transition across NASCAR wouldn't be easy or affordable.

The speed and power required by the average NASCAR race car does not come cheap. One team, Joe Gibbs Racing, builds engines that cost around $80,000 a piece. One of those engines won't even get you through the nine-month NASCAR season. Not even close. Due to high speeds and punishing conditions, it only takes one or two races before serious engine maintenance or replacement is required.


Crew members for Jimmie Johnson work after a crash during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.

Electric vehicles use motors powered by large batteries instead of fuel. While a fuel engine only lasts a couple of races, that's still better than the battery life of electric cars, which would need to have new battery packs installed during races because their range is 270 miles under traditional conditions.

While prices have fallen sharply since 2007, the cost of electric vehicle batteries is still between $300 and $450 per kilowatt hour. To be on par with gas-powered vehicles, researchers say that price would need to fall to around $150 per kWh, a milestone that's expected to be more than five years away.

For their part, NASCAR has taken a few major steps to offset the hefty emissions of their current cars. The 43 cars in the 2015 Daytona 500 used an estimated 5,375 gallons of gas. However, the cars use a biofuel blend made from corn that cuts emissions by 20%; since 2009, NASCAR has planted 370,000 trees, enough to offset their national series racing carbon emissions for the next 40 years.

Representatives from NASCAR and conservation organizations plant a tree for NASCAR's Tree-Planting Program to Capture Carbon Emissions at Michigan International Speedway. Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR.

Nye also predicts the influence NASCAR's adoption of electric cars would have on the consumer market and the economy.

While still years away from feasibility, a transition like this could give alternative vehicles and the sport of NASCAR racing a serious boost.

Imagine watching dozens of souped-up electric cars race around the track. Nye believes it would inspire fans to seriously consider electric cars for their own needs.

"The market for electric cars would go crazy. Manufacturers could not produce them fast enough," Nye estimates. "We could convert our transportation system to all-electric in less time than it took to go from horse-drawn to horseless carriage, 20 years maybe."

Though Nye is a font of optimism, he may have a point. Race fans are notoriously loyal and passionate. One market research firm reported 40% of fans are willing to switch brands to buy NASCAR-branded or sponsored products. This transition could be the boost EVs need.

NASCAR stopped releasing attendance data in 2012, but many signs point to declining numbers. And while it is still popular, TV ratings for televised races have dipped as well. Perhaps an innovative transition like this would inspire fans old and new to give the sport another look.

Fans watch the NASCAR Xfinity Series Hisense 200. Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images.

Critics will say Nye's plan for an EV NASCAR will never work. But imagine for a moment if it does.

Consider the innovation an idea like this begets, the emissions it could eliminate, the good habits it may inspire. Ambitious? Yes. Feasible? Maybe. Either way, the avenues for opportunity are enough to get anyone's motor running.

Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR.

Family

America's favorite science teacher Bill Nye explains how your dreams work.

You know emojis have taken over when scientists use them to explain how things work.

In a new series from Mashable, Bill Nye, America's favorite science teacher takes a look at the science of dreaming.

When you turn off your alarm clock in the morning, your day is just beginning. You're groggy. You're tired. You hit snooze like a million times (if you're me). But you're awake.

Your brain, on the other hand, never went to sleep. It was busy working the overnight shift.

We've all been there. Image via iStock.

Sometimes you wake up and your dreams from the night before are so vivid. Sometimes they're just straight up bizarre. And sometimes you can't recall them at all.

The average person dreams about four to six times a night, so whether or not you remember them, if you're sleeping, your brain is busy dreaming.

Basically, it's always up to something. One brain would never walk up to another and be like, "Hey brain, what's up?" and receive an "Oh, not much" in response. It'd be more like ... "EVERYTHING IS UP! ALL THE TIME! I'M A BRAIN!"

Or to put the beautifully complex behavior of the brain simply...

Bill Nye has found the perfect emojis to explain just what the heck your brain gets up to at night.

GIF via Mashable Watercooler/YouTube.

Basically, neurologists say your brain can be found in three states:

1. Your brain is AWAKE!

That's your brain RIGHT NOW! That's why you're reading this! And getting lost in Wikipedia rabbit holes and getting distracted by the Internet and living your life. I can't even explain it more because it's so obvious! You're awake! And your brain is too!

She's awake! GIF from "30 Rock."

2. Your brain is in a rapid eye-movement (REM) cycle.

This is a fun one. This is when things start to get weird and dreamy. This is the part of your sleep sleep cycle where your eyes start to move rapidly (ha! rapid eye movement! get it??) and your body goes through many physiological changes. Your limbs become limp and your breathing becomes irregular. This, believe it or not, is the perfect condition for dreaming.

When you're in the REM state, your imagination runs wild. GIF via Mashable Watercooler/YouTube.



3. Your brain is in the non-rapid-eye movement (NREM) cycle.

Non-rapid eye movement doesn't sound as fun because it's considered dreamless sleep, but it takes up more of your life than REM. So you should get to know it.

About 80% of your sleep takes place in NREM. This is when your breathing and heart rate are slow and regular and you are pretty still. This is most likely not the time when you are talking in your sleep or rolling around stealing the covers from your partner. Which they definitely appreciate, by the way.

Word of the day: extrastriate. GIF via Mashable Watercooler/YouTube.

Nye briefly touches on this, but humans aren't the only ones who experience dreams. Animals likely do too.

Most mammals experience rapid-eye movement, so "it is reasonable to suppose that animals have something like what we call dreams," Patrick McNamara, director of the Evolutionary Neurobehavior Laboratory at Boston University, told National Geographic. That's pretty cool to think about.

Scientists are busy discovering more about how the brain works in humans and in animals.

From the amount of sleep disorders faced every day to the effects smartphones may have when you're trying to get some shut-eye, we're giving scientists plenty of material to work with.

While we wait to learn more, just try to get a decent amount of sleep at night. Netflix will be there in the morning. And besides, you're clearly awesome at dreaming, so DREAM BIG.

Here's Bill Nye to explain more about your dreams:

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Heroes

Environmental anguish getting you down? Bill Nye and Arnold Schwarzenegger have some advice.

'Deniers, quit denying — and we can all get to work and change the world.'

True
The Wilderness Society

Bill Nye is a very sad Science Guy.

Our climate is changing, and the planet is in danger. The science that lends Bill Nye his nickname — the thing he's dedicated his life to — is the only thing that can save us.

Unfortunately, there's a small but incredibly vocal minority who refuse to yield to facts — and whose stubborn resistance has already done massive damage to the planet we call home.

What's a bow-tied educational entertainer to do?


Sad Bill Nye is sad. All GIFs via " National Geographic."

Easy: enlist the aid of Dr. Arnold Schwarzenegger, world-renowned psychologist.

Wait what?!

That's the delightful setup for a recent episode of National Geographic's "Explorer."

If you don't have 45 minutes to watch the whole thing, below are the highlights of how Arnold guides the Science Guy through those famous "five stages of grieving" for our man-made planetary disaster. (But don't worry — there's a happy ending, just like the real fifth stage!)

1. Denial

Ignorance is bliss, so Nye travels to Florida on a quest to learn from the most masterful of those who reject mainstream climate science. How are they able to live such happy lives, blind to the painful, glaring reality of the disastrous future on the near horizon?

Nye speaks with Florida state Rep. Mike Hill, who basically sticks his fingers in his ears and says, "LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU" when Nye presents him with evidence of global warming. Also, did you know that government employees in the state of Florida aren't even allowed to say the words "climate change?"

2. Anger

In Alberta, Canada, big oil companies are physically forcing themselves onto protected land and drilling for tar sands — which are both environmentally hazardous and economically impractical.

Nye joins the frontlines of the fight alongside the activists and protesters who are screaming for a change. Because, hey, if someone came in and permanently ruined your home and then turned around and tried to charge you for it, you'd be pretty pissed, right?

Spoiler alert: Yup, they're pissed. But a few small grassroots efforts can't stand up to the combined might of Big Oil all by themselves.

3. Bargaining

There has to be a middle ground, right? A truce or a sacrifice we can make to appease the carbon-producing corporations and also save the planet at the same time ... right?

Not so much. As the Science Guy finds, every time we try to find a compromise, carbon emissions still come out on top. Unless we make a unilateral change across the board and bring an abrupt end to fossil fuels, we're only delaying the inevitable.

4. Depression

When we're depressed, we sometimes feel like we're drowning, waves of misery crashing all around us until the pressure is too much to fight and we just stop swimming.

For the people who are already dealing with the effects of the changing climate, that's not a metaphor.

In this section, the Science Guy visits South Pacific islands and American coastal towns to see how the rising water levels and chaotic patterns are ravaging the homes of real people. The truth is ... not so pretty.

5. Acceptance

After a heartbreaking conversation with ecologist Guy McPherson, the Science Guy becomes the Whiskey Guy. With so many barriers in the way of a solution, he has no choice but to turn to his old friend Jack Daniels for solace.

But wait! If we truly accept these three important facts, things will actually look up:

  1. Climate change is real.
  2. It's happening now, and it's getting exponentially worse.
  3. And there's a still chance to make it better.

And that science that Bill Nye has dedicated his life to? That's what's going to help us.

"There's enough energy in most places — wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal — to run the whole world. What we need is to DO IT. We need to get started," the Science Guy said.

That's great news! Let's start listening to it!

You can make a difference right now! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to sign this petition to stop risky off-shore oil drilling in Australia — and help shield our planet from catastrophic climate change.

After you're done with that, you can watch the full episode of National Geographic's "Explorer" online — it's well worth* your 45 minutes!

*And not just for Arnold's corny puns.

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