These stunning mermaid photos may change how you look at plastic.

Photographer Benjamin Von Wong is determined to make people care about plastic pollution, but he knew he needed to make a big splash to get their attention.

"All I knew was that plastic pollution was a boring topic and I had to find a way to make it more interesting," he explained on his blog.

Inspired by the knowledge that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, Von Wong came up with an ingenious idea: He'd create a sea of plastic.

Keep Reading
pollution recycling art water photography ecology oceans humans mermaids plastic seas benjamin von wong
Heroes

James Gaines explains: 4 epically wrong myths about the HPV vaccine.

America is a bit behind on the HPV vaccination trend. I'll explain why that's a problem.

Remember when I explained how polio isn't really a thing anymore in the U.S.?

A polio victim in 1947. Photo by Sonnee Gottlieb/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

That's because we invented and then distributed vaccines to as many people as possible. Today, polio's gone from a modern scourge to a hazy shadow, infecting fewer than three dozen people in 2015. And even with a recent set back in Nigeria, we're incredibly close to making polio a thing of the past.

Keep Reading
health kids cancer science technology children medicine girls diseases youth hpv humans boys vaccines human papillomavirus hpv vaccine cervical cancer genital warts immunization
Family

4 minutes of silence can boost your empathy for others. Watch as refugees try it out.

We could all benefit from breaking down some of the walls in our lives.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a place on Earth with more wall-based symbolism than Berlin, Germany.

But there, in the heart of Germany's capital city, strangers sat across from one another, staring into each other's eyes. To the uninitiated, it may look as though you've witnessed some sort of icy standoff. The truth, however, couldn't be more different.

This was about tearing down walls between people.

Keep Reading
community refugees syria compassion empathy germany understanding brain humans psychology behavior helping eye contact
More