The Shocking Truth About Electric Cars and Insurance
You’ve probably heard your parents (and everybody else) complain about insurance. And that’s fair, it’s expensive! Especially when it comes to electric cars, whose owners often pay higher more for insurance than drivers of more conventional cars. But why is that? Why are people being punished for trying to use less gas? Why does the cruel world continue to forsake us?!
Well, researchers investigated exactly that… the insurance thing, not the greater, overarching “cruel world” question. The team at a testing lab staged a crash at just 10 kilometers (or about 5 miles) per hour. Not exactly the crash that’d have you gripping your seat in a nail-biter of an action movie, but important for research. From the outside, the damage looked minor, but underneath, the high-voltage charging port had moved and some of its components had broken.
The problem was that the damaged charging components formed part of a much larger unit. So, instead of replacing one small broken piece, technicians would need to replace the charger and some of its cabling. One component alone was priced in the thousands, and leaving it out would render the car pretty useless.
It’s great that modern electric vehicles already have to meet high safety standards, but the concern is how expensive and difficult they can be to repair after relatively minor accidents. Experts say manufacturers need to design future EVs with repair in mind, protecting expensive components and making individual parts easier to replace. Seems easy enough… right?
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Late on Friday, Sept. 4, Indonesia's Anak Krakatau volcano began erupting, and it didn't stop for about 25 hours. It sent lava and volcanic ash up to 50,000 feet into the sky, which is almost 10 miles.
The ash drifted toward Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, and thickened the air so much that airports had to shut down. Nearly 3,000 flights were canceled or delayed, and hundreds of thousands of passengers were left stranded.
The ash affected people on the ground too. Residents found volcanic dust settling on homes and balconies. Health officials advised people to stay indoors and wear masks to protect their lungs, eyes, and skin.
Officials planned to use cloud seeding to clear the air. Cloud seeding is a way of changing the weather that helps clouds produce rain, which can wash ash out of the sky. In the end, a shift in the wind blew the ash away, and the air became clear enough for the airports to reopen.
The Hawk Fire started near Reno, Nevada, on Aug. 22 and burned for days. Evacuation orders stayed in place for more than a week. Firefighters didn't declare the fire 100% contained until Sept. 10. "Contained" means crews had built barriers all the way around the fire so it could no longer spread. While the fire burned, tens of thousands of people had to leave their homes, many with little more than the clothes they were wearing.
Emergency alerts told Reno residents to get out, even though no one could say when they'd be able to return or what shape their homes would be in.
Fighting a fire this big took the whole community. Evacuation centers gave people shelter, food, and donated clothing. Firefighters attacked the flames, helicopters dropped water, and crews strengthened containment lines. These lines are strips of land cleared of anything that can burn, so the fire has nothing to feed on.
Even once the fire was about 25% contained, strong winds could still spread it through the dry, easily burned plants. That's part of why getting people home took so long. Even after some residents were allowed back, around 40,000 people were still under evacuation warnings.
Picture a hedgehog on a hot summer day, and you might imagine it lounging on the beach in tiny sunglasses with a glass of lemonade. In reality, heat can make life tough for hedgehogs.
Hedgehogs are small, spiky mammals that live in the wild in parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, including the United Kingdom. They aren't found in the wild in North America. Hot, dry weather can cause them serious problems, like dehydration, parasites and trouble finding food. That's hard enough for any animal, but it's even harder for hedgehogs that are pregnant or raising their babies, called hoglets.
That's why one hedgehog rescue center was packed this summer, caring for more than 80 animals at once. It was the busiest June the center had ever seen.
In places where wild hedgehogs live, people can help without working at a rescue. They can leave out fresh water and dry kitten food. They should avoid milk, bread, grains, fruit and vegetables, which can make hedgehogs sick. As the saying goes, not all heroes wear capes. To a hedgehog, some of them leave out kitten food!
“Beautiful on the inside” may be weirdly appropriate for bugs, considering the 3D map of the male fruit fly brain and nervous system more closely resembles a museum-worthy mosaic or a bowl of fruity cereal than the tiny nuisance you’re used to seeing flying around your apples. Scientists recently created this colorful detailed map by slicing and analyzing every nerve cell with an electron microscope — that’s a microscope that uses accelerated electrons instead of visible light to produce images that can be both extremely magnified and incredibly clear at the same time.
The same team previously mapped a female fly brain a couple of years ago and compared the male and female brains to see that roughly 95% of their brain wiring was similar, while about 5% differed.
But those small differences make for some big differences in behavior, including courtship, aggression, detecting competitors, and producing a “love song” by beating the wings.
It's not news (to these scientists, at least) that just two genes were linked to these behaviors, but comparing these 3D maps helped them learn more about the connection between those genes and the specific brain circuits producing the behavior.
Researchers hope the same logic around connecting genes to brain wiring to behavior can eventually be applied to other animals and maybe even humans! This might help scientists investigate conditions with strong genetic influences, including schizophrenia and autism.
Late on Friday, Sept. 4, Indonesia's Anak Krakatau volcano began erupting, and it didn't stop for about 25 hours. It sent lava and volcanic ash up to 50,000 feet into the sky, which is almost 10 miles.
The ash drifted toward Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, and thickened the air so much that airports had to shut down. Nearly 3,000 flights were canceled or delayed, and hundreds of thousands of passengers were left stranded.
The ash affected people on the ground too. Residents found volcanic dust settling on homes and balconies. Health officials advised people to stay indoors and wear masks to protect their lungs, eyes, and skin.
Officials planned to use cloud seeding to clear the air. Cloud seeding is a way of changing the weather that helps clouds produce rain, which can wash ash out of the sky. In the end, a shift in the wind blew the ash away, and the air became clear enough for the airports to reopen.
The Hawk Fire started near Reno, Nevada, on Aug. 22 and burned for days. Evacuation orders stayed in place for more than a week. Firefighters didn't declare the fire 100% contained until Sept. 10. "Contained" means crews had built barriers all the way around the fire so it could no longer spread. While the fire burned, tens of thousands of people had to leave their homes, many with little more than the clothes they were wearing.
Emergency alerts told Reno residents to get out, even though no one could say when they'd be able to return or what shape their homes would be in.
Fighting a fire this big took the whole community. Evacuation centers gave people shelter, food, and donated clothing. Firefighters attacked the flames, helicopters dropped water, and crews strengthened containment lines. These lines are strips of land cleared of anything that can burn, so the fire has nothing to feed on.
Even once the fire was about 25% contained, strong winds could still spread it through the dry, easily burned plants. That's part of why getting people home took so long. Even after some residents were allowed back, around 40,000 people were still under evacuation warnings.
Picture a hedgehog on a hot summer day, and you might imagine it lounging on the beach in tiny sunglasses with a glass of lemonade. In reality, heat can make life tough for hedgehogs.
Hedgehogs are small, spiky mammals that live in the wild in parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, including the United Kingdom. They aren't found in the wild in North America. Hot, dry weather can cause them serious problems, like dehydration, parasites and trouble finding food. That's hard enough for any animal, but it's even harder for hedgehogs that are pregnant or raising their babies, called hoglets.
That's why one hedgehog rescue center was packed this summer, caring for more than 80 animals at once. It was the busiest June the center had ever seen.
In places where wild hedgehogs live, people can help without working at a rescue. They can leave out fresh water and dry kitten food. They should avoid milk, bread, grains, fruit and vegetables, which can make hedgehogs sick. As the saying goes, not all heroes wear capes. To a hedgehog, some of them leave out kitten food!
“Beautiful on the inside” may be weirdly appropriate for bugs, considering the 3D map of the male fruit fly brain and nervous system more closely resembles a museum-worthy mosaic or a bowl of fruity cereal than the tiny nuisance you’re used to seeing flying around your apples. Scientists recently created this colorful detailed map by slicing and analyzing every nerve cell with an electron microscope — that’s a microscope that uses accelerated electrons instead of visible light to produce images that can be both extremely magnified and incredibly clear at the same time.
The same team previously mapped a female fly brain a couple of years ago and compared the male and female brains to see that roughly 95% of their brain wiring was similar, while about 5% differed.
But those small differences make for some big differences in behavior, including courtship, aggression, detecting competitors, and producing a “love song” by beating the wings.
It's not news (to these scientists, at least) that just two genes were linked to these behaviors, but comparing these 3D maps helped them learn more about the connection between those genes and the specific brain circuits producing the behavior.
Researchers hope the same logic around connecting genes to brain wiring to behavior can eventually be applied to other animals and maybe even humans! This might help scientists investigate conditions with strong genetic influences, including schizophrenia and autism.