A visit to a 7,000-year-old tree launched photographer Rachel Sussman on a quest: to visit and document the oldest living organisms on earth. A decade later, she’s collected her shots in a family album, The Oldest Living Things in the World. Ira speaks with Sussman and science writer Carl Zimmer about why and how some lives become so long. 

See a slideshow of some of the oldest living things at http://scifri.me/1tOgIym.

Documenting the Oldest Living Things in the World

Ryan Rykaczewski describes one of the most massive migrations on the planet, driven by the sun. Image by Tintinnidguy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 

#ExplainTheSun  - The Largest Migration on The Planet

Once, there was the ordinary incandescent light bulb. It shone brightly, but wasted much of the energy put into it as heat. Then came the compact fluorescent. And as costs have dropped, consumers have increasingly been switching to light-emitting diode (LED) technology for many lighting applications, in an ongoing search for a more efficient bulb. Now, in work published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, researchers report that nanophotonic devices may be able to breathe new life into old incandescent technology. Marin Soljačić and Ognjen Ilic, two authors of the study, explain how they’ve been able to “recycle” some of the incandescent bulb’s wasted heat and re-emit it as visible light, boosting efficiency.

For the Lowly Incandescent Bulb, a Ray of Hope

Science, technology, and other cool stuff from public radio's Science Friday. It's brain fun, for curious people. From WNYC Studios.

Documenting the Oldest Living Things in the World

SciFri

Recent comments

Little Greebe

Related tracks