All that rain drenching California this week came from an atmospheric river. A new rating scale would tell you how much water is fueling the system.

Researchers at Duke University have discovered that a perfect absorber of electromagnetic waves they described in a 2017 paper can easily be tweaked into a sort of “time-reversed laser” known as a coherent perfect absorber (CPA).

They’re bringing back the iconic forest through scientific brute force.

To create their glowing plants, engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) turned to an enzyme called luciferase.

Luciferase acts on a molecule called luciferin, causing it to emit light.

Another molecule called Co-enzyme A helps the process along by removing a reaction byproduct that can inhibit luciferase activity.

Circa 2012

---

In Colombia, the fossil of a gargantuan snake has stunned scientists, forcing them to rethink the nature of prehistoric life.

Modern models reveal an upper limit of 2 weeks.

A deep sea sponge belonging to the species Monorhaphis chuni can live up to 11,000 years.

Engineers at the University of California San Diego used a technique called spark-plasma sintering to create the new metallic glass.

They did this by placing powdered iron into a graphite mold and then raising the pressure it is under to 1,000 atmospheres.

They then zapped the powder with an electric current, heating it to 1166°F (630°C), causing it to bind together without ever becoming liquid.

These are some of the proposed prefixes for incredibly big and small numbers.