As cool as cucumbers: Give them enough heat and moisture and they’ll reward you, says Monty Don

This has been a good year for cucumbers and gherkins (essentially a warty-skinned, small cucumber ideally suited to pickling) – but then most years are for me. I claim no expertise or special skill because cucumbers are reliably easy to grow as long as you give them the conditions they love, and that almost invariably … Read more

Munch’s The Scream fading due to moisture, analysis shows

Moisture in the air is triggering the degradation of the 20th century masterpiece The Scream by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, scientists say. An international team used the world’s biggest X-ray to analyse paint micro-flakes from The Scream, which is kept in the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. Cadmium sulphide, used as a pigment in the … Read more

Moisture is causing colours of The Scream to fade, study claims

Moisture in the air is triggering the degradation of the 20th century masterpiece The Scream by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, scientists say. An international team used the world’s biggest X-ray to analyse paint micro-flakes originating from The Scream, which hangs in the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. Cadmium sulphide, used as a pigment in the … Read more

Scientists generate electrical current from moisture in the air

How to create electricity out of thin air: Scientists generate electrical current from moisture in the air and say it could soon be used to power smart watches ‘Air Gen’ device consists of a thin film of conductive nanowires made of protein   Fine pores between the nanowires generate a current between two electrodes Air Gen … Read more