Women picking the second flush of tea leaves at a plantation in Jorhat, Assam, India (August 30, 2011). | Photo by iStockphoto/Danielrao
TO INFINITY AND BEYOND: After five years of space travel, NASA's Juno spacecraft entered Jupiter’s orbit late Monday night. The craft is 100 percent solar powered.
COCONUT PROOF: Researchers at the University of Freiburg's Plant Biomechanics Group in Germany are working to construct earthquake-resistant buildings that are designed to mimic the three-layered structure of a coconut. The tropical fruit’s microscopic ladder-like structure can dissipate energy and withstand falls from nearly 80 feet.
FREEDOM FLIGHT: A trained bald eagle returned to the Los Angeles Zoo after it escaped from Dodger Stadium during a pregame show on the Fourth of July. Journalists documented the eagle on social media as it soared (patriotically) past its handler and through an open fence in center field.
CANCER OFF THE COAST: Cancer found in California sea lions might shed light on the disease's impact on humans. Recent years have shown an increase in the number of free-range animals that have contracted cancer due to overexposure to industrial toxins, viruses, and carcinogens.
REVOLUTION IS BREWING: Female tea pickers in the southern Indian state of Kerala are fighting economic injustice by mobilizing outside the confines of male-dominated unions to demand livable wages.
Nana is an editorial intern at Sierra. She is a rising junior at Berea College, where she studies English. In her spare time she enjoys listening to podcasts, pretending to be vegan, and reading poetry.
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