Uncategorized
- Planets
Cassini spacecraft takes its final bow
Twenty years after it left Earth, NASA’s Cassini mission is about to end — with a crash into Saturn.
- Climate
Five portraits of Hurricane Irma’s record-breaking fury
A series of remarkable images capture Hurricane Irma’s power and might — and the lessons they can teach scientists.
- Physics
The quantum world is mind-bogglingly weird
At the smallest scales, particles are ghostly and ill-behaved. No one understands them, but that doesn’t keep scientists from trying.
- Physics
Explainer: Quantum is the world of the super small
The word quantum often gets misused. What does it mean? Think small. Really, really small.
- Animals
Poop-eating gulls can be pain in the butt for seal pups
The birds can harm baby fur seals as they try to dine on fresh parasites in the pups’ feces.
- Brain
Brains may need flexible networks to learn well
New data suggest that brain cells may learn best when they are able to easily make and break off communications with neighbors — or distant brain regions.
- Animals
Three simple rules guide fire ants in building towers
Fire ants build towers of ants to protect themselves during a flood. New research reveals the simple rules that guide how they do this, no foreman needed.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Capsaicin
This chemical is produced by pepper plants and gives them their hot flavor.
- Chemistry
Recycling urine may be a way to boost plant growth
A new chemical method makes nutrient-rich fertilizers from human urine.
- Animals
As trees come down, some hidden homes are disappearing
Animals such as frogs, toucans and possums live in tree hollows. But as people have cut down trees, a wildlife housing shortage has developed in some places.
- Chemistry
Meet the world’s smallest monster trucks
These DNA-scale nano-vehicles surprised chemists. The bonds that hold their atomic building blocks in place grip the wheels more strongly than anyone had expected.
- Animals
Camo might have helped this armored dinosaur avoid becoming lunch
An armored dinosaur the size of a Japanese sedan also wore camouflage, a new analysis of its skin suggests.
