All Stories by Ron Cowen
- Space
Cool Jobs: Probing Pluto
The New Horizons mission captivated the world as it flew by Pluto. Here are some of the people who made that possible.
- Physics
Explainer: Locating a gun with sound waves
Recording the sound of a gun from three microphones can help scientists pinpoint the weapon’s location.
- Physics
Boom! Sounding out the enemy
Armistice Day marked the end of the Great War. But what arguably won the war was acoustics — the science of sound. It allowed Allied troops to home in on and rout the enemy.
- Materials Science
Explainer: Temperature and electrical resistance
Higher temperatures mean more energy and more motion. In contrast, cold means slow moving molecules.
- Space
Profile: Looking for life beyond the solar system
Planetary scientist and astrophysicist Sara Seager is a leader in the search for signs of life on planets beyond our solar system.
- Physics
How science saved the Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower was an engineering masterpiece. But Parisians initially thought it too ugly to let stand for more than 20 years. So Eiffel made the tower a bastion of science. And that would soon ensure that the structure was too valuable to tear down.
- Tech
Fun facts about the Eiffel Tower
Here are some details of what it took to design, build — and what it now takes to maintain — this icon of the Paris skyline.
