All Stories by Trisha Muro
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PhysicsExplainer: Reflection, refraction and the power of lenses
The inner workings of microscopes, telescopes, eyeglasses and other lens-based devices rely on two important laws of optics.
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PhysicsExplainer: Kinetic and potential energy
Kinetic energy depends on an object’s motion; potential energy hinges on its position. The relationship between the two sits in a special balance.
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ChemistryExplainer: All about carbon dioxide
Animals and other life on Earth exhale carbon dioxide, which plants use for photosynthesis. But too much of this gas can perturb Earth’s climate.
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PhysicsExplainer: What is friction?
The force of friction always acts to slow things down. It depends on just two factors: the surfaces and how hard they press together.
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PhysicsExplainer: Radiation and radioactive decay
Like clockwork, radioactive forms of some elements shed parts of themselves as they attempt to become nonradioactive.
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PhysicsExplainer: Radioactive dating helps solve mysteries
Knowing the decay rate of radioactive elements can help date ancient fossils and other artifacts.
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EarthFossil-fuel use is confusing some carbon-dating measurements
Carbon-14 dating of recent artifacts will soon give scientists confusing results. That’s another price society pays for its reliance on fossil fuels.
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SpaceMysteries about the universe abound, from its beginning to its end
Scientists have a good understanding of the laws that make our universe tick. But they still don’t quite know how it began — or will end.
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SpaceIt all started with the Big Bang — and then what happened?
Scientists explain what really puzzles them about how our universe became what it is today — and what its future may hold.
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PhysicsCosmic timeline: What’s happened since the Big Bang
Energy, mass and the cosmos' structure evolved a lot over the past 13.82 billion years — much of it within just the first second.
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PhysicsExplainer: How the Doppler effect shapes waves in motion
The Doppler effect describes how waves are compressed or stretched when their source — or receiver — is moving.
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SpaceExplainer: All about orbits
A handful of rules can describe the route some object repeatedly takes around another in space. Calculating that path, however, can be quite complex.