Energy
- Physics
Can you Manu? It’s the science-backed way to max your splash
Forget belly flops and cannonballs. Manu jumps — pioneered by New Zealand’s Māori and Pasifika communities — make the biggest blasts.
- Animals
Analyze This: Why the fastest creatures are neither tiny or huge
The “Goldilocks zone” for fast animal speed seems to depend on a body not being too small or so big it gets in the way of its own strength.
- Tech
Scientists Say: Agrivoltaics
This win-win technology means future farmers may produce both food and electricity.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Dark lightning
We don't see it, but rare gamma-ray lightning can bolt from stormy skies like regular lightning.
- Materials Science
Experiment: How much water is needed to cook pasta?
In this cooking experiment, let’s find out if we can save time, energy and resources by boiling noodles in less water.
- Animals
To clear loops, Sonic the Hedgehog must hit the right speed
Most animals don’t run through loops. Sonic would need the physics behind roller coasters and race cars to clear one.
- Math
Math reveals how skateboarders can ramp up their half-pipe power
To pick up speed, half-pipe skaters pump — move between crouching and standing — as they roll. A new study shows the fastest way to the top.
- Earth
Thunderstorms churn up a ‘boiling pot’ of high-energy gamma rays
A thunderstorm seen in gamma ray vision plays out as a complex, frenzied lightshow above the clouds.
- Animals
Weird? These bat toes can glow greenish-blue
Hairy bristles on the toes of Mexican free-tailed bats fluoresce under UV light. The reason is a mystery.
- Space
Scientists Say: Kugelblitz
A black hole made of pure light —or kugelblitz — may be possible, at least in theory. But in practice: impossible.
- Earth
As Yellowstone’s supervolcano slumbers, another big danger lurks
Superheated water beneath Yellowstone could fuel hydrothermal explosions with the force of an atomic bomb. And lessons from the past suggest they could happen today.
- Materials Science
Scientists Say: Semiconductor
Modern electronics, from cell phones to video games, work thanks to these conductor-insulator hybrids.
