Animals
Radioactive animals don’t glow — but do show the power of radiation
Wild species exposed to nuclear contamination help show how radiation affects living things — including its risks to people.
Matter and Its Interactions
More Stories in Matter and Its Interactions
- Physics
Chopping an onion? Sharp knives can keep its juice out of your eyes
Slow and steady cuts with a sharp blade, video shows, can reduce the pain-inducing spray of tiny onion-juice droplets by more than 100 feet!
- Archaeology
Knotted strands of 500-year-old hair tell a surprising story
Used in a device called a khipu, the hair reveals the owner’s simple diet. Those data now suggest that in Incan society, even some commoners kept records.
- Chemistry
Behold the world’s thinnest pasta
Made from white flour and formic acid, the nanofibers average just 370 nanometers across. That’s two-hundredths the thickness of a human hair.
- Physics
Weirdly, mayo can help study conditions ripe for nuclear fusion
Yes, mayo. The texture of the sandwich spread is perfect for mimicking what a fusion fuel capsule goes through when blasted with lasers.
- Tech
Bioelectronics research wins top award at 2024 Regeneron ISEF
Three grand-award winners each took home at least $50,000. Hundreds more teens shared more than $9 million in prizes at the international competition.
- Environment
To limit pollution, new recipe makes plastic a treat for microbes
Microplastics made from fossil fuels take centuries to disappear. But the plant- and algae-based plastic can break down in weeks to months.
- Tech
Lego bricks inspired a new way to shape devices for studying liquids
Inspired by Lego building blocks, the approach could enable design of adaptable tools to study how fluids move through very small spaces.
- Physics
Experiment: Make your own cents-able battery
Make your own ‘voltaic pile’ with pennies and nickels, and find out how many coins will make the most electricity!
- Materials Science
Scientists Say: Semiconductor
Modern electronics, from cell phones to video games, work thanks to these conductor-insulator hybrids.
