Matter and Its Interactions
- Materials Science
Silk-based microneedles may help treat diseased plants
Engineers have invented silk microneedles to inject medicines into plants. One day farmers might use drones to dart their sick plants with meds from the air.
- Materials Science
Astronauts may be able to make cement with their own pee
Lunar dust and a compound found in urine might one day be used to build future dwellings on the moon, a new study finds.
- Physics
Physicists foil classic oobleck science trick
Cornstarch and water — best known as oobleck — solidifies upon impact. Researchers used a new technique to make it stay liquid.
- Animals
This tube worm’s glowing slime may help sustain its own shine
Snot oozed by a marine tube worm can glow for up to 3 full days. The secret of how this works might lead to long-lasting lights that glow on and on.
- Life
Planets with hydrogen skies could harbor life
Microbes can live in a hydrogen atmosphere. This points to new space worlds that host alien life.
- Chemistry
Ancient recipes helped scientists resurrect a long-lost blue hue
Led by medieval texts, scientists hunted down a plant and used its fruit to make a blue watercolor with mysterious origins.
- Animals
Traces from nuclear-weapons tests offer clues to whale sharks’ ages
Traces left by nuclear-bomb testing in the 1950s and ‘60s can help researchers learn how old a whale shark is.
- Climate
Did rain put the Kilauea volcano’s lava-making into overdrive?
Scientists share strongly conflicting opinions about why Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano spewed an overabundance of lava in 2018.
- Physics
Science offers recipes for homemade coronavirus masks
New studies provide data on what types of mask materials protect best against the virus that causes COVID-19. They also point to the value of a really snug fit.
- Chemistry
COVID-19 victims could breathe easier with these innovations
Feared equipment shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic have prompted research teams to develop novel technologies to help oxygen-starved lungs.
- Chemistry
Rock Candy Science 2: No such thing as too much sugar
Making rock candy at home takes a lot more sugar than you might think. Why? This experiment will show you why.
- Environment
Here’s one way to harvest water right out of the air
Need water but you have no access to rain, lakes or groundwater? Materials known as metal-organic frameworks could be used to slurp that water from the air, new data show.
