MS-PS4-2
Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
- Physics
Giving Notre Dame back her unique voice
A 2019 fire robbed Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral of more than her roof. She also lost her voice. Now scientists are using acoustics to return her unique soundscape.
- Physics
Here’s how quantum mechanics lets heat cross a vacuum
Heat can move across a vacuum if the span is small enough. As in really, really small. In a new experiment, the gap was only a few hundred nanometers.
- Archaeology
Ancient Egyptian mummy tattoos come to light
A range of markings discovered on female mummies are challenging ideas about tattoo traditions in ancient Egypt.
- Materials Science
The future of crystal-based solar energy just got brighter
Researchers have upped the efficiency of layered solar cells that could be printed or painted onto surfaces. Now they are working to make them more rugged.
- Animals
Whales echolocate with big clicks and tiny amounts of air
Toothed whales may echolocate using bits of air that they recycle inside their heads to conserve both air and energy.
- Physics
Tests challenge whether centuries-old violins really are the best ever
Some centuries-old Italian violins are reputed to be the best ever made. Scientists tested that. Their data now show new instruments can sound at least as good — and sometimes better.
- Climate
Hotspots found for lightning’s superbolts
A nine-year survey reveals where and when the most energetic lightning strikes — and it’s not what scientists expected.
- Earth
Explainer: Earth — layer by layer
Explore the sizzling heat, unimaginable pressures — and some surprise diamonds — that sit beneath our feet. This is the side of Earth that you can’t see.
- Health & Medicine
Explainer: What is ultrasound?
These sound waves, which fall above the range of human hearing, are important in medicine, medical imaging and more.
- Computing
Fingerprints could help keep kids from dangerous websites
A teen develops a program that estimates age based on someone’s fingers
- Science & Society
Heating up the search for hidden weapons
Using an off-the-shelf camera and an innovative bit of software, a high-school student developed the means to inexpensively detect a hidden weapon.
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Protecting deer with high-pitched noises
After her uncle crashed his truck into a deer, this teen decided to find out if there was a sound that would drive the animals away from roads.
