Chemistry
- Chemistry
Explainer: What is chirality?
Chiral molecules are mirror images of each other. They might not seem all that different — but can have drastically different effects in medicine, materials and more.
- Climate
As winters warm, athletes must cope with harder snow and tricky ice
Ice arenas and artificial snow now dominate the winter Olympics. Athletes there — and everywhere — may need to adjust how they train and perform.
- Materials Science
‘Stenciling’ tiny gold particles gives them new properties
Decorating nanoparticles with other chemicals could give them useful properties for medicines, textiles and more.
- Chemistry
Scientists finally know why ice is so slippery
It’s not because ice heats up and then partially melts. Rather, ice changes at the molecular level — a process scientists have finally modeled.
- Animals
Rudolph’s red nose could glow through bioluminescence
Simple chemistry could give the reindeer his iconic red snout. But physics would make it look different colors to anyone who spied Rudolph from the ground.
- Microbes
Ants are the secret ingredient to this tasty yogurt
The traditional yogurt-making technique was once popular in parts of Europe and Asia. But don’t try this at home!
- Chemistry
Let’s learn about surprising uses for human waste
Around the world, scientists are investigating ways to turn poop and pee into fertilizer, fuel and construction materials.
- Chemistry
New materials yank ‘forever chemicals’ from water
Materials known as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, trap some PFAS fast — and can be reused again and again.
- Chemistry
Structures that work like Hermione’s magic handbag land a chemistry Nobel
Richard Robson, Susumu Kitagawa and Omar Yaghi developed these metal-organic frameworks, which can trap pollutants, collect water from air and more.
- Physics
New theory may at last explain a swamp’s ghostly will-o’-the-wisps
Chemists have spotted tiny zaps of electricity moving between “swamp-gas” bubbles. Could they ignite methane gas to glow as dancing blue flames?
- Space
Analyze This: Ice around baby stars may hint at origins of Earth’s water
Scientists have now gotten a good look at the ice around a baby star. It might help them unravel the origins of the water needed for life on Earth.
- Physics
Could we ever build the tech to shrink ourselves?
The atoms that make us up couldn’t be shrunk or smashed closer together — at least, not without catastrophic consequences.
