Chemistry
- Chemistry
Chemistry: Green and clean
“Green” means environmentally friendly and sustainable. Green chemistry creates products and processes that are safer and cleaner — from the start.
- Animals
Surprise! Fossils in a flash
By studying how dead tissues decay — or turn to ‘instant’ fossils — scientists are gleaning helpful clues to what ancient life looked like.
- Chemistry
Scientists confirm element 117
Scientists have confirmed the existence of a new, short-lived superheavy element. For now, they’re calling it ununseptium.
- Chemistry
Urine may make Mars travel possible
On Earth, urine is a waste. En route to Mars, it could be a precious renewable commodity: the source of drinking water and energy.
- Environment
Burning to learn
Fires cause billions of dollars of destruction to homes and forests every year. But not all fires are bad, especially for forests. With a better understanding of fire, scientists can both help people prevent dangerous fires — and identify which ones it would be better to let burn.
- Environment
Explainer: How and why fires burn
A fire’s colorful flame results from a chemical reaction known as combustion.
- Animals
We are stardust
Everything making up Earth and what’s now living upon it — from trees and people to our pets and their fleas — owes their origins to the elements forged by ancient stars.
- Animals
The bad-breath defense
The nicotine in tobacco that poisons some creatures can also act as a chemical defense — at least for some caterpillars. The bad breath it gives these insects repels natural predators, such as spiders.
- Chemistry
Salt bends the rules of chemistry
When squished between two diamonds and zapped by a laser, salt’s atoms can link up in unexpected ways.
- Animals
Mimicking mussels’ muscle
People who seek to get a grip on something — especially in wet environments — might want to take a lesson from some common shellfish. Among those who might benefit most: surgeons.
- Plants
Gold can grow on trees
Australian researchers found leafy nano-evidence pointing to rich deposits of the precious metal deep below ground.
- Physics
X-ray ‘eyes’
Movie directors often make “short” subjects, flicks running sometimes just a few minutes or so. But scientists have begun making much quicker “shorts,” essentially nanofilms. Their goal: catching science in action.
