Feature
- Earth
Particular Problems
Toxicologists and chemists are forging a new field called nanotoxicology as they grapple with assessing the safety of engineered nanoparticles.
- Earth
Buried Treasures
Geologists have long understood the chemical processes that sculpt many cave formations, but they've only recently come up with a physical model that explains some of their shapes.
- Health & Medicine
Ultrasound’s New Focus
No longer limiting the use of sound waves to diagnostic medicine, researchers are studying high-intensity focused ultrasound as a treatment for uterine fibroids, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and other cancers.
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The Bias Finders
A simple test of unconscious preferences has achieved great popularity among psychologists and, at the same time, sparked heated debate over how it works and whether it shows widespread implicit biases against black people.
- Humans
To Leap or Not to Leap
Scientists are debating whether to continue the practice of occasionally inserting leap seconds in order to keep official, atomic-based time in sync with time based on Earth's rotation.
- Earth
Region at Risk
Scientists are still analyzing the magnitude 7.9 quake that struck San Francisco a century ago and, at the same time, are scrambling to estimate when the next large quake will strike the Bay Area.
- Plants
They’re All Part Fungus
Hidden deep in their tissues, all plants probably have fungi that don't make them sick but still may have a big influence.
- Physics
Revealing Covert Actions
The recent merger of high-speed video technology and centuries-old techniques for seeing ordinarily invisible fluctuations of the air is enabling engineers to visualize and study the previously unseen, large-scale behavior of shock waves in explosions and aerodynamics research.
- Materials Science
Spin City
Researchers are using a technique called electrospinning to create fibrous mats that have potential applications in drug delivery, wound care, and tissue engineering.
- Earth
Uncharted Territory
Ultraslow-spreading undersea ridges are giving oceanographers fresh insights into how Earth's crust forms.
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Thugs and Bugs
With some laboratory detective work, scientists are discovering how various pathogens interact with their targets.
- Animals
That’s One Weird Tooth
The narwhal's distinctive spiral tusk has structures that could make it phenomenally sensitive, raising new questions about its functions.
