Science Visualized
- Life
A new twist on a twist
Nature abounds with perfect helices. They show up in animal horns and seashells, in DNA and the young tendrils of plants. But helix formation can get complicated: In some cases, the direction of rotation can reverse as a helix grows.
- Cosmology
Universe re-created in computer simulation
The Illustris Project traces the detailed evolution of the universe starting from 12 million years after the Big Bang.
- Animals
Narwhal has the strangest tooth in the sea
Sometimes called the unicorn of the sea, the male narwhal’s tusk is actually a tooth. Narwhals detect changes in water salinity using only these tusks, a new study finds.
- Astronomy
Distant swirling galaxy dwarfed by violent star killer
In a mosaic of images from a telescope in Chile, dark dust lanes and twisting tails betray a history of galactic collisions.
- Earth
Seismic signals chronicle deadly landslide
Washington state’s deadly Oso landslide was recorded in seismic waves.
- Earth
Evolution of river systems
A river’s erosion downward and across a landscape is based on a variety of factors, including terrain steepness and the arrangement of tributaries.
- Health & Medicine
Second wave of bird flu ups pandemic worries
The H7N9 avian influenza virus, which first appeared in 2013, is sweeping China with a second, larger wave of illness.
- Animals
A tiny ocean vortex, with pop art pizzazz
Coral polyps kick up a whirling vortex of water by whipping their hairlike cilia back and forth in the photography winner of the 2013 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge.
- Neuroscience
Ways of seeing the brain inspire notions of how it works
As scientists have developed more sophisticated methods and ideas, their understanding of how the brain works has shifted too.
- Tech
The gene sequencing future is here
The biggest expense in sequencing a human genome now is the cost of storing it.
- Planetary Science
Big space rock makes an impact on Mars
An orbiting spacecraft snapped images of a huge crater and blast marks on the surface of the Red Planet.
- Plants
Bladderwort opens wide
Under a microscope, the tiny trap of a carnivorous plant becomes an impressive gaping maw.
