Uncategorized
- Astronomy
The James Webb telescope found ‘Green Pea’ galaxies in the early universe
The James Webb telescope spotted tiny “green” galaxies that might have helped trigger a dramatic cosmic makeover more than 13 billion years ago.
- Earth
Rare earth mining may be key to our renewable energy future. But at what cost?
We take you inside Mountain Pass, the only rare earth mine in the United States.
- Health & Medicine
Why it’s easier to catch a cold, the flu or COVID in the winter
Low humidity protects viruses and cold temperatures may blunt some immune responses, making viral infections like colds, flu and COVID-19 more likely.
- Planetary Science
Methylated gases could be an unambiguous indicator of alien life
On Earth, methylated gases are produced by organisms cleaning up their environment — and by little else. The same might be true on some exoplanets.
- Health & Medicine
4 key things to know about lung infections caused by fungi
News that three kinds of fungi are more widespread than previously thought prompted reader questions about risk, symptoms and more. We answer them.
- Physics
Rare ‘dark lightning’ might briefly touch passengers when flying
Gamma-ray blasts from thunderstorms might occasionally zap passing airplanes, briefly exposing passengers to unsafe levels of radiation.
- Science & Society
Pandemic languishing is a thing. But is it a privilege?
Positive psychologists contend that people can flourish if they try hard enough. But this pinnacle of well-being might not be so fully in our control.
- Genetics
50 years ago, scientists sequenced a gene for the first time
Within five decades, scientists went from sequencing a single gene to sequencing the entire human genome.
- Archaeology
Complex supply chains may have appeared more than 3,000 years ago
Finds from one of the world’s oldest shipwrecks hint that miners in Central Asia and Turkey provided a crucial metal to Mediterranean rulers.
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- Physics
Here’s how to make a fiber-optic cable out of air using a laser
A hollowed-out laser beam heats a tube of air that surrounds cooler air, providing a way to guide light much the way fiber optics do.
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Seeking the elements that make modern life possible
Editor in chief Nancy Shute discusses the importance of rare earth elements to society.
