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  1. Math

    Staying in Step

    Late in the winter of 1665, an ailing Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) was confined to his room for a few days. The Dutch physicist whiled away the hours of his confinement by closely observing and pondering the odd behavior of two pendulum clocks he had recently constructed. Huygens had obtained a patent on the first pendulum […]

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  2. Discovery of bitter-taste gene is sweet

    Scientists have found that variations in a gene explain why people differ in their ability to taste bitterness.

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  3. Physics

    In orbit, water makes the stretch

    An astronaut-at-play stumbled upon an unexpected behavior of water in near-zero gravity: The formation of durable films—some as wide as saucers—that would instantly break here on Earth.