All Stories by Maria Temming
- Earth
An upwelling of rock beneath the Atlantic may drive continents apart
Rock rising from more than 600 kilometers deep at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge may play a more active role in plate tectonics than thought.
- Archaeology
An ancient Egyptian mummy was wrapped in an unusual mud shell
Commoners in ancient Egypt may have used mud in place of expensive resin to imitate royal mummification techniques.
- Chemistry
Chemists are reimagining recycling to keep plastics out of landfills
Recycling plastics is really hard, and usually creates low-quality materials that aren’t good for much. Chemists are trying to change that.
- Earth
Space station detectors found the source of weird ‘blue jet’ lightning
The origins of an enigmatic type of lightning in the upper atmosphere has been traced to a 10-microsecond flash of bright blue light.
- Space
The most ancient supermassive black hole is bafflingly big
The farthest known quasar challenges ideas about how the first supermassive black holes in the universe formed.
- Earth
Earth’s oceans are storing record-breaking amounts of heat
2020 was just the latest in a series of record-breaking years for ocean heat.
- Animals
Brown tree snakes use their tails as lassos to climb wide trees
A never-before-seen climbing technique could inspire the creation of new serpentine robots to navigate difficult terrains.
- Chemistry
Zinc-air batteries are typically single-use. A new design could change that
Swapping out the electrolyte in zinc-air batteries helps these next-gen power sources last longer.
- Chemistry
A new iron-based catalyst converts carbon dioxide into jet fuel
Jet fuel made from carbon dioxide could one day reduce pollution from air travel.
- Archaeology
Ivory from a 16th century shipwreck reveals new details about African elephants
Ivory from the sunken Portuguese trading ship Bom Jesus contains clues about elephant herds that once roamed Africa, and the people who hunted them.
- Space
Here are 10 of Arecibo’s coolest achievements
The now-defunct Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico made myriad discoveries over its 57-year run, including of pulsar planets and ice on Mercury.
- Space
Why losing Arecibo is a big deal for astronomy
The radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory has collapsed, robbing scientists of a special tool for studying everything from asteroids to galaxies.
