91 results
- Chemistry
How rare earth elements’ hidden properties make modern technology possible
Because of their unique chemistry, the rare earth elements can fine-tune light for many different purposes and generate powerful magnetic fields.
- 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.
- Space
Io may have an underworld magma ocean or a hot metal heart
New calculations support dueling ideas for what powers the ubiquitous volcanoes on the hellish surface of Jupiter’s innermost moon.
- Planetary Science
The last vital ingredient for life has been discovered on Enceladus
The underground ocean on Saturn’s icy moon may contain phosphorus in concentrations thousands of times greater than those found in Earth’s ocean.
- Climate
2022’s biggest climate change bill pushes clean energy
Experts weigh in on the pros and cons of the United States’ first major climate change legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, signed this year.
- Physics
50 years ago, physicists found the speed of light
In the 1970s, scientists set a new maximum speed limit for light. Fifty years later, they continue putting light through its paces.
- Chemistry
How to make tiny metal snowflakes
In a pool of molten gallium, researchers grew symmetrical, hexagonal zinc nanostructures that resemble natural snowflakes.
- Paleontology
This dinosaur may have had a body like a duck’s
Natovenator polydontus may have been adapted for life in the water, challenging the popular idea that all dinos were landlubbers.
- Ecosystems
Tiger sharks helped discover the world’s largest seagrass prairie
Instrument-equipped sharks went where divers couldn’t to survey the Bahama Banks seagrass ecosystem.
- Climate
Greenland’s frozen hinterlands are bleeding worse than we thought
An inland swath of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream is accelerating and thinning. It could contribute much more to sea level rise than estimated.
- Earth
Catastrophic solar storms may not explain shadows of radiation in trees
Tree rings record six known Miyake events — spikes in global radiation levels in the past. The sun, as long presumed, might not be the sole culprit.
- Chemistry
Mixing gold ions into whiskey can reveal its flavor
By changing the spirit’s color, the formation of gold nanoparticles can reveal how much flavor a whiskey has absorbed from its wood cask.
