All Stories
- Physics
A new tool shows tiny changes in the ’24-hour’ length of a day
An underground instrument known as ‘G’ uses laser beams to measure Earth’s rotation — a gauge of day length — with extreme precision.
- Tech
How green is your online life?
From the manufacturing of our favorite devices to using them for social interactions, our digital lives can have a big climate impact.
By Sarah Wells - Tech
Particles from tree waste could prevent fogged lenses, windshields
A new coating made from a renewable resource — water-loving nanoparticles made from wood — could keep glass surfaces fog-free.
- Math
Let’s learn about mathematical mysteries
There are still many mysteries about numbers, shapes and other aspects of math that have yet to be solved.
- Math
Scientists Say: Prime number
Prime numbers’ unique quality — being divisible only by themselves and one — makes them useful for encrypting secret information.
- Environment
Pumping cold water into rivers could help fish chill out
Hundreds of salmon, trout and other fish sought shelter from summer heat in the human-made cool zones. These areas may help fish adapt to river warming.
By Nikk Ogasa - Animals
These jellyfish can learn without brains
No brain? No problem for Caribbean box jellyfish. Their simple nervous systems can still learn, a study suggests.
- Tech
Bits of trees can make and store energy for us to use
This cellulose and lignin, two major building blocks of trees, could lead to greener electronics.
- Tech
Bionic plants and electric algae may usher in a greener future
Some can aid the climate by removing pollutants. Others would just avoid dirtying the environment in the first place.
- Planets
Analyze This: Neptune’s cloud cover syncs up with the solar cycle
Telescope observations hint how sunlight-driven chemistry may boost cloud cover on our solar system’s farthest planet.
- Climate
Some tree leaves are finding it too hot for photosynthesis
Earth’s ongoing fever threatens to push entire forests toward this heat limit — and possible death.
By Nikk Ogasa - Plants
Young corn leaves can ‘smell’ danger
As they mature, these leaves lose their ability to detect threatening scents.