Space
Explainer: How auroras light up the sky
The northern and southern lights are considered natural wonders of the world. Here’s how these and related splendid sky glows form.
Featured Articles in this Issue
-
Cover Story
Forensic scientists are gaining an edge on crime
Advances in forensic science are helping to recover invisible fingerprints and identify missing people from bits of tissue or bone.
Explainer
Technically Fiction
Health & Medicine
Humans might be able to hibernate during space travel
Scientists are studying how animals hibernate and developing new technologies to help humans sleep through space travel.
Profile
Chemistry
This forensic scientist is taking crime science out of the lab
Kelly Knight uses her past struggles and passion for forensics to inspire her students.
Features
-
Forensic scientists are gaining an edge on crime
Advances in forensic science are helping to recover invisible fingerprints and identify missing people from bits of tissue or bone.
-
Science is just starting to understand what animals feel
Animal-welfare researchers are studying the feelings and experiences of horses, octopuses and more.
More Stories from the May 1, 2023 issue
- Space
Amateur astronomers reveal clues to a mysterious double aurora
Stunning images from citizen scientists show an unusual pattern in ‘Northern Lights.’ They offer clues that may help astronomers better understand a curious red glow.
- Fossils
Armored dinos may have used tail clubs to bash each other
Broken spikes on a fossil dino’s sides are consistent with the armored beast having received a mighty blow from another ankylosaur’s tail club.
- Microbes
Mouth-crawling superbugs cause severe cavities in kids
In kids with severe tooth decay, fungi and bacteria team up to create superorganisms that can crawl across teeth.
- Oceans
Night lights make even the seas bright
Light from coastal cities and offshore development may shine deep enough to disrupt tiny critters living dozens of meters (yards) below the surface.
- Genetics
Experiment: Are fingerprint patterns inherited?
Let’s investigate whether fingerprint patterns are created randomly or whether they are influenced by genetics.
- Tech
Insect-inspired drones work together to 3-D print structures
For the first time, flying drones have 3-D printed structures. In the future, such drones might be able to build in hard-to-reach places.
