A new chemical technique shows promise in identifying traces of explosives, illicit drugs and perhaps even signs of disease. (p. 9)

Trying to grow better, longer nanotubes, researchers accidentally discover a new type of carbon filament, colossal carbon tubes, which are tens of thousands of times thicker.

At high pressures, inner electrons begin to affect the structure of lithium.

The length of bonds connecting water molecules could demonstrate quantum effects and help explain some of water’s weirdness.

Preston’s style of journalism, he says, is the equivalent of climbing into a boiling pot to better understand soup. In this collection, Preston describes some of his close encounters with the subjects he has written about, telling, for example, how he donned a “spacesuit” to visit a high-security U.S. Army lab where researchers study Ebola virus (the subject of Preston’s celebrated thriller The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story). He goes on to describe how he climbed the tallest tree east of the Mississippi River, right after it had been killed by an invasive species — ...

Electron microscopes can now image single atoms of hydrogen.