All Stories
- Math
Möbius and his Band
Making a Möbius strip. A Möbius band (or strip) is an intriguing surface with only one side and one edge. You can make one by joining the two ends of a long strip of paper after giving one end a 180-degree twist. An ant can crawl from any point on such a surface to any […]
- Earth
Kilauea: 20 years on, it’s still erupting
As of Jan. 3, Kilauea—Hawaii’s Energizer Bunny of volcanic activity—has been erupting continuously for two decades.
By Sid Perkins - Chemistry
Sea bacteria may be new anticancer resource
Researchers examining deep-sea sediments have uncovered a large source of previously unknown bacteria that appear to produce disease-fighting chemicals.
- Humans
From the January 28, 1933, issue
COMET PRINTS The dark, oblong areas pictured on the front cover are all that remain of a pre–Ice Age collision of cosmical magnitude, the smattering of a part of what is now the southeastern United States with fragments of a comet. This is the belief of Profs. F.A. Melton and William Schriever of the University […]
By Science News - Tech
Super Truck
Even James Bond might take notice. The SmarTruck, developed for the U.S. Army by the National Automotive Center and the Integrated Concepts and Research Corporation, serves as a vehicle for testing cutting-edge technologies. The current model incorporates a sophisticated information system, an adjustable air suspension system for varied terrain, and a slanted body style that […]
By Science News - Health & Medicine
As population ages, flu takes deadly turn
The annual U.S. toll of influenza has risen dramatically since the late 1970s, in part because of the advancing age of the population.
By Ben Harder - Planetary Science
New moons for Neptune?
Astronomers say they have discovered three additional moons circling Neptune.
By Ron Cowen - Astronomy
Gamma-ray burst leaves ephemeral afterglow
A ground-based telescope on automatic pilot has taken one of the earliest images ever recorded of the visible-light afterglow of a gamma-ray burst, one of the most energetic flashes of radiation in the universe.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
Clot promoter cuts surgical bleeding
A clot-promoting protein known as recombinant activated factor VII might offer a new way to staunch demand for blood transfusions.
By Ben Harder -
Psychiatric drugs surge among kids
The proportion of children and teenagers in the United States taking drugs prescribed for psychiatric disorders more than doubled from 1987 to 1996.
By Bruce Bower - Earth
Electronic Jetsam
Oceanographers are developing and deploying a variety of seafaring probes—including drifters, gliders, and scientific torpedoes—that will enable them to explore and monitor the ocean remotely.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Why the Mercury Falls
Certain pollutants can foster the localized fallout of mercury, a toxic heavy metal, from the atmosphere.
By Janet Raloff