Feature
- Tech
Quantum-Dot Leap
Multiple electrons from photons in quantum dots could be a boon to solar cells and other technologies.
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Light Impacts
Depending on when it's encountered, blue light can be more effective than other hues (or even white light) at waking people, setting their biological clocks, and maximizing visual acuity.
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Violent Developments
New research has identified a spectrum of interacting elements that contribute to impulsive violence in young people.
- Tech
Illuminating Changes
Indoor lighting is undergoing a dramatic metamorphosis toward energy-conserving systems that rely on solid-state technologies.
- Health & Medicine
Now Hear This
Genetics research, work with stem cells, and studies of the inner ear's delicate architecture suggest that it might be possible to restore cells pivotal to hearing.
- Plants
Nectar: The First Soft Drink
Plants have long competed with one another to lure animals in for a sip of their sweet formulations.
- Health & Medicine
Predicting Parkinson’s
Scientists are searching for ways to detect the earliest signs in the brain of Parkinson's disease.
- Planetary Science
The Whole Enceladus
Saturn's moon Enceladus has become the hottest new place to look for life in the chilly outer solar system.
- Earth
Particular Problems
Toxicologists and chemists are forging a new field called nanotoxicology as they grapple with assessing the safety of engineered nanoparticles.
- Earth
Buried Treasures
Geologists have long understood the chemical processes that sculpt many cave formations, but they've only recently come up with a physical model that explains some of their shapes.
- Health & Medicine
Ultrasound’s New Focus
No longer limiting the use of sound waves to diagnostic medicine, researchers are studying high-intensity focused ultrasound as a treatment for uterine fibroids, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and other cancers.
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The Bias Finders
A simple test of unconscious preferences has achieved great popularity among psychologists and, at the same time, sparked heated debate over how it works and whether it shows widespread implicit biases against black people.
