Feature
- Tech
Designing robots to help in a disaster
Ideally, robots could take over for human crews in disaster zones. But seemingly simple tasks, such as walking, communicating and staying powered up, still pose big challenges.
- Earth
Studying a volcano in a war zone
New isotope analyses offer bad news for the people of Goma, a burgeoning city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Mount Nyiragongo may be more dangerous than expected.
- Health & Medicine
Children can suffer emotional wounds in a disaster
Natural disasters and terrorist attacks have taught researchers that a subset of children may face long-term problems. Parent reactions and how quickly life returns to normal can make a difference.
- Planetary Science
A distant planet may lurk far beyond Neptune
Strange orbits in the Kuiper belt revive talk of a Planet X in the solar system.
- Psychology
Rigors of Mars trip make teamwork a priority
It’s going to take a different kind of mental approach to travel to Mars and back: less individuality, more collaboration and adaptability. Astronauts are being tested to prepare for such a mission.
- Neuroscience
At-home brain stimulation gaining followers
People are building at-home electric brain stimulators in hopes of becoming better gamers, problem solvers, and even to beat back depression.
- Math
Spirals inspire walking aids for people with disabilities
Long admired for their beauty, spirals have inspired a shoe that may help disabled people walk. The shapes make for a better crutch and an entertaining skateboard as well.
- Astronomy
Rosetta readies for its close rendezvous with a comet
The Rosetta spacecraft and its lander Philae are ready to make history in a risky rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
- Microbes
Microbes can redeem themselves to fight disease
With some genetic engineering, bacteria can morph from bad to good and help attack invading cancer cells.
- Quantum Physics
Quasiparticles help physicists make sense of the world
To improve semiconductors, superconductors and other materials, physicists view a particle and its surroundings as one entity.
- Plants
Climbing high to save a threatened West Coast plant
A group of scientists hopes to save a cliff-hugging plant threatened by invasive grasses, drought and fire in California’s Santa Monica Mountains.
- Paleontology
3-D scans reveal secrets of extinct creatures
Paleontologists can dig into fossils without destroying them and see what’s inside using 3-D scanning. What they’re learning helps bring the past to life.
