Notebook
- Environment
Air pollution takes a toll on solar energy
Dust and other tiny air pollutants can reduce solar energy output by as much as 25 percent in parts of the world.
- Tech
50 years ago, West Germany embraced nuclear power
In 1967, Germany gave nuclear power a try. Today, the country is trading nukes for renewables.
- Climate
Rising temperatures threaten heat-tolerant aardvarks
Aardvarks may get a roundabout hit from climate change — less food.
- Planetary Science
Moons of Uranus face future collision
By studying variations in the rings of Uranus, researchers have determined the mass and density of the planet’s moon Cressida.
- Animals
This sea snake looks like a banana and hunts like a Slinky
A newly identified sea snake subspecies is known to live in a single gulf off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
- Physics
Scientists create the most cubic form of ice crystals yet
Ice has taken on a strange structure, with its water molecules arranged in nearly perfect cubes.
- Tech
50 years ago, NASA whipped up astronaut waste into rocket fuel
In 1967, scientists found a way to turn human waste into rocket fuel.
- Tech
Meet the Bobcat Nanowagon, the world’s smallest monster truck
Chemists are scratching their heads over the wreckage of minuscule monster trucks.
- Paleontology
This ancient sea worm sported a crowd of ‘claws’ around its mouth
A newly discovered species of arrow worm that lived over half a billion years ago had about twice as many head spines as its modern kin.
- Astronomy
These chip-sized spacecraft are the smallest space probes yet
Space initiative dubbed Breakthrough Starshot sent the smallest spacecraft yet into orbit around Earth.
- Materials Science
50 years ago, steel got stronger and stretchier
Today, scientists are still trying to improve steel.
- Animals
Fossil find suggests this ancient reptile lurked on land, not in the water
An exquisitely preserved fossil shows that an ancient armored reptile called Eusaurosphargis dalsassoi wasn’t aquatic, as scientists had suspected.
