People
- Science & Society
Outgoing congressman Rush Holt calls scientists to action
The New Jersey physicist has decided not to run for re-election but is a proponent of scientists in office.
- Astronomy
This winter warrior made the gravitational waves discovery possible
Engineer Steffen Richter played an important role in the recent gravitational waves discovery, wintering at the Amundsen-Scott research station at the South Pole and making daily treks to keep the BICEP2 telescope running.
- Particle Physics
Nobel’s sharp cuts
Gerald Guralnik was home when he learned online that physicists François Englert and Peter Higgs had won the Nobel Prize in physics for formulating the same theory he had proposed nearly 50 years ago.
- Space
Exploring Earth’s alien spaces
Nathalie Cabrol, a planetary geologist and astrobiologist at the SETI Institute’s Carl Sagan Center and NASA’s Ames Research Center, both in Mountain View, Calif., hunts for alien life.
- Animals
Seeking the loneliest whale
An enigmatic whale roams the North Pacific, and next year Bruce Mate will lead a monthlong expedition to find it.
- Microbes
Let the bedbugs bite
Harold Harlan has been feeding bedbugs, intentionally, on his own blood since 1973. He keeps pint or quart jars in his home containing at least 4,000 bugs.
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- Environment
Atomic ant sand
Robb Hermes asked for sand ants to get samples of Trinitite, a material created in the test blasts of the first atomic bomb.
- Neuroscience
Finding the brain’s common language
Erich Jarvis dreams of creating a talking chimpanzee. If his theories on language are right, that just might happen one day.
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- Science & Society
Tim Samaras, 1957–2013
Tim Samaras spent the past twenty years chasing tornados. He was killed in a storm in May.
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