Science Visualized
- Physics
Halo of light crowns Antarctica
Ice crystals in the air bend sunlight into a ring over a research base in eastern Antarctica.
- Health & Medicine
Anatomy of the South Korean MERS outbreak
The Middle East respiratory syndrome virus, which infected 186 people in South Korea in 2015, quickly spread within and between hospitals via a handful of “superspreaders.”
- Planetary Science
A defenseless Mars is losing its atmosphere
Measurements of Mars’ atmosphere leaking into space could help scientists explain how the Red Planet lost its once life-friendly climate.
- Life
Microscopes have come a long way since 1665
A 350-year-old drawing in Robert Hooke’s Micrographia and an award-winning photo demonstrate the evolution of the microscope.
- Animals
Diagram captures microbes’ influence across animal kingdom
A network diagram of animal species shows that many microbes living in humans also make themselves at home in dogs, pigs and cattle.
- Animals
‘Whalecopter’ drone swoops in for a shot and a shower
Whale biologists are monitoring the health of whales using drones that snap photos and then swoop in to sample spray.
- Science & Society
Neurological condition probably caused medieval scribe’s shaky handwriting
By scrutinizing a medieval scribe’s wiggly handwriting, scientists conclude that the writer suffered from essential tremor.
- Particle Physics
Map captures Earth’s antineutrino glow
Tiny subatomic particles called antineutrinos stream away from Earth at different concentrations across the globe, a new map illustrates.
- Climate
Virtual twister reveals possible source of tornado longevity
First computer simulation of a long-lived EF5 tornado may reveal why some twisters stick around.
- Science & Society
How dollhouse crime scenes schooled 1940s cops
In the 1940s, Frances Glessner Lee’s dollhouse murder dioramas trained investigators to look at crime scenes through a scientific lens.
- Animals
Long-tongued fly sips from afar
Long-tongued flies can dabble in shallow blossoms or reach into flowers with roomier nectar tubes.
- Planetary Science
New exoplanet: Big Earth or small Neptune?
NASA’s Kepler spacecraft has discovered a “cousin” of Earth 1,400 light-years away. But even though the new planet bears many similarities to Earth, experts say much about it remains a mystery.
