Science Visualized
- Health & Medicine
Here’s where bacteria live on your tongue cells
Scientists labeled bacteria from tongue scrapings with fluorescent probes to glimpse at how the microbes structure their communities.
- Physics
How slime mold helped scientists map out the cosmic web
Tapping a similarity between a slime mold’s lacy web and the vast threads of matter that connect galaxies, astronomers visualized the cosmic web.
- Chemistry
Evaporating mixtures of two liquids create hypnotic designs
Through the magic of surface tension, mixtures of two liquids form fingerlike protrusions and other patterns as droplets evaporate.
- Life
How thin, delicate butterfly wings keep from overheating
Structures in butterfly wings help living tissues such as veins release more heat than the rest of the wing.
- Space
As NASA’s Spitzer telescope’s mission ends, here’s a look back at its discoveries
For more than 16 years, the Spitzer Space Telescope has witnessed the births and deaths of stars, charted the Milky Way, found faraway worlds and more.
- Life
How bacteria create flower art
Different types of microbes growing in lab dishes can push each other to make floral patterns.
- Space
A new map reveals radio waves from tens of thousands of galaxies
Radio waves from about 17,000 galaxies show that the peak of star formation, about 10 billion years ago, might have been more productive than predicted.
- Archaeology
Archaeologists have finally found ancient Egyptian wax head cones
Newly discovered wax caps are the first physical examples of apparel shown in many ancient Egyptian art works.
- Chemistry
American whiskeys leave unique ‘webs’ when evaporated
If you don’t have a sophisticated palate, it turns out you can distinguish among bourbons with a microscope.
- Life
A peek inside a turtle embryo wins the Nikon Small World photography contest
The annual competition highlights the wonders to be found when scientists and photographers zoom in on the world around us.
- Earth
Here’s where Earth stores its carbon
Most of Earth’s carbon is stored inside the planet. But giant lava outflows and now humans have released huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
- Physics
CO2 from champagne bottles can form shock waves like those seen in rocket exhaust
Popping a bottle of bubbly releases a plume of dry ice that bears a visible type of shock wave called a Mach disk.
