Andrew Grant

All Stories by Andrew Grant

  1. Materials Science

    Radar distinguishes electronics from other metals

    Using two pulses of radio waves, method could locate survivors trapped in rubble.

  2. Physics

    Oldest pitch-drop experiment

    The allure of pitch — a black tarlike hydro-carbon by-product of distilling petroleum, wood or coal — comes from its split personality: It shatters from a quick hit with a hammer, but flows if set aside for long periods.

  3. 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.

  4. Physics

    Proton-boron nuclear fusion returns to spotlight

    A technique can fuse nuclei without producing harmful neutrons, but it is far from being power plant–ready.

  5. Astronomy

    Voyager’s view

    Though the 1970s-era space probe has finally slipped into an interstellar realm, in some senses it is still very much within the bounds of the solar system.

  6. Tech

    Memory upgrade

    The demands of modern computing call for a seismic shift in data storage and retrieval.

  7. Astronomy

    Tiny sphere bends light like a black hole does

    Previously seen at the megascale, gravitational lensing goes micro.

  8. Astronomy

    The NASA take on ‘Gravity’

    An astronaut and a NASA expert consider the reality of the film’s space dangers.

  9. Astronomy

    At last, Voyager 1 slips into interstellar space

    Solar blast data provides definitive evidence that Voyager 1 has cruised beyond the heliosphere and into interstellar space.

  10. Chemistry

    Meteorite that fell last year contains surprising molecules

    Compounds in space rocks like the one that broke up over California may have helped seed life on Earth.

  11. Math

    Egypt wasn’t built in a day, but it did rise quickly

    New timeline of ancient civilization’s earliest days finds little time between earliest villages and dominant centralized state.

  12. Astronomy

    The sun’s older twin, 250 light-years away

    Almost twice as ancient, the distant star gives a glimpse of the sun's future.