All Stories by Davide Castelvecchi
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SpaceHalf-life (more or less)
It’s nuclear physics 101: Radioactivity proceeds at its own pace. Each type of radioactive isotope, be it plutonium-238 or carbon-14, changes into another isotope or element at a specific, universal, immutable rate. This much has been known for more than a century, since Ernest Rutherford defined the notion of half-life—the time it takes for half […]
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Physics
Clean coal for cars has a dirty side
Getting liquid fuels from coal would likely increase carbon emissions, and certainly not reduce them.
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Math
Numbers don’t add up for U.S. girls
Culture may turn potentially high achievers away from math, new study suggests.
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Physics
An attractive source for spintronics
Discovery may lead to battery that generates magnetic currents
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Space
No naked black holes
In a simulated merger, astrophysicists tried to push the boundaries of two black holes into shedding their event horizons. But the resulting black hole was still shrouded by its event horizon, through which even light can’t escape.
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Physics
Diamonds engage at the nano scale
Manipulating the quantum properties of diamond impurities makes diamond into a kind of microscope that could, for example, reveal the inner working of cells.
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Space
Galaxies on the move
Scientists discover "dark flow" -- the unexplained streaming of galactic clusters across the universe.
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Physics
Photons caught in the act
Physicists manipulated a microwave pulse and could essentially watch it transition from a quantum state into the realm of classical physics.
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Chemistry
A better fate for plastic bottles
Using microbes to convert PET into a high-value plastic could encourage more recycling.
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Life
Fastest spores in the West (or anywhere)
SEE THE VIDEO: Researchers film a fungus catapulting its spores with an acceleration greater than what astronauts feel.
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Life
This bite won’t hurt a bit
A team dissects the physics of a mosquito bite, working to find a way to design gentler needles.