All Stories by Nikk Ogasa
- Materials Science
Salt can turn frozen water into a weak power source
Experiments reveal that when slabs of salty ice are strained, electricity is generated, though practical uses are still a long way off.
- Earth
Useful metals get unearthed in U.S. mines, then they’re tossed
Recovering these metals from mining by-products destined for waste sites could offset the need to import them from elsewhere or open new mines.
- Environment
See how aerosols loft through Earth’s sky
Aerosols, small particles in the atmosphere like salt and dust, may offset a third of human-caused climate warming, though their influence is fading.
- Paleontology
A new species of ‘penis worm’ was discovered in the Grand Canyon
A trove of fossils, including a penis worm with a spiked, invertible throat, suggests this spot may have been a cradle of Cambrian evolution.
- Earth
Why devastating tsunamis didn’t follow the Russia earthquake
Geologists unpack why the magnitude 8.8 temblor — the sixth largest ever recorded — fomented waves that reached Japan and Hawaii but caused little damage.
- Climate
Harmful heat doesn’t always come in waves
Even without reaching heat wave levels, sustained high temperatures may contribute to a litany of health issues.
- Earth
Small earthquakes can have a big impact on the movements of major faults
Small and far-off earthquakes can stifle the spread of large motions on some of the world’s biggest faults.
- Astronomy
A dwarf galaxy just might upend the Milky Way’s predicted demise
The Milky Way may merge with the Large Magellanic Cloud in 2 billion years, not Andromeda, contrary to previous findings.
- Planetary Science
Venus’ tectonics may be actively reshaping its surface
Circular landforms speckling the Venusian surface may be the work of tectonic activity.
- Space
Perseverance takes the first picture of a visible Martian aurora
A faint yet visible Martian aurora is the first instance of the phenomenon spotted from another planet's surface.
- Environment
Skyborne specks of life may influence rainfall patterns
A study of weather on a mountain in Greece reveal that bioparticles in the sky may drive fluctuations in rainfall patterns more broadly.
- Oceans
Before altering the air, microbes oxygenated large swaths of the sea
Hundreds of millions of years before oxygen surged in the atmosphere 2.4 billion years ago, swaths of oxygen winked in and out of existence in the ocean.
