Annual Reviews: Keyword search for query

Animals use physics? Let us count the ways

Tom Siegfried — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 00:00:10 GMT

Cats twist and snakes slide, exploiting and negotiating physical laws. Scientists are figuring out how.

The greening of planes, trains and automobiles

Nicola Jones — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 00:00:03 GMT

We need new fuels to transport people and goods around the globe as society moves away from coal, natural gas and oil. Here’s how things are shaping up.

Geothermal power heats up

Katarina Zimmer — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:00:11 GMT

Long confined to regions with volcanic activity, geothermal promises to become a much more versatile energy source thanks to new technologies

Why do some people always get lost?

Bob Holmes — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 00:00:10 GMT

Research suggests that experience may matter more than innate ability when it comes to a sense of direction

Hunting sky islands for genetic clues to climate resilience

Sarah J. Love and Joe Bailey — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 00:00:11 GMT

OPINION: Isolated mountaintops are hotbeds of evolutionary adaptation and great places to study how climate change affects ecosystems

Moving trees north to save the forests

John H. Tibbetts — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 00:00:06 GMT

As the world warms, trees in forests such as those in Minnesota will no longer be adapted to their local climates. That’s where assisted migration comes in.

The atomic bomb, exile and a test of brotherly bonds: Robert and Frank Oppenheimer

KC Cole — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 00:00:05 GMT

A rift in thinking about who should control powerful new technologies sent the brothers on diverging paths. For one, the story ended with a mission to bring science to the public.

A big boost to Europe’s climate change goals

Elise Hansen — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 00:00:28 GMT

The bloc aims to become the first carbon-neutral continent. A new policy called CBAM will assist its ambitions — and may persuade other countries to follow in its footsteps.

Losing the connection between the Andes and the Amazon: A price of peace in Colombia

Pablo Correa — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 00:00:22 GMT

The South American country, where the biodiversity of the Andes meets that of the Amazon, is losing the great natural wealth of some 1,500 square kilometers of forest each year, mainly in areas formerly under guerrilla control

Why interstellar objects like ‘Oumuamua and Borisov may hold clues to exoplanets

Theo Nicitopoulos — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 00:00:01 GMT

The detection of two celestial interlopers careening through our solar system has scientists eagerly anticipating more

Central American volcanoes offer clues to Earth’s geological evolution

Pablo Fonseca Q. — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 00:00:20 GMT

Along 1,100 kilometers, from Mexico to Costa Rica, lies the Central American volcanic arc, where the variety of magma types make for a geological paradise

Why scientists are making transparent wood

Jude Coleman — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 00:00:07 GMT

Stronger than plastic and tougher than glass, the resin-filled material is being exploited for smartphone screens, insulated windows and more

The race to understand polar ice sheets

Leslie Carol Roberts — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:15 GMT

As glacial cliffs break off and destabilize frozen landscapes, glaciologist Richard Alley focuses on the fractures. The work could improve predictions about future sea-level rise.

Speedy downloads: Why NASA is turning to lasers for next-gen space comms

John Johnson Jr. — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 00:00:13 GMT

The first tests of optical communications far from Earth will take place aboard the asteroid-bound Psyche spacecraft

Pursuing fusion power

M. Mitchell Waldrop — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 00:00:01 GMT

Scientists have been chasing the dream of harnessing the reactions that power the Sun since the dawn of the atomic era. Interest, and investment, in the carbon-free energy source is heating up.

The quest to understand tornadoes

Carolyn Wilke — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 00:00:18 GMT

Scientists are still grappling with how and why violent twisters form. Will new technology and computing power help?

The ‘least crazy’ idea: Early dark energy could solve a cosmological conundrum

Dan Falk — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 00:00:28 GMT

Measurements of the acceleration of the universe don’t agree, stumping physicists working to understand the cosmic past and future. A new proposal seeks to better align these estimates — and is likely testable.

What would signal life on another planet?

Elise Cutts — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 00:00:11 GMT

Astronomers have long debated what kind of chemistry might serve as a bona fide alien biosignature. With the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, those ideas may be put to the test.

How optimizing indoor humidity can help stop the spread of Covid and flu

Richard Zare — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 00:00:23 GMT

OPINION: Recent CDC guidelines for indoor air quality disregard the benefits of humidity. But research shows it can kill viruses and help thwart infections.