Astronomer-turned-filmmaker strives to ignite an interest in space
For scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, the night of January 3, 2004 entailed six minutes of…
Category: Recent Work
Cancer Care’s Virtual Revolution
AT SUNRISE ON MARCH 4, 2020, the same day the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Houston and one week before…
When Scientific American Made M. C. Escher Famous
Between 1957 and 1986 Martin Gardner wrote the Mathematical Games column for this magazine, with a total of 297 installments.…
The Golden Riffleshell’s Appalachian Roadtrip
The emergency surgery took place in the back of a modified pickup truck in a McDonald’s parking lot in Pikeville,…
Flash Radiotherapy Is (Finally) on the Way
Since the 1960s, the dream of ultra-fast high dose radiation promised better cancer treatment with fewer side effects. Will the…
Trees power this alarm system for remote forest fires
Scientists in Michigan have developed a forest fire alarm system. It not only can detect when a blaze begins but…
A table tennis table that will up your game
Zhong Lin Wang started playing table tennis only four years ago. But last year, he and other researchers came up…
Can CRISPR deliver?
SCIENTISTS HAVE SPENT DECADES mapping the tens of thousands of genes encoded in human DNA. They want to understand how genes…
“What if mathematicians were asked to defuse bombs?”
In 1998, a few dozen computer scientists and mathematicians gathered at a picturesque seaside resort on the Tuscan island of…
Hotspots for superbolts
Not every lightning strike is the same. Some skip from cloud to cloud. Others strike the ground, delivering a shocking…