The return of supersolids!
We learn it from a young age: solids hold their shapes; liquids flow. Physical states of matter are mutually exclusive.…
Writings
Making a match
In the summer of 2012, Carole Baker’s oncologist told her she was eligible to join a clinical trial just getting…
Mussels photo galleries
Please be sure to view the full-screen version of the gallery using the button on the upper left-hand side. Please be sure…
The Endgame of Ruby Knuckles
This story was first published in Arcadia magazine in 2011. That Sunday morning, I was not full of the Holy…
Star Trek technology becomes more science than fiction
Fifty years ago, the first episode of Star Trek aired. It started as a quirky science-fiction television show that lasted…
The Riddle of Bacteria and Cancer
The human body teems with bacteria. These micro-organisms live on the skin, in mucus membranes, on the eyes and in…
The wild weirdness of topological insulators
For more than 200 years, physicists have wanted to understand why electricity flows through some materials and not others. In…
Every breath we take
Back in Christmas 2013, the CineStar cinema in Mainz, Germany, became an impromptu, oversized laboratory. Over the course of 108…
Metagenomics for foodies
Kefir is a viscous, sour-tasting, slightly alcoholic, milk-based beverage that's been consumed for centuries. It's made by adding a starter…
A woman’s place is in science
Last October in a noisy ballroom in Nashville, Tenn., six girls sat at a round table to design a spacecraft…