Your weight is about to be redefined
I wrote about the upcoming redefinition of the kilogram for Nautilus.
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Physics
Uncharted underground
Matt Covington didn’t sleep much the night before his big swim. Who could blame him? For two days, the wiry caver had, with the help of ropes and ladders, been making his way down through J2, a deep cave in the mountainous Mexican province of Oaxaca. Marcin Gala, an experienced caver from Poland, joined him
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Edging into the spotlight
“He had been trying to get his colleague Charles Kane to listen to him, but Kane wasn’t having any of it.” This article about lattices from Physics World covers some arcane ground but was fun to work on. Image: CC James Mallos via flickr
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Perovskite’s solar promise
In the last few years, the sun-to-power efficiency of perovskites has surged at an unprecedented rate. This material is easier to use than conventional silicon, and if scientists can figure out the right way to keep it stable, it could be the future of solar power. I wrote about the stuff in this story from
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Where will lighting strike?
Michael McQuilken will never forget the day lightning struck his younger brother. On August 20, 1975, he and Sean hiked to the top of Moro Rock together with their sister Mary and her friend Margie. This granite dome resides in California’s Sequoia National Park. As dark clouds gathered overhead, a light rain started
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Hacking the Planet
Some problems have easy solutions. If we feel sweaty, we’ll head for the shade. If our soup’s too hot, we’ll blow on it. If a room’s too stuffy, we’ll open a window. But what are the options when the planet grows too warm? That is the problem — and an enormous one —
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Just Press Print
A person with a failing vital organ usually has only one treatment option: get a new one. But right now, that often means joining a long waiting list and hoping for the best. Moving up that list means someone ahead of you gets taken off it – either through their death, donation from a living
‘Print’ almost anything
Imagine having a printer hooked up to your computer that could make anything. Tired of your toothbrush? No problem. Print a new one. Want a chocolate treat? Print it. Need a new dress, new shoes or maybe just new cleats for soccer? Just choose a style and size. Then print, print and print some more.
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Walking on Water
Gods in Ancient Egypt could do it; so allegedly could Buddha and Jesus. But for the rest of us lowly human beings – at least, those of us without divine parent- age or supernatural abilities – the closest we can get to walking on water is to strap on a pair of pontoon shoes and
Riding raindrops
To humans, falling rain usually amounts to little more than a minor inconvenience. After all, we are big and raindrops are small – they splatter on our heads and sleeves, and we end up a little wetter. But a mosquito’s mass is only 2–3 μg and the largest rain- drops may weigh up to 100μg.