The emergency surgery took place in the back of a modified pickup truck in a McDonald’s parking lot in Pikeville, Ky. This scrappy plan to rescue a species of mussel on the edge of extinction made perfect sense: Meet somewhere between Indian Creek in Virginia, where the last known wild golden riffleshells lived, and Kentucky’s […]
The Golden Riffleshell’s Appalachian Roadtrip Read More »
Since the 1960s, the dream of ultra-fast high dose radiation promised better cancer treatment with fewer side effects. Will the reality measure up? For more than 100 years, radiation has been a pillar of cancer treatment. But the practice—hitting cancer cells with beams of intense energy—doesn’t come without a cost to the body. Radiation can
Flash Radiotherapy Is (Finally) on the Way Read More »
Scientists in Michigan have developed a forest fire alarm system. It not only can detect when a blaze begins but also call for help. This battery-free device dangles like an ornament from a tree and harvests all the energy it needs from the natural swaying of branches. Such a sensor could watch the woods for
Trees power this alarm system for remote forest fires Read More »
Zhong Lin Wang started playing table tennis only four years ago. But last year, he and other researchers came up with a clever way to up their game: Build a smart table. Now they’ve just unveiled a prototype. It can measure where a ball lands, how fast the ball’s going and where it’s headed. The
A table tennis table that will up your game Read More »
SCIENTISTS HAVE SPENT DECADES mapping the tens of thousands of genes encoded in human DNA. They want to understand how genes function and to use this knowledge to treat diseases. CRISPR, a revolutionary gene-editing tool, offers one way to do that. With CRISPR, researchers can “snip” DNA in living human cells and make changes to the
Can CRISPR deliver? Read More »
In 1998, a few dozen computer scientists and mathematicians gathered at a picturesque seaside resort on the Tuscan island of Elba off the west coast of Italy. They were there to attend a scientific gathering unlike any other. The 17 presentations suggested peculiar offerings. One explored an algorithmic answer to the question, “What if mathematicians
“What if mathematicians were asked to defuse bombs?” Read More »
Not every lightning strike is the same. Some skip from cloud to cloud. Others strike the ground, delivering a shocking wallop to anything that gets in the way. Lightning differs by how strong it is, too. Scientists have observed mega-strikes of lightning that carry 1,000 times more energy than ordinary bolts. They’re so intense that,
Hotspots for superbolts Read More »
Religious fasts offer opportunities for reflection, penitence and good data about human dietary needs. Unlike laboratory rats, humans can’t be easily coerced into a new diet. Nutrition studies have had to grapple with that fact from the very start, which is why some of the earliest research was conducted in prisons, where Victorian researchers could
God is my co-investigator Read More »
In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the world to Bitcoin, a volatile digital currency that’s untethered to any specific institution or country (1). (Satoshi Nakamoto was quickly revealed to be a pseudonym; the true identity of the inventor or inventors remains unknown.) In the years that followed, the value of Bitcoin has soared, plummeted, and soared
Blockchain beyond Bitcoin Read More »
When you imagine a robot, you might picture R2-D2 in Star Wars, the Omnidroid from The Incredibles or the big-armed machines that build cars on an assembly line. But there’s a new robotic system that doesn’t resemble any of these. Instead, it looks like some kids forgot to pick up their toys. The robot is a collection of plastic, neon-green
This robot’s parts are helpless alone, but turn smart as they team up Read More »
