Science

Here’s proof that open office layouts don’t work, and how to fix them

By Nsikan Akpan, Julia Griffin

A new study shows moving to an open office dramatically cuts face-to-face conversations, but architects say not all open offices should be treated equal.

WATCH: As the longest lunar eclipse arrives, learn about blood moon myths from around the world

By Daniel Brown, The Conversation

On Friday, millions of have the opportunity to see a lunar eclipse – an event popularly known in the media as a “blood moon” – on Friday…

Life on Mars? Watery new discovery raises tantalizing possibilities

By Miles O'Brien

Scientists have finally found for the first time a large watery reservoir beneath the southern ice cap of Mars. Radar suggests it is more than 12 miles wide and similar in some ways to lakes found beneath the Greenland and…

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Mars has a giant hidden lake. Could there be life in it?

By Lee Billings, Scientific American

Deep beneath the frigid surface of its southern ice cap, Mars holds a lake of liquid water nearly three times larger than the island of Manhattan.

California wines contain Fukushima radiation, and it’s not a bad thing

By Amanda Grennell

In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster, cesium-137 made its way through the atmosphere to vineyards in Napa Valley. But the small amount of radiation poses more of a threat to wine counterfeiters than to your body.

As glaciers shrink, iceberg tourism booms

By Teresa Carey

Scientists are concerned that global warming is destabilizing glaciers and ice shelves, creating larger and more frequent icebergs, like the Petermann Ice Island and the iceberg off the Innaarsuit settlement in Greenland.

A sea urchin army is mowing down California’s kelp forests — but why?

By Amanda Heidt, KQED Science

These oceanic forests are currently under siege from a potent mix of climate anomalies, disease, and predation that have led to declines in kelp forests not seen in decades.

Support for the Endangered Species Act remains high as Trump administration and Congress try to gut it

By Jeremy T. Bruskotter, John A. Vucetich, Ramiro Berardo, The Conversation

Since its passage, the Endangered Species Act has helped reverse and stop declines in numerous species – from bald eagles to Lake Erie watersnakes – and served as a model for similar laws around the world.

Who owns the moon? A space lawyer answers

By Frans von der Dunk, The Conversation

Since the beginning of the space race, the United States knew that for many people around the world the sight of a U.S. flag on the Moon would raise major political issues.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will ‘shake’ hands with sun, thanks to small push from Venus

By Anna Kusmer

With the Parker Solar Probe, NASA must strike the perfect balance between flying close enough to collect data but not so close that it burns up. Here’s what the mission will take.