Oct 11 Spider-Math and Bat-Physics: Science in a Superhero World EmbedVideo(4694, 482, 304); Toward the end of "The Amazing Spider-Man", Peter Parker saves a small child trapped in a car as the car is tossed from New York City's Williamsburg Bridge by the movie's villain, the… Continue reading
Oct 04 New York City’s Maker Faire Delivers Dazzling Colors, Wacky Inventions By Jenny Marder A multi-functional unicorn shoots fire from its horn while sneezing glitter. A six-person ensemble plays instruments made of saw blades, propane tanks, automotive parts, and simple household objects. Cars shaped like cupcakes made of reused electric-car parts and… Continue reading
Sep 27 Why Pandas Have Trouble Getting Pregnant EmbedVideo(4568, 482, 304); On Sept. 16, after five years of trying, a female giant panda at Smithsonian's National Zoo finally gave birth to her second cub. Zookeepers were overjoyed; director Dennis Kelly called it… Continue reading
Aug 23 Throngs of Dangerous Jellyfish Stings Caused ‘Intense, Ripping Pain’ for Nyad This photo shows three of the jellyfish that Nyad encountered during her swim. To the left is a carybdeid cubozoan, a type of box jellyfish. And to the right, almost out of frame, are two olindias. Photo by… Continue reading
Aug 16 Drilling for Clues to Ancient Climate EmbedVideo(4168, 482, 304); On the Joides Resolution research vessel, a team of scientists study the Earth's climate history by drilling deep into the ocean floor and analyzing the deep sea dirt. Two weeks ago the… Continue reading
Aug 09 Building a Natural Gas Fleet? Infrastructure Not Included EmbedVideo(4105, 482, 304); By 2008, the pressure to switch from diesel to natural gas was growing at the United Parcel Service shipping facility in Denver. A new technology called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" promised to drastically increase… Continue reading
Aug 02 Are We All Martians? The Curious Hunt for Life on Mars The prospect that Mars was once a cushy berth for life has waxed and waned as our abilities to study the planet have evolved. In the 1870's an Italian astronomer with the great, lyrical name of… Continue reading
Jul 25 Sudden, Rare Ice Melt in Greenland. What Caused it? By Jenny Marder In a four-day period this July, the Greenland ice sheet melted at a faster rate than satellite data has ever recorded and at higher elevations than we've seen in our lifetimes. So what caused this extraordinary melt? Since May,… Continue reading
Jul 19 Climate Change Strikes Especially Hard Blow to Native Americans By Saskia de Melker // On Thursday's NewsHour, NewsHour correspondent Hari Sreenivasan moderated a panel discussion on how Native American tribes are coping with climate change. The panel included four native leaders representing their communities at the First Stewards symposium: Jeff Mears… Continue reading
Jul 12 Stellar Arts: Astronomy as Muse for African Artists EmbedVideo(3876, 514, 320); From a gigantic rainbow serpent fashioned out of recycled jerry cans to a painting of girls dancing against a Milky Way backdrop, the exhibit "African Cosmos: Stellar Arts" examines how African artists… Continue reading