WEIRD SCIENCE
By Sarah Leupen Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County – Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@TheConversation.Com. – How do we …
By William Akoto, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Denver – Two CubeSats, part of a constellation built and operated by Planet Labs Inc. to take images of Earth, were launched from the International Space Station on May 17, 2016. NASA. Last month, SpaceX …
It’s red, it’s cold, it’s 4bn years old: NASA data from Arrokoth reveals ‘profound truths’ about the solar system. Hannah Devlin Science correspondent @hannahdev – An artist’s impression shows the New Horizons probe encountering Arrokoth in the Kuiper belt 1bn miles. beyond Pluto. …
By Michael Irving – Researchers have modeled how tomatoes growing in greenhouses would be affected by transparent solar cells installed on the roof. NoamArmonn/Depositphotos. Greenhouses and solar panels both need to be placed in areas with a lot of sunlight – so why …
By Ben Coxworth – A treated piece of wood resists absorbing water (left), while an untreated piece readily does so, changing color in the process (right). Allison Carter, Georgia Tech. – While lumber certainly has many desirable qualities as a building material, it typically …
Physicists propose using time crystals to bring about a quantum computing revolution. By Paul Ratner – Adobe stock. A team of scientists proposes using time crystals to power topological superconductors. The approach could lead to error-free quantum computers. Time crystals appear to break …
By Michael Irving – Researchers have found that treating drinking water with chlorine could produce previously-unknown byproducts. Shebeko/Depositphotos. – Adding chlorine is one of the most common methods of disinfecting drinking water, but just how safe is it? Researchers from Johns Hopkins have now …
By Michael Irving – From left, researchers on the study Zhiyong Xia, Matthew Logan and Spencer Langevin. Johns Hopkins APL. Clean water is all around us, and more literally than you might think – it’s floating around in the air most of …
By Nick Lavars – A breakthrough in battery architecture could lead to lithium batteries with far greater energy densities than those used today. Stillfx/Depositphotos. One of the many ways scientists hope to improve the performance of today’s lithium batteries is by swapping out some …
By Rich Haridy – New research suggests a very specific ultrasound frequency and pulse duration can kill cancer cells but leave healthy ones alone. Ugreen/Depositphotos. – A team of Caltech researchers is proposing a radical new technique for killing cancer cells using low-intensity …
