Portrait of astronaut in space suit and helmet

Space Medicine for the Inexperienced Astronaut

The promise of commercial spaceflight raises questions about how untrained travelers will endure the extreme hostility of space.
The sun in an orange sky

How Do Scientists Define a Heat Wave?

It seems that every summer brings record temperatures. But there's more to a heat wave than daytime highs.
Tornado

When Tornadoes Strike at Night

Injuries and fatalities tend to be higher if people are asleep.
A teacher is standing next to a young student examining her findings from the pond.

How to Increase Diversity in Community Science Projects

There's often a disconnect between the ambitions of scientists engaging the public and the potential participants themselves.
Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu

Chien-Shiung Wu, the First Lady of Physics 

Chien-Shiung Wu disproved a fundamental law of physics—a stunning achievement that helped earn her male colleagues (but not her) a Nobel Prize.
Bathymetrical Chart of the Oceans showing the Deeps According to Sir John Murray, 1912

Wait, There’s Noise Pollution at the Bottom of the Ocean?

Anthropogenic sounds have made it all the way down into the deepest place on Earth—Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench.
Charles David Keeling & George W. Bush, 2001

How Charles Keeling Measured the Rise of Carbon Dioxide

The climate scientist created a new method to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide. It's still used today.
An image representing negentropy

Could Negentropy Help Your Life Run Smoother?

In physics, entropy is the process of a system losing energy and dissolving into chaos. This applies to social systems in everyday life, too.
Sofia, a skeleton from the Durankulak Necropolis

How the Gender Binary Limits Archaeological Study

One case study demonstrates how contemporary assumptions about gender in ancient societies risk obscuring the larger picture.
Venus photographed in ultraviolet light by the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (Pioneer 12) spacecraft, Feb. 26, 1979.

Could Venus’s Hell Climate Predict Earth’s Future?

The answer will require a probe that can withstand the planet's heat and atmospheric pressure to send back good data.