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3-D Fractals Offer Clues to Complex Systems
By folding fractals into 3-D objects, a mathematical duo hopes to gain new insight into simple equations.
On the Moon’s Far Side, Clues to a Cataclysm?
A mission to collect samples from the far side of the moon could answer questions about a barrage of asteroids nearly 4 billion years ago.
Explorers Find Passage to Earth’s Dark Age
Geochemical signals from deep inside Earth are beginning to shed light on the planet’s first 50 million years, a formative period long viewed as inaccessible to science.
In the Deep, a Drive to Find Dark Matter
Elena Aprile now leads the world’s most sensitive dark-matter search. But before she could build her first detector, she had to make herself out of titanium.
Grand Unification Dream Kept at Bay
Physicists have failed to find disintegrating protons, throwing into limbo the beloved theory that the forces of nature were unified at the beginning of time.
Teeth May Reveal a Multi-Day Biological Clock
Tiny lines laid down by tooth enamel appear to reveal a previously unknown biological rhythm. If confirmed, the finding could help researchers understand why big animals grow slower — and live longer — than small ones.
On a Hunt for a Ghost of a Particle
Janet Conrad has a plan to catch the sterile neutrino — an elusive particle, possibly glimpsed by a number of experiments, that would upend what we know about the subatomic world.
Viruses Find a New Way to Hijack Cells
A virus that causes crippling birth defects has been shown to do something else: It changes thousands of messages coming from DNA that control normal cellular activities.
Solution: ‘Hanging Far Out Over the Edge’
A simple and elegant way to stack identical flat objects so that they project over an edge as far as possible.