CATEGORIES

Can You Repeat That?

One day you go for a checkup, and the doctor suggests something you should do to stay healthy.

OOPS!

MOST PRINT newspapers and magazines run corrections. These note mistakes both large and small. But as more people read news online, corrections face big changes.

Maryam Zaringhalam Science Policy Scholar

Maryam Zaringhalam is a science and technology policy fellow through the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Cold Fusion

The myths and mysteries behind one of science’s biggest mistakes

Tammy Ma Experimental Physicist

Tammy Ma’s job involves firing lots of powerful lasers: 192 of them to be exact. She works at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), home to the world’s largest and most energetic laser system. Three football fields could fit inside the building. One of the original goals of the giant facility was to harness fusion energy.

Easy As ABC

In 2012, a Japanese mathematician named Shinichi Mochizuki announced that he finally knew the abc’s.

A Live Map Of Everywhere On Earth: Creepy Or Cool?

Imagine turning on the GPS and seeing an image of your car from above.

All Maps Are Wrong But Many Are Useful

It is an inarguable mathematical fact that every map is a lie.

Match Mythical Creatures With Real Marine Life

Match mythical creatures with real marine life.

Search & Rescue Kids

Using maps to find lost people

Tim Wallace Cartographer

Tim Wallace is a modern-day cartographer. In other words, he spends his days creating maps. To prepare for that career, Wallace earned a PhD in geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While earning his degree, Wallace worked at The New York Times, where he created thousands of maps on a wide variety of topics. These included the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall in Houston in 2017; the territory controlled by terrorist group ISIS; and the results of elections. He recently started a new job as geographer and visual journalist at Descartes Labs, a company that collects data from different sources to help people and businesses better understand the planet.

Multicolored Maps

Maps of the United States often show the states in different colors. In general, mapmakers use enough colors to make sure states that touch are never the same color.

Urban Geocaching

Treasure Right Under Your Nose

Little Creatures Among Us

THE MANY MICROBES IN OUR DAILY LIVES

The Littlest Astronauts

WHY STUDY BUGS IN US . . . IN SPACE?

Just How Buggy Is Your Phone?

WHAT ITEM in your home crawls with the most germs? If you said the toilet seat, you’re wrong. Kitchen sponges top the list. But cell phones are pretty grimy too. They contain around 10 times as many germs as toilet seats. People touch their phones, laptops, and other digital devices all day long, yet rarely clean them.

Ready For Some Cryotherapy?

At this very moment around the world, athletes are stepping almost naked into freezing cold chambers.

The Future Of Money

From the gold standard to virtual tokens

How (And Why) Banks Handle Money

How (and why) banks handle money

Is It Possible To Avoid A Robot Rebellion?

ROBOT OVERLORDS roll, stomp, and fly through movies and comic books.

Cathy O'Neil

DATA SCIENTIST

Out Of Left Field Cafe

HOW DO SCIENTISTS PASS THE TIME AT FAR-FLUNG RESEARCH SITES?

Could You Live Without Your Phone?

WHAT WOULD you do with your time if you couldn’t use a cell phone, computer, or other digital device? Would you perish of boredom? Or would you feel happier and more relaxed? Some teens have tried it and lived to tell the tale. 

XIUHTEZCATL MARTINEZ

Xiuhtezcatl (pronounced SHU-tez-caat) Martinez is a 16-year-old with big hopes for the Earth’s future. Since he was 6, he has dedicated his life to the fight for global environmental health. By age 13, he had received a presidential award for his work and was selected as one of the leading youth changemakers by the Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council. Xiuhtezcatl, whose name means “Turquoise Mirror,” has brought together youth from around the world to act as warriors defending our planet.

Berry Thirsty

On a virtual farm, would you grow strawberries or raspberries?

Fasten Your Seat Belt

What if We Treated Melting Ice Like Other Possible Catastrophes?

Planet Search

Math helps us chart the universe.

The Old-Fashioned Dream Lab

How Did Scientists Without Modern Technology Study the Dreaming Mind?

What Do Animals Dream About?

Peek Inside the Minds of Sleeping Animals.

Dreams Gone Bad

The Truth Behind Midnight Hauntings.