Bringing rocks back from Mars
Dec 18th 2019SAN FRANCISCOTHE IDEA, popular in science fiction, that alien life will do bad things to life on Earth if the two…
Do not rely on facial expressions for how people are feeling
ARISTOTLE RECKONED the face was a window onto a person’s mind. Cicero agreed. Two millennia on, facial expressions are still…
Knowing how plants and microbes work together can boost crop yields
INTERACTIONS WITH microbes in the soil are crucial to the health of plants. Some bacteria turn nitrogen from the air into ammonia,…
The sex of researchers affects the language of research papers
Jan 9th 2020“LEAN IN,” advises Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, in a book of that name. Her advice to…
New Zealand was once a land of giants
SQUAWKZILLA, AS HE (or possibly she) has come to be known, is not the sort of parrot that would sit on your shoulder while you…
Iran’s attack on Iraq shows how precise missiles have become
Jan 16th 2020SATELLITE PHOTOGRAPHS of Ain al-Asad, an air base in western Iraq currently used by American forces, showed the aftermath…
New ways to pluck water from desert air
Jan 11th 2020IF YOU LIVE in a desert, maintaining a supply of fresh water is a challenge. One answer is desalination, but that…
Might there soon be a supernova near Earth?
Jan 11th 2020THE GREAT Collapsing Hrung Disaster of the Year 03758 is shrouded in mystery. All that is known about this event,…
Dung beetles prefer human faeces to those of wild animals
Jan 9th 2020ECOSYSTEMS ARE complex things, and monitoring their health is hard. To track every species would be impossible, so…