Jennifer Walsh, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Sending autonomous vehicles to the Southern Ocean can be fraught with anxiety, especially if one of them doesn't make radio contact when it's supposed to.
The research vessel must dodge dangerous icebergs as it drills for sediment core samples.
Phil Christie/IODP
A paleooceanographer describes her ninth sea expedition, this time retrieving cylindrical 'cores' of the sediment and rock that's as much as two miles down at the ocean floor.
The submersible Alvin about 8,500 feet down, studying seafloor volcanoes and eruptions.
(c) Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with thanks to Daniel Fornari – WHOI-MISO Facility (www.whoi.edu/miso) and National Science Foundation
When you study volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges, doing fieldwork means becoming an aquanaut – diving thousands of feet to the ocean floor in the submersible Alvin, trading tight quarters for amazing views.
It takes a giant piece of equipment to look deep inside a tiny atom.
Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Lab
It turns out to be fairly complicated to figure out how electricity will flow through materials – a crucial question for designing new electronics and semiconductor materials.
Each wolf calls with its own ‘voice.’
Angela Dassow
Tracking wild animals can provide lots of valuable data. New research suggests audio recordings of wild wolves can replace the typical radio collars, which can be expensive and intrusive.
Author Tom Iliffe leads scientists on a cave dive.
Jill Heinerth
Epidemiologists study disease outbreaks in populations to determine who gets sick and why. In the wake of this year's hurricanes, they are assessing impacts from mold, toxic leaks and other threats.
Science is a human approach to understanding the world.
Nitirak Rakitiworakun/shutterstock
Science provides a useful way to explore and understand the natural world. But it also has a richness, diversity and creativity that is often overlooked.
Hiscox and students practice for the big day with a weather balloon.
Joshua Burrack
Meteorology researchers across the country are prepping experiments for the mini-night the eclipse will bring on August 21 – two minutes and 36 seconds without the sun in the middle of the day.
Intensified rice production in Cambodia's dry season is wreaking havoc on local bird populations.
Polysaccharide molecules such as cellulose, seen here, are long chains of sugars that are very hard to break apart. Enzymes – proteins that can degrade polysaccharides – have many industrial uses.
CeresVesta/Wikipedia
Bio-prospecting is the search for useful materials from natural sources. A biologist explains what we can learn from bacteria about breaking down plant material, and how we can use that knowledge.
How is rapid warming in the Arctic affecting animals that are adapted to cold? A wildlife biologist is using many techniques to find out, including stalking muskoxen in a polar bear costume.
Rats foul our food, spread disease and damage property, but we know very little about them. A biologist explains how he tracks wild rats in New York City, and what he's learned about them so far.
Archaeologists on the front lines.
Jonathan Cohen/Binghamton University
Nina M. Versaggi, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Cultural resource management archaeologists don't choose where they dig. Instead they identify, evaluate and preserve cultural heritage sites in locations slated for development.