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.
A cubic kilometer of clear, stable ice could help physicists answer big questions about cosmic rays and neutrinos. Hardy scientists collect data via a unique telescope at the frozen bottom of the world.
Scott Turner, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
They're the soil-builders that allow Africa's arid savannas to be lush grasslands. What do they do inside their huge mounds – and how does a collective mind allow them to do it?
Launching a space balloon in Sweden.
Alexa Halford
Geomagnetic storms can interact with particles near Earth, causing issues for satellites and other tech. Researchers send balloons 20 miles into the sky to figure out just what's going on up there.
The way sea lions swim is unique among fish and marine mammals. Their technique provides a biomechanical model to design agile underwater vehicles... but first we have to figure out how they do it.
