Why is it so difficult to swat a fly? A team of insect experts explains how a fly’s sophisticated vision allows it to quickly react to visual cues.
TRAPPIST-1e is a rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone of a star 40 light-years from Earth and may have water and clouds, as depicted in this artist’s impression.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Wikimedia Commons
Life on Earth has dramatically changed the chemistry of the planet. Astronomers will measure light that bounces off distant planets to look for similar clues that they host life.
Many places have banned sunscreens with certain chemicals in an attempt to help protect coral reefs.
Westend61 via Getty Images
Researchers have long suspected that an ingredient in sunscreen called oxybenzone was harming corals, but no one knew how. A new study shows how corals turn oxybenzone into a sunlight-activated toxin.
It only takes light about eight minutes to go from the Sun to Earth.
loops7/E+ via Getty Images
The fastest things ever made by humans are spacecraft, and the fastest spacecraft reached 330,000 mph – only 0.05% the speed of light. But there are ways to go faster.
UV lights come in a variety of different wavelengths, but not all are equally effective at disinfection. Researchers tested a number of commercially available lights to find the best.
Museum lighting standards assume galleries are still using incandescent bulbs or fluorescent lights. But LEDs offer more for both audiences and conservation.
Einstein was awarded a Nobel prize for his explanation for how light can be described as being made up of individual particles of energy under certain conditions.
Female elephant seals take seven-month feeding trips during which they balance danger, starvation and exhaustion.
Dan Costa
By measuring how and when elephant seals sleep, researchers were able to figure out how elephant seals change their risk-taking behavior as they gain weight.
The greenhouse effect and plate tectonics are essential for maintaining water on the Earth’s surface.
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Reto Stöckli
For 60 years, physicists thought they knew exactly how coherent a laser could get. Now the ultimate quantum limit to laser coherence has been found, and it’s much much bigger than anybody thought.
The tiny floating duckweed plant is uniquely suited to meet the nutritional needs of astronauts.
Dr. Jared J. Stewart
Duckweed is the perfect space food: small, fast-growing and nutritious. By studying how light levels changed the production of radiation-fighting antioxidants, researchers made it even better.
Rotating black holes suck up anything that gets near enough.
muratart/shutterstock
To boost your immune defenses against corona and other viruses, one of the most effective things you can do is maintain your natural circadian rhythms. Here’s how to do that.
Through the wonders of chemistry, molecules can be rearranged to completely transform color.
Erick Leite Bastos