Scientists finally detected a quantum effect that blocks atoms from scattering light
A cloud of ultracold atoms is like a motel with a neon “no vacancy” sign. If a guest at the motel wants to switch...
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
How climate change may shape the world in the centuries to come
It’s hard to imagine what Earth might look like in 2500. But a collaboration between science and art is offering an unsettling window into...
A new map shows where carbon needs to stay in nature to avoid climate disaster
Over decades, centuries and millennia, the steady skyward climb of redwoods, the tangled march of mangroves along tropical coasts and the slow submersion of...
How massive stars in binary systems turn into carbon factories
The next time you thank your lucky stars, you might want to bless the binaries. New calculations indicate that a massive star whose outer...
This eco-friendly glitter gets its color from plants, not plastic
All that glitters is not green. Glitter and shimmery pigments are often made using toxic compounds or pollutive microplastics (SN: 4/15/19). That makes the...
How missing data makes it harder to measure racial bias in policing
From 2012 to 2015, a team of researchers collected 2.9 million police officer patrol records in Chicago. The team’s analysis of that data, from...
An ancient exploding comet may explain why glass litters part of Chile
Scattered across a swath of the Atacama Desert in Chile lie twisted chunks of black and green glass. How the glass ended up there,...
New high-speed video reveals the physics of a finger snap
It all happens in a snap. New high-speed video exposes the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it physics behind snapping your fingers. The footage reveals the extreme speed at...
‘Life as We Made It’ charts the past and future of genetic tinkering
Life as We Made ItBeth ShapiroBasic Books, $30 With genetic engineering, humans have recently unleashed a surreal fantasia: pigs that excrete less environment-polluting phosphorus,...
Distant rocky planets may have exotic chemical makeups that don’t resemble Earth’s
If a real Captain Kirk ever blasts off for other stars in search of rocky planets like ours, he may find lots of strange...
Ukraine: Oleshky ceasefire offers ‘hope’ for civilians as attacks on aid vehicles continue 
World News in Brief: 300,000 displaced in Lebanon, Türk ‘deeply concerned’ over Novaya Gazeta closure, $50 million refugee appeal, World Cities Day 
DR Congo: Hunger deepens for millions amid conflict, Ebola and climate shocks 
African Athletes Should be Free to be Themselves