What would happen if all the plants disappeared?
Consider the way that plants affect your life. You might wear cotton, eat apples, or admire a daffodil. But plants are also a part of the big picture of Earth’s climate and habitability. Well, for …
What Earth’s atmosphere does to sunlight and moonlight?
We see the sun and moon through Earth’s atmosphere. And the sun looks yellow — while the moon looks white. What Earth’s atmosphere does to sunlight and moonlight? A reader: “I hear the sun appears …
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Antihydrogen
Scientists in Switzerland are making antimatter — an exotic type of matter that explodes on contact with ordinary matter. These experiments may help explain what happened just after the Big Bang. For some decades, it’s …
The scents of flowers
The fragrance of a rose can be irresistibly attractive to many people. But why? A reader’s question about the chemistry of the scents of flowers! Valerie Moreno: My name is Valine Moreno, I’m from Monterey, …
Evidence of Life in a Martian Meteorite
In 1993, ALH84001 was examined by researcher David Mittlefehldt of Lockheed-Martin. Mittlefehldt, an expert on meteorites, noticed that it appeared unusual and that it had features in common with other known martian meteorites. Further analysis …
Spring comes to the planet Uranus
Astronomers had assumed for decades that the planet Uranus was featureless. But closer study has revealed that it’s a dynamic world with changing seasons. When the Voyager 2 spacecraft visited Uranus in 1986, it saw …
Crooked Trees
As the twig is bent, so grows the tree. We’ll answer a reader’s question about why tree branches grow crookedly — instead of straight up toward the noon sun. “Why don’t tree branches grow perfectly …
Why can’t the queen bee sting you?
Beekeepers can handle thousands of bees annually, and they get stung on a regular basis. But there’s one bee that never stings a beekeeper. A queen bee has a long, smooth-shafted stinger and a very …
Darleane Hoffman
Since 1981, six new elements have been added to the Periodic Table found in every chemistry textbook. We talk with Darleane Hoffman — a pioneer in the search for rare, unstable elements. Darleane Hoffman is …