Headlines

Flexible force fields can protect our return to the moon

Lunar dust remains one of the biggest challenges for a long-term human presence on the moon. Its jagged, clingy nature makes it naturally stick to everything from solar panels to the inside of human lungs. And while we have some methods of dealing with it, there is still plenty

Robot clean-up crews tackle litter on Europe's seabed

EU researchers are developing AI-guided robot fleets to take over the dangerous, dirty work of finding and removing marine litter from the sea floor. A ship with a crane floats in the Mediterranean sun at a marina in Marseille, France. The crane whirs as it hauls waste from the

Quantum trembling: Why there are no truly flat molecules

Traditional chemistry textbooks present a tidy picture: Atoms in molecules occupy fixed positions, connected by rigid rods. A molecule such as formic acid (methanoic acid, HCOOH) is imagined as two-dimensional—flat as a sheet of paper. But quantum physics tells a different

Why hikers need a backup for the maps on their phones

Four of five Norwegians use digital maps when they are in the outdoors. In just a few years, our mobile phones have gone from being a practical navigation aid to a virtual compass in your backpack. The more we rely on digital navigational tools, the more important it is that

New book explores links between disasters and development

Disasters arise from the convergence of natural and social forces. Earthquakes, cyclones, floods, droughts, and other catastrophic events disproportionately affect the most vulnerable people, whether the poor in wealthy countries or the inhabitants of less developed countries.

Cleaner fish show intelligence typical of mammals

Researchers at Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan have discovered a previously undiscovered behavior in cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus). When presented with a mirror, the tiny fish not only recognized themselves, but experimented with the mirror themselves,

Phonon lasers unlock ultrabroadband acoustic frequency combs

Acoustic frequency combs organize sound or mechanical vibrations into a series of evenly spaced frequencies, much like the teeth on a comb. They are the acoustic counterparts of optical frequency combs, which consist of equally spaced spectral lines and act as extraordinarily

The persistence of gravitational wave memory

Neutron stars are ultra-dense remnants of massive stars that collapsed after supernova explosions and are made up mostly of subatomic particles with no electric charge (i.e., neutrons). When two neutron stars collide, they are predicted to produce gravitational waves, ripples