Headlines

Future Martian colonists will need a new relativistic clock

We think of atomic clocks as the definitive timekeepers. They are famous for being accurate down to the picosecond. Unfortunately, they are still subject to general relativity, so if you put them on a different planet, they will track time slightly faster or slower than on

Invisible chemical landscapes shape life

Plants, animals and microorganisms constantly communicate through chemical signals. A research team has now shown that these signals merge in the environment to form complex "chemical landscapes" that have effects far beyond those of their individual components. Published in

Potatoes benefit when two soil bacteria team up

Researchers at Umeå University have shown that two soil bacteria can work together to influence potato development. The bacterial partnership triggered distinct responses in potato plants and was associated with earlier tuber initiation and improved yield under greenhouse

When glaciers vanish, so does the hidden life they support

We often hear about glacier melting and predictions of what climate change could do. But very little is mentioned about the effects on ecosystems or the animals that call them home. To redress some of this imbalance, an international team of researchers set out to map this

Super El Niños may lose their punch in a warming world

In a strong El Niño winter, normally dry regions can suddenly drown in rain. NASA notes that "typically dry regions can experience nearly two times as much rain during a strong El Niño." Indeed, the blockbuster El Niños of 1982–83 and 1997–98 unleashed record-breaking

What we misunderstand about absent fathers

"What do dads do on Tuesdays?" This wasn't a rhetorical question when I posed it to my wife as our daughter's birth approached. Before my daughter was born, I had seen my father just once in the past 27 years. That's more than 1,400 Tuesdays. In fact, as a kid I hardly saw