Richard Garwin, who died on May 13, 2025, at the age of 97, was sometimes called “the most influential scientist you’ve never heard of[1].” He got his Ph.D. in physics at 21 under Enrico Fermi – a Nobel Prize winner and friend of Einstein’s –
Half a century after the Apollo astronauts left the last bootprints in lunar dust[1], the Moon has once again become a destination of fierce ambition and delicate engineering.
This time, it’s not just superpowers racing to plant flags[2], but also private
Whether diving off docks, cannonballing into lakes or leaping off the high board, there’s nothing quite like the joy of jumping into water.
Olympic divers turned this natural act into a sophisticated science, with the goal of making a splash as small as
Eating a placenta may not give you the health benefits some people want you to believe it has, but using it as a bandage[1] might.
The placenta is an organ[2] created during pregnancy that provides nutrients to a growing fetus through an umbilical cord.
You scrambled up a Rubik’s cube[1], and now you want to put it back in order. What sequence of moves should you make?
Surprise: You can answer this question with modern algebra[2].
Most folks who have been through high school mathematics courses will have
It might seem surprising, but federal research funding isn’t just for scientists. A component of many federal grants that support basic research requires that discoveries be shared with nonscientists. This component, referred to as “broader impacts[1]” by
More than 90% of paved roads in the U.S. are made of asphalt, which is constructed with nonrenewable materials such as petroleum[1]. One way to make paving more sustainable is to recycle old pavement. When roads break down and need repaving, transportation