In the Hakkōda Mountains of Japan, snow encases the trees, transforming the ski slopes into a hoodoo-filled winter wonderland. Photographer Sho Shibata captured these images while journeying through the area Keep reading
Month: March 2025
Water-Jumping Springtails
Springtails are small, jumping insects. Semiaquatic varieties use their tails to jump off water in order to move around and escape predation. Among these water jumpers, results vary; some, like Keep reading
Why Rivers Shift
In their natural state, rivers are variable in their course, shifting and meandering. Sometimes they deposit sediment, and sometimes they erode it. In this video, Grady from Practical Engineering digs Keep reading
Pee-Flinging Sharpshooters
The tiny glassy-winged sharpshooter feeds exclusively on nutrient-poor sap from plant xylem. Since the sap is 95% water, the insects have to consume massive amounts, necessitating lots of urination — Keep reading
The Physics of Clogging
Clogging is one of those phenomenons that we encounter constantly, from overflowing storm drains to the traffic jam at the door when a lecture ends. It happens at all scales, Keep reading
“Evanescent”
Giant iridescent inflatables dot public spaces in the “Evanescent” exhibit. The “bubble-tecture” is the work of Sydney-based artistic collaboration Atelier Sisu. Conceived during the pandemic, the duo “endeavoured to communicate Keep reading
Water Builds Static Charge
The ancient Greeks first recognized static electricity, but the mechanisms behind it remain somewhat mysterious. In particular, it’s unclear how two pieces of the same material can build a charge Keep reading
A 2D Splash
We see plenty of droplets splash when they fall into a pool, but what happens when the drop and pool are two-dimensional? Here researchers captured the familiar process of a Keep reading
Explaining Salt Polygons
Around the world, salt playas are criss-crossed with meter-sized polygons formed by ridges of salt. The origins of these structures — and the reason for their consistency across different regions Keep reading
Jackson Water Crisis
In the United States, we expect clean water from our taps, but the experiences of Jackson, Mississippi over the last several years are a reminder that we cannot take that Keep reading