Just like human swimmers, microswimmers have to coordinate their motion to swim. But unlike humans, swimmers like the freshwater alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii doesn’t have a brain to help it synchronize Keep reading
Year: 2024
Engineering the City of Venice
In 452, Roman refugees established what became the city of Venice across a series of low-lying marshy islands in a lagoon. With no solid ground available, Venice has needed clever Keep reading
Beneath the Surf
A surfer duck-dives beneath a passing wave in this image from photographer John Barton. I always love seeing big waves from this underwater perspective. The turbulent surf looks like storm Keep reading
An Exoplanet With Earth-Like Temperatures
Although researchers have identified thousands of exoplanets in the last 25 years, most of them are far larger and far hotter than Earth. But a team recently announced the discovery Keep reading
Swirls of Green and Teal
Captured in March 2024, this satellite image of the Gulf of Oman comes from an instrument aboard the PACE spacecraft. The picture of a phytoplankton bloom is not quite natural-color, Keep reading
Measuring Microfibers in Turbulence
Microplastic pollution is on the rise, especially in waterways. Microfibers — millimeters in length but only microns in diameter — are especially prevalent, as they get washed out of synthetic Keep reading
Origins of Salt Polygons
Around the world, dry salt lakes are crisscrossed by thousands of meter-wide salt polygons. Although they resemble crack patterns, these structures are actually the result of convection occurring in the Keep reading
“Echo”
Daniel Kish is an echolocation pioneer, teaching fellow blind people to navigate the world independently. By clicking or tapping and listening to how the sound reflects back, Kish and his Keep reading
Measuring Ocean Upwelling
Large-scale ocean circulation is critical to our planet’s health and climate. In this process, seawater near the poles cools and sinks into the deep ocean, carrying dissolved carbon and nutrients Keep reading
Gigantic Jets
Stormy skies feature much more than the forked cloud-to-ground lightning we’re used to seeing. This composite image shows a rare and recently-recognized type of lightning known as a gigantic jets. Keep reading