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by Nicolas P. D. Sawaya figures by Brad Wierbowski More renewable energy means more electricity storage When the National Academy of Engineering ranked the twentieth century’s greatest engineering achievements, first on the list was “electrification,”…

Spreading of Homo sapiens [Image: created by NordNordWest, release into the public domain] It is widely believed that humans first arrived in the Americas around 13,000 to 15,000 years ago. Discoveries at archeological sites such as Mesa Verde in Chile…

by Karen J. Kieser figures by Karen J. Kieser Tuberculosis (TB) has been a disease of humankind for millennia, and rising rates of drug resistance threaten humanity’s ability to arrest its spread. Compared to common bacterial infections, such as strep…

by Emma Bertran figures by Rebecca Clements Over the past few decades, our Earth has undergone global changes, a gradual reshaping that can be witnessed in real time. Since the Industrial Revolution, the global annual mean concentration of atmospheric…

by Trevor Haynes In the late 18th century a particularly resourceful experimenter, Giovanni Aldini, saw scientific opportunity in the increasingly prevalent public executions being performed across Europe at the time. Using the corpse of a recently…

Cross section of oak wood, showing every reason that made an oak tall and strong. The large pores are vessels that are responsible for transporting (more accurately, pumping/pushing) water from the root system to the tip of the tree. The densely packed…

by Marina Watanabe I once attended a lecture by a famed physicist, and left convinced that physics was the biggest sham in the universe (or multiverse, if you believe him). At one point, the professor answered an audience member’s question by…

Will we be the first generation that cures cancer? The answer is complicated. Curing cancer remains a steep task despite the hopeful rhetoric and heavy investment put forward by new initiatives like the Cancer Moonshot. Treating cancer is not possible…

by Dana Boebinger figures by Tito Adhikary I’ve had many conversations over the past several weeks – with scientists and non-scientists alike – about the possible outcomes of this weekend’s March for Science. Some people are excited about this…

We’ve all heard of autism, and most of us know someone who is autistic. However, the cause of autism has eluded doctors and scientists, and there are as of yet no definitive treatments. In this lecture, we will talk about neurogenetics – the science of…