The danger lurking in an African lake
Kivu is no ordinary lake, with dense depths packed with methane and carbon dioxide gas. Its features hold aquatic puzzles, explosive hazards and the capacity to provide valuable energy.
Oct. 7, 2020 • ~11 min
story-behind-a-picture physical-world
The weapons of sexual rivalry
Male-male competition, and sometimes female preferences, have driven arms races for the flashiest horns, antlers, pincers, tusks and claws
Dec. 5, 2019 • ~12 min
story-behind-a-picture living-world
Hotter than the sun: The mysterious solar corona
Several new missions aim squarely at a long-standing astronomical conundrum, with the promise of improving space-weather predictions
Sept. 23, 2019 • ~9 min
space-astronomy story-behind-a-picture physical-world
Tiny, living stones of the sea
How limestone-covered algae sway global climate — and how their fate may shift as the oceans acidify
June 25, 2019 • ~9 min
climate-change story-behind-a-picture living-world
How 3-D printing could help shape surgery
Technology is enabling increasingly lifelike models of organs to help doctors practice operations.
June 19, 2019 • ~11 min
technology story-behind-a-picture health-disease
Life’s a blur — but we don’t see it that way
Our brains manage to construct stable images even as our eyes keep darting around. Here’s what we know about how that happens.
June 12, 2019 • ~9 min
story-behind-a-picture living-world
Sticky science: Evolution of spiderwebs
The eight-legged weavers have been hunting insects for almost 400 years, flaunting their long history in a rich array of architectures. Scientists are still figuring out the taxonomy of them all.
Oct. 31, 2018 • ~7 min
story-behind-a-picture living-world
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