Medical clowns can help children through their treatmentsFatCamera/Getty Images Children and teenagers with pneumonia seem to spend less time in hospital if they are visited by a medical clown, who helps to reduce their heart rates and encourage independence. Visits...
Forecasters warned this spring that the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season could be particularly dangerous because of the potent combination of warm sea-surface temperatures and a looming La Niña climate pattern that would favor tropical storm formation. But as the typical...
September 7, 20245 min readStarliner Spacecraft Safely Returns to Earth, sans AstronautsStarliner’s first crewed test flight has concluded with a successful touchdown—and two astronauts still in orbit awaiting a different ride homeBy Lee BillingsA view of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft as...
A breaching white shark off the coast of South AfricaAidan Martin Sharks and rays leap out of the water, or breach, for a wide variety of reasons, including courtship, birthing and hygiene, according to a review of scientific evidence, which...
Studying how to make batteries last longerJacqueline Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory A simple change in how new lithium-ion batteries are charged can boost their total lifespans by 50 per cent on average – and battery manufacturers everywhere can immediately put...
Bands of fast-moving wind that blow west to east around the globe play a crucial role in weather – a poleward shift in parts of these jet streams could cause dramatic changes in weather from the western US to the...
The internet could not exist without information theoryMehmet BAYSAN / Alamy The following is an extract from our Lost in Space-Time newsletter. Each month, we hand over the keyboard to a physicist or mathematician to tell you about fascinating ideas...
Researchers survey archaeological features in Wandel Dal valley, GreenlandFuuja Larsen Some 4500 years ago, as the Great Pyramid of Giza was being erected and the Indus Valley civilisation hit its peak, a group of Arctic peoples migrated to a region...
As you read this sentence, an army of cells patrols your brain. These soldiers slip around neurons, using their gangly appendages to search for threats. If one of them detects a pathogen or injury, it springs into action. Swelling up...
Lady Margaret passionflowerRob Kesseler & Wolfgang Stuppy Since the emergence of seeds around 360 million years ago, plants have flourished – from the most imposing of giant sequoias to the daintiest of herbs. The new book Seeds: Time capsules of...
