All Stories by Skyler Ware
- Earth
Reactive dust from Great Salt Lake may have health consequences
When inhaled, metals left by the shrinking lake could cause inflammation. Experts say more studies are needed to understand the impact.
- Physics
The world’s fastest microscope makes its debut
Using a laser and an electron beam, the microscope can snap images of moving electrons every 625 quintillionths of a second.
- Chemistry
Old books can have unsafe levels of chromium, but readers’ risk is low
An analysis of a university collection found that the vibrant pigments coating some Victorian-era tomes exceed exposure limits for the heavy metal.
- Chemistry
Tycho Brahe dabbled in alchemy. Broken glassware is revealing his recipes
The shards contain nine metals that the famous astronomer may have used, including one not formally identified until 180 years after his death.
- Math
This intricate maze connects the dots on quasicrystal surfaces
The winding loop touches every point without crossing itself and could help make a unique class of atomic structures more efficient catalysts, scientists say.
- Animals
Tiny saunas help frogs fight off chytrid fungus
Balmy shelters could bolster resistance to the deadly fungus in amphibian populations, but experts caution they won’t work for all susceptible species.
- Materials Science
Scientists developed a sheet of gold that’s just one atom thick
Ultrathin goldene sheets could reduce the amount of gold needed for electronics and certain chemical reactions.
- Humans
These are the chemicals that give teens pungent body odor
Steroids and high levels of carboxylic acids in teenagers’ body odor give off a mix of pleasant and acrid scents.
- Earth
How thunderstorms can spawn damaging ‘downbursts’
Powerful winds called downbursts are not the same as a tornado, but the damage they cause can be similar — and can hit with little warning.
- Chemistry
Magnetic ‘rusty’ nanoparticles pull estrogen out of water
Iron oxide particles adorned with “sticky” molecules trap estrogen in water, possibly limiting the hormone’s harmful effects on aquatic life.
- Paleontology
Meet the tiny ancient whale named after King Tut
The newly discovered Tutcetus rayanensis lived about 40 million years ago. It was just 2.5 meters long and weighed less than 200 kilograms.
- Genetics
The ‘unknome’ catalogs nearly 2 million proteins. Many are mysterious
Scientists have unveiled a new database that emphasizes how much we still don’t know about human proteins and genes.
