Is nuclear waste safe underground?
Researchers calculated that nuclear waste could be safely sealed away for more than 350 million years in geological repositories deep…
Category: Big Questions
Finding alien life with light signals
Scientists compared light reflected from Earth to light reflected from Mars, and found that planets with life produce more complex,…
Bedrock fractures shape waterfalls
Scientists replicated river systems in a laboratory and found that erosion around waterfalls varies based on pre-existing fractures in the…
Harnessing sunlight to fight bacteria
Scientists developed biodegradable food packaging that combines heat- and light-driven chemistry to preserve food safely and sustainably.
Reducing earthquakes caused by fracking
Scientists tested four methods to reduce earthquakes caused by drilling for geothermal energy, and proposed a safer approach to replace the…
Objects at the border between planets and stars
Researchers studying a star-forming region in our galaxy found mysterious objects that are neither stars nor planets, but could be a new…
Why is Earth’s crust layered?
Researchers found that the enrichment of radiogenic elements in the upper continental crust requires high-temperature metamorphism to melt…
Common DNA damage could cause neurodegenerative diseases
Researchers discovered that neurons from patients with Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis share…
Is modern farming sustainable?
Scientists studied sediments from the Mississippi River catchment to determine whether modern agriculture caused more landscape erosion than…
Dark matter influences the size of galaxies
Researchers simulated the effects of dark matter halos on galaxies and found that denser halos produced smaller galaxies.