Month: November 2021
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The farthest quasar and black hole seen by telescopes
WHEN FEIGE WANG was growing up in Shandong province, China, he liked gazing up at the night sky to look at the stars. Now, as a NASA Hubble fellow at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory, he looks much deeper into the darkness to contemplate the most distant objects ever studied. His targets, quasars, are…
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How an oyster builds a perfectly round pearl
For centuries, researchers have puzzled over how oysters grow stunningly symmetrical, perfectly round pearls around irregularly shaped grains of sand or bits of debris. Now a team has shown that oysters, mussels and other mollusks use a complex process to grow the gems that follows mathematical rules seen throughout nature. Pearls are formed when an…
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Genetically Rescued Organism: Toward A Solution For Sudden Oak Death
Sudden oak death, caused by the pathogen Phythophthora ramorum, is one of the most ecologically devastating forest diseases in North America, responsible for the deaths of millions of oaks and tanoaks along the coast. Science to the rescue? After the success of genetically modified organisms in things like insulin and food, a recent trend is Genetically Rescued…
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What is a side stitch while exercising?
This story has been updated. It was originally published on October 20, 2017. Before the mile run each year in middle school, on the dreaded walk down from the classroom to the course, my classmates would argue over the best way to prevent a side stitch. More so than turning an ankle or coming in…
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Why do marathon runners get the runs?
This article was originally published on November 2, 2017. In 2014, a woman visited a California doctor’s office complaining of a year and a half of watery diarrhea. She seemed healthy—she hadn’t lost weight and was in excellent shape. In fact, she had started running marathons two years prior, and typically ran about 20 miles…
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Will cracking my knuckles give me arthritis?
This post has been updated. It was originally published on October 9, 2018. When he was a child, Donald Unger’s mother and aunts warned that he shouldn’t crack his knuckles, because he would develop arthritis. To prove them wrong, he set out on a half-century long experiment, cracking the knuckles on his left hand at…
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The best robot vacuums of 2023
We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more › Updated Jul 12, 2023 12:22 PM Nothing beats hands-free cleaning—and it truly doesn’t get any better than a robot vacuum. With the push of a button, the best robot vacuums can tackle the largest room in…