Author name: Patricia Wolf

In the 1990s, Lane, as NSF director, ushered in the requirement that, in addition to intellectual merit, reviewers should consider a grant proposal’s “broader impacts.” In general, he said, the aim was to encourage science that would benefit society. The broader impacts requirement remains today. Among other options, researchers can fulfill it by including a […]

Found in the forests of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and Eastern Australia, birds of paradise are famous for flashy feathers and unusually shaped ornaments, which set the standard for haute couture among birds. Many use these feathers for flamboyant mating displays in which they shape-shift into otherworldly forms. As if this didn’t attract enough attention,

To find out how much force a mantis shrimp’s dactyl clubs can possibly withstand, the researchers tested live shrimp by having them strike a piezoelectric sensor like they would smash a shell. They also fired ultrasonic and hypersonic lasers at pieces of dactyl clubs from their specimens so they could see how the clubs defended

It’s not the most stylish cabin we’ve sat in. Credit: Tim Stevens In motion, though, the experience is much the same. You’re seated up high, deafened by the clatter and bangs from the empty, boxy body, which, again, is exactly like that built on a traditional truck. The feedback is so harsh that it’s actually

The nine-engine first stage for Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum rocket lights up on the launch pad on February 14. Credit: Isar Aerospace Isar builds almost all of its rockets in-house, including Spectrum’s Aquila engines. “The flight will be the first integrated test of tens of thousands of components,” said Josef Fleischmann, Isar’s co-founder and chief technical