Molecular computers

Irish study gives the green signal

Mars rover finds water

Images sent by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show dark streaks up to four metres wide running down the sides of some slopes on the …

2016: the year in space and astronomy

Colliding black holes to exploding spacecraft, 2016 was an incredible year for astrophysics

Shutting down the particle powerhouse

Even though funds for the Superconducting Super Collider have dried up, particle physicists are determined to prove their theory of, well, everything

Making clothes more comfortable

A mathematical theory may result in an objective technique to evaluate both the comfort of a fabric and how it will behave over time

A new technique to control laser intensity

Indian scientists have developed a technique that uses electromagnetic radiation to manipulate the intensity of laser beams.

Return of the tube

Announcing the second coming of vacuum tubes, which were wiped out by transistors and integrated circuits

Reaching into the mind

Computer imaging of the human brain promises to open new vistas for medical scientists

Trouble for SOHO

Ground hero

US scientists develop a quick and accurate method to detect radioactive waste

Artificial body

Japanese scientists have discovered a new material that can grow new cells in the human body

Resilient biomaterial

From fruitfly

Sludge-scrapers

Cement from sewage

Unaware and unprepared

More than 26 asteroids entered Earth's atmosphere between 2000 and 2013. None of them was detected in advance

The halo is hotter than the star

An astrophysicist tries to explain why, in violation of the laws of thermodynamics, the corona is hotter than the Sun.

Encounter with the future

The newly-discovered method of lasing in conjugated polymer microcavities may herald bright possibilities for the electronics industry

A brief mania called Hawkins

Barely 100 out of the 5,000 present at the Stephen Hawking public lecture actually understood what he said. Some felt Hawking had endorsed the …

Polar shift

Scientists keenly observe the sun as it changes its polarity

Diamonds a forever

Innovations in synthetic diamond making add some glitter to life

Imaging interiors

An unexplored region of the electromagnetic spectrum is to be exploited for imaging

Electronic eye

A retinal implant based on a microchip could help treat blindness

Readymade bridges

A modular bridge kit made of railroad flatcar decks

Everlasting energisers

Researchers in Israel have developed batteries that could last a lifetime

Stones at stones' worth

Industrial diamonds can now be produced cheaply

Healing plastic