Energy

Various automotive products and battery types from brands like Halfords and Panasonic displayed on a light blue background.

Why batteries come in so many sizes and shapes

Despite all working the same way, batteries are made in different sizes and shapes for reasons of cost and how easy they are to make.

Wesley Chang

A fusion energy locomotive emits a large plume of smoke as it travels through a rugged, mountainous landscape.

Clean Energy

Even as the fusion era dawns, we’re still in the Steam Age

Why do we use steam rather than other gases? Steam has lasted this long because we have an abundance of water, covering 71% of Earth’s surface.

Andreas Helwig

Clean Energy

This startup is making natural gas from sunlight, water, and air

Terraform Industries is using sunlight, water, and air to create synthetic natural gas — and keep methane out of the atmosphere.

Kristin Houser

Animals

Undescribed deep sea creatures discovered in the great barrier reef

Researchers discovered undescribed deep sea creatures, spotted rare fish, and gathered geological samples from the deepest part of the Great Barrier Reef.

B. David Zarley

Outer Space

Can we turn the moon into a gas station?

NASA is looking to buy moon rocks from private companies. This lunar marketplace will spur the development of new technologies that can extract resources from the moon.

Amanda Winkler

Oceans

Google built a neural network to warn ships of whales. will it help?

Google introduced an artificial neural network that can locate whales in the ocean. They want to use it to keep the animals safe from ships.

Teresa Carey

Disaster Response

Firefighting satellites help track wildfires in California

High-tech instruments on satellites are helping emergency responders and members of the public track wildfires in California.

Kristin Houser

Climate Crisis

Could a Norwegian “hurricane net” stop storms by cooling the sea?

Norwegian company OceanTherm uses bubble nets to keep ice out of fjords. Could a hurricane net weaken the storms?

B. David Zarley

Video Games

Storm chasers explore Hurricane Laura with new flight simulator

Virtual storm chasers are using Microsoft’s new flight simulator to explore Hurricane Laura as it moves across the U.S.

Kristin Houser

Animals

The murder hornet’s genome may help stop the invasion

The Asian giant hornet has invaded the Pacific Northwest. Researchers hope a map of the murder hornet’s genome can help their hunt for them.

B. David Zarley

Climate Crisis

Raising Pacific islands to save them from high sea levels

The president of Kiribati announced a new plan to fight against sea level rise: raise the islands.

Teresa Carey

Animals

Scientists have found the locust swarm pheromone

A locust swarm is flying famine, devouring millions of pounds of crops. Researchers have found the swarming trigger — and perhaps an answer to stopping it.

B. David Zarley

Disaster Response

Google wants to make the world’s largest earthquake detector

Google wants to create the world’s largest earthquake detector by using the accelerometers of Android phones and city-level location data.

B. David Zarley

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