Reviews12/17/20Dec 173Reviews12/17/20ReviewsThe Physics of Tenet Is Shaky, but It Still Kicks AssRyan F. Mandelbaum92“Don’t try to understand it,” a scientist tells the protagonist of Tenet, as she briefly explains the physics of…
Animals9/19/20Sep 192Animals9/19/20AnimalsJohn James Audubon Was Never GoodRyan F. Mandelbaum37The most famous name in American ornithology is that of a slave owner, grave robber, and fraud who invented birds…
Physics6/17/20Jun 177Physics6/17/20PhysicsExtremely Sensitive Dark Matter Experiment Detects Something WeirdRyan F. Mandelbaum61A mysterious signal has appeared in an extremely sensitive dark matter-hunting experiment. And after more than a…
Physics6/9/20Jun 96Physics6/9/20PhysicsScientists Call for Academic Shutdown in Support of Black LivesRyan F. Mandelbaum104White supremacy is baked into science and academia, from racist language in textbooks to a culture that excludes…
Physics5/19/20May 1917Physics5/19/20PhysicsWhy the U.S. Is Betting It All on the Most Puzzling Particle in the UniverseRyan F. Mandelbaum42Nearly 14 billion years ago, a universe appeared in an unthinkably high-energy blast. Particles started to…
May 1535/15/20Look at These Cool Birds I've SeenRyan F. Mandelbaum14A few years ago, I stopped being afraid of birds and realized that, actually, I really liked them. It just clicked…
Animals5/15/20May 152Animals5/15/20AnimalsResearchers Accidentally Got High on Laughing Gas From Penguin PoopRyan F. Mandelbaum5When studying penguins, there’s a surprise you’ve gotta watch out for: the laughing gas produced by their poop.
Physics5/14/20May 144Physics5/14/20PhysicsHow Do We Know the Nukes Still Work?Ryan F. Mandelbaum73Scientists at U.S. National Laboratories are still testing nuclear weapons among the mountains, desert, and…
Culture5/13/20May 133Culture5/13/20Culture5 Things That Could Be Making the Spooky Sounds in My HouseRyan F. Mandelbaum43Like many people, I live in an apartment. I don’t really know how old my building is, but it must be kind of old: it…
Physics5/13/20May 134Physics5/13/20PhysicsCold War Nuclear Testing May Have Caused Extra Rain Around the WorldRyan F. Mandelbaum7A new study has found that nuclear radiation during Cold War-era weapons testing could have induced significant…
Space5/12/20May 122Space5/12/20SpaceHunk of Chinese Rocket Falls to Earth as Uncontrolled Space DebrisRyan F. Mandelbaum64A large, out-of-control piece of space debris crashed into the Atlantic Ocean yesterday, passing over much of the…
May 1295/12/20This Philosopher Is Challenging All of Evolutionary PsychologyRyan F. Mandelbaum163It’s not often that a paper attempts to take down an entire field. Yet, this past January, that’s precisely what…
Earth Science5/11/20May 112Earth Science5/11/20Earth ScienceLava Lake Is Now Water Lake Atop Kilauea VolcanoRyan F. Mandelbaum9Satellite images have captured the result of a lake of lava collapsing on Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, revealing an…
Physics5/8/20May 83Physics5/8/20PhysicsThese Physicists Cannot Rest Until They Understand the Motions of Drunk WormsRyan F. Mandelbaum8You wake up, slightly intoxicated as tap water rinses over your body. You don’t remember why you’re here, but you’re…
Supper Time5/7/20May 75Supper Time5/7/20Supper TimeHow to Cook a 'Murder Hornet'Ryan F. Mandelbaum127 This week, the New York Times introduced many of us to the “murder hornet,” more accurately known as the Asian…
Space5/6/20May 67Space5/6/20SpaceAstronomers May Have Found the Closest Black Hole to EarthRyan F. Mandelbaum5This black hole—if that’s really what it is—is so close to Earth that you can see its star system without a…
Space5/5/20May 52Space5/5/20SpaceExperiment Shows Some Life Can Survive in Exoplanet-Like ConditionsRyan F. Mandelbaum9Single-celled organisms like Escherichia coli and yeast can grow and survive in an atmosphere like the kind…
May 515/5/20I Just Remembered That I Ate a Murder Hornet OnceRyan F. Mandelbaum42When I first saw an image of the Asian giant hornet, now famously referred to as the “Murder Hornet,” my first…
Space5/5/20May 52Space5/5/20SpaceHow Self-Driving Telescopes Could Transform AstronomyRyan F. Mandelbaum4Astronomers and physicists continue to pursue the answers to the universe’s deepest questions, but on many matters,…
Physics5/4/20May 48Physics5/4/20PhysicsThese Are the Machines Solving the Biggest Mysteries in PhysicsRyan F. Mandelbaum5Despite the stereotype of a lone, wild-haired Einstein working tirelessly at a chalkboard, today’s biggest…