Issue_15
34 articles-
Public, Pointed Scientific Spats—Feature, Not Bug
Galileo is the archetypal paradigm-busting scientist telling truth to hidebound authorities.Felix Parra: Galileo Demonstrating the New Astronomical Theories at the University of Padua, 1873. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . There’s a common trope in science in which a lone genius stands defiantly against a backward, close-minded establishment. Galileo’s Sun-centric […] -
The Pretty Bacterial Dance That May Help Prevent Infections
Imagine looking down through a microscope and seeing a big mass of bacterial cells, writhing in sync, churning in circles. You can almost hear a buzz of activity. The micron-sized organisms migrate across a plate of agar, gobbling up the nutrient-rich media, recalling the frenetic activity of bees in a hive. Nautilus Members enjoy an […] -
The Minds & Algorithms That Make Hollywood Spectacle
We may not have realized it at the time, but during the 1990s, Hollywood movies were infiltrated by a new presence that outshined even the biggest screen stars: Images created on computers became the main draws for movies like Jurassic Park, Toy Story, The Matrix, and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Since then, […] -
99 Problems, and a Wild Gecko Space Orgy Is Just One
By the time of this launch of the space shuttle Discovery in 2009, NASA knew well the dangers of lightning to spacecraft. At the launch of Apollo 12, in 1969, they were in the dark.NASA Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . On July 19, Russia launched a satellite designed […] -
Is Our Universe Like Oil & Vinegar or Homogenized Milk?
Is our Universe inhomogeneous, lumpy and uneven on many size scales, like oil droplets in water?via Shutterstock Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . In the earliest moments after the Big Bang, the Universe was a turbulent mess, a high-temperature stew of quantum fluctuations. As with turbulence in water, […]
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How Does Flying Feel on the Other Side of the Cockpit Door?
Turbulence in the wing vortex produced by an airplaneNASA Langley Research Center (NASA-LaRC) via Wikipedia Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . In many of the times we encounter turbulence in our lives, it is preceded by a calmly worded warning from above. “Uh, folks, we may hit a few […]
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How Graphic Design Can Make Flying Just a Little Bit Safer
The cause of aviation safety has had a terrible week. An Air Algérie flight crashed yesterday in Mali, reportedly killing all 116 on board. The day before, a TransAsia plane went down on the Taiwanese island of Penghu, leading to the deaths of at least 48 people. And, most notoriously, Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was […]
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Ingenious: Robert Sapolsky
The primatologist and neurologist talks turbulence—teens, stress, and the information age.
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The Beautiful Unpredictability of Coffee, Clouds, and Fire
The International Space Station captured this photo of the Sarychev Volcano erupting on June 12, 2009. Volcanic plumes contain turbulence that extends to a wide range of size scales. NASA Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . “Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the seat belt sign. Please […]
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Food Vibrations: Spiders Are Total Virtuosos with Their Webs
Spider webs are veritable antennas humming with signals.
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Is the World Making You Sick?
The chemicals in our everyday lives are, argues immunologist Claudia Miller.
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How to Make a Microcosm of the Ocean
The FloWave tank performing “party tricks” for a gathering of leaders of the UK marine-renewable-energy sector.FloWave Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Every day on Canada’s Atlantic coast, just northeast of Maine, a gargantuan amount of water rushes through rocky cliffs into and out of the Bay of Fundy. […] -
Using Sharks’ Tricks to Prevent Lethal and Costly Infections
Staph bacteria (red) forming a biofilmNational Science Foundation Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . A common enemy befouls surgeons, plumbers, and sailors alike: slime. In each of their professions, they wage ceaseless war against biofouling—layers of living organisms that stick around exactly where we don’t want them. Removing these […] -
Why Galactic Collisions Are So Beautiful
The Antennae Galaxies are in a state of “starburst,” when the gas from the two colliding galaxies crashes together to produce huge numbers of new stars.ESA/Hubble & NASA Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . According to the basic approximation, stars are formed by a stately, gradual process that belies […] -
The 6 Most Surprising, Important Inventions From World War I
British soldiers in a WWI trenchAustralian War Memorial Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Just over 100 years ago, on the 28th of June, 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated in Sarajevo. That set into motion a chain of events that, within several weeks, culminated in […] -
How To Price a Forest, and Other Economics Problems
A Cambridge economist discusses wealth, health, and disaster.