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The next time you buy a cell phone, take a close look at the display panel. If things go the way Qualcomm hopes, that colorful little rectangle could give a whole new meaning to the expression “butterfly effect.” True, the interferometric modulator (IMOD) displays recently introduced by the San Diego–based firm have nothing to do with the unexpectedly strong effect a wing beat can theoretically have on the weather. But the devices do use an array of artificial microstructures to produce the same kind of iridescent colors as are seen on the wings of tropical butterflies....

Key concepts Material science Food science Chemistry Water absorption Introduction Have you ever gotten an electronic gadget wet and had it stop working? It would be great if you could somehow dry it out before the internal parts got damaged, right? There are actually some substances that can absorb water from their surroundings. You might have noticed when you buy new shoes, electronics or beef jerky that often there is a little package inside with the warning: “silica gel, do not eat....

By Janelle Weaver of Nature magazine Scientists have developed a gene-repair kit that treats the blood-clotting disorder haemophilia in mice. The technique replaces genes in targeted organs without removing cells from the body, simultaneously correcting multiple mutations. It broadens the range of diseases that can be treated with gene therapy. The method uses enzymes called zinc-finger nucleases. These are molecular scissors that replace specific DNA sequences by cutting through the double helix, after which the cell’s repair machinery fixes the break....

A new study confirms that black carbon – more commonly known as soot – is a significant player in global warming. The work by Mark Jacobson, director of Stanford University’s Atmosphere/Energy program and a fellow at the university’s Woods Institute, argues that cutting emissions of black carbon may be the fastest method to limit the ongoing loss of ice in the Arctic, which is warming twice as fast as the global average....

On September 11, 2001, Elizabeth A. Phelps stepped outside her apartment in lower Manhattan and noticed a man staring toward the World Trade Center, about two miles away. Looking up, “I just saw this big, burning hole,” Phelps recalls. The man told her that he had just seen a large airplane crash into one of the skyscrapers. Thinking it was a horrible accident, Phelps started walking to work, a few blocks away, for a 9 A....

For more than a decade, the U.S. Department of Defense has been quietly cataloging and investigating scores of bizarre encounters—most from the U.S. Navy—of ships and fighter jets tangling with, or being tailgated by, unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Beginning in 2017, videos and eyewitness accounts of these weird sightings found their way into public view, ultimately spurring Congress to demand that the Pentagon produce a report summarizing all that the U....

Exxon Mobil Corp. has used language to systematically shift blame for climate change from fossil fuel companies onto consumers, according to a new paper by Harvard University researchers. The paper, published yesterday in the journal One Earth, could bolster efforts to hold the oil giant accountable in court for its alleged deception about global warming. “This is the first computational assessment of how Exxon Mobil has used language in subtle yet systematic ways to shape the way the public talks about and thinks about climate change,” Geoffrey Supran, a research fellow at Harvard and co-author of the paper, said in an interview with E&E News....

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved esketamine, the first major depression treatment to hit the U.S. market in decades and a new option for patients who haven’t responded to existing therapies. Esketamine—developed by Johnson & Johnson and delivered as a nasal spray—was tested in combination with oral antidepressants in patients with what’s known as treatment-resistant depression. The drug is related to ketamine, a common anesthetic that’s sometimes misused recreationally....

Scientists will tell you: There are no perfect computer models. All are incomplete representations of nature, with uncertainty built into them. But one thing is certain: Several fundamental projections found in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports have consistently underestimated real-world observations, potentially leaving world governments at doubt as to how to guide climate policy. Emissions At the heart of all IPCC projections are “emission scenarios:” low-, mid-, and high-range estimates for future carbon emissions....

The Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., has long been known for its prodigious output of basic science research on marine animals. For 125 years the MBL has been on a relatively short list of independent labs without a university affiliation. Researchers at these institutes can focus more on discovery than on teaching or other duties, and the institutes themselves are often very specialized, thereby leading to outsize contributions to science....

The Smartphone Diet FitClick: Talk-to-Track App for Android and iPhone (free) I went to an afternoon party at a neighbor’s house a few weeks ago. I am trying to lose weight, so I made the healthiest choices I could without abstaining entirely: a couple of glasses of wine and some guacamole on veggies. When I got home, I spoke a few words into the FitClick: Talk-to-Track app on my smartphone and was surprised to learn that I had just consumed more than 800 calories!...

It’s as basic as water faucet handles: red means hot and blue means cold. That simple fact just got more complicated, according to a surprising study in the July 3 issue of Scientific Reports which shows that blue objects feel warmer to the touch than red ones of the same temperature. (Scientific American and Scientific Reports are part of Nature Publishing Group.) Participants in the study were led into a pitch-dark room with a temperature-controlled plate lit up in either blue or red....

Key concepts Chemistry Solubility Temperature Saturation Introduction You’re watching an action movie, and suddenly the hero dives through a glass window! Or a car window shatters as the hero navigates an exciting car chase! The glass looks so real, but believe it or not, movie sets rarely use real glass for those scenes. Can you guess what they use instead? If you guessed candy, you’re right! Instead of using real glass, which is expensive, difficult to replace for multiple shots and dangerous, movie sets use sugar glass!...

By Zeeya Merali of Nature magazineYou just can’t keep a good superconductor down. An iron-based crystal has been found to regain the ability to conduct electricity without resistance when placed under pressure, breaking the record for the temperature at which superconductivity can survive in the process. But how it does this remains a mystery.Most superconductors work only at temperatures close to absolute zero. So physicists have been puzzled about why certain materials can superconduct at temperatures approaching 70 kelvin....

Order a medium-rare steak at a high-end restaurant these days, and you may slice through the meat to find that it is a perfect rosy pink not just in the center but from edge to edge and is encased in only the slimmest crust of browned meat. The secret to getting such stunning results consistently is the surprisingly simple yet powerful technique called cooking sous vide. Chefs first seal the food in special plastic bags, often in a vacuum chamber (sous vide is French for “under vacuum”) but sometimes with air or other gases....

During a campaign rally in Fresno, Donald Trump made two misleading claims about California’s drought and water issues: Trump suggested “there is no drought” in California because the state has “plenty of water.” But California is in its fifth year of a severe “hot” drought, the kind that’s expected to become more frequent with global warming. He also said water is being shoved “out to sea” to protect a “three-inch fish” at the expense of farmers....

Portions of the Arctic coast are eroding by more than 26 feet per year, a problem that is likely to worsen as climate change intensifies, according to a new study. The problem is most severe along the shores of the Laptev, East Siberian and Beaufort seas, concludes the “State of the Arctic Coast 2010” report, compiled by more than 30 researchers in 10 countries. The analysis, which examined roughly a quarter of the Arctic’s coastline, found the region’s shores are eroding by an average of about 1....

In the past few months, you might recall warnings of incoming pieces of the sun. Called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), these energetic solar-storm particles can trigger amazing displays of auroras. But they can also wreak havoc on spacecraft, navigation systems and communications. In principle, a big enough CME could do so much damage to electrical infrastructure that power grids could be offline for months. Scientists try to predict the storms by looking at sunspot activity....

April 1962 Space Race “The success of Proj­ect Mercury’s first manned orbital flight on February 20 may have set the stage for international co-operation in the exploration of space, as well as demonstrating through the performance of the astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., that men have a useful function in space vehicles. Glenn demonstrated that he could ‘fly’ the capsule, controlling its pitch, yaw and roll after malfunctions in the automatic system developed early in the flight....

New treatments for cancer are being developed at a breathtaking pace. Novel drugs, immunotherapies that enhance the body’s ability to attack tumors, and other innovations have been approved at a rate of three or four a month. “Ten years ago it was 10 a year; today the pace is one a week,” marvels oncologist Tufia Haddad, a breast cancer specialist at the Mayo Clinic. These therapies are not the decisive triumphs in the “war on cancer” that politicians have promised since the 1970s....