NASA's DART Mission Could Help Cancel an Asteroid Apocalypse

Trouble viewing? View in your browser. View all Scientific American publications.

    

September 26, 2022

Planetary Science NASA's DART Mission Could Help Cancel an Asteroid Apocalypse Our planet is vulnerable to thousands of "city-killer" space rocks. If—when—one is found on a collision course with Earth, will we be ready to deflect it? By Robin George Andrews

Astronomy See Jupiter Shine During its Closest Approach to Earth Since 1963 Sept. 26 marks an unmissable chance to view the massive planet Jupiter, whose opposition and perigee very rarely coincide By Robert Lea,SPACE.com

Renewable Energy Build a Better Floating Wind Turbine and Win $7 Million from the Department of Energy A new contest aims to jump-start U.S. production of floating wind turbines to place in ocean waters too deep for standard designs By John Fialka,E&E News

Geology Oceans' Worth of Water Hidden Deep in Earth, Ultra Rare Diamond Suggests A diamond contains the only known sample of a mineral from Earth's mantle—and hints at oceans' worth of water hidden deep within our planet By Stephanie Pappas

Biotech Moth Wings Are Beautiful in Infrared Light Drab brown moths' infrared glittering could be key to tracking different species through the night By Daniel Lingenhöhl,Sasha Warren

Neurology How Squishy Math Is Revealing Doughnuts in the Brain Topology, sometimes called rubber sheet geometry, is finding patterns in the brain, drugs and evolution By Kelsey Houston-Edwards

Genetics Strange Tree Fern Has a Surprisingly Enormous Genome A new study explores how the flying spider-monkey tree fern might hoard chromosomes By Fionna M. D. Samuels

Animals These Spiders Use Their Webs Like Huge Silky Ears A study of orb-weaving spiders shows that the arachnids' webs pick up a range of sounds--and they are always "listening" for vibrations coming in over them. By Karen Hopkin | 05:53

Pharmaceuticals New Execution Method Touted as More 'Humane,' but Evidence Is Lacking A legal battle over nitrogen hypoxia, a new potential method of execution, raises ethical questions By Dana G. Smith

Pollution The Race to Stop a Plastics Plant Scores a Crucial Win In Louisiana, home to miles of polluting industries, slowing the progress of Formosa Plastics is critical to social and environmental justice By Judith Enck,Rebekah Creshkoff

FROM THE STORE Special Editions Volume 31, Issue 4s

LATEST ISSUES

Questions?   Comments?

Download the Scientific American App

To view this email as a web page, go here. You received this email because you opted-in to receive email from Scientific American. To ensure delivery please add news@email.scientificamerican.com to your address book. Unsubscribe     Manage Email Preferences     Privacy Policy     Contact Us