High in the Austrian Alps, hundreds of construction workers toil away at a huge underground project aimed at storing hydroelectricity as climate change has reduced the country’s water-dependent electricity generation. Austria derives more than 60% of its electricity generation from the renewable energy source, compared to a global average of 16%, with more than 3,100 … Read more
Plate tectonics involves the horizontal movement and interaction of large plates on the earth’s surface. Shifting plate tectonics, thought to be necessary for the creation of a habitable planet, did not occur on Earth 3.9 billion years ago, new research indicates. Credit: University of Rochester illustration / Michael Osadciw A multi-institution team has found evidence … Read more
Dr. Robbee Wedow of Purdue University discusses the challenges of ensuring informed consent among research participants when it is becoming standard practice to collect data in gene repositories to be available for future research. Imagine you’ve agreed to be part of an exciting new long-term research study to better understand human health and behavior. In … Read more
To explore A The new measurement of the strong nuclear force, which binds protons and neutrons together, confirms earlier hints of an inconvenient truth: We still don’t have a solid theoretical understanding of even the simplest nuclear systems. To test the strong nuclear force, physicists turned to the helium-4 nucleus, which has two protons and … Read more
