Nautilus | Science Connected

On most trails, a hiker climbing from valley floor to mountain top will be caressed by cooler and cooler breezes the farther skyward they go. But there are exceptions to this rule: Some trails play trickster when the conditions are right. Cold air slips...

It sounds like the setup to a joke: When I was starting out as a stand-up comedian, I was also working as a research scientist at a sperm bank.
My lab was investigating the causes of infertility in young men, and part of my job was to run the clinical visits with the participants. They would providwhe a semen sample for research purposes in exchange for $75....

Climate change is transforming our measurements of many things—summer temperatures, the level of the seas, the strength of hurricanes, for instance. But now, as polar ice caps melt with more regularity, it’s even messing with how we keep time.
According to a recent paper in Nature, that polar thaw has progressed to such an extent that it’s slowing the rotation of the planet. As the melt runs into the ocean, the extra water gathers around the Earth’s belly, fattening it a bit around the equator...

Yes, you can get bad coffee in Vienna. Vienna is known for its beautiful cafés, where philosophers, poets, and scientists have found inspiration over endless cups of fantastic coffee for hundreds of years. Coffee is still at the heart of Viennese culture...