Davide Castelvecchi

1 week ago | nature.com | Davide Castelvecchi

It is a common refrain that we know more about the surface of Mars than the bottom of the oceans. Now, oceanographer Katherine Bell and her collaborators have quantified just how little of the deep seafloor scientists have actually explored: less than 0.001%, an area equivalent to about one-tenth the size of Belgium. The findings were published on 7 May in Science Advances1.

1 week ago | nature.com | Davide Castelvecchi

The growth of rose petals exploits a geometric trick previously unobserved in nature, physicists have found. Using theoretical analysis, computer simulations and experiments with rubbery plastic sheets, they established that as the petals curl outwards, mechanical feedback regulates their growth, leading to the formation of rolled edges and pointed corners at their tips. The findings, described in Science on 1 May1, could one day have applications in engineering and architecture.

2 weeks ago | nature.com | Davide Castelvecchi

Researchers have developed a process for refining nickel that they say could dramatically cut its carbon footprint, which is currently equivalent to the total emissions of a small country. Implementing the process on an industrial scale would present some engineering challenges, but the experiment, described in Nature on 30 April1, is a first demonstration of principle.

1 month ago | nature.com | Davide Castelvecchi

The most advanced attempt yet to weigh neutrinos has put a new upper limit on the enigmatic particle’s mass. It is no heavier than 0.45 electron volts (eV) — less than one-millionth the mass of an electron, the next-lightest known particle at 511,000 eV. The results were described on 10 April in Science1. To this day, neutrinos are the only elementary particles whose mass is unknown.

1 month ago | nature.com | Davide Castelvecchi

Are quantum computers worth the billions that are being invested in them? The answer is probably many years away. However, the machines could prove to be particularlysuited to solving problems in mathematics — especially in topology, the branch of maths that studies shapes.