How to Design a Real-Life Hot Wheels Loop

I get a minimum height of 2.5R. So if the loop is 4 meters high (with a radius of 2 meters), the car would have to start 5 meters above the ground to just make the loop. Of course, this assumes there’s no energy loss due to friction; you’d probably want to start a bit […]

Learn how to recognise and appreciate your efforts

With endless to-do lists, it can be easy to constantly focus on what still needs to be done. We forget that the efforts we have made, the paths we have taken and the experience we have acquired are just as important as the end result. At school, we were taught to expect congratulations based on […]

Roadmap details how to improve exoplanet exploration using the James Webb Space Telescope

A new step-by-step roadmap describes how to improve the efficiency of data gathering with the JWST to benefit the astronomy community at large. “Our hope now is that a large-scale community effort guided by the roadmap can be initiated to yield deliverables at a timely pace,” says MIT Associate Professor Julien de Wit. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech […]

How to make an old antibiotic 100 times more potent

Scanning electron micrographs at 10,000× magnification of vancomycin resistant E. faecium E155 cells. Left: untreated cells, middle: cells treated with bacitracin, and right: cells treated with next-generation bacitracin. Credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2315310121 Nathaniel Martin, Professor of biological chemistry, wondered what would happen if you took an antibiotic that […]

How to Run on the Moon

When the elevator is stopped, the two forces are equal and opposite, and the net force is zero. But if you’re accelerating upward, the net force must also be upward. This means the normal force exceeds the gravitational force (shown by the lengths of the two arrows above). So you feel heavier when the normal […]

A harmless asteroid will whiz past Earth Saturday. Here’s how to spot it

In this artistic rendering, two asteroids fly past Earth. An asteroid will whiz harmlessly past Earth Saturday June 29, 2024. With the right equipment and timing, you just might spot it. Called 2024 MK, the space rock will make its closest approach to Earth at 9:46 AM EST (13:46 GMT) passing by at about three-quarters […]

How to Take the Perfect Soccer Penalty

The penalty was invented in England on February 14, 1891. It was the last minute of an FA Cup quarter-final between Notts County and Stoke City when a defender for County stopped a shot on the line with his hand. Stoke were awarded a free kick just centimeters from the goal-line, and the goalkeeper, as […]

Researchers show how to use ‘topological tweezers’ to control active fluids

Additive framework for spatiotemporal control of active defects. Credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2400933121 University of Michigan physicists have devised a way to manipulate active fluids, a type of fluid composed of individual units that can propel themselves independently, by taking advantage of topological defects in the fluids. The researchers […]

How to catch a glimpse of a new star about to appear in the night sky

Illustration of T Coronae Borealis where material from a red giant star pours onto a white dwarf, setting the stage for a humongous stellar explosion. Credit: NASA/Conceptual Image Lab/Goddard Space Flight Center If you peer up at the constellation Corona Borealis—the Northern Crown—over the next several months, you may catch a glimpse: Astronomers predict that […]