Articles by

Elise Cutts

A Popular Alien-Hunting Technique Is Increasingly in Doubt

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine.In 2020, scientists detected a gas called phosphine...

Physicist Sekazi Mtingwa considers himself an apostle of science

Ask physicist Sekazi Mtingwa how he ended up where he is today, and he’ll start with his...

How disease-causing microbes load their tiny syringes to prep an attack

Swallow the wrong microbe, and you might end up in the hospital with a needle or two...

Biophysicists Uncover Powerful Symmetries in Living Tissue

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine.Luca Giomi still remembers the time when, as...

Giant polygon rock patterns may be buried deep below Mars’ surface

Enormous polygon patterns in rock lie dozens of meters below Mars’ surface, ground-penetrating radar data suggest. Similar...

Before ancient Egyptians, nature sculpted sphinxes. Here’s how

The Great Sphinx of Giza might have been sculpted by desert winds long before it was ever...

Physicists get a first glimpse of the elusive isotope nitrogen-9

Researchers may have just spotted the elusive, ephemeral nucleus of nitrogen-9 for the first time. With seven...

A rare glimpse at a relatively nearby supernova offers clues to how stars die

In May, a star in the Pinwheel galaxy exploded in just the right place at nearly the...