California is in the middle of a wildfire crisis. Nine of the 10 largest fires in the state’s history have occurred in the past seven years, as have 13 of the 20 most
The Exploring Jacket isn’t your regular anorak. Its color comes not from dyes, but from a pigment-producing bacteria called Streptomyces coelicolor. When applied directly to a fabric and left to incubate, the bacteria
On Tuesday morning, five days after Hurricane Helene ripped through Boone, North Carolina, David Marlett was on his way to the campus of Appalachian State University. The managing director of the university’s Brantley
When Formula E launched, it was ahead of its time. Not in the visionary sense—though it was racing EVs before owning one was cool—but literally: electrification was barely capable of supporting a high-end
In a cramped conference room in Bristol, Ilan Gur is trying to convince a group of plant biologists that they can change the world. The 44-year-old has the patter you’d expect from a
23andMe is in trouble. Once a hot Silicon Valley startup, the genetic testing company has been in free fall since a major data breach last year that affected roughly half of its customers.
On Monday, the UK saw the closure of its last operational coal power plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, which has been operating since 1968. The closure of the plant, which had a capacity of 2,000 megawatts,
Millions of people across the US South have gone without power or have been forced to evacuate following days of extreme downpours brought on by Hurricane Helene. North Carolina has borne the brunt
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. It is late at night. You are alone and wandering empty streets in search of your parked car when you hear footsteps creeping
US space officials do not like to talk about the perils of flying astronauts on the aging International Space Station, elements of which are now more than a quarter of a century old.
