Why Is the Sea Salty? The Billion-Year Journey From Rock to Ocean
Taste a drop of seawater and the answer seems obvious: the ocean contains salt. The more interesting question is how it got t...
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Why Does Sunlight Make Some People Sneeze? The Strange Science of the Photic Sneeze Reflex
Step out of a dark cinema into brilliant afternoon sunlight and, for some people, the reaction is immediate. The eyes narrow,...
Titanic: The Story Beyond the Legend — and the Secret Mission That Found the Wreck
For 73 years, the Titanic existed in two places at once: in history, where the details of its final night were argued over in inquiries, newspapers and survivor testimony...
Why Are Fingerprints Unique? The Science Written Into Your Fingertips
Look closely at the tip of your finger and you are looking at a landscape that began forming months before you were born. Ridges curve, split, stop and rejoin in patterns...
Schrödinger’s Cat: What the Famous Quantum Paradox Actually Means
Seal a cat inside a box with a radioactive atom, a radiation detector and a mechanism capable of releasing poison. Arrange the experiment so that, after an hour, the atom...
Why Do We Experience Déjà Vu? Inside the Brain’s Strange Sense of Familiarity
You walk into a café you have never visited. The tables, the light from the window and the conversation at the next table suddenly feel uncannily familiar. For a few seco...