What's Current in

Science + Technology

concept illustration of amino acid chains that form proteins
De novo protein design involves sequencing amino acids to produce proteins with the desired structures and functions

Enzymes from scratch

Read Article

Flames from the Thomas Fire reflect in the waves at night.
Photo Credit
Ray Ford / Noozhawk
Flames from the Thomas Fire reflect in the waves just west of Ventura. Its proximity to the ocean provided researchers a unique opportunity.

Thomas Fire research reveals that ash can fertilize the oceans
A scuba diver swims in a kelp forest
Photo Credit
Courtesy of NPS

Illuminating the benefits of marine protected areas for ecotourism, and vice versa
Maps and cityscapes on a grid.
Photo Credit
Alice Kitterman/U.S. National Science Foundation

Mapping science: How GIS transformed our view of the world
illustration of a robotic arm working with DNA

Scientists will eliminate bottlenecks to breakthroughs with a newly acquired synthetic biology robotics system
Book cover image of The Computer Music Tutorial

Core textbook on computer music distills ‘vast information space’ in a definitive tutorial
The surface of Lake Superior from the back of a research vessel.
Photo Credit
Alexandra Phillips
The sulfate poor waters of Lake Superior could provide insights on the biochemistry of Earth's early ocean.

Research in Lake Superior reveals how sulfur might have cycled in Earth’s ancient oceans
A roadcut slices through the Great Unconformity.
Photo Credit
Adrian Tasistro-Hart
Cambrian Sawatch sandstone from the Sauk Transgression caps 1 billion-year-old Pikes Peak granite (pink) marking the Great Unconformity in a roadcut in Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Geologists link continental flooding to subduction, with consequences for geologic gaps and the rise of complex life
A large pile of small blue plastic objects rises from a relief map of Manhattan
Photo Credit
Courtesy Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory
This image of a blue plastic pile represents the cumulative amount of plastic waste that would be generated between 2010 and 2050 — enough to cover the entire island of Manhattan, and ten times the height of the Empire State Building — under a business-as-usual scenario where no aggressive policy actions are taken.

A ‘Paris Agreement for plastic’ could slash plastic pollution to almost zero
two blue-green mitochondria against a lighter blue-green background

Zen and the art of mitochondrial maintenance: The machinery of death makes a healthier life
abstracted blue green amine molecules

Chemistry professor Yang Yang receives a 2023 Packard Fellowship
a pink-colored droplet between yellow-bordered cells
Photo Credit
Courtesy Image

Researchers can now visualize osmotic pressure in living tissue
A pyramid of concept cards underpins a basilica on a laptop screen. Behind the computer is a more abstract pyramid of concepts floating above the desk.
Photo Credit
An illustration by Midjourney with the prompt: “A computer with clouds of equations and symbols.”
What an artificial intelligence displays on the screen reflects its internal representation of the world, which may be quite different than our own.

The mind of the machine
Subscribe to Science + Technology