Devin Powell

All Stories by Devin Powell

  1. Bacteroidetes
    Microbes

    Get to know your microbes at ‘The Secret World Inside You’

    The American Museum of Natural History’s newest exhibit rehabilitates bacteria’s bad reputation and introduces visitors to the microbiome.

  2. Environment

    Atomic ant sand

    Robb Hermes asked for sand ants to get samples of Trinitite, a material created in the test blasts of the first atomic bomb.

  3. Humans

    Prisons an unlikely laboratory

    Graduate student Craig Ulrich carried out his first published research project not in a university lab, but as a prison inmate. Two Cedar Creek Corrections Center inmates care for flowering plants destined for the wild. The project teaches prisoners about Northwest landscapes and environmental restoration. Benjamin Drummond Scott Barnett In 2004 Ulrich accidentally shot and […]

  4. Himalaya Rush

    The Himalayas have gotten hot. Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram region of the western Himalayas is one of a handful of glaciers that have appeared to add ice in recent years. Guilhem Vellut MOUNTAIN REACH The Himalayas extend thousands of kilometers, covering dry steppes in the west and subtropics in the east. The varying climes […]

  5. Earth

    Stronger storms may destroy ozone

    Extra water vapor churned high into the atmosphere by climate change–fueled tempests could trigger destructive chemical reactions.

  6. Life

    Polar bears’ ancient roots pushed way back

    Full genetic blueprints suggest the animals split from brown bears millions of years ago.

  7. Earth

    Field test stashes climate-warming carbon in deep ocean

    Strategically dumping the metal stimulates a bloom of microscopic creatures that carry the greenhouse gas to Davy Jones’s locker.

  8. Physics

    How to walk on water

    Physicists use X-rays to probe how a fluid can support a person's weight.

  9. Physics

    Trinity

  10. Life

    Trout nose cells follow magnetic fields

    Iron-rich tissue may be at root of a biological compass.

  11. Space

    Dark matter filament illuminated

    Astronomers visualize a connection in a shadowy cosmic network that is thought to pervade the universe.

  12. Physics

    Old battery gets a high-tech makeover

    Redesigned nickel-iron battery gives modern lithium-ion devices a run for their money.