The pay dirt could be 15 times richer than natural deposits

They pull off a trick previously thought unique to a few insects

Levels of the vital nutrient are falling rapidly in America

Companies that bet on the right one could win big

It will be only the second country to conduct such a planetary defence experiment

Why going into orbit sends cells haywire

The problem of variable buoyancy is being overcome

It should, instead, be seen as a different way of being normal

Science & technology | The new Moon raceSpaceX is NASAs biggest lunar rivalThe companys successes are also showing up the agencys failingsPhotograph: NASA Oct 17th 2024It was something amazingan expensive, delicate ship falling out of the sky with such precision that it could be caught in a waiting pair of giant, gentle arms. If you wanted an illustration of the fact that Americans can do things in space beyond the reach of other earthlings the return of the booster stage of SpaceXs fifth Starship test flight on October 13th could hardly be bettered.Explore moreThis article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline Team of rivalsFrom the October 19th 2024 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the editionReuse this content

Inbuilt lenses transmit sunlight to symbiotic algae

Science & technology | Sunny side upPerovskite crystals may represent the future of solar powerTheir efficiency rates far exceed those of conventional silicon panelsPhotograph: Luca Abbiento/Oxford PV Oct 21st 2024|OXFORDIT is commonly claimed, and also true, that enough sunlight falls on Earth in the course of an hour to meet a years worth of global power needs. Some of that sunlight is currently converted into electricity by arrays of solar panels: by the end of 2023, these panels covered almost 10,000 square kilometres of Earths surface, producing some 1,600 terawatt-hours of electricity, about 6% of that generated worldwide.This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline Sunny side upFrom the October 26th 2024 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the editionReuse this content

Such techniques have helped secure two convictions this year

They can guzzle extreme amounts for their size, without suffering ill effects

Automating this delicate task is harder than it seems