Failed solar eruption. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Genna Duberstein, producer.

On Sept. 30, 2014, multiple NASA observatories watched what appeared to be the beginnings of a solar eruption. A filament – a serpentine structure consisting of dense solar material and often associated with solar eruptions – rose from the surface, gaining energy and speed as it soared. But instead of erupting from the Sun, the filament collapsed, shredded to pieces by invisible magnetic forces. Because scientists had so many instruments observing the event, they were able to track the entire event from beginning to end, and explain for the first time how the Sun’s magnetic landscape terminated a solar eruption.

The study makes use of a wealth of data captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observator...

After conducting a new research approach using actual commutes, a group of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis discovered a simple shift in driving habits can help to reduce those risks while out on the road. Credit: Washington University in St. Louis

Engineers show how to best reduce pollution exposure during commutes. Commute can also be hazardous to your health, exposing drivers to an increased amount of air pollutants that have been linked to a whole host of medical maladies, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory issues and even lung cancer. After conducting a new research approach using actual commutes, a group of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis discovered a simple shift in driving habits can help to reduce those risks while out on the road.

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In this greatly enlarged cross-section of an experimental chip, the bands of black and white reveal alternating layers of hafnium diselenide – an ultrathin semiconductor material – and the hafnium dioxide insulator. The cross-section matches an overlaid color schematic on the right. Credit: Michal Mleczko

The next generation of feature-filled and energy-efficient electronics will require computer chips just a few atoms thick. For all its positive attributes, trusty silicon can’t take us to these ultrathin extremes. Now, electrical engineers at Stanford have identified two semiconductors – hafnium diselenide and zirconium diselenide – that share or even exceed some of silicon’s desirable traits, starting with the fact that all 3 materials can “rust.”

“It’s a bit like rust, but a very de...