In Fall 2013
a mighty coil
Exotic new materials are taking shape in the lab of Apparao Rao that have the potential to help power new devices into the marketplace.
Learn how some of the world’s tiniest structures have huge implications for energy, medicine, manufacturing, and the environment by reading this issue's cover story, Carbon's magic carpet.
The cover image shows a resonating nanocoil made in the Rao lab.
Photo courtesy of the Rao lab.
zoom in
A priceless collection of botanical specimens goes online, plastics learn to heal themselves, and a team tackles concussions in sports.
carbon’s magic carpet
The slow rise of renewable energy needs a jolt to boost power and close a gap in the flow of electrical energy. Researchers may have found an answer in Earth’s foremost building block: carbon.
launching the venture
Start-up companies put research discoveries to work in the marketplace.
the secret book
Hidden away in the library, a work of art runs amok. And students are aiding and abetting.
charting the stormy seas of social media
With good tools, researchers make sense of the tempest of posts and tweets.
the colors of indigo
In colonial South Carolina, a teenage girl sowed the seeds of a mighty industry. But she had some help. Andrea Feeser adds new hues to the story of blue.
El Purgatorio
At the rocky feet of the Andes, archeologists uncover treasures unspoiled.
the biggest, baddest boom
A man who loves explosions tracks the oldest and best of them all.
a gnawing problem
Go ahead, laugh. But solutions to squirrel damage do not grow on trees.
close focus
Struggling toward the Promised Land, and a history of our not-so-freeways.
zoom out
Rolling out a high-tech car engineered by students.
