Kaushik Bhattacharya is an engineer and materials scientist, but he has always been fascinated by seashells. Part of the draw is the "beautiful" idea that even simple organisms like mollusks can ...

The writer Malcolm Gladwell popularized the term "tipping points" to refer to the moment when a trend or social behavior crosses a threshold and rapidly spreads everywhere. In physics, tipping points ...

As politics in America become more polarized and each voting cycle seems more fraught than the last, a common narrative in the media is that each election is unique and increasingly unpredictable. But ...

On October 11, NASA's Perseverance rover broke the record for the furthest distance traveled by a vehicle on another world. Initially set by NASA's Opportunity rover in 2014, Perseverance has now ...

First light is the threshold moment in astronomy when a telescope makes its first observation and opens a new window to discovery. That same spirit of possibility defines the Caltech community.

One of the most effective ways to protect the environment is to make markets work for environmental goals rather than against them, using tools such as tradable permits and payments for ecosystem ...

Our cosmos is awash with radio waves, originating from fierce jets blasting out of distant black holes, blinking dead stars closer to home, and many other exotic objects. To observe radio waves—which ...

Although increased cell proliferation is a hallmark of cancerous tissues, in some cases, it may actually be protective against tumor growth, according to a new study from Caltech researchers. Using ...

A team of astrophysicists led by Caltech has managed for the first time to simulate the journey of primordial gas dating from the early universe to the stage at which it becomes swept up in a disk of ...

The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a stringent, nearly impenetrable layer of cells that guards the brain, protecting the vital organ from hazards in the bloodstream such as toxins or bacteria and ...

Although Europe represents only about 8 percent of the planet's landmass, from 1492 to 1914, Europeans conquered or colonized more than 80 percent of the entire world. Being dominated for centuries ...

The human brain has 100 billion neurons, making 100 trillion connections. Understanding the precise circuits of brain cells that orchestrate all of our day-to-day behaviors—such as moving our limbs, ...