What We're Reading

Like Bill Murray in the movie “Groundhog Day,” bacteria species in a Wisconsin lake are in a kind of endless loop that they can’t seem to shake. Except in this case, it’s more like Groundhog Year.

There is no one factor that causes autism — or explains its growing prevalence. Researchers are seeking explanations for the surge. Here are some possibilities.

For the first time, researchers have observed a type of quasiparticle that behaves in an unusual way. In one direction, it acts like it has no mass, zipping around as if it were made of pure energy.

Distant, ancient galaxies are giving scientists more hints that a mysterious force called dark energy may not be what they thought.

Elias Most, an assistant professor of theoretical astrophysics, did not want to be an astronomer or a physicist when he grew up. He studied physics but was more interested in computers; he even remembers buying a book about nonscience career paths for physicists, thinking he might end up in finance.

Main-sequence stars with brighter than expected mid-infrared emission can signal the presence of a debris disk, rubble from planetary collisions, or even a theorized sign of a technologically advanced civilization. New research demonstrates a data-driven method to identify mid-infrared excesses in main-sequence stars.

Astrophysics to physical oceanography. String theory to machine learning. High energy theory to biophysics. Such leaps in research focus can be challenging—and rewarding. Learn how the Simons Foundation's Pivot Fellowship encourage such research switches across STEM fields.

No sunlight reaches this region 200 to 1,000 meters below the sea surface, where levels of iron, a key micronutrient, are so low that the growth of bacteria is restricted. To compensate, these bacteria produce molecules called siderophores, which help the bacteria scavenge trace amounts of iron from the surrounding seawater. The paper detailing these unexpected findings from the Pacific Ocean is published in Nature. The study could change the way scientists view microbial processes in the deep ocean and offer new insight into the ocean’s capacity to absorb carbon.

Astronomer Jo Dunkley is planning to use the Simons Observatory to snare evidence for inflation, the theory that the universe expanded at incredible speed after its birth.

Stony Brook University’s Simons STEM Scholars Program celebrated the signing of its second cohort (S2) of students this past May at the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute in New York City. In July, those students came to Stony Brook for a six-week Summer Bridge Program designed to prepare them for the next four years of their academic career.