Ozone is a bit of a shape-shifting chemical. High in the stratosphere, ozone acts as an ultraviolet-blocking shield around Earth (which is why the ozone hole is such a problem). At ground level, it’s a pollutant that can cause serious respiratory problems. And if it finds its way into the troposphere—the lowest level of the atmosphere—ozone serves as a potent greenhouse gas that warms the planet. It ends up in the troposphere through a variety of processes including human pol

A study on decision-making stokes controversy over the power of a distracted mind, an idea popularized by Malcolm Gladwell's best-selling Blink If you have to make a complex decision, will you do a better job if you absorb yourself in, say, a crossword puzzle instead of ruminating about your options? The idea that unconscious thought is sometimes more powerful than conscious thought is attractive, and echoes ideas popularized by books such as writer Malcolm Gladwell’s best-se

It's craggy, powdery, mysterious, and even holds the building blocks of life. Scientists are now getting an up-close-and-personal view of a comet flying through deep space, thanks to Europe's Rosetta spacecraft. The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission has now found that Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko's is even stranger than initially expected. A series of new findings beamed back to Earth by the spacecraft since its arrival at the comet in 2014 could help scientists lear