Nicholas Gerbis

Nobody likes having the rug pulled out from under them. But it can be a good experience for a scientist. Setbacks lead to new questions, which ultimately produce new answers. --by Nicholas Gerbis

Glass is much more than the stuff of windows and mirrors. The scientific term "glass" refers to substances that cool and become rigid without taking on a crystalline structure. The nature of glass is still a mystery to chemists. Glassy water is the biggest enigma of all. --by Nicholas Gerbis

Direct democracy is all about asking the public to decide which programs are worthy of funding and which are not. But Daniel Sarewitz says this is an absurd way to fund science. --by Nicholas Gerbis

The "glassy state" is a sub-state of matter–glassy water and ice, for example, are chemically identical and are both solid, but have a different structure. Put another way, ice is crystalline, whereas glass is, well, chunky. Scientists know a lot about glasses that form from ordinary silicates, sugars and metals. But when water makes the transition to its glassy state, it behaves very oddly. ASU chemist C. Austen Angell has found a vital clue that helps explain water's bizarre behavior at the glass transition and gained important insights into phases of liquid water, as well. --by Nicholas Gerbis

A team of scientists has developed a new way to close the gaps in the global pollution dragnet using NASA satellite data. The technique uses satellite information to improve computer models of ozone events–filling in the blanks while expanding coverage to much larger areas. --by Nicholas Gerbis

As consumer electronics such as MP3 players and digital cameras shrink, the need to put more memory in a smaller space grows. Traditional electronics begin to break down at the nanoscale, or molecular level. Researchers at ASU are working to overcome these limitations using nanoionics, a technique for moving ions around on a chip. --by Nicholas Gerbis

The discovery of a dozen 3-foot-tall "hobbit" skeletons in Indonesia generated heated debate among anthropologists. Do the fossils reveal a new species of early human, or were they simply modern humans with a shared genetic defect? The answers may lie in their wrist bones. Matt Tocheri is using 3D imaging technology to find out.--by Nicholas Gerbis