Caltech

Caltech researchers have developed a new method to measure soil moisture in the shallow subterranean region between the surface and underground aquifers. This region, called the vadose zone, is crucial for plants and crops to obtain water…

The new patented technique, called resonance sonomanometry, uses sound waves to gently stimulate resonance in an artery and then uses ultrasound imaging to measure the artery's resonance frequency, arriving at a true measurement of…

On Friday, June 14, Caltech celebrated its 130th Commencement ceremony, awarding 236 bachelor's degrees, 156 master's degrees, and 200 doctoral degrees to a total of 585 graduates. The class of 2024 has faced unique challenges due to the…

As organisms diversified on planet Earth, some branches of the tree of life became exceptionally diverse, others far less so. Still others went extinct. Why evolution favored certain groups over others is a long-standing question in…

NASA has recently selected a new satellite mission, called Landolt, that will put an artificial star in orbit around Earth. This artificial star, a source of light whose brightness is precisely known, will allow scientists to more…

Observations from several telescopes, including the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the Atacama Desert in Chile, show a galaxy undergoing dramatic changes over the past several years. These dramatic changes in…

Due to warming caused by climate change, the Antarctic ice shelves are melting at an accelerated rate. Most of the melt comes from below the ice shelves, a result of warm water flowing underneath them. However, the process does not stop…

Caltech researchers have discovered a new class of enzymes that enable a myriad of bacteria to "breathe" nitrate when in low-oxygen conditions. While this is an evolutionary advantage for bacterial survival, the process produces the…

About 183 million years ago, volcanic activity in modern South Africa unleashed an estimated 20,500 gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the ocean-atmosphere system over a period of 300 to 500 thousand years. Known as the Toarcian Oceanic…

Weeds are a pesky irritant for most home gardeners, but in large agricultural settings, weeds can pose an especially deadly problem. For example, Amaranthus palmeri, known as Palmer's pigweed, has evolved in many areas to be completely…