USU's Science Unwrapped Explores Microplastic Pollution on Friday, Feb. 20 - Utah State University

What do physics and ballet have in common? A lot! Utah State University physicist Tonya Triplett and Cache Valley dancer Becky Erickson will team up Friday at USU’s Science Unwrapped to demonstrate the beautiful, complex interplay of science and dance. They will present “The Physics of Ballet” at 7 p.m. in the Eccles Science Learning Center Emert Auditorium, Room ESLC 130, on the Logan campus. All ages are invited to the free gathering, hosted by USU’s College of Arts and Sciences (ArtSci). Hands-on learning activities led by USU student groups and community volunteers, along with refreshments, follow the half-hour presentation. “Ballet is physics in motion,” says Triplett, principal lecturer in USU’s Department of Physics. “Together, we’ll explore how every movement — each extension, leap, and spin — relies directly on mechanical laws, force distribution and momentum. We’ll also get to move a bit and it will be great fun.”“Our Oct.

After a summer break, Utah State University’s Science Unwrapped, the College of Arts and Sciences’ popular public STEM outreach program, is returning with its new Fall 2026-Spring 2027 “InterPLAY of Art & Science” series. “In our new series, we’ll explore how art and science complement each other, enrich each other, depend on each other and spark innovation in each other,” said Brynja Kohler, Science Unwrapped chair, ArtSci associate dean, and professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. “This is an energizing, synergistic series and we can’t wait to share it.”The series kicks off Sept. 18 with the presentation “The Hidden Science Behind Artistic Expression” with physicist David Smith, senior lecturer in USU’s Department of Physics. Swanson will speak at 7 p.m. in the Emert Auditorium, Room ESLC 130 of the Eccles Science Learning Center on campus. Admission is free and all ages are welcome. “I won’t give away all the talk’s surprises, but get ready to make music together,” Kohler said. “It will be an evening of super-fun learning.”The InterPLAY of Art & Science series schedule is as follows:Sept.

From microscopic surface charges to experiments with proteins and blood cells, researchers investigate what happens when everyday plastics come into contact with water. Study: Intrinsic physicochemical activity at microplastic–water interfaces. Image Credit: MargJohnsonVA / Shutterstock

Astronomers analyzing white dwarf stars have for the first time found a star that would appear green to human eyes, according to a new study. While for most stars, color is temperature-dependent and limited to a few hues, white dwarfs, which are the dense remnants of sun-like stars that have died, can glow in an incredible range of colors, said lead study author Mark Hollands, an astrophysicist at the University of Warwick, England, on Thursday. “The colors that normal stars can have are pretty much only orange, white or blue,” Hollands told CNN. “What we found is, for most white dwarfs, that’s the same as well. But there are some special cases where the physics in the outer layers of these stars are sufficiently strange that it causes actually quite big deviations in terms of their spectrum,” he said. These deviations are due to the interaction between the helium in their atmosphere and traces of other elements, which vary between white dwarfs, depending on what material has interacted with the star over the course of its lifetime.