Physics & Chemistry

Related reading

• Does a ring around the Moon mean rain?

  In a photograph from a Chilean mountaintop, the Moon wears a ring wide enough to hold a handful of stars. Its inner edge gives away what’s floating overhead.

• Can a pine cone tell you when it’s going to rain?

  A fallen cone can close its scales long after the cells inside them have died. To read that weather sign, it helps to know what makes the wood move.