In the spring of 2009, researchers on the Second Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX2) field project set out across the Great Plains to study tornadoes, but that’s not the only phenomenon they observed.

More than 100 people assembled on the outskirts of Cheyenne, Wyoming, on 15 June for the official kickoff of construction on the NCAR–Wyoming Supercomputing Center.

Turboprop and jet aircraft can create hole-punch clouds, which have long fascinated the public.

They’ve been called “crop circles in the sky.” Across the world, sightings of oddly circular holes within cloud layers—dubbed hole-punch clouds by scientists—have triggered bemusement and speculation.

New, more interactive and versatile uses of the Web are beginning to enable profound changes in the entire life cycle of scientific publications. Among these developments, one that is currently looming large in many scientists’ minds is open access.