Car Talk

The co-editor of Motorsports and American Culture: From Demolition Derbies to NASCAR says NASCAR reflects our culture, our society, and our history.

In our lifetimes, we will likely see the car as we know it become obsolete. Prepare yourselves, Resendes says, for fully automated, driverless “timeshare cars.”

An insect native to Mexico, is the only source of a vibrant red dye called carmine. The author of A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire, discusses this highly sought-after commodity that eluded pirates, scientists, and kings.

A chemist and an art curator team up to trace the molecular “fingerprints” of the pigments in rare paintings.

Gail Dodge is a nuclear physicist and recipient of the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award. Dodge is growing the number of women in physics–a field still dominated by men.