Nano skyscrapers and a long-lost ship — March’s best science images

The sky is stormy. The storm passed over Europe in March. The skies over the Iberian Peninsula were turned orange by a cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert. According to the European Union's Earth-observation programme, the unusual weather system caused higher-than-average temperatures and rainfall over the Arctic Circle and along the Norwegian fjords.

The skyscrapers are small. Researchers have created a system that can generate electricity from sunlight and water using a 3D printer. The tiny pillars are 600 micrometres high and have a branching, densely packed structure that provides surfaces for thebacteria to grow on. They are made of metal oxide nanoparticles, so that they can act as electrodes harvesting waste electrons. They allow for a balance between a lot of surface area and a lot of light. The technique proved to be more efficient than other methods.