Readers often praise Science News for its brevity. It’s undoubtedly one of our defining features, and one of our core values. To deliver the latest news from a wide breadth of scientific subfields, our writing must be clear and concise. Our news gets to the point, with all the fascinating detail but none of the flab. Packing content in has long been the tradition at Science News — no surprise given our news service origins.
But — and I hope this doesn’t sound like heresy — some ideas need more space. In this double issue, Tina Hesman Saey offers a long-form look at what scientists know, and don’t, about how humans domesticated plants and animals. It’s a big story with many moving pieces and a lot of mystery. Giving the squeeze to such a rich topic would be a shame, especially since Saey has been thinking about the idea for years. Then, Emily Conover investigates the latest progress in the race toward “quantum supremacy,” the point, coming soon, when quantum computers will surpass conventional computers for solving certain types of problems. Conover explores not just the top contenders, but also alternative approaches, and the challenges of each. An accompanying essay by Tom Siegfried offers a historical take on quantum computing’s essential unit, the qubit. Yes, we give you 10 pages of quantum coolness.