Faux pas on fashion In “Students honored for research,” (SN: 4/6/13, p. 28), the female winner got singled out as “decked out in a lavender satin dress.” Didn’t Hillary Clinton recently point out to an interviewer that he asked her about her clothes, whereas he wouldn’t ask a man that? What are you trying to convey? Irena Swanson, Portland, Ore. While editing this story, we did ask ourselves whether we might mention the first-place winner’s tuxedo were he a young man. Our answer, and the reason we kept the phrase in the story, was yes. The writer was trying to use detail t... (p. 35)

The first effective technique for measuring the ages of large numbers of stars like the sun has been developed. Providing a powerful research tool for astronomers, the new dating technique is based on relatively simple measurements of a single chemical element, lithium. The age calculations can be applied to both young and “ordinary” stars, as well as to the sun itself. The new method makes possible spotting very young stars among the myriad stars in the sky. With further development, the technique appears certain to give astronomers important evidence on such problems as the origin of sta... (p. 4)

May 10 The 2013 Omnifest film festival opens at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul. Catch daily screenings of five documentaries on the Omnitheater’s giant screen. See the schedule at bit.ly/OmniFest May 18 Learn about the evolution and diversity of frogs around the world at a special exhibit of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. More information available at bit.ly/AMNHFrogs (p. 4)

EARTH IN ACTION Learn about sinkhole science in Alex Witze’s column “Geologists develop weapons to combat that sinkhole feeling.” ENVIRONMENT There’s good news for some corals in “Isolated coral reefs can regrow after bleaching.” DELETED SCENES Several new studies support claims of vitamin D’s health benefits. See “Vitamin D doesn’t disappoint.” HUMANS Kids with autism may know more about how others think than previously thought. Read “Competition brings out autism’s social side.” (p. 4)

Highlights from the annual AACR meeting include ovulation’s impact on cancer risk and an experimental drug’s promising performance against leukemia. (p. 20)