New optics shatter the diffraction barrier, illuminating life within us. (p. 20)

Obama announces ambitious plan to develop new tools for exploring neural circuitry. (p. 22)

Animals’ cognitive shortcomings are as revealing as their genius. (p. 24)

Viruses that can jump from animals to people may find the flying mammals a fine place to lurk. (p. 10)

A genetic analysis shows that the sessile crustaceans can broadcast sperm in water, contrary to previous assumptions. (p. 15)

Quietly, on the top floor of a nondescript commercial building overlooking Boston Harbor, the future is being born. Rows of young scientists tap intently in front of computer monitors, their concentration unbroken even as the occasional plane from Logan Airport buzzes by. State-of-the-art lab equipment hums away in the background. This office, in Boston’s Marine Industrial Park, is what California’s Silicon Valley was four decades ago — the vanguard of an industry that will change your life. Just as researchers from Stanford provided the brains behind the semiconductor revolution, so a... (p. 22)