The Intel Science Talent Search announced its winners at a gala dinner honoring the competition's 40 finalists. (p. 166)

When pollinators aren't loyal to a single species of orchid, the plants maintain their species integrity by stymieing reproduction. (p. 149)

Scientists have discovered that white button mushrooms, the plain Janes of edible fungi, are actually quite stimulating. Their powder seems to jump-start the immune response of cells taken from mice, a new study finds.Researchers had already found that feeding mice white button–mushroom powder cranked up the activity of natural killer cells, an execution squad of the immune system. In the new study, a team led by nutritional immunologist Dayong Wu of Tufts University looked into the effect of white button–mushroom powder on dendritic cells derived from mouse bone marrow. Dendritic ce... (p. 157)

The unusual pigment Maya blue was probably made over an incense fire as part of a ceremony honoring the rain god Chaak, a new analysis of a pot reveals. (p. 134)

Jellyfish have been swimming the seas for at least 550 million years, and research is now revealing how the challenges of moving in fluid have shaped the creatures' evolution. (p. 122)