Games such as chess have long been mastered by thinking machines. But weightier intellectual feats, such as deducing the laws of nature, have remained the domain of living, breathing brainiacs — until now. A new computer program called Eureqa comes up with fundamental mathematical laws, the great equations of textbooks and history, from scratch. Feed Eureqa a mess of raw data, and it will find the underlying rules describing the observations. Consider the laws of motion and conservation of energy. Eureqa’s creators, Cornell engineer and computer scientist Hod Lipson and then–graduate s... (p. 20)

Science fiction fans know what a 3-D display ought to look like. The film Forbidden Planet showed them more than half a century ago. On a distant world once inhabited by an advanced alien civilization, human scientist Dr. Morbius discovers a table that can create holographic videos. He calls up a ghostly projection of his daughter that’s smaller than but other­wise identical to the girl herself. “Aladdin’s lamp in a physics laboratory,” says an awed spacefarer peering over Morbius’ shoulder. Compared with this Krell technology, the magic of today’s 3-D televisions and movie scr... (p. 18)

A tuna fisherman has taken it upon himself to make the seas safer for sea turtles, animals that are threatened or endangered with extinction worldwide. He’s designed a new hook that he says will make bait unavailable to marine birds and turtles until long after it’s sunk well below the range where these animals venture to eat.

Scientists build the world’s tiniest electric ‘roadster,’ and zap it into action. (p. 8)

Mining patient records, combined with molecular research, may reveal new links among medical conditions. (p. 16)

On April 2, for the fifth time in less than three years, the International Space Station fired its engines to dodge a piece of orbital debris that appeared on a collision path. Other spacecraft also regularly scoot out of the way of rocket and satellite debris. Such evasive action will be needed increasingly frequently, a new study finds.

The Toyota Prius isn’t exactly a muscle car. But the magnets under the hood certainly pack a punch. Pound for pound, these permanent magnets are some of the most powerful on the planet. They generate fields 10 times stronger than those of typical refrigerator magnets, helping the hybrid car’s motor and generator to turn the wheels and charge the battery. The secret to the magnets’ intense fields? About three pounds of alloy made with rare earth elements. Rare earths, 17 chemical elements found mostly in an appendage to the periodic table, have long been the darlings of solid-state phys... (p. 18)

Epidermal devices offer new potential to integrate electronics into the body. (p. 10)

Studies follow leaks into waterways and drinking supplies. (p. 13)