Venice Versus the Sea
For more than 1,600 years, residents of the Venetian lagoon have struggled with continually rising water, according to a new study. By 1500, about the time Vittore Carpaccio captured this Venetian fishing scene, the water level had edged up 1.5 meters above the surface of the first lagoon settlements. (Painting: The J. Paul Getty Museum)

NEWS OF THE WEEK

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Alcohol May Guard Diabetics' Hearts
Consuming even the occasional alcoholic beverage appears to dramatically reduce the risk of heart-disease mortality in people with adult-onset diabetes.

Hubble spies a cluster's unruly past
Images of a distant galaxy cluster confirm the prevailing view that collisions between galaxies were more common in the past and that massive galaxies formed from the merging of smaller ones.

Enzyme encourages cancer’s deadly spread
Two research teams have identified the gene encoding an enzyme that helps cancer cells spread.

Sneaky caterpillar makes an ant’s perfume
A butterfly caterpillar that tricks ants into taking care of it may make its own ant scent instead of just borrowing ant odors as camouflage.

Carbon dioxide shakes off its pursuers
Most of the carbon dioxide produced by the United States goes up into the atmosphere, rather than being sopped up by forests and fields.

Abracadabra! Magnets float in midair
The forces from everyday materials—wood, plants, even a person’s fingers—can help levitate small magnets placed in a magnetic field.

Kids adopted late reap IQ increases
Preschoolers who score low on intelligence tests exhibit substantial IQ gains in the decade following their adoption, especially if they enter well-off families.

Women’s heart attacks kill more often
Although men are likely to have heart attacks at a younger age than women, middle-aged women who have heart attacks are more likely than their male peers to die in the hospital.

Vitamin A thwarts malaria in children
Injections of vitamin A may bolster the immune system’s fight against malaria, especially in toddlers.

Squeezing Clouds
After years of false starts, scientists have a new recipe for coaxing rain from the sky
A cloud-seeding experiment in Mexico is testing a technique that seems to enhance rainfall.

The Honeycomb Conjecture
Proving mathematically that honeybee constructors are on the right track
A hexagonal grid represents the best way to divide a flat surface into regions of equal area with the least total perimeter.

Against the Tide
Venice’s long war with rising water
Archaeologists trace Venice’s quest to stay dry.

Emotional judgments seek respect
Brain areas involved in emotion may generate physiological responses that guide some types of decision making.

Drug deaths by the week
Increases in death rates at the start of each month may largely stem from activity related to substance abuse.

The long and short of worm development
A developing worm elongates by changing the shape of its cells.

What’s DNA got to do with it?
Sperm without DNA can still crawl and trigger fertilization events within an egg.

One, two, . . . 20,000 slime mold cells
Slime mold cells secrete a protein that helps them count how many of them are in a group.