ENVIRONMENT See good news for birds in “So far, the great tit has coped with climate change.” LIFE Fossils show how birds shifted their weight as they evolved. Read “Birds may have had to crouch before they could fly.” Flowerlike corals pulsate to boost photosynthesis by algae harbored inside. See “Why corals do calisthenics.” RANDOMNESS Tom Siegfried examines theories of generosity in “Greed may breed financial fitness, but evolution allows unselfishness to survive.” (p. 4)

GENES & CELLS See a roundup of some of the latest discoveries about China’s H7N9 virus in “New bird flu claims more victims.” ENVIRONMENT Lake Erie is loaded with tiny pieces of plastic containing toxic pollutants. Read “Puny plastic particles mar Lake Erie’s waters.” HUMANS Male attractiveness relies on a combination of body parts. See “Penis size does matter.” CULTURE BEAKER Rachel Ehrenberg analyzes how a CEO misunderstood shoppers in “The psychology of J.C. Penney.” (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)

BECOMING HUMAN Learn how people have been driving species to extinction since the Stone Age in a new column by Erin Wayman. LIFE Wild insects are a key to bigger harvests. See “Native pollinators boost crop yields worldwide.” SCIENCE & SOCIETY By tracking tweets, researchers identify communities. Read “Twitter maps New York City, language by language.” BODY & BRAIN In developing rat and monkey brains, cells called microglia prune excess growth. See “Immune cells chow down on living brain.” (p. 4)

ATOM & COSMOS Curiosity finds minerals consistent with habitability. See “Life-friendly environment confirmed on Mars.” BODY & BRAIN Scientists meld rat minds in “Rats do tasks while connected brain-to-brain.” CULTURE BEAKER See Rachel Ehrenberg’s column on website comments, “Trolls bad news for scientific discourse.” ON THE SCENE BLOG Kids build plasma guns and more in “Intel Science Talent Search finalists show off their work.” (p. 4)

EARTH IN ACTION Alexandra Witze ponders Earth’s odds in “When an asteroid heads for Earth, it’s time to reconsider those doomsday plans.” MOLECULES Nanoparticles (below, blue) detect viruses (pink) in “Synthetic nanomaterial can recognize viruses.” HEALTH & ILLNESS Allergic people became able to tolerate up to a full glass of milk. See “Therapy for milk allergy offers hope, and caution.” Pregnant women taking an omega-3 fatty acid have bigger babies. Read “Fish oil component boosts newborn health.” (p. 4)

CULTURE BEAKER Read Rachel Ehrenberg’s column “In Hollywood, buzz beats star power when it comes to predicting box office take.” MIND & BRAIN See a video showing a test of a baby’s motor control (right) in “Newborn babies walk the walk.” EARTH See video of the meteor that struck Russia on February 15 in “Meteor explodes over Russia.” EARTH IN ACTION Alexandra Witze examines the perils of giving science-based advice in “Italian earthquake verdict exposes rifts between science and society.” (p. 4)

FRAME OF MIND Laura Sanders ponders turning off depression instantaneously in her column “A new generation of antidepressants could help patients feel better faster.” BODY & BRAIN See a video of nerves firing in a fish larva’s brain (below) as it hunts in “As fish watch prey, researchers watch fish’s brains.” LIFE Anthropologists rethink some fossil cues to hominids’ life history in “Chimps’ baby teeth don’t predict weaning.” HUMANS A study finds a link between the types of household chores that men do and how often they have sex. Read “Some chores lin... (p. 4)

MATH TREK Economists say auction-based purchasing could create market chaos. See Julie Rehmeyer’s column “Devil is in the details of a new Medicare plan to buy medical supplies.” SCIENCE NEWS FOR KIDS Research in guinea pigs finds a way to power small electronic devices using a voltage difference in the inner ear. Read more in “Your head’s battery.” RANDOMNESS Tom Siegfried’s column “Maybe there’s a way to find out if reality is a computer simulation” explores how computers describe the universe. (p. 4)

LIFE The activity of just a few genes may be key to limb evolution. Read “Fins to limbs with flip of genetic switch.” Scientists analyze chemical forms in gorilla poop to reconstruct monthly shifts in the animals’ diets. See “Feces study gets the poop on gorillas’ diet.” EARTH New satellite images dubbed “Black Marble” show nighttime lights across the globe. See “Earth in the black.” ATOM & COSMOS A nearby sunlike star may host five planets that weigh between two and six Earth masses. Read more in “Possible planet looks habitable.” (p. 4)