The first images of a planetary system beyond the solar system are released, while the Hubble Space Telescope snaps a shot of likely planet orbiting a nearby star. (p. 5)

Reviving ancient genomes of long-extinct creatures offers a window into past extinctions—and may help prevent future die outs (p. 18)

Even as biologists catalog the discrete parts of life forms, an emerging picture reveals that life’s functions arise from interconnectedness (p. 22)

Informing the debate over the reality of ‘free will’ requires learning something about the lateral habenula (p. 28)

Early exposure to peanuts in a baby’s diet seems to lessen the risk of developing a peanut allergy later. (p. 8)

Patients admitted to hospitals with mild symptoms of a heart attack may benefit from getting a heart catheterization performed promptly. (p. 9)

Viral heart infections respond to interferon treatment, easing cardiomyopathy in some patients. (p. 9)

Turns out, the variety and number of minerals in the solar system and on Earth have increased through time, and some minerals exist because Earth has life. (p. 10)

First large-scale inventory of microbes charts types, locales of bacteria. (p. 11)

Common household “oxy” cleaners remove blood almost too well. (p. 12)

The texture of surfaces could be designed so that both water and oil can bead up and thus flow off. (p. 12)

Researchers have found an approximately 1-million-year-old fossil pelvis that, in their view, indicates that Homo erectus females gave birth to surprisingly big-brained babies. (p. 14)

A research team in Israel has uncovered one of the oldest known graves of a shaman. The 12,000-year-old grave hosts a woman’s skeleton surrounded by the remains of unusual animals. (p. 14)

During an experiment in Fermilab's Tevatron particle accelerator, a group of elementary particles called muons showed up in a strange place. Physicists are considering the likely implications. (p. 15)

A time-travel scenario permitted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity offers a bit of possibility for breaking quantum encryption. (p. 15)

Scientists have developed a technique for inducing an illusion of having swapped one’s own body with someone else’s body, providing a new means for investigating self-identity and body-image disorders. (p. 16)

A brain imaging study reveals that some people are as giddy as teenagers in love, even after two decades of marriage. (p. 17)