Breast-feeding substantially boosts children's intelligence, but only if the youngsters possess a specific version of a gene involved in processing mothers' milk. (p. 291)

New observations suggest that ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays originate in the cores of nearby galaxies harboring supermassive black holes. (p. 291)

Engineered plants make genetic material that disables critical genes in insects that eat the plants, offering a possible new strategy for agricultural-pest control. (p. 292)

Fatty diets disrupt the sleep and metabolic cycles of mice by changing the activity of genes. (p. 292)

Some parts of the terrain in Yellowstone National Park have been rising as much as 7 centimeters per year as molten rock wells up beneath the park. (p. 293)

A gene in fruit flies favors the birth of females, until another gene comes along to restore balance between the sexes. (p. 293)

Female toads that accept mates of another species in tough times may be looking after their own interest. (p. 294)

Fragments of a fetus' genetic material that leak into a pregnant woman's bloodstream reveal details of early fetal development. (p. 295)

Geneticists and conservation biologists are joining forces to untangle the evolutionary history of giant Galápagos tortoises and to safeguard the animals' future. (p. 298)

Cleverly designed molecules can self-assemble into networks and stay robustly connected. (p. 301)

A strain of bacterium that causes middle ear infection is resistant to all antibiotics currently approved for the ailment. (p. 301)

Pumping out groundwater for crop irrigation or industrial purposes releases planet-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. (p. 301)

A sugarlike substance in the roots of lettuce may attract food-poisoning bacteria. (p. 301)

Greater understanding of the role of genetics in human diseases presents scientists with ethical dilemmas. (p. 302)

People with a newly discovered genetic variation are more vulnerable to HIV infection. (p. 302)

DNA near the ends of people's chromosomes shows surprisingly large differences from the corresponding DNA in other great apes. (p. 302)

(p. 303)