MAGNIFYING STAR A white dwarf, the core of a dead star, contorts the light of the sunlike star it orbits, as seen in an artist’s illustration. The white dwarf’s gravity amplifies the light from its companion each time the white dwarf passes between the other star and Earth.
JPL-Caltech/NASA
HERS, NOT HIS A small female Neotrogla bark louse extends an inflatable, penislike organ (less than a millimeter long, shown in orange), which fits into a vaginalike pocket inside the male of her species and collects his sperm.
Courtesy of K. Yoshizawa
ALL SPUN UP Molecules hit with a laser have reached record spin speeds of 600 trillion revolutions per minute.
Creativity103/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
BARE BONES Differences between the skeletons of modern humans (back) and Neandertals (front) may stem from the way the groups use some genes involved in bone growth. Chemical modifications of DNA may have dialed down the activity of these genes in Neandertals, leading to stocky frames.
© Sabena Jane Blackbird/Alamy
ODD ALLIES Domesticated grapevines play host to the bacterium P. acnes, which relies on the plant for essential DNA repairs.
Anders Ljungberg/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
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