HERE TODAY Violent collisions in the early solar system, illustrated here, probably broke apart would-be planets — but diamonds forged in those planets’ cores may have made it to Earth as meteorites.
Mark Garlick/Science Source
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Magazine
In the April 14 SN: Killer heat, mass insect migrations, the latest Saturn updates, rethinking the Nobel Prize, tectonics on Venus, the science of mass shootings, ancient tool trends and more.
MAYA HUB An ancient Maya site called La Corona (shown in this artist’s illustration with a ceremonial center in the foreground) was a remote but key part of a large Classic Maya state, new research suggests.
PACUNAM
MIXING IT UP One swimming brine shrimp generates small-scale turbulence (time lapse of suspended particles in green). But large numbers of the animals together may create currents that stir oceans.
Isabel Houghton
SEAL MEAL A harbor seal digs its claws into a salmon. Sea lions and some other seal species have sturdy flippers instead of paws, and so can’t grasp prey in this way.
D.P. Hocking et al/Roy. Soc. Open Science 2018
Science News
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A hole in an ancient cow’s skull could have been surgery practice
Before performing skull operations on people, ancient surgeons may have rehearsed on cows.
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Mystery Solved
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Ravens pecking at frosty pipes caused a glitch in gravitational wave data.
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Are we ready for the deadly heat waves of the future?
As heat waves become more common, cities try to respond.
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This meteorite’s diamonds hint that it was born in a lost planet
Bits of metal nestled inside diamonds suggest the space rock could have formed in a Mars-sized protoplanet in the early solar system.
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Opioids kill. Here’s how an overdose shuts down your body
Powerful opioids affect many parts of the body, but the drugs’ most deadly effects are on breathing.
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Why touch can be such a creepy sensation in VR
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Masses of shrimp and krill may play a huge role in mixing oceans
Hoards of migrating shrimp and krill can cause large-scale turbulence in the ocean, a new study suggests.
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These seals haven’t lost their land ancestors’ hunting ways
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This ancient Maya city may have helped the Snake King dynasty spread
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Here’s why putting a missile defense system in space could be a bad idea
Expanding missile defense capabilities could put the world on a slippery slope to space warfare.
Teaser
A new plastic film glows to flag food contaminated with dangerous microbes
Plastic patches that glow when they touch some types of bacteria could be built into food packaging to reduce the spread of foodborne illness.
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Dogs lived and died with humans 10,000 years ago in the Americas
Dogs unearthed at sites in Illinois were older than originally thought.
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Lasers squeezed iron to mimic the conditions of exoplanet cores
In the first experiment to measure what exoplanets might be like on the inside, scientists hit iron with 176 lasers at once.
Reviews & Previews
‘Weird Math’ aims to connect numbers and equations to the real world
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The Facebook data debacle may not change internet behavior
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Cargo ships must cut their emissions in half by 2050
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Tales of rampant suicide among Custer’s soldiers may be overblown
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Sweet potatoes might have arrived in Polynesia long before humans
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With the launch of TESS, NASA will boost its search for exoplanets
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