ROUGH TERRAIN The boulder-strewn asteroid Bennu, shown here in a mosaic of images taken by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on December 2, is full of water-rich minerals.
Univ. of Arizona/Goddard/NASA
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Magazine
In the Dec. 8 SN: Parkinson’s gut connections, beaver ecosystem engineering, Greenland’s hidden impact crater, the kilogram redefined, figurative cave art in Borneo, Dione’s stripes and more.
ON THE MOVE This composite image tracks the gait of a gecko as it crosses a tank of water, staying at the surface by slapping the water with its feet and getting some extra help from surface tension.
Pauline Jennings
CARBON CAP Globally, people emitted more carbon dioxide from fossil fuels in 2018 than ever before.
egdigital/iStock.com
MAGNETICALLY MALLEABLE A new magnetically tunable metamaterial contains many “unit cells” (like these pictured above) composed of plastic tubes filled with tiny bits of iron and oil.
J.A. Jackson
Science News
News
A new way to turn saltwater fresh can kill germs and avoid gunk buildup
A new device that harnesses sunlight to produce pure vapor from seawater could last longer and produce cleaner water than other technology.
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The list of extreme weather caused by human-driven climate change grows
The tally of extreme weather events linked to climate change continues to grow, with new studies outlining links to more than a dozen events in 2017.
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Getting goose bumps could boost hair growth
The same nerves and muscles that create goose bumps may make hair grow.
Feature
A gut-brain link for Parkinson’s gets a closer look
Early evidence suggests that Parkinson’s may be a gut disease that affects the brain.
News
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx finds signs of water on the asteroid Bennu
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft found signs of water and lots of boulders on the asteroid Bennu.
Feature
Beavers are engineering a new Alaskan tundra
Climate change has enabled the recent expansion of beavers into northwestern Alaska, a trend that could have major ecological consequences for the region in the coming decades.
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Voyager 2 spacecraft enters interstellar space
Voyager 2 just became the second probe ever to enter interstellar space, and the first with a working plasma instrument.
News in Brief
A satellite screw-up reaffirms Einstein’s theory of gravity
Two spacecraft confirm that time passes more slowly closer to Earth’s surface.
Reviews & Previews
These are our favorite science books of 2018
Science News writers and editors pick which science books were this year’s must-reads.
News in Brief
Magnets make a new soft metamaterial stiffen up in a flash
Scientists can dial the stiffness of a bizarre new type of synthetic material up or down using magnets.
Reviews & Previews
Two new books explore the science and history of the 1918 flu pandemic
One-hundred years after the Spanish flu, ‘Pandemic 1918’ and ‘Influenza’ provide a new look at the global outbreak.
News in Brief
Global carbon dioxide emissions will hit a record high in 2018
Carbon dioxide emissions from China, the United States and India all rose this year, a new report finds.
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Volcanic eruptions that depleted ocean oxygen may have set off the Great Dying
Massive eruptions from volcanoes spewing greenhouse gases 252 million years ago may have triggered Earth’s biggest mass extinction.
News
The uterus may play a role in memory
In lab tests, rats that underwent hysterectomies had worse spatial memories.
News
Here’s how geckos (almost) walk on water
New high-speed video reveals how geckos use a hybrid walking-swimming gait in water to reach speeds similar to those on land.
News
A 5,000-year-old mass grave harbors the oldest plague bacteria ever found
DNA from an ancient strain of the plague-causing bacterium could help uncover the origins of the deadly disease.
News in Brief
Pea aphid youngsters use piggyback rides to escape a crisis
When some mammal is about to munch their plant, aphids drop to the ground and youngsters want a ride to safety.
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Baboons survive 6 months after getting a pig heart transplant
A team of German scientists used new methods to successfully transplant genetically modified and fully functioning pig hearts into baboons.
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A controversial sighting of dark matter is looking even shakier
Two dark matter experiments disagree despite using the same type of detector material.
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Astronomers find far-flung wind from a black hole in the universe’s first light
The detection of black hole winds far from their host galaxy could reveal details of how galaxies and black holes grow up together.
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In a first, a woman with a uterus transplanted from a deceased donor gives birth
After receiving a uterus from a deceased donor, a woman gave birth to a healthy girl in December of 2017.
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Scientists’ collection of gravitational waves just got a lot bigger
The biggest black hole merger yet seen created one set of the spacetime ripples.
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Rebel honeybee workers lay eggs when their queen is away
A honeybee queen’s absence in the colony triggers some workers to turn queen-like and lay eggs, sometimes in other colonies.
News in Brief
How some sap-sucking insects fling their pee
Sharpshooters hurl their pee with structure called a stylus, which sends droplets flying at 20 times the acceleration of Earth’s gravity.