ETNA ERUPTS This Italian volcano (shown here in 2013) erupted in 44 B.C., likely reducing monsoon rains that fed into the Nile River and ultimately fueling civic unrest in Ptolemaic Egypt.
wead/iStockphoto
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Magazine
In the Oct. 28 SN: Real-life vampires, the ultimate flu shot, no rings for Pluto, tsunami debris stowaways, jellyfish flouts sleep stereotypes, honey carries pesticides, teen concussion stats, a shape-shifting robot and more.
BASIC BEAK The red- and blue-stained facial features of this chick, which was incubated under standard laboratory temperatures, reveal an upper beak that is developing properly.
M. Hutson et al/Science Signaling 2017
GAME CHANGER The first completely self-taught AlphaGo program tops all of its machine-learning predecessors, no contest.
DeepMind
VAMPS Creatures that feast on blood have evolved surprising ways to deal with all that fluid and protein, and to get the nutrients blood doesn’t offer.
Matt Griffin
Science News
News in Brief
Pollution killed 9 million people in 2015
First global look estimates the massive human and financial toll caused by pollution-related health problems.
News
Scientists battle over whether violence has declined over time
People are no more violent in small-scale societies than in states, researchers contend.
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Reviews & Previews
Resurrecting extinct species raises ethical questions
'Rise of the Necrofauna' examines the technical and ethical challenges of bringing woolly mammoths and other long-gone creatures back from the dead.
Feature
Being a vampire can be brutal. Here’s how bloodsuckers get by.
Blood-sucking animals have specialized physiology and other tools to live on a diet rich in protein and lacking in some nutrients.
News
Doubling up on ‘junk DNA’ helps make us human
DNA duplicated only in humans may contribute to human traits and disease.
Feature
A universal flu shot may be nearing reality
Scientists are developing a universal vaccine against flu, making annual shots a thing of the past.
News in Brief
Laws to protect athletes’ brains do reduce concussions — eventually
Recurrent concussions among high school athletes went down about 2½ years after traumatic brain injury laws were on the books, a new study finds.
News
The next wave of bird flu could be worse than ever
Deadly bird flu can pass between ferrets through the air.
50 Years Ago
50 years ago, engineers tried catching commercial planes in nets
Fifty years ago, aviation experts tried helping commercial aircraft come to a stop during landing by catching them in massive nets. The idea crash-landed for commercial flights, but it’s still used in the military.
News
The physics of mosquito takeoffs shows why you don’t feel a thing
Even when full of blood, mosquitoes use more wing force than leg force to escape a host undetected — clue to why they’re so good at spreading disease.
News
Animal study reveals how a fever early in pregnancy can cause birth defects
Using chicken embryos, study shows that heat itself, not an infectious agent, is the driving factor behind certain heart and facial birth defects.
News
The newest AlphaGo mastered the game with no human input
AlphaGo Zero is the first AI system of its kind to learn the game just by playing against itself.
How Bizarre
Here’s what space toilets can teach us about finding signs of alien life
Lessons learned from flushing space toilets can help researchers plan life-hunting missions to icy moons.
News in Brief
How volcanoes may have ended the dynasty of Ptolemy and Cleopatra
Volcanic ash in polar ice reveal a link between eruptions and the timing of revolts in Cleopatra’s Egypt.
News
This stretchy implant could help kids avoid repeated open-heart surgeries
A new type of surgical implant grows along with its recipient.
Science Visualized
Here’s a breakdown of the animals that crossed the Pacific on 2011 tsunami debris
Hundreds of marine animals from Japan have washed up on U.S. beaches since the destructive 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
News
Neutron star collision showers the universe with a wealth of discoveries
A collision of neutron stars was spotted with gravitational waves for the first time. Telescopes captured gamma rays, visible light and more from the smashup.
Reviews & Previews
New physics books don’t censor the math behind reality
Special Relativity and Classical Theory and The Physical World offer deep dives into physical reality’s mathematical foundations.
News
Gut fungi might be linked to obesity and inflammatory bowel disorders
Fungi are overlooked contributors to health and disease.
News
To understand the origins of pain, ask a flatworm
A danger-sensing protein responds to hydrogen peroxide in planarians, results that hint at the evolutionary origins of people’s pain sensing.
News
When the Larsen C ice shelf broke, it exposed a hidden world
Scientists plan urgent missions to visit the world the Larsen C iceberg left behind.
The Science Life
Surgeon aims to diagnose deformities of extinct saber-toothed cats
Using CT scans, one orthopedic surgeon is on a quest to diagnose deformities in long-dead saber-toothed cats.
News
A potential drug found in a sea creature can now be made efficiently in the lab
Cooking bryostatin 1 up in a lab lets researchers explore its potential as a drug.
News in Brief
During El Niño, the tropics emit more carbon dioxide
El Niño increases carbon emissions from the tropics — mimicking future climate change.