A MITE MISUNDERSTOOD Long a scourge of honeybees, Varroa destructor mites may have been misunderstood for decades. It’s not bee “blood” they’re after, a study finds.
UMD, USDA, PNAS
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Magazine
In the Jan. 19 SN: Celebrating 150 years of the periodic table, daredevil asteroid missions, early plague evidence from Sweden, more black hole collisions, hybrid rice can clone itself, corals go deep and more.
BURST YOUR BUBBLY High-quality prosecco vineyards are losing 400 million kilograms of soil every year, researchers calculate.
Stefano Mazzola/Awakening/Alamy Stock Photo
DEEP AND COLD Chilled mirrors and an underground hideout (shown) should help the KAGRA experiment in its upcoming search for gravitational waves.
ICRR, Univ. of Tokyo
TINY REVEAL A powerful new technique reveals tiny, message-receiving bumps that dot nerve cells’ surfaces (green), called dendritic spines, in a mouse brain.
R. Gao et al/Science 2019
Science News
Reviews & Previews
‘Good to Go’ tackles the real science of sports recovery
In ‘Good to Go,’ science writer Christie Aschwanden puts science — and herself — to the test for the sake of sports recovery.
News
Physicists aim to outdo the LHC with this wish list of particle colliders
Proposed new accelerators could solve mysteries of the Higgs boson.
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Reviews & Previews
Our fascination with robots goes all the way back to antiquity
In the book ‘Gods and Robots,’ a scholar recounts how early civilizations explored artificial life through myths.
Feature
Two daring spacecraft aim to bring asteroid dust back to Earth
A pair of daredevil spacecraft that aim to bring asteroid dust back to Earth have reached their targets and are scouting for the best sampling spots.
News in Brief
Cryptic remains of tiny animals have turned up in an Antarctic lake
Researchers were surprised to find vestiges of what appear to be tiny animals in mud from Antarctica’s ice-covered Lake Mercer.
Feature
150 years on, the periodic table has more stories than it has elements
The organized rows and columns of the Periodic Table hide a rich and twisting history.
Science Stats
Prosecco production takes a toll on northeast Italy’s environment
The soil in Northern Italy’s prosecco vineyards is washing away.
Essay
How the periodic table went from a sketch to an enduring masterpiece
150 years ago, Russian chemist Dmitrii Mendeleev created the periodic table of the elements, revolutionizing chemistry.
News
This honeybee parasite may be more of a fat stealer than a bloodsucker
Inventing decoy bee larvae prompts a back-to-basics rethink of a mite ominously named Varroa destructor.
News
A new gravitational wave detector is almost ready to join the search
Buried deep underground, Japan’s KAGRA detector relies on components cooled to just 20 degrees above absolute zero.
News
The moon’s craters suggest Earth hasn’t erased lots of past impacts
A new look at moon craters suggests the Earth and moon suffered more impacts in the last 290 million years, and the Earth retains its biggest scars.
News
New ways to image and control nerve cells could unlock brain mysteries
Methods that target single nerve cells in mice and fruit fly brains are starting to tease apart the brain’s complexity.
News
Overdose deaths tied to antianxiety drugs like Xanax continue to rise
Benzodiazepines, widely used but addictive drugs to treat anxiety and insomnia, are contributing to a growing number of overdose deaths.
News
This rediscovered Bolivian frog species survived deadly chytrid fungus
Scientists recently rediscovered a frog species in Bolivia that hasn’t been seen in 10 years — and it could be used to better understand a frog-killing fungus.
News
Bacterial compounds may be as good as DEET at repelling mosquitoes
A bacterium’s metabolic by-products are as effective as DEET in deterring Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
News
An ancient child from East Asia grew teeth like a modern human
Choppers from a youngster with an unknown evolutionary background indicate that hominids evolved a humanlike life span in East Asia by 100,000 years ago.
News in Brief
These robots can follow how-to diagrams
Robots capable of reading diagrams could work in more varied environments and be easier to communicate with.
News
A four-legged robot hints at how ancient tetrapods walked
Using fossils, computer simulations and a life-size walking robot, researchers re-created how an early tetrapod may have made tracks.
News
A new 3-D printed ‘sponge’ sops up excess chemo drugs
Researchers have created “sponges” that would absorb excess cancer drugs before they spread through the body and cause negative side effects.
News in Brief
The first suspected exomoon may remain hidden for another decade
The discoverers of the first evidence for a moon orbiting a planet around a distant star are still trying to confirm the object’s existence.
News
Easing test anxiety boosts low-income students’ biology grades
Wealthier students outperform their less advantaged peers in math and science. Decreasing test anxiety may help even the playing field.
News
A cosmic flare called the ‘Cow’ may reveal a new way that stars die
A burst of light from far away may have been an odd type of exploding star or a white dwarf being eaten by a black hole.
News
Desalination pours more toxic brine into the ocean than previously thought
Desalination plants help offset the world’s growing water needs, but they also produce much more supersalty water than scientists realized.
News in Brief
Your phone could reveal your radiation exposure after a nuclear disaster
Examining personal electronics may help gauge people’s radiation exposure in the event of a nuclear accident or attack.