BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND Dandelion seeds use a novel flying mechanism to fly to distant sprouting destinations.
Saad Chaudhry/unsplash.com
-
Magazine
In the Oct. 13 SN: 2018’s scientists to watch, superconductors heat up, the world’s oldest drawing, a sneaky superbug slayer, Ceres’ ice volcanoes, the birth of a neutron star, kidney stones close-up and more.
CASES OF CONCERN There have been 62 confirmed cases of acute flaccid myelitis, mostly among children. The rare, mysterious disease affects the nervous system and can cause paralysis.
drpnncpptak/shutterstock
STAY DEAD A child buried in a fifth century Roman cemetery had a stone placed in his or her mouth as part of a funeral ritual to keep the body from coming back to life, scientists say.
D. Pickel/Stanford Univ.
HEAD START Studying early signs of autism in the developing brain may ultimately help researchers figure out why more boys are diagnosed with the disorder than girls.
Africa Studio/Shutterstock
Science News
News
The water system that helped Angkor rise may have also brought its fall
A complex water system magnified flooding’s disruption of the medieval Cambodian city of Angkor.
Science Ticker
2 weeks ago
News
What the electron’s near-perfect roundness means for new physics
The electron remains stubbornly round, meaning we may need to build beyond the Large Hadron Collider to find physics outside of the standard model.
Sponsor Message
Science Visualized
Dandelion seeds create a bizarre whirlpool in the air to fly
Researchers have deciphered the physics underlying dandelion flight.
Feature
The SN 10: These scientists defy limits to tackle big problems
With a drive to understand how things work, these young researchers are making a mark in sustainable energy, medicine, astronomy and technology.
News
These ancient mounds may not be the earliest fossils on Earth after all
A new analysis suggests that tectonics, not microbes, formed cone-shaped structures in 3.7-billion-year-old rock.
News
A mysterious polio-like disease has sickened as many as 127 people in the U.S.
Medical experts are trying to trace the cause of 62 confirmed cases of acute flaccid myelitis this year.
News in Brief
An ancient child’s ‘vampire burial’ included steps to prevent resurrection
A 10-year-old skeleton in a Roman cemetery had a stone placed in its mouth to prevent the youngster from rising from the dead, researchers say.
News
To unravel autism’s mysteries, one neuroscientist looks at the developing brain
Autism researcher Kevin Pelphrey focuses on understanding signs of the disorder in the developing brain, which could shed light on the condition.
News in Brief
People who have a good sense of smell are also good navigators
A sense of smell and a sense of direction are tangled in the brain, a new study finds.
Reviews & Previews
Explore the history of blood from vampires to the ‘Menstrual Man’
Rose George’s book ‘Nine Pints’ offers readers an engaging and insightful cultural and scientific history of blood.
News
In cadaver caves, baby beetles grow better with parental goo
A dead mouse — with the right microbial treatment from beetle parents — becomes a much better nursery than your average carcass.
News in Brief
Add beer to the list of foods threatened by climate change
Barley crops around the world will be threatened by drought and heat.
It's Alive
How nectar bats fly nowhere
Exquisitely sensitive tech makes first direct measurements of the forces of bat wingbeats.
News
Genealogy databases could reveal the identity of most Americans
Keeping your DNA private is getting harder.
Film
The Neil Armstrong biopic ‘First Man’ captures early spaceflight's terror
At a time when NASA is considering how to return astronauts to the moon, ‘First Man’ is a sobering reminder of how risky the first giant leap was.
News
Hundreds of dietary supplements are tainted with potentially harmful drugs
Most dietary supplements tainted with pharmaceutical drugs were marketed for sexual enhancement, weight loss or muscle building.
Teaser
Self-driving cars see better with cameras that mimic mantis shrimp vision
A new type of camera that sees in polarized light across a wide range of light intensities could help make self-driving cars safer on the road.
News
The first observed wimpy supernova may have birthed a neutron star duo
Scientists have spotted a faint, fast supernova for the first time, possibly explaining how pairs of dense stellar corpses called neutron stars form.
News
Gene editing creates mice with two biological dads for the first time
Scientists have used CRISPR/Cas9 to make mice with two biological fathers.
Science Visualized
See these dazzling images of a growing mouse embryo
A new microscope creates intimate home movies of mice embryos taking shape, and could shed light on the mysterious process of mammalian development.
News
If the past is a guide, Hubble’s new trouble won’t doom the space telescope
Hubble is in safe mode, but astronomers are optimistic that the observatory will keep working.
News in Brief
What bees did during the Great American Eclipse
A rare study of bees during a total solar eclipse finds that the insects buzzed around as usual — until totality.
50 Years Ago
50 years ago, a 550-year-old seed sprouted
Old seeds can sprout new plants even after centuries of dormancy.
News
These light-loving bacteria may survive surprisingly deep underground
Traces of cyanobacteria DNA suggest that the microbes live deep below Earth’s surface.