THE CLEAN CYCLE Lack of sleep may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease by robbing the brain of the time it needs to wash away sticky proteins.
Michael Morgenstern
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Magazine
In the July 7 SN: The impact hypothesis that won’t die, CAR-T cell therapy upgrades, bad news for Antarctica, a quoll conundrum, honeybees know zero, how volcanoes kill, Jupiter’s polar lightning and more.
NEW MOON, I SAW YOU ORBIT ALONE Of 12 recently discovered Jovian moons (illustrated in bold orange, blue and green), one orbits in the opposite direction of its neighbors (arrows show orbit direction). Four moons discovered by Galileo are also shown (purple).
Roberto Molar Candanosa/Carnegie Institution for Science
UPS AND DOWNS This view shows Pluto’s highest mountains, which rise 3 to 6 kilometers above the smooth nitrogen-ice plains of Sputnik Planitia. New maps of Pluto’s topography show more details of familiar landscapes like this one.
Paul Schenk/Lunar and Planetary Institute
SPEED DEMON This new computer program’s clever number-crunching strategy could route ride shares, discover new drugs and analyze genetic data far faster than other algorithms.
liuzishan/iStockphoto
Science News
News
How a variation on Botox could be used to treat pain
Drugs that incorporate modified botulinum toxin provide long-term pain relief, a study in mice finds.
News
New ‘Poké Ball’ robot catches deep-sea critters without harming them
A machine that gently catches and releases animals underwater could help researchers take a more detailed census of the deep sea.
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News in Brief
This amber nugget from Myanmar holds the first known baby snake fossil
Amber preserves the delicate bone structure of a 99 million year old baby snake.
Feature
The brain may clean out Alzheimer’s plaques during sleep
Sleep deprivation may speed up development of Alzheimer’s disease.
News in Brief
Move over, Hubble. This sharp pic of Neptune was taken from Earth
A new strategy at the Very Large Telescope lets astronomers take space telescope–quality pictures from the ground.
Feature
The ecosystem that controls a galaxy’s future is coming into focus
An invisible cloak called the circumgalactic medium controls a galaxy’s life and death.
News
An ancient swimming revolution in the oceans may have never happened
Swimmers may not have suddenly dominated the oceans during the Devonian Period after all: New analyses suggest they took over much more gradually.
News
Jupiter has 12 more moons than we knew about — and one is bizarre
Astronomers found a dozen previously unknown moons of Jupiter, and one may be a remnant of a larger moon that was all but ground to dust.
Reviews & Previews
‘The Poisoned City’ chronicles Flint’s water crisis
A new book examines how lead ended up in Flint’s water and resulted in a prolonged public health disaster.
News
Wildfires are making extreme air pollution even worse in the northwest U.S.
America’s air is getting cleaner — except in places that are prone to wildfires.
News in Brief
Solving problems by computer just got a lot faster
A new computer program sifts through all possible solutions to find the best answer to a given problem far faster than other algorithms.
News
FDA approves the first smallpox treatment
Concerns about bioterrorism fueled the development of the first treatment for smallpox.
News in Brief
First global maps of Pluto and Charon show the worlds’ highs and lows
New charts of Pluto and its moon Charon, compiled using New Horizons’ data, reveal high peaks, deep depressions and strange ridges.
News
Pregnancy depression is on the rise, a survey suggests
Women today may be at greater risk of depression during pregnancy than previous generations.
News
Scared of heights? This new VR therapy could help
Virtual reality may be good training ground for facing your fears in real life.
50 Years Ago
50 years ago, neutrinos ghosted scientists
In the last half-century, neutrino detectors have spotted particles cast out by the sun, supernova 1987A and a supermassive black hole.
How Bizarre
Malaysia’s pig-tail macaques eat rats, head first
Pig-tail macaques are seen as a menace on Malaysian palm oil plantations, but may be helping to reduce rodent populations.
News
The right mix of gut microbes relieves autism symptoms in the long run
Replacing missing gut microbes improves autism symptoms in children even two years later.
News
Ötzi loaded up on fatty food before he died
A new analysis provides a complete picture of what was in Ötzi the Iceman’s stomach when he died.
News
A high-energy neutrino has been traced to its galactic birthplace
The high-energy particle was born in a blazar 4 billion light-years away, scientists report.
News in Brief
Texas toolmakers add to the debate over who the first Americans were
Stone toolmakers inhabited Texas more than 16,000 years ago, before Clovis hunters arrived.
News
Cancer cells engineered with CRISPR slay their own kin
Scientists can program the stealth cells to die before creating new tumors.
News
Stone tools put early hominids in China 2.1 million years ago
Newly discovered stone tools in China suggest hominids left Africa 250,000 years earlier than we thought.
Science Visualized
See this star nursery shine in a stunning new infrared image
A newly released image of star cluster RCW 38 shows the intricate details of wisps of gas and dust surrounding newborn stars.