All Stories

  1. Genetics

    Mummies tell tuberculosis tales from the crypt

    Hungarian mummies contracted multiple strains of tuberculosis at the same time, researchers find.

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  2. Planetary Science

    A modest Plutonian proposal

    Flagstaff, Echidna, Spock. Naming conventions for the landscapes of Pluto and its moons are proposed ahead of the arrival of the New Horizons probe.

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  3. Anthropology

    Beads suggest culture blocked farming in Northern Europe

    Baltic hunter-gatherers blocked farming’s spread from south.

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  4. Astronomy

    Cyanides around young star signal complex organic chemistry

    Abundances of cyanide compounds around a young star match those found in comets in our solar system.

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  5. Science & Society

    Top 10 science anniversaries of 2015

    From genes and dreams to gravity and Kevlar, 2015 offers plenty to celebrate.

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  6. Animals

    Dealing with droughts, museums going digital and more reader feedback

    Readers share their experiences with dry weather in the U.S., discuss how humans mentally sort quantities and more.

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  7. Science & Society

    One anniversary to celebrate, one to contemplate

    In this issue, both feature articles focus on anniversaries, though of two very different kinds.

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  8. Humans

    Natural selection may be growing taller Dutch people

    Over the past 200 years, natural selection may have driven the evolution of taller Dutch people, researchers posit.

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  9. Life

    It’s true: Butterfly spots can mimic scary eyes

    Contrary to recent studies, the old notion that butterfly wing eyespots evoke predator eyes may not be so old-fashioned after all.

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  10. Genetics

    Anti-inflammation genes linked to longer lives

    Inflammation-dampening genes fight oxidants and promote longer life spans.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Mutation regions mapped on genes that cause breast and ovarian cancer

    An analysis of mutated BRCA genes could someday be used for personalized medicine in the fight against breast and ovarian cancer.

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  12. Astronomy

    Celebrating 25 years of the Hubble Space Telescope

    The Hubble Space Telescope has served for more than two decades as the sharpest eyes ever to peer into the universe.

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