All Stories
- Life
Animal source of Ebola outbreak eludes scientists
Researchers are trying to determine whether bats or bush meat transmitted the Ebola virus to people in West Africa.
- Life
Grizzly bears master healthy obesity
Tuned insulin signals explain how grizzly bears can fatten up for hibernation in the winter without developing diabetes.
- Oceans
World’s largest ocean dead zone may shrink as Earth warms
North Pacific dead zone may grow smaller, not expand, as climate change weakens Pacific Ocean trade winds.
- Health & Medicine
Survey catalogs what is stressing out Americans
Along with work and other responsibilities, health problems are prominent causes of stress.
- Cosmology
Cosmologist’s ‘Cosmic Cocktail’ is a refreshing read
Katherine Freese shares her insights as a scientist studying dark matter and other mysterious components of the universe.
- Math
Father-son mathematicians fold math into fonts
MIT’s Erik and Martin Demaine create puzzle typefaces to test new ideas.
- Neuroscience
Music soothes the aging brain in film ‘Alive Inside’
A social worker highlighted in a new documentary goes on a quest to bring tunes to nursing homes.
- Health & Medicine
Rat moms’ behavior reflected in their babies’ brains
Grooming, nursing and other maternal behaviors cause brain signal changes in offspring, a study in rats finds.
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- Astronomy
The craziest NASA mission ever proposed
In this issue, Meghan Rosen provides an in-depth report on that mission, but without the erroneous conclusion that the Asteroid Redirect Mission has much to do with asteroid defense.
- Planetary Science
NASA bets on asteroid mission as best path to Mars
NASA wants to bag an asteroid using robotic arms or an enormous sack and place the rock in the moon’s orbit for study. This may keep astronauts working but not, as NASA claims, get them Mars-ready.
- Oceans
Mercury at ocean surface may have tripled since preindustrial times
Questions remain over dangers of toxic metal in environment.
