Feature
- Physics
Extreme Impersonations
By creating tiny clouds of remarkable new kinds of ultracold gases, physicists are, in essence, bringing to their lab benches chunks of some of the most extraordinary and hard-to-study matter in the universe.
- Anthropology
In the Neandertal Mind
Neandertals possessed much the same mental capacity as ancient people did, but a genetically inspired memory boost toward the end of the Stone Age may have allowed Homo sapiens to prosper while Neandertals died out.
- Agriculture
The Ultimate Crop Insurance
A new treaty renews hope that the waning diversity in agricultural crops can be slowed, and important genes preserved, both in the field and in gene banks.
- Health & Medicine
Figuring Out Fibroids
Researchers now have a better understanding of which women develop fibroids and what causes them.
- Tech
Ocean Envy
By mimicking the flippers of penguins, whales, and dolphins, engineers hope to make ocean vessels that are as maneuverable and efficient as the marine animals.
- Earth
Paved Paradise?
The precipitation-fed runoff that spills from impervious surfaces such as buildings, roads, and parking lots in developed areas increases erosion in streams, wreaks ecological havoc there, and contributes to urban heat islands.
- Plants
Smokey the Gardener
Wildfire smoke by itself, without help from heat, can trigger germination in certain seeds, but just what the vital compound in that smoke might be has kept biologists busy for years.
- Math
A Better Distorted View
The mathematics used to describe diffusion can also be used to generate maps based on population data.
- Astronomy
Cosmic Melody
An astronomer has converted fluctuations in the density of the early universe—the seeds of the first galaxies and stars—into audible sound.
- Chemistry
Tricky Business
The way a drug crystallizes to form a solid can make or break a billion-dollar product, which explains why pharmaceutical and crystal chemists are racing to control this poorly understood process.
- Tech
When the Chips are Down
Scientists seek alternatives to a computer technology nearing its limits.
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To Err Is Human
Two researchers have issued a blunt critique of what they see as a misguided emphasis on immoral behaviors and mental flaws in many social psychology studies.
