Feature
- Materials Science
Nice Threads
Once researchers figure out how to spin strong fibers out of carbon nanotubes, real-world applications such as long-distance power-transmission cables, lightweight aircraft materials, and electronic textiles become feasible.
- Earth
Dead Waters
Coastal dead zones—underwater regions where oxygen concentrations are too low for fish to survive—are mushrooming globally, threatening to transform entire ecosystems.
- Humans
Travels with the War Goddess
A botany expedition to Samoa turns out to be as much about the people as about the plants.
- Earth
Global Vineyard
Recognizing that continued climate change may leave some renowned grape-growing regions too hot or too dry to support vineyards, growers may turn to new technology and techniques to produce consistently better fruit.
- Anthropology
Out on a Limb
The science of body development may make kindling out of evolutionary trees.
- Astronomy
Dark Doings
A slew of new and proposed experiments, ranging from the cosmic to the subatomic scale, may shed light on why the expansion of the universe is speeding up.
- Anthropology
Humanity’s Strange Face
New fossil finds in a Romanian cave fuel controversy over whether different, closely related species interbred on the evolutionary path that led to people.
- Math
Glimpses of Genius
By studying a puzzle that Archimedes pondered 2,200 years ago, mathematicians are obtaining new insights into its intriguing geometric structure.
- Physics
The Rise of Antibubbles
Tiny globules of water enclosed by thin shells of air in water that look like bubbles but don't act like them have recently become the objects of serious study.
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Teen Brains on Trial
Scientific opinions differ about whether evidence on delayed maturation of the adolescent brain should be used to argue that teenagers have reduced culpability for crimes and thus should be exempt from the death penalty.
- Health & Medicine
Delaying Dementia
The limited success of attempts to treat Alzheimer's disease with several compounds that appear able to prevent the disorder suggests that the window for derailing the development of the illness may close years before cognitive decline becomes evident.
- Health & Medicine
Coffee, Spices, Wine
Several dietary agents, including coffee, wine, and cinnamon, appear to restore some of the body's responsiveness to insulin, potentially slowing diabetes' onset or ravages.
