Feature

  1. Materials Science

    Forensics on Trial

    A decades-long practice of matching bullets on the basis of their chemical makeup is flawed, and the story behind this forensic technique reveals how science can get distorted in the courtroom.

    By Alexandra Goho
  2. Animals

    The Social Lives of Snakes

    A lot of pit vipers aren't the asocial loners that even snake fans had long assumed.

    By Susan Milius

  3. Mother and Child Disunion

    Data on extensive giveaways of daughters by their mothers in northern Taiwan a century ago may challenge influential theories of innate maternal sentiments.

    By Bruce Bower

  4. The Bad Seed

    Researchers are racing to identify tumor-forming stem cells in skin, lung, pancreatic, and many other cancers.