Feature
- Planetary Science
Moonopolies
Recently discovered tiny satellites, all orbiting the outer planets in strange paths, may shed new light on a critical last phase in the formation of the planets.
- Earth
Attack of the Rock-Eating Microbes!
Geologists who examine mineral transformations increasingly see bacteria at work, leading the scientists to conclude that if microbes aren't driving the underlying chemical reactions, at least they're taking advantage of the energy that's released.
- Plants
Micro Sculptors
Snippets of RNA that control biochemical reactions by squelching the creation of specific proteins play a role in the development of leaves.
- Planetary Science
Martian Invasion
If all goes according to plan, three spacecraft—one in December, two in January—will land on the Red Planet, looking for evidence that liquid water once flowed on its surface.
- Math
The Shape of Space
The debate over the shape of space has taken some new twists with the analysis of satellite snapshots of the universe's temperature waves.
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Beast Buddies
As researchers muse about the evolutionary origins of friendship, even the social interactions of giraffes are getting a second look.
- Physics
A Spin through Space-Time
After 40 years of preparation, satellite Gravity Probe B is scheduled to launch next month and test the prediction that massive bodies, such as Earth, twist space itself as they rotate.
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- Chemistry
The Nature of Things
An earth scientist's proposed alternative periodic table of elements is emblematic of the growing desire among scientists to recast this 130-year-old chart.
- Math
Best Guess
Economists are exploring the use of betting markets as tools for predicting the consequences of policy decisions by a government, corporation, or other institution.
- Anthropology
Erectus Ahoy
A researcher who explores the nautical abilities of Stone Age people by building rafts and having crews row them across stretches of ocean contends that language and other cognitive advances emerged 900,000 years ago with Homo erectus, not considerably later among modern humans, as is usually assumed.
- Earth
When Genes Escape
The focus of the debate over transgenic crops has changed from whether genes will escape to what difference it will make when they do.
