Feature
- Health & Medicine
What Activates AIDS?
New studies suggest that a natural process called immune activation—the signaling that alerts immune cells of foreign invaders—plays a key role in explaining why infection with the human immunodeficiency virus progresses to AIDS more quickly in some people than in others.
- Chemistry
The World of Wine
Improved analytical instruments and powerful computers are now enabling scientists to better determine a chemical fingerprint for products from different wine-producing regions.
- Humans
An Artist’s Timely Riddles
A team of researchers demonstrates that there may be much more to the art of Marcel Duchamp than meets the casual, or even critical, eye.
- Earth
The Air That’s Up There
Researchers are exploring how trees affect the chemistry of the atmosphere.
- Tech
Deep Vision
Increasingly available virtual-reality gear gives scientists, engineers, and planetarium visitors new perspectives.
- Tech
Bugs on Mars
Undaunted by the hurdles on flight posed by thin air and a lack of oxygen, aerospace engineers are devising extraordinary flying machines resembling giant insects and windmills to make the exploration of Mars more rapid and effective.
- Anthropology
Searching for the Tree of Babel
Researchers are using new methods of comparing languages to reveal information about the ancestry of different cultural groups and answer questions about human history.
- Archaeology
Openings to the Underworld
Archaeological finds indicate that ancient groups in Mexico and Central America, including the Maya, held beliefs about a sacred landscape that focused on natural and human-made caves as sites of important ritual activities and burials.
- Health & Medicine
A Model Mouse
Mice with symptoms similar to rheumatoid arthritis may illuminate the puzzling disorder.
- Earth
Tornado Alley, USA
A new model that simulates 30,000 years worth of tornadoes in the United States finds that the place not to be if you fear funnel clouds is southeastern Oklahoma, where any particular spot can expect to get damaged once every 4,000 years.
- Math
Filling In Blanks
Researchers are developing automated methods based on differential equations to reduce the time and effort required to fix digital images, not only to fill in blank areas but also to remove extraneous objects.
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The Social Net
New studies explore the nature of social interactions on the Internet, from online corporate work groups to white supremacist chat rooms.
