Feature

  1. Health & Medicine

    Survivors’ Benefit?

    Smallpox outbreaks throughout history may have endowed some people with genetic mutations that make them resistant to the AIDS virus.

    By John Travis
  2. Health & Medicine

    Boning Up

    Biologists have discovered a mechanism for communication between two types of bone cell, and they're exploring the possible bone-growth-stimulating effect of popular cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins.

    By John Travis
  3. Earth

    The Importance of Being Electric

    By coordinating measurements from telescopes, planes, balloons, and a battery of instruments, terrestrial and space scientists have now placed themselves on almost intimate terms with sprites—luminous shapes that fleetingly appear high above lightning storms.

    By Oliver Baker
  4. Anthropology

    Ishi’s Long Road Home

    The reappearance of a California Indian's preserved brain, held at the Smithsonian Institution since 1917, triggers debate over the ethics of anthropological research and the repatriation process.