Feature
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2011 Science News of the Year: Molecules
Molecular muscle does the job Chemists often wish they could reach into a test tube and physically force a chemical reaction — and now they’ve come pretty darn close. In a feat of molecular arm-twisting, researchers attached polymer chains to an extremely stable ring-shaped molecule and tore it in two (SN Online: 9/15/11). The new […]
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2011 Science News of the Year: Environment
Courtesy of Christopher Arp/USGS Arctic warming signs Climatologists pointing to the Arctic as the leading barometer of global change have plenty of new evidence that wholesale warming is under way. Observational data indicate that the region’s air, soils and water have warmed substantially since 2006, suggesting that the climate has established a “new normal” (SN […]
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2011 Science News of the Year: Genes & Cells
Nicolle Rager Fuller Boons and busts via gut microbes Studying the secret lives of bacteria living in human intestines has yielded some unexpected finds. One study suggests that most humans have one of three different combinations of friendly microbes (SN: 5/21/11, p. 14), and another reveals that people’s mix of microbes depends heavily on diet. […]
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2011 Science News of the Year: Matter & Energy
Baile Zhang and G. Barbastathis/SMART Centre Quantum theory gets physical Reality can be understood not only in terms of the flow of energy, but also in terms of the flow of information. So says a team of physicists with a new take on quantum theory (SN: 8/13/11, p. 12). This theory, which explains how matter […]
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2011 Science News of the Year: Body & Brain
CHAD SHAW, BRIAN DAWSON, YASUNARI SAKAI, H. ZOGHBI Sifting through autism’s tangled web Each person with an autism spectrum disorder has a different disease, yet some commonalities exist, a flurry of studies reveals (SN: 8/13/11, p. 20). Though the finds don’t point to a clear cause or a cure, they inch researchers closer to a […]
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2011 Science News of the Year: Life
Multicellular life from a test tube In less than two months, yeast in a test tube evolved from single-celled life to bristly multicellular structures. The new, snowflakelike forms act like multicellular organisms, reproducing by splitting when they reach large sizes and evolving further in response to harsh conditions, William Ratcliff of the University of Minnesota, […]
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2011 Science News of the Year: Technology
Courtesy of J. Rogers Epidermal electronics Scientists have created an ultrathin electronic device that puckers, stretches, wrinkles and bends just like human skin (SN: 9/10/11, p. 10). This flexible patch could one day allow the human body to enter the digital world, enabling Internet browsing without the mouse or communication without words. The patch’s electronics […]
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2011 Science News of the Year: Earth
NASA Warming slowdown The planet’s overall temperature has been climbing upward, but that trend stalled during the early 2000s — and now scientists think they can explain why. Several studies suggest that tiny sulfur-rich particles called aerosols, which shield the Earth from the sun’s incoming rays, are to blame. Some of those particles come from […]
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2011 Science News of the Year: Humans
While the Han Chinese (left) don’t show genetic contributions from Denisovans, Australian Aborigines (right) do.BLACKRED/ISTOCKPHOTO; GARY RADLER/ISTOCKPHOTO Asia takes a bow Often overlooked as a geographic player in human evolution, Asia has stepped into the scientific spotlight. New comparisons of ancient and modern DNA indicate that Stone Age humans migrated to Asia in two stages. […]
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2011 Science News of the Year
You can’t make this stuff up. An earthquake and tsunami trigger the worst nuclear accident in decades, contaminating thousands of square kilometers in one of the world’s most densely populated countries. Analyses of a sliver of finger bone reveal that the genes of an extinct human relative survive in many people living today. Single-celled organisms […]
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Jars of Plenty
Ancient Greek trading vessels carried much more than wine.
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