Animals
Shocking stories tell tale of London Zoo’s founding
In The Zoo, Isobel Charman pens a gripping narrative of the London Zoo’s early days, when workers had a hard time keeping animals alive.
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Cover Story
Cancer cells cast a sweet spell on the immune system
Tumors have surface sugars that persuade the body’s defenses to look the other way. New therapies are being devised to break the trance.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Paleontology
Under lasers, a feathered dino shows some skin
Laser-stimulated fluorescence reveals detailed images of soft tissue in a feathered dinosaur from 160 million years ago.
Notebook
Astronomy
Black hole enjoys fantastically long stellar feast
A supermassive black hole about 1.8 billion light-years away has been gorging on the same star for a record-breaking decade.
Features
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Smartphones may be changing the way we think
We rely on our digital devices to connect with others and for memory and navigation shortcuts. What is that doing to our brains?
More Stories from the April 1, 2017 issue
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AnthropologyLow-status chimps revealed as trendsetters
Outranked chimpanzees trigger spread of useful new behaviors among their comrades.
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Health & MedicineQuestions remain about the benefits of taking testosterone
For men with low testosterone, the pros and cons of taking hormone replacement therapy are mixed.
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GeneticsHuman genes often best Neandertal ones in brain, testes
Differing activity of human and Neandertal versions of genes may help explain health risks.
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LifeBacteria genes offer new strategy for sterilizing mosquitoes
Two genes in Wolbachia bacteria could be used to sterilize mosquitoes that transmit Zika.
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AnimalsWild elephants clock shortest shut-eye recorded for mammals
Among mammals, wild elephants may need the least amount of sleep, new measurements suggest.
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AstronomyHydrogen volcanoes might boost planets’ potential for life
Volcanoes that spew hydrogen could increase the number of potentially habitable planets in the universe.
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EarthEarth’s mantle may be hotter than thought
Earth’s mantle is warmer than previously thought, suggests a new experiment that better accounts for water content in rocks.
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ComputingWinning against a computer isn’t in the cards for poker pros
Poker-playing computers beat professional players at heads-up no-limit Texas Hold’em.
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EcosystemsIf you think the Amazon jungle is completely wild, think again
Ancient Amazonians partly or fully domesticated fruit and nut trees that still dominate some forests.
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AstronomyAstronomers detect oldest known stardust in distant galaxy
The first stardust ever generated in the universe may have been spotted in a distant galaxy, seen as it was 600 million years after the Big Bang.
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NeuroscienceBrain training turns recall rookies into memory masters
Six weeks of training turned average people into memory masters, a skill reflected in their brains.
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GeneticsScientists move closer to building synthetic yeast from scratch
Scientists have created five more synthetic yeast chromosomes.
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EarthWarming soils may belch much more carbon
New measurements suggest soils below 15 centimeters deep could play a sizable role in boosting carbon emissions as the planet warms.
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ClimateChanging climate could worsen foods’ nutrition
Climate change could aggravate hidden hunger by sapping micronutrients from soils and plants, reducing nutrition in wheat, rice and other crops.
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AnimalsHow one enslaving wasp eats through another
A wasp that forces oaks to grow a gall gets tricked into digging an escape tunnel for its killers.
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GeneticsIn 1967, LSD was briefly labeled a breaker of chromosomes
Claims that the hallucinogenic drug damaged DNA were quickly rejected. But questions remain about how LSD works.
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PhysicsTo understand rivers, let physics be your guide
Where the River Flows unites physics and environmental science to explain Earth’s waterways.
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AnimalsDetachable scales turn this gecko into an escape artist
A new species of gecko evades predators by shedding its scaly armor.
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ArchaeologyAncient dental plaque tells tales of Neandertal diet and disease
Researchers have reconstructed the diet and disease history of ancient Neandertals.
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Particle PhysicsTriplet of high-energy neutrinos detected from unknown source
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory spotted three neutrinos within 100 seconds that seem to have come from the same place in the sky.
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Health & MedicineMicrocephaly, other birth defects are on the rise since Zika’s arrival
The rate of certain birth defects is much higher in babies born to Zika-infected mothers in the United States, the CDC reports.
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Planetary ScienceSaturn’s ‘Death Star’ moon may not conceal ocean after all
A lack of cracks on Mimas suggests that the icy moon of Saturn doesn’t conceal a subsurface ocean of liquid water.