Vol. 191 No. 6
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More Stories from the April 1, 2017 issue

  1. Anthropology

    Low-status chimps revealed as trendsetters

    Outranked chimpanzees trigger spread of useful new behaviors among their comrades.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Questions 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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  3. Genetics

    Human 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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  4. Life

    Bacteria 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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  5. Animals

    Wild 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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  6. Astronomy

    Hydrogen 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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  7. Earth

    Earth’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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  8. Computing

    Winning 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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  9. Ecosystems

    If 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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  10. Astronomy

    Astronomers 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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  11. Neuroscience

    Brain 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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  12. Genetics

    Scientists move closer to building synthetic yeast from scratch

    Scientists have created five more synthetic yeast chromosomes.

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  13. Earth

    Warming 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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  14. Climate

    Changing 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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  15. Animals

    How 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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  16. Genetics

    In 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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  17. Physics

    To 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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  18. Animals

    Detachable scales turn this gecko into an escape artist

    A new species of gecko evades predators by shedding its scaly armor.

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  19. Archaeology

    Ancient dental plaque tells tales of Neandertal diet and disease

    Researchers have reconstructed the diet and disease history of ancient Neandertals.

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  20. Particle Physics

    Triplet 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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  21. Health & Medicine

    Microcephaly, 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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  22. Planetary Science

    Saturn’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.

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