Vol. 197 No. 7
cover of April 11, 2020 issue

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More Stories from the April 11, 2020 issue

  1. artificial neural network illustration
    Artificial Intelligence

    An AI that mimics how mammals smell recognizes scents better than other AI

    An artificial intelligence modeled after the neural circuitry in mammalian brains can keep learning new aromas without forgetting others.

    By
  2. illustration of the surface of a dark, rainy exoplanet
    Astronomy

    Heavy metal may rain from the skies of planet WASP 76b

    Astronomers saw hints of iron rain on an ultrahot gas giant, an exoplanet where starlike atmospheric temperatures drive weird weather.

    By
  3. EEG electrodes on the heads of three different people
    Science & Society

    New electrodes can better capture brain waves of people with natural hair

    Electrodes weren’t designed for people with thick, curly hair. A redesign is needed, says engineer Pulkit Grover.

    By
  4. Health & Medicine

    A trick from cancer cells helps rats accept transplanted limbs

    Rats that received microparticles that release a chemical signal to recruit immune cells tolerated hind limb transplants for more than 200 days.

    By
  5. Archaeology

    An ancient ball court sheds light on a game made famous by the Aztecs

    A 3,400-year-old ball court in the southern mountains of Mexico suggests many societies contributed to the development of an ancient, well-known Mesoamerican ball game.

    By
  6. Asteriornis maastrichtensis 3-D–printed skull
    Paleontology

    ‘Wonderchicken’ is the earliest known modern bird at nearly 67 million years old

    A new fossil find, dubbed the Wonderchicken, is a common ancestor of modern ducks and chickens.

    By
  7. Toro Negro State Forest
    Climate

    How Hurricane Maria’s heavy rains devastated Puerto Rico’s forests

    Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on Puerto Rican forests in some unexpected ways.

    By
  8. M87 black hole simulation
    Physics

    New telescopes could help spot ‘photon ring’ of the first black hole ever imaged

    Expanding the Event Horizon Telescope by adding telescopes in space could help capture the rings around galaxy M87’s supermassive black hole.

    By
  9. parazen fish
    Life

    This is the first deep-sea fish known to be a mouthbreeder

    Scientists found over 500 eggs attached to the inside of a parazen fish’s mouth.

    By
  10. Health & Medicine

    HIV drugs didn’t work as a coronavirus treatment in a clinical trial

    Antiviral HIV drugs “showed no benefit” when given to patients severely ill with COVID-19.

    By
  11. Planetary Science

    The asteroid Ryugu has a texture like freeze-dried coffee

    Only about half of the asteroid Ryugu is rock; the rest is airy holes, a finding that could help reveal details of how the planets formed.

    By
  12. mammoth bone structure
    Archaeology

    This is one of the largest Ice Age structures made of mammoth bones

    A massive ring of mammoth bones, built by hunter-gatherers during the Ice Age, offers a peek at life 25,000 years ago.

    By
  13. Particle Physics

    Physicists have narrowed the mass range for hypothetical dark matter axions

    In two new studies, scientists search for axions within new mass ranges but the particles remain elusive.

    By
  14. Planetary Science

    Meet Perseverance, NASA’s newest Mars rover

    NASA’s next Mars rover will be called Perseverance.

    By
  15. Moses Bayou
    Environment

    50 years ago, American waterways were getting more protections

    A 1970 bill that became the Clean Water Act helped to double the number of U.S. waterbodies clean enough for swimming and fishing. In January, the U.S. administration changed how waters were defined, effectively removing those protections for half the country’s wetlands.

    By
  16. Astronaut on Mars illustration
    Space

    ‘Spacefarers’ predicts how space colonization will happen

    In Spacefarers, Christopher Wanjek provides an optimistic yet realistic view on how humans might colonize the rest of our solar system.

    By