Vol. 188 No. 3
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More Stories from the August 8, 2015 issue

  1. Paleontology

    Fossil worm adds head to its spiny appearance

    Hallucigenia sparsa gives hints to how some animals ended up with teeth in their guts and platelike pieces around their mouths.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Genetic tweak turned plague bacterium deadly

    Two genetic changes allowed plague bacteria to cause deadly lung infections and pandemic disease.

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  3. Physics

    Magnetic test boosts case for record-setting superconductor

    New measurements bolster the case that hydrogen sulfide is superconducting at about 200 kelvins, roughly 40 kelvins higher than any other known material.

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  4. Life

    Age isn’t just a number

    Getting old happens faster for some, and the reason may be in the blood.

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  5. Climate

    Greenland’s out-of-sync climate explained

    Small variations in the sun’s activity cause big changes in Greenland’s temperatures decades later by altering ocean currents, new research suggests.

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  6. Earth

    Natural concrete keeps lid on Italian volcano

    Naturally occurring, concretelike rock allows the ground around Italy’s Campi Flegrei caldera to bulge without bursting.

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  7. Climate

    Bumblebee territory shrinking under climate change

    Climate change is shrinking bumblebee habitat as southern territories heat up and bumblebees hold their lines in the north.

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  8. Anthropology

    Monkey’s small brain shows surprising folds

    An ancient monkey’s tiny brain developed folds, raising questions about primate evolution.

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  9. Paleontology

    Ancient comb jellies might have had skeletons

    Soft and filmy today, comb jellies might once have had rigid skeletons.

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  10. Physics

    Swimming bacteria remove resistance to flow

    The collective motion of swimming bacteria can virtually eliminate a water-based solution’s resistance to flow.

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  11. Neuroscience

    Sugar makes mice sleepy

    A new study reveals how a sugary meal can lead to slumber.

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  12. Particle Physics

    LHC reports pentaquark sightings

    Two particles discovered at the Large Hadron Collider are composed of five quarks, not two or three like nearly every other known quark-based particle.

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  13. Neuroscience

    ‘Speed cells’ found in rats’ brains

    Newly discovered “speed cells” clock rats’ swiftness.

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  14. Planetary Science

    First craters on Mars spotted 50 years ago

    Fifty years ago, Mariner 4 revealed that the Red Planet was peppered with craters. Now we know pockmarks are common on many other planets and moons, too.

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  15. Cosmology

    Brightest supernova breaks record

    A recent supernova shines with the light of 600 billion suns.

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  16. Neuroscience

    How screams shatter the brain

    The acoustical properties of screams make them hard to ignore, a new study suggests.

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  17. Genetics

    Why mammoths loved the cold

    An altered temperature sensor helped mammoths adapt to the cold.

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  18. Paleontology

    Fossils illustrate evolution of life

    Paleontologist Donald Prothero takes readers through the evolution of life on Earth from the earliest oozes of goo to our recent relative Lucy.

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  19. Planetary Science

    Pluto’s icy landscape comes into view

    The New Horizons flyby reveals varied terrain and evidence of active geology on Pluto.

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  20. Animals

    Toddler seahorses are bumbling and adorable

    Rice-grain-sized youngsters can’t yet get a grasp with their tails.

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  21. Animals

    Help ornithologists develop bird photo ID tool

    Cornell ornithology lab’s computer identification of common North American avian species needs your photos.

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