Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
Top 25 stories of 2013, from microbes to meteorites
This year, careful readers may have noticed a steady accumulation of revelations about the bacterial communities that call the human body home.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Cosmology
Best maps of the universe, bugs and all
Maps from the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite reveal the cosmos in a range of microwave and infrared frequencies.
Notebook
Features
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Year in Review: Your body is mostly microbes
Microbiome results argue for new view of animals as superorganisms.
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Year in Review: Bioengineers make headway on human body parts
New techniques produce mimics of brain, liver, heart, kidney, retina.
More Stories from the December 28, 2013 issue
- Ecosystems
Virus-blocking insects taking over Vietnamese island
Field trial tests mosquitoes that may stop the spread of dengue infection.
- Genetics
Ancient Siberian bones clarify Native American origins
Some New World ancestors came from western Eurasia, not East Asia.
- Astronomy
High-energy neutrinos ensnared from beyond the solar system
Speedy particles detected in Antarctica may point to gargantuan black holes or cataclysmic explosions.
- Materials Science
Material inspired by dragonfly wings bursts bacteria
Silicon studded with nanostructures could act as antimicrobial coating on medical devices.
- Animals
Odd head of seahorse cloaks its sneak attacks
Head shape creates hydrodynamic fake-out for stealth hunting.
- Health & Medicine
Simple dietary supplements could help stave off AIDS
Many people newly infected with HIV stayed healthy on regimen involving multivitamins and selenium.
- Life
Compounds defeat malaria at every step
Experimental drugs are first to kill all stages of the parasite’s infection cycle.
- Planetary Science
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot explained
A computer simulation is the first to explain how Jupiter’s Great Red Spot has survived for the nearly 200 years humans have observed it.
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- Anthropology
Ancient hominid bone serves up DNA stunner
Spanish hominid fossil from 400,000 years ago reveals genetic ties to Asia’s mysterious Denisovans.
- Health & Medicine
Cancer vaccine in near future foreseen
Excerpt from the December 21, 1963 issue of SCIENCE NEWS LETTER.
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- Life
Year in Review: Gift of steroids keeps on giving
Mouse muscles stay juiced long after doping ends.
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- Cosmology
Year in Review: Planck refines cosmic history
The satellite data hint at a slower expansion rate for universe.
- Astronomy
Year in Review: Visitor from the Oort cloud
A visitor from the outer solar system flies past the sun.
- Math
Year in Review: Progress made toward twin prime proof
A surprising advance sparks a flurry of work on the mathematical conjecture.
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- Humans
Year in Review: New discoveries reshape debate over human ancestry
Human evolution appears poised for a scientific makeover as the relationships among early hominids are disputed.
- Cosmology
Year in Review: Dark energy gets more confusing
New data raise the prospect of a ‘Big Rip’ destroying the cosmos.
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- Life
Year in Review: A double dose of virus scares
Outbreaks of two deadly viruses captured the world’s attention in 2013, but neither turned into the global pandemic expected to strike one of these years.
- Health & Medicine
Year in Review: Sleep clears the cluttered brain
Some forms of brain washing are good, like the thorough hosing the brain gets during sleep.
- Science & Society
Year in Review: High court rules against gene patents
The justices’ decision opens the way for choices in DNA testing.
- Humans
Year in Review: Language learning starts before birth
Babies seem familiar with vowels and words heard while in the womb.
- Genetics
Year in Review: Caffeine triggers cloning advance
To successfully clone human cells, eggs must be dunked in the stimulant.
- Climate
Year in Review: Carbon dioxide levels pass milestone
Although scientists are confident about humankind’s role in climate change, they still have a lot to learn about the magnitude and timing of future climate shifts.
- Health & Medicine
Year in Review: Putting kids at risk
U.S. parents increasingly are delaying their children’s vaccination.
- Planetary Science
Year in Review: Methane shortage on Mars
A trace of the gas is not enough to be a sign of life.
- Neuroscience
Year in Review: Obama unveils brain initiative
In April, the president announced an ambitious plan to reveal the human brain’s secrets.
- Psychology
Year in Review: DSM-5’s controversial debut
The diagnostic manual updates disorder criteria.
- Physics
Year in Review: Below absolute zero, but hot
Lab trickery pushes atoms to a negative temperature.
- Astronomy
Year in Review: Death of a planet hunter
The Kepler space telescope finishes a brilliant career.
- Astronomy
Year in Review: Voyager 1 reaches interstellar space
The planetary probe is the first human-made object to break out of the heliosphere.
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- Particle Physics
Higgs boson tale wins book prize
The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll.
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- Genetics
Top genomes of 2013
Scientists continue to decode the genetic blueprints of the planet’s myriad flora and fauna.
