Archives
More Stories from the June 16, 2012 issue
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HumansCrime numbers may mislead
Criminologists argue that city safety rankings should consider underreporting and other sources of error in compiling statistics.
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Psychology
When good moods go decisively bad
Positive feelings may lead seniors to weigh fewer options and make poorer choices in some situations.
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Physics
Physicists go totally random
Calculations suggest a way to boost the independence of information flow, a finding that could help in cryptography.
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Space
More than one way to explode a star
New observations confirm two leading theories of type 1a supernova production.
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Health & Medicine
Rare neurons found in monkeys’ brains
Cells linked to empathy and consciousness in primates may offer clues to human self-awareness.
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Humans
Maya wall calendar discovered
Classic-era structure displays rare calculations of lunar and planetary cycles.
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Astronomy
Sun’s shock wave goes missing
Spacecraft observations redraw astronomers’ ideas about the local stellar environment.
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Life
Culture results when chimps get cracking
Adjacent groups in Africa follow different traditions when it comes to opening nuts.
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Life
Gene appears linked with a person’s daily rhythms
Variations could play a role in determining time of death, or help shift workers better adapt.
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Life
Genes may influence body’s bacteria
Specific DNA variants have been found to be associated with the types of microbes that colonize a person’s body.
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Retinal implants could restore partial vision
In lab tests on rat retinas, a photovoltaic chip helps display images through special goggles.
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Life
Gene study links stronger memories, PTSD
New finding may help explain why some people experience psychological problems after traumatic experiences.
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Health & Medicine
Even moderate noise may harm hearing
Chronic, low-level sound exposure causes deficits in rats.
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Tech
Paralyzed woman grips, sips coffee with robot arm
For the first time, a brain-computer interface is powerful enough to enable useful movement in human patients.
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Space
Stellar superflares’ trigger challenged
Massive eruptions on sunlike stars might not require magnetic interactions from a big, hot, nearby planet.
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Life
Good cholesterol may not be what keeps the heart healthy
Genetic study suggests that higher levels of HDL aren’t directly responsible for the lower risk of cardiovascular disease seen in population studies.
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Humans
From cancer to quantum, teens’ scientific feats celebrated
Winners of the 2012 Intel ISEF show the promise of science for improving the world.
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Life
How not to eat the wrong frog
Panamanian bats use an array of senses to keep from ingesting poison prey.
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