Vol. 195 No. 5
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More Stories from the March 16, 2019 issue

  1. Genetics

    DNA from extinct red wolves lives on in some mysterious Texas coyotes

    Mystery canids on Texas’ Galveston Island carry red wolf DNA, thought to be extinct in the wild for 40 years.

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  2. Neuroscience

    Brain scans decode an elusive signature of consciousness

    Newly described patterns of brain activity may help reveal the level of awareness in people with brain injuries.

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  3. Animals

    A rare, ancient case of bone cancer has been found in a turtle ancestor

    A 240-million-year-old fossil reveals the oldest known case of bone cancer in an amniote, a group that includes mammals, birds and reptiles.

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  4. Astronomy

    Ultima Thule is shaped like two lumpy pancakes

    Scientists are rethinking the shape of the space rock, once thought to be a snowman.

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  5. Archaeology

    The spread of Europe’s giant stone monuments may trace back to one region

    Megaliths spread across the continent due to seafarers’ influence, researcher says.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Congo’s Ebola outbreak is a testing ground for new treatments

    The first multidrug clinical trial of Ebola treatments is underway amid an outbreak in Congo.

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  7. Planetary Science

    After 15 years on Mars, it’s the end of the road for Opportunity

    After 15 years of exploring Mars, a dust storm led to the demise of NASA’s longest-lived rover.

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  8. Earth

    Greenland may have another massive crater hiding under its ice

    There may be yet another large crater buried beneath Greenland’s ice sheet. But it’s probably not related to the first one found last year.

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  9. Tech

    A new 2-D material uses light to quickly and safely purify water

    A newly designed material uses only light to speedily remove 99.9999 percent of microbes from water.

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  10. Materials Science

    A new insulation material is practically weightless yet still durable

    Extreme heat and temperature swings are no match for this lightweight insulator.

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  11. Earth

    Muons reveal the whopping voltages inside a thunderstorm

    Particle physics sheds new light on the electric potential of thunderstorms.

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  12. Psychology

    STEM professors’ beliefs on intelligence may widen the racial achievement gap

    Seeing intelligence as fixed can result in lower grades, especially for certain minorities

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  13. Neuroscience

    Brain cells combine place and taste to make food maps

    A select group of brain cells responds to both flavor and location, a specialty that may help an animal find the next good meal.

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  14. Quantum Physics

    LIGO will be getting a quantum upgrade

    Quantum squeezing of light will help scientists make better gravitational wave detectors.

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  15. Chemistry

    Why some Georgia O’Keeffe paintings have ‘art acne’

    Tiny protrusions are from chemical reactions in the paint, say scientists who developed an imaging method that could help curators track the knobs.

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  16. Archaeology

    Tooth plaque shows drinking milk goes back 3,000 years in Mongolia

    The hardened plaque on teeth is helping scientists trace the history of dairying in Mongolia.

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  17. Planetary Science

    Mars’ lake may need an underground volcano to exist

    If a lake under Martian ice is real, there must be a subsurface magma pool to keep conditions warm enough for water to remain liquid, scientists say.

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  18. Chemistry

    Why kids may be at risk from vinyl floors and fire-resistant couches

    Children from homes with all vinyl floors and flame-retardant sofas show higher levels of some synthetic chemicals in their bodies than other kids.

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  19. Paleontology

    A deer-sized T. rex ancestor shows how fast tyrannosaurs became giants

    A newly found dinosaur called Moros intrepidus fills a hole in the evolutionary history of tyrannosaurs, helping narrow when the group sized up.

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  20. Animals

    The world’s largest bee has been rediscovered after 38 years

    Researchers rediscovered the world’s largest bee living in the forests of an island of Indonesia.

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  21. Health & Medicine

    A ban on artificial trans fats in NYC restaurants appears to be working

    New Yorkers’ levels of artificial trans fats dropped, especially in people who ate out the most, after a citywide ban on the fats in restaurant foods.

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  22. Health & Medicine

    50 years ago, doctors lamented a dearth of organ donors

    Fifty years ago, surgeons’ supply of heart donations was woefully low.

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