Vol. 195 No. 4
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More Stories from the March 2, 2019 issue

  1. Paleontology

    Tiny eyes make a bizarre, ancient platypus-like reptile even weirder

    An ancient oddball marine reptile had teeny-tiny eyes, suggesting it probably used senses other than sight to catch food.

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  2. Neuroscience

    Rocking puts adults to sleep faster and makes slumber deeper

    People sleep better when their beds are gently rocked, a small study finds.

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  3. Anthropology

    Why modern javelin throwers hurled Neandertal spears at hay bales

    A sporting event with replica weapons suggests that Neandertals’ spears may have been made for throwing, not just stabbing.

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  4. Earth

    Earth’s core may have hardened just in time to save its magnetic field

    Earth’s inner core began to solidify sometime after 565 million years ago — just in time to prevent the collapse of the planet’s magnetic field, a study finds.

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  5. Artificial Intelligence

    A new AI training program helps robots own their ignorance

    AI systems struggle to know what they don’t know. Now scientists have created a way to help autonomous machines recognize their blind spots.

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  6. Anthropology

    New dates narrow down when Denisovans and Neandertals crossed paths

    Mysterious ancient hominids called Denisovans and their Neandertal cousins periodically occupied the same cave starting around 200,000 years ago.

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  7. Animals

    Giant pandas may have only recently switched to eating mostly bamboo

    Giant pandas may have switched to an exclusive bamboo diet some 5,000 years ago, not 2 million years ago as previously thought.

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  8. Planetary Science

    Titan’s oddly thick atmosphere may come from cooked organic compounds

    Saturn’s moon Titan might get some of its hazy atmosphere by baking organic molecules in a warm core.

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  9. Genetics

    This bacteria-fighting protein also induces sleep

    A bacteria-fighting protein also lulls fruit flies to sleep, suggesting links between sleep and the immune system.

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  10. Physics

    Lasers could send messages right to a listener’s ear

    Communication in noisy environments or dangerous situations could one day rely on lasers.

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  11. Artificial Intelligence

    Artificial intelligence is learning not to be so literal

    Artificial intelligence is learning how to take things not so literally.

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  12. Physics

    Laser light can contain intricate, beautiful fractals

    Fractals show up in cauliflower, seashells and now — lasers.

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  13. Plants

    Shutdown aside, Joshua trees live an odd life

    Growing only in the U.S. Southwest, wild Joshua trees evolved a rare, fussy pollination scheme.

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  14. Animals

    How black soldier fly larvae can demolish a pizza so fast

    When gorging together, fly larvae create a living fountain that whooshes slowpokes up and away.

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  15. Health & Medicine

    Pills equipped with tiny needles can inject a body from the inside

    High-tech pills equipped with medicinal needles could administer painless shots inside the body.

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  16. Physics

    The quest for quasicrystals is a physics adventure tale

    In ‘The Second Kind of Impossible,’ physicist Paul Steinhardt recounts his journey to find quasicrystals in nature.

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  17. Health & Medicine

    Why some children may get strep throat more often than others

    Kids with recurrent strep throat appear to have a defective immune response to the bacteria that cause the infections, a study finds.

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