Life
Two new books investigate why it’s so hard to define life
For centuries, scientists have struggled to define what it means to be alive. ‘What Is Life?’ and ‘Life’s Edge’ explore the question.
Featured Articles in this Issue
-
Cover Story
Simple hand-built structures can help streams survive wildfires and drought
Building simple structures with sticks and stones — and inviting in dam-building beavers — can keep water where it’s needed to fight drought and wildfires.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Anthropology
Finds in a Spanish cave inspire an artistic take on warm-weather Neandertals
Iberia’s mild climate fostered a host of resources for hominids often pegged as mammoth hunters.
Notebook
Animals
A rare bird sighting doesn’t lead to seeing more kinds of rare birds
The idea that more kinds of rare birds are seen when birders flock to where one has been seen, the so-called Patagonia Picnic Table Effect, is a myth.
Features
-
New drugs that block a brain chemical are game changers for some migraine sufferers
Drugs that block a brain chemical called CGRP are helping some patients who suffer from migraine pain.
More Stories from the March 27, 2021 issue
- Health & Medicine
Some COVID-19 survivors face another foe: PTSD
The rate of post-traumatic stress disorder among survivors of severe COVID-19 is comparable to the rate among survivors of some natural disasters.
- Animals
A mountain lizard in Peru broke the reptilian altitude record
Liolaemus tacnae was photographed 5,400 meters above sea level in the Andes, breaking the highest elevation record for a reptile by about 100 meters.
- Tech
A new laser-based random number generator is the fastest of its kind
A new laser’s chaotic light beam lets the device generate multiple number sequences at once, similar to throwing multiple dice at a time.
- Materials Science
This soft robot withstands crushing pressures at the ocean’s greatest depths
An autonomous robot that mimics the adaptations of deep-sea snailfish to extreme conditions was successfully tested at the bottom of the ocean.
- Astronomy
Andromeda’s and the Milky Way’s black holes will collide. Here’s how it may play out
Supermassive black holes in the Milky Way and Andromeda will engulf each other less than 17 million years after the galaxies merge, simulations show.
- Neuroscience
Catnip repels insects. Scientists may have finally found out how
The plant deters mosquitoes and fruit flies by triggering a chemical receptor that, in other animals, senses pain and itch.
- Anthropology
A body burned inside a hut 20,000 years ago signaled shifting views of death
Ancient hunter-gatherers burned a hut in which they had placed a dead woman, suggesting a change in how death was viewed.
- Genetics
The first human genetic blueprint just turned 20. What’s next?
The Human Genome Project led to many medical advances. Deciphering 3 million African genomes and using new tech to fill gaps could lead to even more.
- Anthropology
Ardi may have been more chimplike than initially thought — or not
A contested study of hand and foot fossils suggests this 4.4-million-year-old hominid was a tree climber and branch swinger.
- Archaeology
An ancient dog fossil helps trace humans’ path into the Americas
Found in Alaska, the roughly 10,000-year-old bone bolsters the idea that early human settlers took a coastal rather than inland route.
- Animals
A single male lyrebird can mimic the sound of an entire flock
The Australian birds, already famous for their impressive song-copying skills, appear to be replicating the sounds of a “mobbing flock” of birds.
- Earth
To understand how ‘night-shining’ clouds form, scientists made one themselves
A rocket, a bathtub’s worth of water and a high-altitude explosion reveal how water vapor cools the air to form shiny ice-crystal clouds.
- Physics
A magnetic trap captures elusive ultracold plasma
Pinning plasma within a set of magnetic fields offers physicists a new way to study clean energy, space weather and the inner workings of stars.
- Particle Physics
Protons’ antimatter is even more lopsided than we thought
The SeaQuest experiment finds that down antiquarks within the proton are more prevalent than up antiquarks.
- Genetics
‘The Code Breaker’ tells the story of CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna
In his latest book, Walter Isaacson chronicles the discovery of CRISPR and delves into the ethics of gene editing.
- Space
50 years ago, experiments hinted at the possibility of life on Mars
In 1971, lab experiments suggested organic molecules could be made on Mars. Fifty years later, robots are searching for such signs of life on the planet itself.
