Science & Society
Physics greats of the 20th century mixed science and public service
New biographies highlight Enrico Fermi’s and Richard Garwin’s contributions to science and society.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
Instead of starving a cancer, researchers go after its defenses
There may be ways to block tumors from adapting and outrunning the body’s defenses.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Life
Map of Zika virus reveals how it shifts as it matures
A cryo-electron microscopy map of immature Zika virus offers a never-before-seen glimpse of remodeling of the virus’s protein and RNA core.
Notebook
Animals
Dragonfish opens wide with flex neck joint
New study reveals anatomical secrets of mysterious deep ocean fish.
Features
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New, greener catalysts are built for speed
Researchers are designing catalysts to move chemical reactions without using precious metals, or at least using less of them.
More Stories from the March 4, 2017 issue
- Oceans
Climate change may boost toxic mercury levels in sea life
Increased runoff to the ocean due to climate change could raise neurotoxic mercury in coastal sea life by disrupting the base of the food web.
- Astronomy
Conditions right for stars, planets near Milky Way’s supermassive black hole
Four clouds of gas near the galactic center have roughly the right mass to be young stars, possibly with planets.
- Physics
Possible sign of dark matter shows up again
Excess of X-rays could indicate decaying sterile neutrinos.
- Planetary Science
Oxygen atoms from Earth bombard the moon
Oxygen atoms originating from the upper atmosphere periodically bombard the moon’s surface, researchers propose.
- Astronomy
Spin may reveal black hole history
High rate of spin could indicate that black holes formed from previous mergers of black holes.
- Earth
3-billion-year-old crystals hint at lost continent’s fate
Zircon crystals from a long-gone continent called Mauritia may have resurfaced during volcanic eruptions on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.
- Archaeology
Iron Age secrets exhumed from riches-filled crypt
Wealthy woman’s 2,600-year-old grave highlights Central Europe’s early Iron Age links to Mediterranean societies.
- Chemistry
LSD’s grip on brain protein could explain drug’s long-lasting effects
The newly discovered structure of a human serotonin receptor linked to LSD could reveal why the drug’s hallucinogenic effects last so long.
- Animals
What gives frog tongues the gift of grab
Here’s what puts the grip in a frog’s high-speed strike: quick-change saliva and a tongue softer than a marshmallow.
- Physics
Physicists seek neutron lifetime’s secret
Updated experiments hope to resolve neutron lifetime discrepancy.
- Planetary Science
Red Planet’s interior may not churn much
The magma fueling a Martian volcanic system remained largely unchanged for billions of years, analysis of a newfound meteorite suggests.
- Tech
Bat robot takes wing
Unlike other aerial robots that use whirling rotor blades to fly, the Bat Bot relies on soft, silicone-based wings to glide, swoop and turn.
- Astronomy
Five gamma-ray blazars set new distance record
Intensely bright galaxies are the farthest blazars ever detected in gamma rays.
- Cosmology
New data fuel debate on universe’s expansion rate
Quasar observations add to discrepancy in measurements of the universe’s expansion speed.
- Paleontology
Pinhead-sized sea creature was a bag with a mouth
Dozens of tiny fossils discovered in 540-million-year-old limestone represent the earliest known deuterostomes, a diverse group of animals that includes humans and sea cucumbers.
- Anthropology
DNA points to millennia of stability in East Asian hunter-fisher population
Ancient hunter-gatherers in East Asia are remarkably similar, genetically, to modern people living in the area. Unlike what happened in Western Europe, this region might not have seen waves of farmers take over.
- Astronomy
Faint, distant galaxies may have driven early universe makeover
Gravitational lensing has revealed extremely faint galaxies in the early universe, suggesting these tiny galaxies were responsible for cosmic reionization.
- Earth
Oxygen flooded Earth’s atmosphere earlier than thought
The Great Oxidation Event that enabled the eventual evolution of complex life began 100 million years earlier than once thought, new dating of South African rock suggests.
- Climate
Hot nests, not vanishing males, are bigger sea turtle threat
Climate change overheating sea turtle nestlings may be a greater danger than temperature-induced shifts in their sex ratios.
- Physics
Smashing gold ions creates most swirly fluid ever
Collisions of gold ions create a fluid with more vorticity than any other known.
- Ecosystems
Zika virus ‘spillback’ into primates raises risk of future human outbreaks
Spillback of Zika virus into monkeys may complicate eradication efforts.
- Genetics
Number of species depends how you count them
Genetic evidence alone may overestimate numbers of species, researchers warn.
- Health & Medicine
Cold plasma puts the chill on norovirus
A new device uses cold plasma to kill foodborne pathogens.
- Health & Medicine
Ricin poisoning may one day be treatable with new antidote
Mice treated with a blend of antibodies survived even when treated days after exposure to ricin.
- Life
Rapid Ebola test to detect early infection in the works
Scientists are developing highly specific antibodies to detect Ebola sooner.
- Computing
Speech recognition has come a long way in 50 years
Early versions of computer speech recognition relied on word sounds. Now, they add pattern recognition and a lot of statistics.
- Animals
How hydras know where to regrow their heads
Regenerating pond animals called hydras inherit structural patterns from their original forms, researchers find.
- Genetics
CRISPR used in cows to help fight tuberculosis
Chinese researchers used a CRISPR/Cas 9 gene editor to make cows more resistant to tuberculosis.
- Animals
Coconut crab pinches like a lion, eats like a dumpster diver
Coconut crabs use their surprisingly powerful claw for more than cracking coconuts.
- Oceans
Cone snails wander in circles, lose focus with boosted CO2
Deadly cone snails wander in circles and become less capable hunters when exposed to higher levels of carbon dioxide in seawater.
