In the May 12 SN: Rules of animal fight club, an exoplanet cookbook, a Bronze Age engineering mystery, bowhead whale jams, NASA's new planet hunter, the neurogenesis debate continues and more.

May 12, 2018

Cover: Ron Kurniawan; Right: LULU AND ISABELLE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Archives

Feature

The recipes for solar system formation are getting a rewrite

A new understanding of exoplanets and their stars is rewriting the recipes for planet formation.

2 months ago

Exoplanets,
Planetary Science,
Astronomy
Feature

Fighting like an animal doesn’t always mean a duel to the death

Conflict resolution within species isn’t always deadly and often involves cost-benefit analyses.

2 months ago

Animals
Feature

How a backyard pendulum saw sliced into a Bronze Age mystery

A saw no one has seen may have built Bronze Age Greek palaces.

2 months ago

Archaeology
Science Visualized

See (and hear) the stunning diversity of bowhead whales’ songs

Bowhead whales display a huge range in their underwater melodies, but the drivers behind this diversity remain murky.

2 months ago

Animals,
Biophysics,
Ecology
News

Rising CO₂ levels might not be as good for plants as we thought

A 20-year experiment spots a reversal in the way two kinds of plants take up extra carbon from the atmosphere.

2 months ago

Climate,
Plants,
Ecosystems
News

This meteorite’s diamonds hint that it was born in a lost planet

Bits of metal nestled inside diamonds suggest the space rock could have formed in a Mars-sized protoplanet in the early solar system.

2 months ago

Planetary Science
News

Heat waves are roasting reefs, but some corals may be resilient

The latest research on coral reefs clarifies the devastation of heat waves and looks at how coral might be able to adapt to warming waters.

2 months ago

Climate,
Evolution,
Ecosystems
News

Microplastics may enter freshwater and soil via compost

Compost is pinpointed as a source of plastic pollution, but environmental fate and effects unknown.

3 months ago

Pollution,
Oceans
News

Here’s why putting a missile defense system in space could be a bad idea

Expanding missile defense capabilities could put the world on a slippery slope to space warfare.

2 months ago

Science & Society,
Physics,
Technology
Reviews & Previews

‘The Curious Life of Krill’ is an ode to an underappreciated crustacean

A new book makes the case that Antarctic krill and the dangers they face deserve your attention.

2 months ago

Animals,
Oceans,
Ecosystems