Vol. 193 No. 9
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Cover of May 26, 2018 issue

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More Stories from the May 26, 2018 issue

  1. ancient cow skull
    Anthropology

    A hole in an ancient cow’s skull could have been surgery practice

    Before performing skull operations on people, ancient surgeons may have rehearsed on cows.

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  2. sweet wormwood plant
    Plants

    Genetically modified plant may boost supply of a powerful malaria drug

    Using a DNA study and genetic engineering, researchers tripled the amount of an antimalarial compound naturally produced by sweet wormwood plants.

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  3. Asteroid hurtling toward Earth
    Planetary Science

    Asteroids could have delivered water to the early Earth

    Shooting mineral pellets at a simulated planet suggests an impact wouldn’t have boiled all of an asteroid’s water away.

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  4. rice and wheat farmers
    Psychology

    In China, coffee shop habits show cultural differences tied to farming

    Farming histories have shaped behavior in northern and southern China.

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  5. all-sky map of the Milky Way
    Astronomy

    The latest star map from the Gaia spacecraft plots 1.7 billion stars

    The Gaia spacecraft’s latest data release brings the number of stars with precisely measured motions up from 2 million to more than 1.3 billion.

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  6. giant ground sloths, Megatherium
    Archaeology

    Footprints prove humans hunted giant sloths during the Ice Age

    Footprints of humans and giant sloths show a dramatic chase sequence from more than 10,000 years ago.

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  7. plastic stacked up in landfill
    Environment

    This plastic can be recycled over and over and over again

    A new kind of polymer is fully recyclable: It breaks down into the exact same molecules that it came from.

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  8. Pohang quake damage
    Earth

    Pumping water underground for power may have triggered South Korean quake

    A 2017 South Korean earthquake may have been caused by human activities, two new studies suggest.

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  9. animation of eclipse shadow over north america
    Planetary Science

    Last year’s solar eclipse set off a wave in the upper atmosphere

    The August 2017 solar eclipse launched a wave in the upper atmosphere that was detected from Brazil after the eclipse ended.

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  10. neutron star
    Physics

    Neutron stars shed neutrinos to cool down quickly

    Scientists find the first clear evidence of rapid cooling of a neutron star by neutrino emission.

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  11. two species of clearwing moths
    Animals

    Defenseless moths do flying impressions of scary bees and wasps

    Faking that erratic bee flight or no-nonsense wasp zoom might save a moth’s life.

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  12. Bottlenose dolphins
    Climate

    Bull sharks and bottlenose dolphins are moving north as the ocean warms

    Rising temperatures are making ocean waters farther north more hospitable for a variety of marine species.

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  13. Ichthyornis dispar skull and illustration
    Animals

    This ancient fowl bit like a dinosaur and pecked like a bird

    A new fossil of Ichthyornis dispar helped scientists create a 3-D reconstruction of the ancient bird’s skull, shedding light on early bird evolution.

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  14. an illustration of the Mars lander InSight
    Planetary Science

    NASA gets ready to launch the first lander to investigate Mars’ insides

    The InSight lander is launching to Mars on May 5 and is expected to be in position to sense seismic activity by early 2019.

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  15. illustration of variola virus
    Health & Medicine

    FDA approves the first smallpox treatment

    Concerns about bioterrorism fueled the development of the first treatment for smallpox.

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  16. telomerase
    Health & Medicine

    An enzyme involved in cancer and aging gets a close-up

    The structure of telomerase, described with the greatest detail yet, may give researchers clues to cancer treatments and other telomerase-related illnesses.

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  17. African pouch rat
    Animals

    With a little convincing, rats can detect tuberculosis

    TB-sniffing rats prove more accurate in detecting infection, especially in children, than the most commonly used diagnostic tool.

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