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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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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