Vol. 191 No. 10
Read Digital Issue Modal Example Archive Issues Modal Example |

Reviews & Previews

Science Visualized

Notebook

Features

More Stories from the May 27, 2017 issue

  1. Life

    Immune cells play surprising role in steady heartbeat

    Immune system cells called macrophages help heart cells rhythmically contract, maintaining the beat of mice’s hearts.

    By
  2. Anthropology

    Ötzi the Iceman froze to death

    Copper Age Iceman froze to death, with shoulder and head damage.

    By
  3. Physics

    Gamma-ray evidence for dark matter weakens

    Excess gamma rays are still unexplained, but they might not come from dark matter.

    By
  4. Astronomy

    No long, twisted tail trails the solar system

    The bubble that envelops the planets and other material in the solar system does not have a tail, new observations show.

    By
  5. Animals

    Beetles have been mooching off insect colonies for millions of years

    The behavior, called social parasitism, has been going on for about 100 million years.

    By
  6. Health & Medicine

    Faux womb keeps preemie lambs alive

    A device can keep premature lambs alive for a month in womblike conditions.

    By
  7. Environment

    ‘Fossil’ groundwater is not immune to modern-day pollution

    Ancient groundwater that is thousands of years old is still susceptible to modern pollution, new research suggests.

    By
  8. Archaeology

    First settlers reached Americas 130,000 years ago, study claims

    Mastodon site suggests first Americans arrived unexpectedly early.

    By
  9. Health & Medicine

    Zika hides out in body’s hard-to-reach spots

    Zika virus sticks around in the central nervous system and lymph nodes of monkeys.

    By
  10. Quantum Physics

    Key Einstein principle survives quantum test

    Particles in quantum superposition adhere to the equivalence principle in atomic test.

    By
  11. Chemistry

    Chemistry controlled on tiniest scale can create hollow nanoparticles

    Oxidizing tiny iron particles from the inside out reveals how oxidation works and could offer new vehicles for drugs or energy.

    By
  12. Climate

    Ocean acidification may hamper food web’s nitrogen-fixing heroes

    A new look at marine Trichodesmium microbes suggests trouble for nitrogen fixation in an acidifying ocean.

    By
  13. Neuroscience

    Nerve cell miswiring linked to depression

    A gene helps nerve cell axons extend to parts of the brain to deliver serotonin, a brain chemical associated with depression.

    By
  14. Anthropology

    Water tubing accidents, table run-ins cause Neandertal-like injuries

    People’s injury patterns today can’t explain how Neandertals got so many head wounds.

    By
  15. Planetary Science

    Mars may not have been born alongside the other rocky planets

    Mars formed farther away from the sun than its present-day orbit, not near the other terrestrial planets, new research suggests.

    By
  16. Planetary Science

    50 years ago, an Earth-based telescope spotted Saturn’s fourth ring

    Scientists now rely on spacecraft to chart the intricate rings of the gas giant.

    By
  17. Earth

    ‘River piracy’ on a high glacier lets one waterway rob another

    The melting of one of Canada’s largest glaciers has rerouted meltwater from one stream into another in an instance of river piracy.

    By
  18. Life

    How a mushroom gets its glow

    For the first time, biologists have pinpointed the compound that lights up in fungal bioluminescence.

    By
  19. Earth

    Crack in Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf forks

    An 180-kilometer-long rift in Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf has forked into two branches, new satellite observations show.

    By