Anthropology
‘The Dawn of Everything’ rewrites 40,000 years of human history
A new book recasts human social evolution as multiple experiments with freedom and domination that started in the Stone Age.
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Cover Story
Jumping spiders’ remarkable senses capture a world beyond our perception
Clever experiments and new technology are taking scientists deep into the lives of jumping spiders, and opening a portal to their experience of the world.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Paleontology
This is the oldest fossil evidence of spider moms taking care of their young
A spider trapped in amber 99 million years ago guarded her eggs and may have helped raise her young.
Notebook
Animals
Some birds learn to recognize calls while still in their eggs
For over a decade, behavioral ecologist Diane Colombelli-Négrel and colleagues have been studying how birds perceive sounds before hatching.
Features
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Epidemics have happened before and they’ll happen again. What will we remember?
A century’s worth of science has helped us fend off infectious pathogens. But we have a lot to learn from the people who lived and died during epidemics.
More Stories from the November 6, 2021 issue
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ChemistryInk analysis reveals Marie Antoinette’s letters’ hidden words and who censored them
Chemical analyses of letters written by Marie Antoinette solve a French Revolution mystery: Who censored the queen?
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PhysicsWhirling maple seeds inspired these tiny flying sensors
Scientists envision that small objects modeled after maple tree whirligigs could be used to monitor the environment.
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EarthThis pictogram is one of the oldest known accounts of earthquakes in the Americas
The Telleriano-Remensis, a famous codex written by a pre-Hispanic civilization, describes 12 quakes that rocked the Americas from 1460 to 1542.
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Health & MedicineA custom brain implant lifted a woman’s severe depression
An experimental device interrupts brain activity linked to a woman’s low mood. The technology, she said, has changed her lens on life.
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Quantum PhysicsScientists are one step closer to error-correcting quantum computers
In a quantum computer made with trapped ions, multiple quantum bits were combined into one to detect mistakes.
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ArchaeologyDog DNA reveals ancient trade network connecting the Arctic to the outside world
People in Siberia were exchanging canines and probably other goods as early as 7,000 years ago with cultures as far off as Europe and the Near East.
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GeneticsAll identical twins may share a common set of chemical markers on their DNA
Identical twins may share a set of unique chemical tags on their DNA that could be used to identify individuals who were conceived as identical twins.
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Anthropology‘Ghost tracks’ suggest people came to the Americas earlier than once thought
Prehistoric people’s footprints show that humans were in North America during the height of the last ice age, researchers say.
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EarthEarth is reflecting less light. It’s not clear if that’s a trend
A decrease in Earth’s reflectance shows our planet is absorbing more solar radiation, but it’s not clear if the trend will last.
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Neuroscience50 years ago, scientists were on the trail of ‘memory molecules’
In the 1970s, scientists found the first “memory molecule.” Several other candidates have popped up in the decades since.
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Science & SocietyMethods of getting results from real-world experiments win 2021 economics Nobel
David Card, Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens share the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for developing a science of naturally occurring social studies.
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Health & MedicineDiscovering how we sense temperature and touch wins the 2021 medicine Nobel Prize
Finding sensors on nerve cells that detect temperature and pressure nets California scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian a Nobel Prize.
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ChemistryAn easier, greener way to build molecules wins the chemistry Nobel Prize
Chemists Benjamin List and David MacMillan have sparked a whole new field that’s aided drug discovery and made chemistry more environmentally friendly.
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PhysicsWork on complex systems, including Earth’s climate, wins the physics Nobel Prize
Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann pioneered work on computer simulations of Earth’s climate. Giorgio Parisi found hidden patterns in disordered complex materials.