Vol. 194 No. 7
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More Stories from the October 13, 2018 issue

  1. Genetics

    Ibrahim Cissé unlocks cells’ secrets using physics

    Biophysicist Ibrahim Cissé finds clues in raindrops and morning dew about how genes are activated.

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  2. Earth

    Christopher Hamilton explores the architecture of other worlds

    Planetary scientist Christopher Hamilton uses Earth’s volcanic structures are a blueprint for how lava shapes other worlds.

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  3. Astronomy

    Paula Jofré makes stellar connections

    Astrophysicist Paula Jofré is a galactic archaeologist, mapping out generations of stars.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Lisa Manning describes the physics of how cells move

    Physicist Lisa Manning probes how physical forces influence cell behavior in asthma and other conditions.

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  5. Chemistry

    Joaquín Rodríguez-López designs batteries for a sustainable energy future

    Electrochemist Joaquín Rodríguez-López is finding better ways to store wind and solar power.

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  6. Artificial Intelligence

    Anshumali Shrivastava uses AI to wrangle torrents of data

    Computer scientist Anshumali Shrivastava is designing programs that can handle torrents of information quickly and efficiently.

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  7. Quantum Physics

    Douglas Stanford probes the chaos inside black holes

    Theoretical physicist Douglas Stanford is linking some of the most massive objects known to the quantum realm.

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  8. Animals

    Jenny Tung wants to know how social stresses mess with genes

    Evolutionary anthropologist Jenny Tung is untangling the many health effects of life as a social animal.

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  9. Astronomy

    Jocelyn Bell Burnell wins big physics prize for 1967 pulsar discovery

    Astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell speaks about winning the Breakthrough Prize, impostor syndrome and giving back.

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  10. Psychology

    Shahzeen Attari explores the psychology of saving the planet

    Merging psychology with engineering, Shahzeen Attari probes how people think about conservation, energy use and climate change.

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  11. Psychology

    Huge ‘word gap’ holding back low-income children may not exist after all

    The claim that poor children hear fewer words than kids from higher-income families faces a challenge.

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  12. Planetary Science

    Saturn has two hexagons, not one, swirling around its north pole

    NASA’s Cassini spacecraft spied a vortex growing high over Saturn’s north pole, whose hexagonal shape mirrors a famous underlying cyclone.

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  13. Physics

    A new hydrogen-rich compound may be a record-breaking superconductor

    The record for the highest-temperature superconductor may be toast.

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  14. Plants

    50 years ago, a 550-year-old seed sprouted

    Old seeds can sprout new plants even after centuries of dormancy.

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  15. Life

    Emily Balskus uses chemical logic to study the microbiome

    Using chemistry to peer at the microbial world, Emily Balskus is revealing how microbes influence human health.

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  16. Physics

    Sound waves can make bubbles in levitated drops of liquid

    A new technique reveals how to make bubbles from droplets suspended in the air.

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  17. Materials Science

    Here’s how graphene could make future electronics superfast

    Graphene-based electronics that operate at terahertz frequencies would be much speedier successors to today’s silicon-based devices.

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  18. Archaeology

    This South African cave stone may bear the world’s oldest drawing

    The Stone Age line design could have held special meaning for its makers, a new study finds.

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  19. Earth

    Sea level rise doesn’t necessarily spell doom for coastal wetlands

    Wetlands can survive and even thrive despite rising sea levels — if humans give them room to grow.

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  20. Genetics

    A recount of human genes ups the number to at least 46,831

    A new estimate of the number of human genes adds in some RNA-producing genes.

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  21. Health & Medicine

    Kidney stones grow and dissolve much like geological crystals

    Kidney stones are dynamic entities that grow and dissolve, a new study finds, which contradicts the prevailing medical assumption.

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  22. Health & Medicine

    Daily low-dose aspirin is not a panacea for the elderly

    Healthy elderly adults don’t benefit from a daily dose of aspirin, according to results from a large-scale clinical trial.

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  23. Life

    Humans have skeletal stem cells that help bones and cartilage grow

    Human skeletal stem cells have been found for the first time.

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  24. Paleontology

    Cholesterol traces suggest these mysterious fossils were animals, not fungi

    Traces of cholesterol still clinging to a group of enigmatic Ediacaran fossils suggests the weird critters were animals, not fungi or lichen.

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  25. Astronomy

    Astronomers may have spotted the birth of a neutron star

    Scientists say they’ve witnessed a type of neutron star called a pulsar being born in the wake of a massive supernova for the first time.

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