Science & Society
Centennial books illuminate Einstein’s greatest triumph
Scholars mark general relativity 100ths anniversary with books on history, biography, science.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
Einstein’s genius changed science’s perception of gravity
Einstein struggled for years to solve the puzzle of general relativity. The pieces all fell into place in November 1915.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Science & Society
Neurological condition probably caused medieval scribe’s shaky handwriting
By scrutinizing a medieval scribe’s wiggly handwriting, scientists conclude that the writer suffered from essential tremor.
Notebook
Anthropology
Oldest humanlike hand bone discovered
Found at Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge, pinkie bone is 1.84 million years old.
Features
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Using general relativity to magnify the cosmos
Astronomers have Einstein to thank for the tools that bring far-away galaxies and maybe even black hole collisions into view.
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Entanglement: Gravity’s long-distance connection
The universe may be a vast quantum computer that safely encodes spacetime in an elaborate web of entanglement.
More Stories from the October 17, 2015 issue
- Environment
Molting seals shed mercury along with fur
Seals spew amassed mercury when they shed, creating hotbeds of pollution in otherwise pristine coastal environments.
- Genetics
Bad Karma can ruin palm oil crops
Missing epigenetic mark makes for Bad Karma and poor palm oil crops.
- Animals
Loss of vision meant energy savings for cavefish
Novel measurement feeds idea that tight energy budgets favored vision loss in cavefish.
- Animals
Dogs flub problem-solving test
Confronting a tough task, dogs are more likely than wolves to give up and gaze at a human
- Environment
Home fires, farm fumes are leading causes of air-pollution deaths
Deadly air pollution comes from surprising sources, but toxicity of different types is still up in the air.
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- Planetary Science
Mars’ ionosphere mystery explained
A decades-old disagreement between the Viking landers and spacecraft buzzing around Mars might come down to what time of day each was investigating the Red Planet’s ionosphere.
- Life
Old stem cell barriers fade away
Barrier that keeps aging factors out of stem cells breaks down with age.
- Health & Medicine
Study finds benefits from lowering blood pressure, but questions remain
Preliminary results from NIH clinical trial suggest that lower blood pressure is better, but scientists have not yet published the data and open questions remain.
- Earth
Shortcut math predicts tsunami height quickly
The September 16 earthquake that rattled Chile proved an unexpected test for new numerical calculations that could provide quicker forecasts of incoming tsunamis.
- Tech
Early satellite TV predictions highlighted instant communication potential
Satellite communication started as science fiction but soon became reality.
- Materials Science
Invisibility cloaks slim down
A new invisibility cloak offers more stealth in a thinner package.
- Animals
What really changes when a male vole settles down
Bachelor prairie voles can’t tell one female from another, but saying “I do” means more than just settling down.
- Science & Society
Special Report: Gravity’s Century
After years of pondering the interplay of space, time, matter and gravity, Einstein produced, in a single month, an utter transformation of science’s conception of the cosmos: the general theory of relativity.
- Animals
Invading Argentine ants carry virus that attacks bees
The first survey of viruses in the globally invasive Argentine ant brings both potentially bad and good news.
