Ecosystems
‘Citizen Scientist’ exalts ordinary heroes in conservation science
Journalist Mary Ellen Hannibal’s “Citizen Scientist” tells tales of ordinary people contributing to science.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Animals
Maps show genetic diversity in mammals, amphibians around the world
Maps of genetic diversity within mammal and amphibian species provide a baseline for understanding the effects of human activity and climate change on animals.
Notebook
Health & Medicine
It’s time to retire the five-second rule
Wet food can slurp bacteria off the floor in less than a second.
Features
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Reef rehab could help threatened corals make a comeback
Reefs are under threat from rising ocean temperatures. Directed spawning, microfragmenting and selective breeding may help.
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Big biological datasets map life’s networks
Expanding from genomics to multi-omics means stretching data capacity, but it may lead to a future of early diagnosis, personalized medicine and hardy crops.
More Stories from the October 29, 2016 issue
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EarthWhere the young hot Earth cached its gold
A simulation of the infant Earth provides a new view of how the iron-loving precious metals ended up buried deep in the planet’s core.
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EcosystemsShrinking sea ice threatens natural highways for caribou, plants
As Arctic sea ice declines, Peary caribou or plants risk getting stranded when their frozen highways thaw.
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GeneticsNew era of human embryo gene editing begins
Gene editing of viable human embryos is happening, in and out of the public eye.
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ArchaeologyAncient Maya codex not fake, new analysis claims
New report suggests an ancient Maya text — the bark-paper Grolier Codex — could be the oldest known document in Americas.
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Planetary ScienceMercury’s surface still changing
A population of small cliffs on Mercury suggests that the planet might have been tectonically active in the last 50 million years.
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ClimateMethane didn’t warm ancient Earth, new simulations suggest
Scarce oxygen and abundant sulfate prevented methane from accumulating enough to keep Earth warm hundreds of millions of years ago, reviving the faint young sun paradox.
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AnimalsNew case emerging for Culex mosquito as unexpected Zika spreader
The much-debated proposal that a Culex mosquito could help spread Zika gets some international support.
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PaleontologyAncient microbe fossils show earliest evidence of shell making
Armor-plated, 809-million-year-old fossilized microbes discovered in Canada are the oldest known evidence of shell making.
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Health & MedicineConcern expands over Zika birth defects
Infection with Zika virus in utero can trigger a spectrum of birth defects beyond microcephaly, and could potentially cause long-term health problems as well.
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EarthGlass bits, charcoal hint at 56-million-year-old space rock impact
Glassy debris and the burnt remains of wildfires suggest that a large space rock hit Earth near the start of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum warming event around 56 million years ago.
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GeneticsGene linked to autism in people may influence dog sociability
DNA variants were linked to beagles’ tendency to seek human help.
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CosmologyAfter Big Bang, shock waves rocked newborn universe
Shock waves in the early universe could explain the generation of magnetic fields and the predominance of matter over antimatter.
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AnimalsPrimitive signs of emotions spotted in sugar-buzzed bumblebees
When bumblebees eat a sugary snack, they make more optimistic decisions, a new study finds. This could be early evidence for emotion in insects.
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PhysicsRarest nucleus reluctant to decay
Tantalum-180m has a half-life more than a million times the age of the universe.
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GeneticsTo make female pill bugs, just add bacterial genes
Genes from Wolbachia bacteria infiltrated pill bugs and now make genetic males female.
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Particle PhysicsEvidence for new form of matter-antimatter asymmetry observed
Particles known as baryons show their first hints of antimatter-matter discrepancies.
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Health & MedicineDeciphering cell’s recycling machinery earns Nobel
The 2016 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his work on autophagy, a process that cells use to break down old parts for future use.
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PhysicsNobel awarded for using math of shapes to explain exotic matter
The three scientists who won the 2016 Nobel Prize in physics predicted new materials using mathematics illustrated by bagels and pretzels.
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ChemistryMolecules for making nanomachines snare chemistry Nobel
Nanochemists win Nobel prize for devising molecular machines
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Cosmology‘Voyage of Time’ is Terrence Malick’s ode to life
With “Voyage of Time,” director Terrence Malick brings the history of the universe — and the evolution of life on Earth — to the big screen.
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TechHow to read a book without opening it
New technique allows scientists to read the pages of an ancient text without opening the book.
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ClimateExtreme lightning events set records
A lightning flash stretching 321 kilometers across and one that lasted 7.74 seconds have been named the most extreme events on record, thanks to a new rule change.
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AnimalsMelatonin makes midshipman fish sing
Melatonin lets people sleep but starts male midshipman fish melodiously humming their hearts out.
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AstronomySolar system sits within major spiral arm of Milky Way
The solar system appears to live in one of the major spiral arms of the Milky Way, not in an offshoot as previously thought.
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Planetary ScienceRosetta spacecraft ends mission
The Rosetta mission comes to an end as spacecraft touches down on surface of comet 67P/ Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
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Health & MedicineStaph infections still a concern
Scientists have been searching for a vaccine against a deadly microbe for 50 years.