Vol. 192 No. 4
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Cover of September 16, 2017 issue

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More Stories from the September 16, 2017 issue

  1. Planetary Science

    Moon had a magnetic field for at least a billion years longer than thought

    The moon’s magnetic field could have lasted until about a billion years ago.

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  2. Life

    Polluted water: It’s where sea snakes wear black

    Reptile counterpart proposed for textbook example of evolution favoring darker moths amid industrial soot.

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  3. Particle Physics

    Normally aloof particles of light seen ricocheting off each other

    Scientists spot evidence of photons interacting at the Large Hadron Collider.

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  4. Earth

    Seismologists get to the bottom of how deep Earth’s continents go

    Scientists may have finally pinpointed the bottoms of the continents.

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  5. Tech

    Robot, heal thyself

    Self-healing material is helping make more resilient robots.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    A new tool could one day improve Lyme disease diagnosis

    There soon could be a way to differentiate between Lyme disease and a similar tick-associated illness.

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  7. Neuroscience

    How an itch hitches a ride to the brain

    Scientists have figured out how your brain registers the sensation of itch.

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  8. Life

    Embryos kill off male tissue to become female

    Female embryos actively dismantle male reproductive tissue, a textbook-challenging study suggests.

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  9. Astronomy

    We share the Milky Way with 100 million black holes

    New census calculates black hole populations in galaxies big and small.

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  10. Astronomy

    Cosmic lens lets astronomers zoom in on a black hole’s burps

    The beginnings of a jet from an active black hole in a distant galaxy were spotted thanks to a lucky alignment.

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  11. Anthropology

    Some secrets of China’s terra-cotta army are baked in the clay

    Specialized production system lay behind the famous terra-cotta troops found in ancient Chinese emperor’s tomb.

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  12. Tech

    New antennas are up to a hundredth the size of today’s devices

    A new type of antenna could be used in tiny electronics for wearable tech, injectable medical devices and more.

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  13. Anthropology

    Nitty-gritty of Homo naledi’s diet revealed in its teeth

    Ancient humanlike species ate something that damaged its teeth.

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  14. Physics

    Molecules face the big chill

    Scientists have cooled molecules below a previously impassable limit.

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  15. Animals

    This sea snake looks like a banana and hunts like a Slinky

    A newly identified sea snake subspecies is known to live in a single gulf off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

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  16. Tech

    50 years ago, West Germany embraced nuclear power

    In 1967, Germany gave nuclear power a try. Today, the country is trading nukes for renewables.

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  17. Climate

    Rising temperatures threaten heat-tolerant aardvarks

    Aardvarks may get a roundabout hit from climate change — less food.

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  18. Archaeology

    People may have lived in Brazil more than 20,000 years ago

    Stone Age humans left behind clues of their presence at a remote Brazilian rock shelter.

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