Analyses of fossils belonging to Xenosmilus hodsonae place the species in a third, newly recognized type of saber-toothed cats — one that killed by biting large chunks of flesh from its prey. Full Story
Credit: Martin et al.

CHANGING CLIMATE. Pictured is Qori Kalis glacier in Peru in 1978 (left) and in 2000 (right). Read the latest blogs from SN writer Janet Raloff about melting glaciers, about glaciologist Lonnie Thompson’s race to glean clues from those glaciers, for an interview with IPCC chairman R.K. Pachauri, and for the latest on mountaintop mining of coal.
Credit: Image credit: Ohio State Univ.

EARLY GAMERS. Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., this month celebrates the birth of the first video game, Tennis for Two, which went live October 18, 1958. More details and video.
Credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory

Fossils of 375-million-year–old Tiktaalik roseae are thought to document a transition from water to land. Tiktaalik’s hard head and neck allowed the fishy species to live with fins in both worlds. Full Story
Credit: T. Daeschler

Thākur, a 118-kilometer–wide crater on Mercury, was photographed by the MESSENGER spacecraft on its second flyby of the planet. These and other images were presented October 14 at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences. Read more.
Credit: JHUAPL, Arizona State Univ., NASA

Suspension of vaccinations in Nigeria in 2003 led to a polio outbreak. A new vaccine that targets one strain of poliovirus helped check the outbreak. Full story.
Credit: NEJM/Jenkins

EARLY TUBERCULOSIS. DNA evidence of human tuberculosis from these 9,000-year-old bones of a woman and an infant suggests the disease appeared in humans much earlier than thought. Full story.
Credit: credit: I. Hershkovitz

LIKE MOLE, LIKE HUMAN. A team of researchers has analyzed worm grunting, a long-used technique for catching worms. Above, Gary Revell demonstrates the steps during the Sopchoppy Worm Gruntin’ Festival in Florida. It's likely the technique works by mimicking the sounds made underground by the eastern American mole, thus scaring the worms to the surface. Full story and video.
Credit: credit: Kenneth Catania

For more than two weeks, a malfunction has rendered the Hubble Space Telescope silent. NASA scientists have a plan they hope will get the orbiting observatory back online this week. Full story.
Credit: NASA/STScI

View a gallery featuring the amazing images from the Brainbow project, which is built on work on a fluorescent protein that recently earned scientists the Nobel Prize in chemistry.
Credit: Lichman et al.

BIG CHUNK OF CORAL. On an expedition to a Tongan island, a scientist investigates the top of a three-story-tall, 1,200-metric-ton coral boulder, which probably was tossed 100 meters inland by an ancient tsunami. Full story.
Credit: Hornbach et al

The largest review in a decade by the conservation monitoring organization IUCN reports that as much as a third of mammals face extinction. African elephants, at least, are classified now as nearly threatened rather than vulnerable. Full story.
Credit: A. Wirz

Southern pine beetles carry bacteria in special structures under their chins. The bacteria help the beetles maintain a healthy food supply. Full story.
Credit: M. Cetin Yuceer

This image depicts the average extent of Arctic sea ice this September. At 4.67 million square kilometers, the area was nearly a record low. The pink outline indicates the long-term average since 1979 for September coverage. Full story and video.
Credit: NSIDC, NASA/GSFC

Atlantic bluefin tuna can grow to nearly 10 feet and weigh in at 1,400 pounds. Numbers of adult spawning bluefins have dropped to less than 20 percent of 1960s figures. Read more.
Credit: Gilbert