Environment
Human ingenuity takes on Mother Nature in ‘The Big Ratchet’
Geographer Ruth DeFries explains how technological innovations have allowed humans to overcome environmental challenges throughout history.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Computing
Computer program reveals artists’ influences
The algorithm can figure out a particular painting’s style — whether it’s abstract, impressionist or Baroque, for example — and tease out possible connections among artists.
Notebook
Health & Medicine
Tiny mites are probably crawling all over your face
Two skin mites, relatives of spiders, might populate the faces of all adult humans, according to a DNA survey.
Features
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Quasiparticles help physicists make sense of the world
To improve semiconductors, superconductors and other materials, physicists view a particle and its surroundings as one entity.
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Climbing high to save a threatened West Coast plant
A group of scientists hopes to save a cliff-hugging plant threatened by invasive grasses, drought and fire in California’s Santa Monica Mountains.
More Stories from the October 18, 2014 issue
- Genetics
Source of coffee’s kick found in its genetic code
Coffee doubled up on caffeine-making genes. Those genes evolved independently from similar ones found in tea and chocolate plants.
- Earth
Death Valley’s sailing stones caught on the move
Mysterious sailing stones wandering around Death Valley are powered by ice and wind.
- Archaeology
More signs emerge of New World settlers before 20,000 years ago
Controversial stone tools of pre-Clovis humans have been excavated in South America.
- Paleontology
Fossils push back origins of modern mammals
Fossils of three newly identified early mammals from China suggest that the common ancestor of today’s mammals lived over 200 million years ago.
- Paleontology
Lost-and-found dinosaur thrived in water
Fossils pieced together through ridiculous luck reveal Spinosaurus to be the only known dinosaur adapted for regular ventures into water.
- Health & Medicine
Experimental herpes drug outperforms first-line med
An experimental treatment for genital herpes suppresses the viral infection better than the standard drug, but animal tests raise concerns about side effects.
- Earth
Warming alone triggered Antarctic ice shelf collapse
Warming surface temperatures, not an unstable foundation, probably doomed Antarctica’s Larsen B ice shelf.
- Neuroscience
Our brains sort words as we sleep
Even after nodding off, a person’s brain correctly sorts words into categories, adding to the achievements of the sleeping brain.
- Life
Vagina bacteria make molecules that could be drugs
Microbes on the human body are capable of producing thousands of small molecules that hold potential as drugs.
- Astronomy
Mystery of missing lithium extends beyond Milky Way
Stars in cluster Messier 54, part of a nearby dwarf galaxy, have just as little lithium as stars in the Milky Way, suggesting that the mystery of the missing element is universal.
- Particle Physics
Evidence for new Higgs-related particle fades away
A close look at data from the Large Hadron Collider finds no evidence that the Higgs boson decays into a new, unknown particle.
- Astronomy
Tweak to dark matter may explain Milky Way mystery
Dark matter weakly interacting with light in the early universe might have prevented satellite galaxies from forming around Milky Way, astronomers propose.
- Quantum Physics
Three photons entangled, not just two
Physicists have found a way to entangle a trio of photons, but it works only once in every quadrillion attempts.
- Anthropology
Strategy, not habitat loss, leads chimps to kill rivals
Human impacts on chimpanzees have not increased their violence.
- Life
Artificial sweeteners may tip scales toward metabolic problems
The artificial sweetener saccharin meddles with the gut’s microbial community, setting in motion metabolic changes associated with obesity and diabetes.
- Materials Science
Making metamaterials ‘digital’ could simplify invisibility cloaks
The digital world of 1s and 0s has inspired a simpler way to make complex metamaterials.
- Cosmology
Gravitational wave discovery gives way to Milky Way dust
New polarization maps from the Planck satellite suggest that the BICEP2 announcement this year of primordial gravitational waves might be due entirely to dust in our galaxy.
- Health & Medicine
More than 1 million Ebola cases may hit West Africa by January
New projections of the outbreak suggest that without drastic improvements, weekly cases could increase from hundreds to thousands.
- Health & Medicine
Still waiting on a cure for diabetes
Diabetes diagnoses have skyrocketed in the past 50 years. While there are now better medications and options for control, there is still only hope of a cure.
- Animals
‘Planet of the Bugs’ reveals the secrets to insects’ success
Entomologist Scott Richard Shaw explores the evolution of insects and how they came to rule the world.
- Ecosystems
Help scientists find floating forests of kelp
By looking for signs of kelp in satellite images, citizen scientists can help researchers keep track of the world’s seaweed forests.
- Health & Medicine
Interactive map tracks obesity in the United States
An interactive online map illustrates the rise in U.S. obesity since 1990.
- Science & Society
SSP’s new leader has a habit of making things happen
Maya Ajmera takes the helm as the president and CEO of the Society for Science & the Public and publisher of Science News.
