Animals
Got an environmental problem? Beavers could be the solution
A new book shows how important beavers have been in the past — and how they could improve the landscape of the future.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
Conflict reigns over the history and origins of money
Thousands of years ago, money took different forms as a means of debt payment, archaeologists and anthropologists say.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Astronomy
See this star nursery shine in a stunning new infrared image
A newly released image of star cluster RCW 38 shows the intricate details of wisps of gas and dust surrounding newborn stars.
Notebook
Health & Medicine
Finally, there’s a way to keep syphilis growing in the lab
Scientists have figured out how to keep a sample of the bacteria Treponema pallidum alive and infectious for over eight months.
Features
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People are bad at spotting fake news. Can computer programs do better?
Fake news–finding algorithms could someday make up the front lines of online fact checking.
More Stories from the August 4, 2018 issue
- Quantum Physics
A tiny version of this physics toy is revealing quantum secrets
Scientists created a quantum Newton’s cradle to study thermal equilibrium.
- Earth
Earth’s rivers cover 44 percent more land than we thought
A global survey of rivers and streams based on satellite data suggests that these waterways traverse about 773,000 square kilometers.
- Psychology
Kids today are waiting longer than ever in the classic marshmallow test
Preschoolers wait longer for extra treats than they used to. What does it mean?
- Quantum Physics
Mini machines can evade friction by taking quantum shortcuts
Special maneuvers allow researchers to create tiny machines that are as efficient as possible.
- Astronomy
Astronomers snap the first baby pictures of a planet
New telescope images give the clearest view of an exoplanet embryo yet.
- Health & Medicine
Evidence grows that an HPV screen beats a Pap test at preventing cancer
More research finds that a test for human papillomavirus infection catches precancerous cervical cells better than the standard test, a Pap.
- Anthropology
Foot fossil pegs hominid kids as upright walkers 3.3 million years ago
A foot from an ancient hominid child suggests that Lucy’s species, Australopithecus afarensis, walked early in life.
- Animals
Researchers create hybrid embryos of endangered white rhinos
Scientists have made the first rhino embryos, providing a small glimmer of hope for the nearly extinct northern white rhinoceros.
- Neuroscience
Nerve cells that help control hunger have been ID’d in mice
A mysterious bump on the human brain may be able to dial appetite up or down.
- Animals
Soaring spiders may get cues from electric charges in the air
Spiders can sense atmospheric electric fields, which might give them cues to take to the air.
- Materials Science
Designer diamonds could one day help build a quantum internet
A new design in artificial diamonds stores and releases quantum information better than others.
- Paleontology
Long-necked dinosaurs grew to be giants in more ways than one
Some early relatives of giant, long-necked sauropods may have used a different strategy to grow to colossal sizes than previously thought.
- Health & Medicine
Cancer cells engineered with CRISPR slay their own kin
Scientists can program the stealth cells to die before creating new tumors.
- Archaeology
Texas toolmakers add to the debate over who the first Americans were
Stone toolmakers inhabited Texas more than 16,000 years ago, before Clovis hunters arrived.
- Particle Physics
A high-energy neutrino has been traced to its galactic birthplace
The high-energy particle was born in a blazar 4 billion light-years away, scientists report.
- Health & Medicine
Scared of heights? This new VR therapy could help
Virtual reality may be good training ground for facing your fears in real life.
- Genetics
50 years ago, scientists took baby steps toward selecting sex
In 1968, scientists figured out how to determine the sex of rabbit embryos.
- Anthropology
How an ancient stone money system works like cryptocurrency
Money has ancient and mysterious pedigrees that go way beyond coins.
- Archaeology
Stone tools put early hominids in China 2.1 million years ago
Newly discovered stone tools in China suggest hominids left Africa 250,000 years earlier than we thought.
