More Stories from the December 29, 2012 issue
- Tech
Plastic fantastic seals in speeding projectiles
Layered nanomaterial shows how bulletproof polymers wrap around penetrating particles.
- Earth
New pathway proposed for ancient flood
Meltwaters off the northwestern part of Canada’s ice sheet would have shut down the ocean’s heat circulation 13,000 years ago.
- Space
Super-Earth joins ranks in life-supporting zone
The large exoplanet lies just 42 light-years away.
- Chemistry
Hydrogen fuel edges a step closer
A new chemical setup creates clean-burning gas by mimicking plant photosynthesis.
- Earth
Pandas’ home range may move as climate changes
Warming might force animals’ food source, bamboo, to higher elevations.
- Earth
Global drought may have changed less than thought
Simple models have overestimated drying over past 60 years.
- Psychology
Word-detecting baboons are a tough read
New models offer contrasting views of monkeys’ ability to identify frequently seen letter pairs.
- Psychology
Highlights from the Psychonomic Society annual meeting
Summaries from the conference held November 15-18 in Minneapolis.
- Life
Chromosome ends hold clues to a bird’s longevity
Short telomeres are tied to higher mortality in Indian Ocean warblers.
- Space
Glimpse at early universe finds expansion slowdown
BOSS project looks at acceleration rate before dark energy hit the gas.
- Life
Trees worldwide a sip away from dehydration
Plumbing systems operate on a razor’s edge, making even moist forests highly vulnerable to drought.
- Humans
Genetic diversity exploded in recent millennia
Among hundreds of thousands of DNA variants identified in a study, a large majority arose in the past 5,000 years.
- Earth
Shrinking polar ice caused one-fifth of sea level rise
Comprehensive analysis quantifies ice sheet loss in Greenland and Antarctica.
- Planetary Science
Violent past revealed by map of moon’s interior
A gravity survey by twin orbiters reveals how much the lunar surface was pummeled by meteorite impacts early in its history.
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Alt science
View the video After a day of computer programming and poring over genetic data, Pardis Sabeti relaxes her brain by writing rock songs. Pardis Sabeti sorts through reams of genetic information to find genes that have been shaped by natural selection to resist disease. Olivier Douliery Born in Tehran, Sabeti is a computational biologist at […]
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Lynn Margulis: The Life and Legacy of a Scientific Rebel by Dorion Sagan, ed.
Friends and colleagues reflect on the contributions of one of the 20th century’s most influential biologists. Chelsea Green, 2012, 205 p., $27.95
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- Humans
Bionic women (and men) get closer to reality
Prosthetics and new therapies restore abilities to move, see, walk.
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- Science & Society
Scientists take on Twitter
Social media comes into its own as a tool and a subject for study.
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Earth’s new neighbor looks familiar
Planet discovered in Alpha Centauri, just a few light-years away.
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Prions may cause Alzheimer’s
Similarity found with destructive protein behind mad cow.
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Finding new ways to spell L-I-F-E
XNA molecules join DNA and RNA in the genetic catalog.
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Quantum hops
A little closer to teleportation and new computers.
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Polar bears have seen hard times
Two genetic studies extend the Arctic icon’s lineage way back.
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Kissing, and missing, human cousins
DNA paints a contested picture of Stone Age interbreeding.
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Milky Way will bite the dust
Eventual collision with Andromeda to shake up the solar system.
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Out on a limb
Fossils suggest early bipedal hominids still climbed.
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You really can learn while you sleep
Brain stays busy during lights-out.
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Obesity research gets weightier
Findings are filling out the story behind the fat.
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‘Good’ cholesterol may be overrated
Surprise result questions heart protection from HDL.
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Avant-garde cave art
Paintings and animation date way back.
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New species of the year
More creatures, less Latin used to describe them.
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Venus sails across sun in rare display
Transit events happen in pairs separated by more than a century.
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Evolving E. coli
25-year experiment sees real-time natural selection.
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Maya apocalypse goes boom
World doesn’t end, ancient astronomy gets a boost.
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Science News Top 25
Science News reviews the year in science with a compilation and analysis of the most fascinating stories reported in the magazine. Also highlighted are reader favorites, debunked science and the year's weirdest stories.
- Physics
Higgs discovery helps make sense of matter
Long-sought boson completes standard model of physics.
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Letters
Trust no one “Trust affects kids’ patience” (SN: 11/17/12, p. 10) refers only to children. But based on my own experience, I’d expect it to apply to adults as well. If you tell me I can have $100 now or $200 in an hour, what I do will depend on whether or not I trust […]
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