Astronomy
‘Under Alien Skies’ imagines what the sky looks like on other planets
Astronomer Philip Plait’s new book takes readers on a thrilling ride to Mars, Pluto and even a black hole.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
The Amazon might not have a ‘tipping point.’ But it’s still in trouble
Scientists race to foretell the fate of the vast forest facing deforestation and climate change.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Astronomy
The James Webb telescope revealed surprise asteroids in the Fomalhaut star system
New images of Fomalhaut confirm that an alleged planet is probably just dust while also revealing a new asteroid belt and a “Great Dust Cloud.”
Notebook
Life
Microwaving an insecticide restores its mosquito-killing power
Heated deltamethrin kills mosquitoes resistant to its usual form. Scientists are working to add the improved insecticide into bed nets.
Features
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Quantum computers could break the internet. Here’s how to save it
Today's encryption schemes will be vulnerable to future quantum computers, but new algorithms and a quantum internet could help.
More Stories from the June 17, 2023 issue
- Neuroscience
A rare mutation helped one man stave off Alzheimer’s for decades
The brain of a Colombian man with an inherited form of Alzheimer’s may hint at ways to halt or slow the progression of the disease.
- Planetary Science
A quake on Mars showed its crust is thicker than Earth’s
Seismic data from NASA’s Insight lander reveal the crust is roughly 50 kilometers thick, with the northern crust being thinner than the south’s.
- Physics
Science explains why shouting into the wind seems futile
Sending a sound upwind, against the flow of air, makes the sound louder due to an acoustical effect called convective amplification. Sound sent downwind is quieter.
- Neuroscience
A brain implant helped a man with paralysis walk more naturally
A successful test of a system that restores communication between the brain and spine could ultimately help many people with paralysis.
- Neuroscience
Brain implants have revealed a signature for chronic pain
Brain implants in four people with chronic pain gave researchers an inside look at the debilitating condition.
- Climate
There’s good and bad news with California’s electric vehicle program
The electric vehicle program is reducing carbon dioxide emissions but also shifting the pollution burden to the state’s most disadvantaged communities.
- Life
Large predators push coyotes and bobcats near people and to their demise
Coyotes and bobcats hide near people when wolves, cougars and other large predators are close-by, putting the smaller carnivores at a higher risk of dying at human hands.
- Planetary Science
Saturn’s rings may be no more than 400 million years old
An analysis of data from NASA’s defunct Cassini probe suggests Saturn's rings materialized more than 100 million years after trilobites appeared on Earth.
- Planetary Science
Jupiter’s lightning bolts contort the same way as Earth’s
Jovian lightning extends in jagged steps as it does on Earth, data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft suggest. The finding might aid the search for life.
- Astronomy
The first radiation belt outside the solar system has been spotted
Encircling a Jupiter-sized body about 18 light-years from Earth, the radiation belt is 10 million times as bright as the ones around Jupiter.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum computers braided ‘anyons,’ long-sought quasiparticles with memory
Particle-like quantum states called non-abelian anyons remember being swapped and could be useful for protecting information in quantum computers.
- Astronomy
50 years ago, a search for proof that the Maya tracked comets came up short
The mystery of whether the ancient civilization tracked comets endures, but recent evidence hints the Maya tracked related meteor showers.
