Editor's Note
- Science & Society
One of the best ways for kids to learn science: by doing it
A biodegradable Band-Aid. A low-cost, ultrasonic guide to parallel parking. A reinvention of the toilet. These were among the nearly 1,400 science fair projects on display at the 2014 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Science News’ parent organization, the Society for Science & the Public, has run the annual event since 1950.
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Prying tales from ancient DNA and a far-away moon
Exploring the DNA of ancient bones on Earth and the waters of an icy moon, Europa, could shift our views of life.
- Genetics
New tools reveal new truths about fungi, flies, antibiotics
In the newsroom, any story about a new scientific method faces an uphill battle. In this issue are a number of stories that feature how science is done.
- Earth
Science can save lives, but only if society lets it
Society faces lots of problems that science can’t yet fix. But there are also plenty of cases in which scientists know enough to avert tragedy.
- Cosmology
Gravitational wave detection a big day for the Big Bang
On a snowy St. Patrick’s Day, our offices officially shut down by a late-winter storm, the Science News staff was abuzz over the biggest thing since the Higgs boson. On March 17, scientists announced the first direct evidence of the theory of cosmic inflation: primordial gravitational waves.
- Health & Medicine
Beating addiction: impossible or surprisingly common?
Addiction may be a dysfunctional if temporary coping strategy, clouds may not reduce global warming and other stories from the March 22 issue.
- Materials Science
Making it work, on paper and just maybe in practice
Last spring, Science News reported on the lack of progress by the main U.S. nuclear fusion effort. As the researchers still contend, laser-initiated fusion should work. It works on paper. But in practice, even a set of extremely powerful lasers failed to trigger the fusion of hydrogen nuclei and the concomitant chain reaction and release of net energy expected.
- Neuroscience
Big science for lean times
The greatest promises of brain research — a cellular description of thought and behavior and, even more importantly, strategies to battle disorders of the brain — have yet to be fulfilled. Making good on those promises is the motivation behind the federal BRAIN Initiative.
- Agriculture
Dealing with change, climate and otherwise
Wine, DNA, our understanding of the universe: It's all changing, whether we are ready for it or not.
- Earth
Creativity offers insights into the past and future
With the long-term future of many fisheries in doubt and severe drought once again hitting the Southwest, coming up with new insights into the past and future on land and sea may be crucial to protecting some of our most precious resources.
- Microbes
A newfound respect for the microbial world
Despite what many people think about humans’ place in the scheme of things, scientists are finding more evidence that we live in a world of microbes.
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