Feature
- Math
Sensor Sensibility
Networks of tiny computerized sensors that adjust their function as needed may soon pervade our environment.
- Archaeology
Peru’s Sunny View
Researchers have found the oldest solar observatory in the Americas, a group of 13 towers first used around 300 B.C. to mark the positions of sunrises and sunsets from summer to winter solstice.
- Earth
Flotsam Science
Researchers have harnessed the power of flotsam—floating items as diverse as tennis shoes, tub toys, and hockey gloves—to chart the path and speed of the Pacific Subarctic Gyre, a group of currents in the North Pacific Ocean.
- Anthropology
Children of Prehistory
Accumulating evidence suggests that children and teenagers produced much prehistoric cave art and perhaps left behind many fledgling attempts at stone-tool making as well.
- Tech
Wanted: Better Yardsticks
A new federal survey has found that a lack of measurement tools may jeopardize the United States' edge in technological innovation.
- Computing
The Machine’s Got Rhythm
By teaching computers how to transcribe musical recordings, a relatively mundane task, researchers are opening new musical possibilities.
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Faster, Cheaper, Better
Methods now under development could make DNA sequencing quicker and less expensive, paving the way for the day when treatments can be tailored to each person's genetic profile.
- Materials Science
Taken for a Spin
Considering silk from the spider's perspective may offer the best chance of replicating these creatures' tough threads.
- Health & Medicine
A Gasping Heart
A common imperfection in the structure of the heart may exacerbate obstructive sleep apnea and, in mountaineers, trigger a life-threatening lung condition called high-altitude pulmonary edema.
- Tech
Pictures Posing Questions
Radical new forms of photography use computation to transcend the limits of traditional cameras.
- Earth
Fits and Starts
New data identify some factors that influence the highly variable flow rates of ice streams, the megaglaciers that carry most of Antarctica's ice to the sea.
- Animals
Honey, I Ate the Kids
Some of the most devoted parents in the animal kingdom routinely devour some of their own children.
