Feature
- Health & Medicine
Vice Vaccines
Vaccines currently in development could give people a novel way to kick their addictions and lose weight.
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Well-Tooled Primates
People may have leaned on ancient primate-brain capacities to begin making stone tools by 2.5 million years ago, a transition that possibly spurred the development of language and other higher mental faculties.
- Materials Science
Savvy Skins
Researchers are developing new coatings that incorporate multiple functions, offer chemical reactivity, or act in response to stimuli in the environment.
- Earth
Sudden Chill
Today's combination of nuclear proliferation, political instability, and urban demographics increases the likelihood that humankind could suffer a devastating nuclear winter.
- Earth
Aquatic Non-Scents
Many common pollutants appear to be jeopardizing the survival of fish and other aquatic species by blunting their sense of smell.
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Perchance to Hibernate
As scientists work to unravel the secrets of mammalian hibernation, they're eyeing medical applications that could aid wounded soldiers, stroke victims, and transplant recipients, among others.
- Earth
Counterintuitive Toxicity
Toxicologists risk missing important health effects, both good and bad, if they don't begin regularly probing the impacts of very low doses of poisons.
- Humans
Weighing In on City Planning
Accumulating evidence suggests that urban sprawl discourages physical activity and may thereby contribute to obesity and related health problems.
- Computing
Digital Fingerprints
New methods to identify Internet users by their behavior can uncover criminals online, but these techniques may also track millions of innocent users.
- Physics
Cellular Contortionist
Mounting, but controversial, evidence suggests that DNA flexes more easily than previously thought, with potentially important implications for genetics, cell biology, and nanotechnology.
- Ecosystems
Most Bees Live Alone
Concern about honeybee shortages has inspired new interest in bees that lead solitary lives and don't bother storing honey.
- Astronomy
A New Spin
Using a flotilla of spacecraft to study X-ray emissions from the vicinity of black holes, astronomers are nudging ever closer to the whirlpool of activity surrounding these gravitational monsters.
