Feature
- Math
Navigating Celestial Currents
Mathematicians are creating an atlas of solar system highways along which spacecraft can coast using no fuel.
- Health & Medicine
The Race to Prescribe
Race-based medicine could be a stepping-stone to the higher goal of targeting medicines toward the genetics of individual patients, but some researchers are troubled by the implications of practicing medicine according to patients' racial identities.
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Code of Many Colors
Researchers have yet to find markers for race in the genome, but understanding the biology underlying perceptions of race could have dramatic social and personal consequences.
- Math
Manuscripts as Fossils
A new mathematical model estimates how many medieval manuscripts have survived to the present.
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Full Stem Ahead
Before stem cells can fulfill the promise of treating deadly diseases, problems with the cells' biology and government regulations limiting their use must be solved.
- Health & Medicine
Still Hungry?
New research indicates that diet and lifestyle can affect the body's production of a hunger hormone in ways that might unwittingly foster overeating.
- Astronomy
Too Darn Hot
A new theory of planet formation suggests that sizzling-hot Earths may be abundant throughout the galaxy and could soon be detected.
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Possible Worlds
A growing number of reports highlight imagination's pervasive influence on thinking, one example of which is the surprisingly large proportion of well-adjusted preschoolers who play with make-believe companions.
- Earth
A Whiff of Danger
Synthetic fragrance chemicals can inhibit the activity of molecules that cells depend on to eject harmful substances.
- Animals
Cops with Six Legs
Insects commit crimes against their colonies, and researchers are taking a closer look at how these six-legged criminals get punished.
- Physics
Primordial Nukes
The rocky remains of nuclear reactors that formed spontaneously in African uranium deposits 2 billion years ago are yielding striking new details about their operation as well as signs that a fundamental aspect of the universe may have once been stronger than it is today.
- Materials Science
Venetian Grinds
Venetian Renaissance artists, renowned for their vibrant colors, mixed powdered glass with their paints in an attempt to expand their palettes and create unique optical effects.
