Feature
- Tech
Reinventing the Yo-Yo
No longer simple toys, today's pricey yo-yos sport high-tech features—such as ball bearing transaxles and precision string-snagging mechanisms—that permit dazzling new styles and complex tricks.
- Astronomy
Shades of Venus
On June 8, for the first time in 122 years, the silhouette of Venus will move across the face of the sun.
- Earth
Tales of the Undammed
Although destroying dams is often presumed to restore rivers, the results of such action are actually mixed, according to recent studies.
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Quite a Switch
Cells use ribonucleic acids that bind to small molecules such as vitamins to control gene activity.
- Anthropology
Monkey Business
They're pugnacious and clever, and they have complex social lives—but do capuchin monkeys actually exhibit cultural behaviors?
- Health & Medicine
All Roads Lead to RUNX
Genetic mutations that predispose some people to the autoimmune diseases lupus, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis appear to have a common molecular feature: They derail the work of a protein, called RUNX1, that regulates how active certain genes are.
- Materials Science
Forensics on Trial
A decades-long practice of matching bullets on the basis of their chemical makeup is flawed, and the story behind this forensic technique reveals how science can get distorted in the courtroom.
- Animals
The Social Lives of Snakes
A lot of pit vipers aren't the asocial loners that even snake fans had long assumed.
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Mother and Child Disunion
Data on extensive giveaways of daughters by their mothers in northern Taiwan a century ago may challenge influential theories of innate maternal sentiments.
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The Bad Seed
Researchers are racing to identify tumor-forming stem cells in skin, lung, pancreatic, and many other cancers.
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- Astronomy
Invisible Universe
X-ray astronomy opens a new window on the most energetic cosmic events.
