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Life

The next wave of bird flu could be worse than ever

Deadly bird flu can pass between ferrets through the air.

Tech

50 years ago, engineers tried catching commercial planes in nets

Fifty years ago, aviation experts tried helping commercial aircraft come to a stop during landing by catching them in massive nets. The idea crash-landed for commercial flights, but it’s still used in the military.

Life

The physics of mosquito takeoffs shows why you don’t feel a thing

Even when full of blood, mosquitoes use more wing force than leg force to escape a host undetected — clue to why they’re so good at spreading disease.

Health & Medicine

Animal study reveals how a fever early in pregnancy can cause birth defects

Using chicken embryos, study shows that heat itself, not an infectious agent, is the driving factor behind certain heart and facial birth defects.

Artificial Intelligence

The newest AlphaGo mastered the game with no human input

AlphaGo Zero is the first AI system of its kind to learn the game just by playing against itself.

Science & Society

Conspiring with engineers helps make science great

Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill says the passion to acquire knowledge and apply it lives in both engineers and scientists.

Particle Physics

Readers question photons colliding, black sea snakes and more

Readers had questions about brain flexibility, black sea snakes and photon collisions.

Animals

Being a vampire can be brutal. Here’s how bloodsuckers get by.

Blood-sucking animals have specialized physiology and other tools to live on a diet rich in protein and lacking in some nutrients.

Astronomy

Here’s what space toilets can teach us about finding signs of alien life

Lessons learned from flushing space toilets can help researchers plan life-hunting missions to icy moons.

Earth

How volcanoes may have ended the dynasty of Ptolemy and Cleopatra

Volcanic ash in polar ice reveal a link between eruptions and the timing of revolts in Cleopatra’s Egypt.

Tech

This stretchy implant could help kids avoid repeated open-heart surgeries

A new type of surgical implant grows along with its recipient.

Oceans

Here’s a breakdown of the animals that crossed the Pacific on 2011 tsunami debris

Hundreds of marine animals from Japan have washed up on U.S. beaches since the destructive 2011 earthquake and tsunami.