Science & Society
These are our favorite science books of 2018
Science News writers and editors pick which science books were this year’s must-reads.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
Half a degree stole the climate spotlight in 2018
Climate attribution studies and new data on global warming targets put climate change in the spotlight this year.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Earth
Erosion has erased most of Earth’s impact craters. Here are the survivors
Earth’s largest known impact crater measures 160 kilometers in diameter. The newest, yet to be confirmed, stretches a still-whopping 31 kilometers.
Notebook
Animals
Wombats are the only animals whose poop is a cube. Here’s how they do it.
The elasticity of wombats’ intestines helps the creatures shape their distinctive poops.
Features
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Top 10 stories of 2018: Climate change, gene-edited babies, hidden craters and more
2018 was a year all about impact — on the planet, on solving crimes, on mosquito populations, on reversing paralysis, and more.
More Stories from the December 22, 2018 issue
- Astronomy
These 2018 findings could be big news — if they turn out to be true
Discoveries about fossils, the Big Bang and more could shake up the scientific world – if they turn out to be true.
- Astronomy
50 years ago, astronauts orbited the moon for the first time
Apollo 8 launched on December 21, 1968, with three astronauts on board, making 10 revolutions around the moon — the first manned lunar orbits.
- Science & Society
The #MeToo movement shook up workplace policies in science
In the #MeToo era, the scientific community is confronting its own sexual harassment problems and looking to research for solutions.
- Astronomy
2018 was a busy year in space
This year, some missions started exploring the cosmos, while others were winding down.
- Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is mastering a wider variety of jobs than ever before
In 2018, AI bested humans at following fauna, diagnosing disease, mapping the moon and more.
- Science & Society
What will be the big science stories of 2019? Here are our predictions
From black hole insights to the future of self-driving cars to figuring out what it means to be human, 2019 will be a big year in science.
- Climate
Development near natural areas puts more Californians in the path of wildfires
As urbanization extends its reach into once-natural areas, more homes and people are at risk from wildfires.
- Archaeology
A Bronze Age game called 58 holes was found chiseled into stone in Azerbaijan
A newly discovered rock pattern suggests that the game traveled fast from the Near East to Eurasia thousands of years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Small doses of peanut protein can turn allergies around
After a year of careful peanut protein exposure, most kids in a clinical trial could tolerate the equivalent of two large peanuts.
- Animals
Hemp fields offer a late-season pollen source for stressed bees
Colorado’s legal fields of low-THC cannabis can attract a lot of bees.
- Life
Gut bacteria may guard against diabetes that comes with aging
A friendly microbe in the gut may be the key to staving off insulin resistance, a study in mice finds.
- Archaeology
A Bronze Age tomb in Israel reveals the earliest known use of vanilla
Residue of the aromatic substance in 3 jugs dates to around 3,600 years ago.
- Planetary Science
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover will look for ancient life in a former river delta
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover is going to Jezero crater, the site of an ancient river delta that may harbor signs of life.
- Particle Physics
Physicists finally calculated where the proton’s mass comes from
New study indicates that the proton is much more than just the sum of its parts.
- Paleontology
This huge plant eater thrived in the age of dinosaurs — but wasn’t one of them
A newly named plant-eater from the Late Triassic was surprisingly hefty.
- Plants
Cactus spine shapes determine how they stab victims
The shapes of cactus spines influence how they poke passersby.
- Animals
Mosquitoes may surf winds above Africa more than we realized
More than 40 meters up, balloon traps in Mali caught females of malaria-spreading mosquito species.
- Climate
Half the world’s annual rain falls in just 12 days
Climate change could shorten the time it takes for the world to receive half its annual precipitation from 12 days to 11 by 2100.
- Health & Medicine
A patch studded with tiny needles may help heart attack survivors recover
A bandage that sticks to the surface of the heart exudes proteins and other molecules that help muscle cells grow.
- Health & Medicine
Kids born in August are diagnosed with ADHD more than kids born in September
August-born kids have higher rates of ADHD diagnosis than kids born in September in U.S. states with a September 1 cutoff for starting kindergarten.
- Neuroscience
Zaps to a certain spot in the brain may ease depression
When implanted electrodes stimulated a brain region just behind the eyes, people’s spirits were raised immediately.
- Archaeology
Stone-tool makers reached North Africa and Arabia surprisingly early
Ancient Homo species spread advances in toolmaking far beyond East Africa.
- Archaeology
Stone Age people conquered the Tibetan Plateau’s thin air
Stone tools that are at least 30,000 years old suggest that people settled the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau earlier than scientists thought.
- Anthropology
Human smarts got a surprisingly early start
Human ingenuity began on treks across Asia and in fluctuating African habitats.
- Planetary Science
A buried lake on Mars excited and baffled scientists
Planetary scientists are still trying to explain how a lake could have formed beneath a kilometer and a half of Martian ice.
- Neuroscience
Zapping the spinal cord helped paralyzed people learn to move again
A handful of people paralyzed from spinal cord injuries have learned to walk again.
- Health & Medicine
Drinking studies muddied the waters around the safety of alcohol use
Studies claiming that alcohol in even small amounts is dangerous weren’t designed to address risks of moderate drinking.
- Animals
Humans wiped out mosquitoes (in one small lab test)
An early lab test of exterminating a much-hated mosquito raises hopes, but is it really such a great idea?
- Earth
Greenland crater renewed the debate over an ancient climate mystery
Scientists disagree on what a possible crater found under Greenland’s ice means for the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis.
- Particle Physics
Neutrino discovery launched a new type of astronomy
Particles associated with a blazar kick-start the field of neutrino astronomy.
- Genetics
Crime solvers embraced genetic genealogy
DNA searches of a public genealogy database are closing cases and opening privacy concerns.
- Genetics
News of the first gene-edited babies ignited a firestorm
A researcher in China announced he created two babies using CRISPR. Many scientists questioned the study’s ethics and medical necessity.
- Health & Medicine
E-cigarettes caught fire among teens
High schoolers’ use of e-cigarettes shot up from 2017 to 2018, and public health officials are concerned that a new generation is at risk for nicotine addiction.
- Tech
A new airplane uses charged molecules, not propellers or turbines, to fly
A small aircraft prototype is powered by ionic wind flowing in one direction and pushing the plane in the other.
