Science & Society
‘The Light Ages’ illuminates the science of the so-called Dark Ages
In telling the story of a monk who contributed to astronomy, a new book shows that science didn’t take a break during the Middle Ages.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
How the Earth-shaking theory of plate tectonics was born
Plate tectonics explains many of Earth’s geologic wonders and natural hazards — and may hold clues to the evolution of life.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Space
This new image reveals a sunspot in unrivaled detail
An image taken by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope — the largest solar observatory on Earth — provides the best look yet at a sunspot.
Notebook
Neuroscience
Lonely brains crave people like hungry brains crave food
After hours of isolation, dopamine-producing cells in the brain fire up in response to pictures of humans, showing our social side runs deep.
Features
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How schools can reduce excessive discipline of Black students
Black middle and high school students miss four times as much school as white children due to suspensions. What can be done to shrink the gap?
More Stories from the January 16, 2021 issue
- Environment
Plastics are showing up in the world’s most remote places, including Mount Everest
From the snow on Mount Everest to the guts of critters in the Mariana Trench, tiny fragments called microplastics are almost everywhere.
- Animals
A face mask may turn up a male wrinkle-faced bat’s sex appeal
The first-ever scientific observations of a wrinkle-faced bat’s courtship shows that, when flirting, the males raise their white furry face coverings.
- Physics
Newton’s groundbreaking Principia may have been more popular than previously thought
A search has uncovered over 300 copies of Isaac Newton’s famous 17th century book, the Principia, revealing a broader readership than assumed.
- Earth
An enormous supervolcano may be hiding under Alaskan islands
A geologic game of connect the dots reveals hints that Mount Cleveland, the Aleutians’ most active volcano, may sit on a giant undersea crater.
- Earth
In the past 15 years, climate change has transformed the Arctic
Accumulating evidence and new tools have helped scientists better understand how the Arctic is changing, but the pace has been faster than expected.
- Animals
Small, quiet crickets turn leaves into megaphones to blare their mating call
A carefully crafted leaf can double the volume of a male tree cricket’s song, helping it compete with larger, louder males for females.
- Earth
Towering fire-fueled thunderclouds can spew as many aerosols as volcanic eruptions
A massive plume of smoke lofted into the stratosphere during Australia’s fires may represent a new class of “volcanic-scale” pyrocumulonimbus clouds.
- Life
A newfound feathered dinosaur sported fuzz and weird rods on its shoulders
A Brazilian dinosaur with stiffened pairs of ribbonlike feathers emerging from the shoulders is unlike any found before.
- Archaeology
Ancient people may have survived desert droughts by melting ice in lava tubes
Bands of charcoal from fires lit long ago, found in an ice core from a New Mexico cave, correspond to five periods of drought over 800 years.
- Animals
Using comb-shaped teeth, Baikal seals feed on tiny crustaceans like whales do
Seals in Lake Baikal use comb-shaped teeth to catch scores of amphipods, a study finds. The diet may be behind the seals’ relative success.
- Physics
50 years ago, scientists poked holes in the existence of polywater
In 1971, scientists were casting doubt on an anomalous form of water. Fifty years later, water’s odd properties are still mysterious.
- Climate
‘The New Climate War’ exposes tactics of climate change ‘inactivists’
In his new book, climate scientist Michael Mann draws the battle lines for a new phase of the struggle against climate change denialism.
- Humans
Ancient humans may have deliberately voyaged to Japan’s Ryukyu Islands
Satellite-tracked buoys suggest that long ago, a remote Japanese archipelago was reached by explorers on purpose, not accidentally.
- Animals
Giant pandas may roll in horse poop to feel warm
By coating themselves in fresh horse manure, wild giant pandas may be seeking a chemical in the poop that inhibits a cold-sensing protein.
- Astronomy
Enormous X-ray bubbles balloon from the center of the Milky Way
Images from the the eROSITA telescope reveal X-ray–emitting blobs surrounding gamma-ray bubbles.
- Animals
Plastic waste forms huge, deadly masses in camel guts
Eating plastic isn’t just a sea animal problem. Researchers found suitcase-sized masses of plastic in dromedaries’ guts in the United Arab Emirates.
- Animals
A highly contagious face cancer may not wipe out Tasmanian devils after all
Devil facial tumor disease has killed so many Tasmanian devils that it was feared they would die out. But a new analysis finds its spread is slowing.
- Planetary Science
China is about to collect the first moon rocks since the 1970s
The robotic Chang’e-5 mission, which landed on an unexplored region of the moon December 1, aims to gather samples and return them to Earth.
- Sponsored Content
Conversations with Maya: Monika Schleier-Smith
