Science & Society
A new exhibit invites you to step into Jane Goodall’s life
“Becoming Jane” celebrates Jane Goodall’s life and pioneering chimpanzee research.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
After the Notre Dame fire, scientists get a glimpse of the cathedral’s origins
Researchers will tackle the scientific questions behind rebuilding Notre Dame, and learn more about its history.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Archaeology
Archaeologists have finally found ancient Egyptian wax head cones
Newly discovered wax caps are the first physical examples of apparel shown in many ancient Egyptian art works.
Notebook
Life
Fluid dynamics may help drones capture a dolphin’s breath in midair
High-speed footage of dolphin spray reveals that droplets blast upward at speeds approaching 100 kilometers per hour.
Features
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How to restore the legendary acoustics of Notre Dame
Using heritage acoustics, researchers hope to help restore the sound of Paris's Notre Dame cathedral.
More Stories from the January 18, 2020 issue
- Space
NASA’s Parker probe has spotted the Geminid meteor showers’ source
For the first time, we’ve spotted the trail of space debris responsible for the Geminid meteor shower.
- Climate
How the Arctic’s poor health affects everyday life
A new NOAA report features testimony from indigenous communities in Alaska who are weathering the impacts of Arctic warming.
- Earth
Flooding Earth’s atmosphere with oxygen may not have needed a triggering event
Building an oxygen-rich world doesn’t require volcanism, supercontinent breakups or the rise of land plants — just nutrient cycling, a study finds.
- Quantum Physics
A new, theoretical type of time crystal could run without outside help
The idea tiptoes closer to the original concept of time crystals, first proposed in 2012.
- Archaeology
A nearly 44,000-year-old hunting scene is the oldest known storytelling art
Cave art in Indonesia dating to at least 43,900 years ago is the earliest known storytelling art, and shows otherworldly human-animal hunters.
- Health & Medicine
Surplus chromosomes may fuel tumor growth in some cancers
Extra copies of some genes on excess chromosomes may keep cancer cells growing. Without those extras, cancer cells form fewer tumors in mice.
- Life
Prions clog cell traffic in brains with neurodegenerative diseases
Prions may derail cargo moving inside brain cells, perhaps contributing to cell death in prion diseases.
- Animals
Why some whales are giants and others are just big
Being big helps whales access more food. But how big a whale can get is influenced by whether it hunts for individual prey or filter-feeds.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum jitter lets heat travel across a vacuum
In a first, scientists observed tiny, vibrating membranes exchanging heat due to quantum fluctuations.
- Life
A single-celled protist reacts to threats in surprisingly complex ways
New research validates a century-old experiment that shows single-celled organisms are capable of complex “decision making.”
- Humans
An ancient outbreak of bubonic plague may have been exaggerated
Archaeological evidence suggests that an epidemic that occurred several centuries before the Black Death didn’t radically change European history.
- Humans
A gene tied to facial development hints humans domesticated themselves
Scientists may have identified a gene that ties together ideas about human evolution and animal domestication.
- Space
NASA’s MAVEN probe shows how wind circulates in Mars’ upper atmosphere
By using the MAVEN spacecraft to track winds in the Martian thermosphere, researchers hope to better understand how the atmosphere leaks into space.
- Earth
Debate over signs of early life inspires dueling teams to go to Greenland — together
The remote site — which may or may not contain evidence of the most ancient life on Earth — could help scientists plan how to study such signs on Mars.
- Space
The sterile moon may still hold hints of how life began on Earth
50 years ago, scientists found no signs of life on the moon. Today, lunar mission regulations may be relaxed in light of that fact.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists’ brains shrank a bit after an extended stay in Antarctica
The experience of an isolated, long-term mission at an Antarctic research station slightly shrunk a part of crew members’ brains, a small study finds.
