Math
‘Once Upon a Prime’ finds the hidden math in literature
In her new book, mathematician Sarah Hart explains how math shapes all sorts of literary works, from nursery rhymes to Moby-Dick.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
New discoveries are bringing the world of pterosaurs to life
The latest clues hint at where pterosaurs — the first vertebrates to fly — came from, how they evolved, what they ate and more.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Animals
These transparent fish turn rainbow with white light. Now, we know why
Repeated structures in the ghost catfish’s muscles separate white light that passes through their bodies into different wavelengths.
Notebook
Planetary Science
Venus has almost 50 times as many volcanoes as previously thought
Where are there NOT volcanoes on Venus? A new map of the planet unveils a veritable volcanic bonanza.
Features
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The Sonoran Desert toad can alter your mind — it’s not the only animal
Their psychedelic and other potentially mind-bending compounds didn't evolve to give people a trip.
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Octopuses and squid are masters of RNA editing while leaving DNA intact
Modifications to RNA could explain the intelligence and flexibility of shell-less cephalopods.
More Stories from the May 6, 2023 issue
- Chemistry
Here’s why some Renaissance artists egged their oil paintings
Some Renaissance artists created eggs-quisite paintings by adding yolks to oil paints, which may have helped add texture and prevent yellowing.
- Life
How some beetles ‘drink’ water using their butts
Red flour beetles, a major agricultural pest, suck water out of the air using special cells in their rear ends, a new study suggests.
- Neuroscience
Scientists triggered the flow of spinal fluid in the awake brain
If future studies confirm these waking waves wash away toxic proteins from the brain, the finding could lead to new treatments for brain disorders.
- Health & Medicine
A new battery starves cancer cells of oxygen in mice
When a self-charging battery is placed on a mouse’s tumor and combined with anticancer drugs, it reduced tumor size by 90 percent.
- Animals
Freshwater leeches’ taste for snails could help control snail-borne diseases
A freshwater leech species will eat snails, raising the possibility that leeches could be used to control snail-borne diseases that infect humans and livestock.
- Anthropology
Native Americans corralled Spanish horses decades before Europeans arrived
Great Plains groups incorporated domestic horses into their cultures by the early 1600s, before Europeans moved north from Mexico.
- Physics
The W boson might not be heavier than expected after all
A new and improved look at the mass of the W boson is in close alignment with theory, but it doesn’t negate an earlier, controversial measurement.
- Animals
The last leg of the longest butterfly migration has now been identified
After a long journey across the Sahara, painted lady butterflies from Europe set up camp in central Africa to wait out winter and breed.
- Oceans
‘Jet packs’ and ultrasounds could reveal secrets of pregnant whale sharks
Only one pregnant whale shark has ever been studied. New underwater techniques using ultrasound and blood tests could change that.
- Climate
Baseball’s home run boom is due, in part, to climate change
Higher air temperatures led to an average of 58 more home runs each MLB season from 2010 to 2019, a study shows.
- Animals
Hibernating bears don’t get blood clots. Now scientists know why
People who sit still for hours have an increased risk of blood clots, but hibernating bears and people with long-term immobility don’t. A key clotting protein appears to be the reason why.
- Astronomy
The first black hole portrait got sharper thanks to machine learning
A machine learning technique filled in data gaps in the image of M87’s black hole, resulting in a thinner ring.
- Animals
This sea cucumber shoots sticky tubes out of its butt. Its genes hint at how
A new genetics study is providing a wealth of information about silky, sticky tubes, called the Cuvierian organ, that sea cucumbers use to tangle foes.
- Planetary Science
Saturn’s icy rings are probably heating its atmosphere, giving it an ultraviolet glow
Detecting similar emission from a distant world could help astronomers find other planets that boast bright and beautiful rings.
- Space
50 years ago, cosmic rays may have caused Apollo astronauts to see lights
Apollo astronauts reported seeing flashes of light where there were none. Fifty years later, the flashes still mess with modern astronauts’ vision.
