Space
Here’s how citizen scientists can help during the 2024 solar eclipse
The sun will be near the peak of its activity cycle during the eclipse on April 8, 2024, making it a great time to crowdsource solar research.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
Flint grapples with the mental health fallout from the water disaster
The water crisis started almost a decade ago. Residents of Flint, Mich., are still healing from the disaster — and caring for their own.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Life
The inside of a rat’s eye won the 2023 Nikon Small World photo contest
The annual competition puts the spotlight on science and nature in all its smallest glory.
Notebook
Health & Medicine
50 years ago, scientists suspected that lost sense of smell could be restored
Cells responsible for humans’ sense of smell can regenerate. Now, research spurred on by the pandemic could help answer questions about the process.
More Stories from the November 18, 2023 issue
- Planetary Science
In a first, astronomers spot the afterglow of an exoplanet collision
A surge of infrared light from a remote star might have been a glow cast by the vaporized leftovers of an impact between Neptune-sized worlds.
- Physics
How quantum ‘squeezing’ will help LIGO detect more gravitational waves
An upgrade to LIGO that comes from exploiting a quantum rule known as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle makes it easier to detect spacetime ripples.
- Animals
Fake fog, ‘re-skinning’ and ‘sea-weeding’ could help coral reefs survive
Coral reefs are in global peril, but scientists around the world are working hard to find ways to help them survive the Anthropocene.
- Animals
At the foot of a melting glacier in Peru, llamas helped revitalize the land
A partnership between scientists and farmers suggests how llama herding can mitigate some of the impacts of climate change.
- Health & Medicine
Newly identified stem cells can lure breast cancer to the spine
A new type of stem cell discovered in mice and humans might explain why cancer that spreads to other body parts preferentially targets the spine.
- Health & Medicine
Brain tissue may be fuel for marathon runners
Myelin, fatty tissue that insulates nerve cells in the brain, may be a renewable energy source for marathon runners and other endurance athletes.
- Astronomy
Astronomers call for renaming the Magellanic Clouds
Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is not a fitting namesake for the pair of satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, a group of scientists argues.
- Archaeology
Neandertals hunted cave lions at least 48,000 years ago
A new study reports the first direct evidence of Neandertals slaying the big cats, and the earliest evidence of any hominids killing a large predator.
- Animals
Scientists debunked a long-standing cicada myth by analyzing their guts
The lack of obvious chewing mouthparts may have made casual observers think that adult cicadas don’t need to feed. But that’s not the case.
- Health & Medicine
Blocking an aging-related enzyme may restore muscle strength
Treating old mice with a drug that inhibits a “gerozyme” restored muscle strength, which can diminish with aging.
- Life
Faking death lets some female frogs slip the mating grip of a male
Suddenly looking dead, grunting like a guy or vigorously rotating can help female frogs survive mating balls in species with aggressively grabby males.
- Anthropology
Surprisingly long-lived wild female chimps go through menopause
Chimpanzees in Uganda are the first known example of wild, nonhuman primates experiencing the hormonal changes, raising questions about how menopause evolved.
