Humans
Our Final Invention
Computers already make all sorts of decisions for you. Imagine if the machines controlled even more aspects of life and could truly think for themselves.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Planetary Science
A grander canyon on Mars
Hebes Chasma, a huge trough on Mars, reflects the Red Planet’s tumultuous and varied past.
Notebook
Animals
The colorful lives of squid
Your calamari, it turns out, may have come from a temporary transvestite with rainbows in its armpits.
Features
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Quiet maximum
By almost any measure, this solar maximum has been pathetic. No more than 67 sunspots have appeared in a month so far; at the last peak, in 2000, that number was above 120.
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The bright side of sadness
Bad moods can have unappreciated mental upsides.
More Stories from the November 2, 2013 issue
- Psychology
Mental rotation gears up by age 5 for both boys and girls
Kid-friendly test suggests that the ability to visualize objects from different angles starts early.
- Life
Newfound biological clocks set by the moon
Two unrelated marine organisms have rhythms dictated by tides, lunar cycle.
- Neuroscience
An on-off switch for eating
By triggering or silencing certain brain cells, scientists can get mice to feed or stop feeding regardless of hunger.
- Animals
Centipede venom fights pain
Molecule from toxin makes mice less sensitive to pain, may work as well as morphine.
- Anthropology
Ancient farming populations went boom, then bust
Agriculture’s introduction led to big falls as well as rises in numbers of Europeans.
- Life
Engineered salivary glands keep juices flowing
Organs grown in a lab dish do their job when transplanted into mice.
- Neuroscience
Some grape-scented compounds repel mosquitoes
Molecules discovered to drive away bugs after researchers identify cells that detect, and are disgusted by, DEET.
- Planetary Science
Supervolcanoes once erupted on Mars
Giant eruptions billions of years ago left behind huge craters
- Genetics
Cancer variants found in ‘neglected’ region of genome
Mutations outside of genes associated with disease in study using data from a thousand people.
- Life
Blocking a hormone helps mice beat lengthy jet lag
A timekeeping brain molecule steadies the beat of the circadian clock, while stopping it allows for a quick reset.
- Psychology
Reading high-brow literature may aid in reading minds
Think of it as the bookworm’s bonus: People who read first-rate fiction become more socially literate, at least briefly, a new study suggests.
- Microbes
Microbes signal deceased’s time of death
In a study using mice, germs accompany the body’s decay in a consistent time sequence.
- Astronomy
Tiny sphere bends light like a black hole does
Previously seen at the megascale, gravitational lensing goes micro.
- Life
3-D printing builds bacterial metropolises
By simulating biofilms, new 3-D printing technique may help researchers study antibiotic resistance.
- Physics
Proton-boron nuclear fusion returns to spotlight
A technique can fuse nuclei without producing harmful neutrons, but it is far from being power plant–ready.
- Animals
Legless geckos slither using skin ridges
The animal's belly has flat rows of ripples that may help them wriggle.
- Health & Medicine
Old drug may have new trick
Parkinson’s medication helps mice with condition that mimics MS.
- Astronomy
Water seen in rubble around star
Hubble sees debris that was part of an asteroid with the ingredients for habitable planets.
- Particle Physics
Nobel’s sharp cuts
Gerald Guralnik was home when he learned online that physicists François Englert and Peter Higgs had won the Nobel Prize in physics for formulating the same theory he had proposed nearly 50 years ago.
- Planetary Science
Comet belt predicted near farthest planet
Observations have confirmed the existence of the Kuiper Belt, first proposed in 1963.
- Science & Society
Humans’ living creations put on display
The Center for PostNatural History, a museum that opened in 2012, features Freckles and other organisms altered by humans.
- Science & Society
2013 Nobels decades in the making
Prizes show that discovery takes inspiration plus perspiration.
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- Neuroscience
Brainy videos
A short film that uses humor and science to explain congenital anosmia has won the Society for Neuroscience’s 2013 Brain Awareness Video Contest.
- Physics
Oldest pitch-drop experiment
The allure of pitch — a black tarlike hydro-carbon by-product of distilling petroleum, wood or coal — comes from its split personality: It shatters from a quick hit with a hammer, but flows if set aside for long periods.
