Animals
‘Phallacy’ deflates myths about the penises of the animal kingdom
By touring nature’s many penises, Phallacy author Emily Willingham puts the human organ in its place.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
Giant lasers help re-create supernovas’ explosive, mysterious physics
For the first time, scientists have re-created a type of shock wave that occurs in supernovas.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Life
A glowing zebrafish wins the 2020 Nikon Small World photography contest
The annual competition features snapshots that use microscopy to reveal some of Earth’s smallest hidden marvels.
Notebook
Astronomy
Turning space images into music makes astronomy more accessible
Music created from telescope data helps people with blindness and visual impairments experience the wonders of astronomy, and could aid research.
Features
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How passion, luck and sweat saved some of North America’s rarest plants
As the list of plants no longer found in the wild grows, botanists and conservationists search for signs of hope — and sometimes get lucky.
More Stories from the November 7, 2020 issue
- Space
A new moon radiation measurement may help determine health risks to astronauts
China's lunar lander measured radiation at the moon’s surface, finding the daily dose is 2.6 times as high as inside the International Space Station.
- Animals
A beaked whale’s nearly four-hour-long dive sets a new record
The animals may rely on large stores of oxygen, a slow metabolism and the ability to tolerate lactic acid to go for hours without surfacing for air.
- Tech
A new thermometer measures temperature with sound
An acoustic thermometer takes temperature by listening to the faint hum that objects give off when they get hot.
- Microbes
50 years ago, scientists suspected microbes flourished in clouds
In 1970, scientists presented early evidence that microbes in clouds may be alive and kicking.
- Life
A new map shows where Asian giant hornets could thrive in the U.S.
Suitable habitat along the Pacific West Coast means so-called “murder hornets” could get a foothold in North America if they aren’t eradicated.
- Space
EHT data show turbulence makes the glowing ring around M87’s black hole wobble
Event Horizon Telescope data spanning nearly a decade reveal that the appearance of the supermassive black hole inside galaxy M87 changes over time.
- Space
A ‘lake’ on Mars may be surrounded by more pools of water
Radar data hint at patches of liquid water beneath Martian polar ice, but some urge caution in interpreting results.
- Physics
Fundamental constants place a new speed limit on sound
Physicists propose a new maximum rate that sound waves can travel under conditions normally found on Earth — 36 kilometers per second.
- Environment
How planting 70 million eelgrass seeds led to an ecosystem’s rapid recovery
The study is a blueprint for restoration efforts that capitalize on seagrass habitats’ capacity to store carbon and that can be replicated elsewhere.
- Animals
Glowing blue helps shield this tardigrade from harmful ultraviolet light
Tardigrades have a newly discovered trick up their sleeve: fluorescence.
- Paleontology
Cannibalism in the womb may have helped megalodon sharks become giants
The ancient sea terror Otodus megalodon may have grown to at least 14 meters long thanks to a firstborn pup’s predatory behavior, some researchers say.
- Physics
Black hole revelations win the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics
The Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to a trio of scientists for their work on the most mysterious objects in the universe: black holes.
- Health & Medicine
Hepatitis C discoveries win 2020 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine
The 2020 medicine Nobel recognizes work that found that a novel virus was to blame for chronic hepatitis and led to a test to screen blood donations.
- Genetics
Gene-editing tool CRISPR wins the chemistry Nobel
A gene-editing tool developed just eight years ago that has “revolutionized the life sciences” nabbed the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
