Life
Explore the history of blood from vampires to the ‘Menstrual Man’
Rose George’s book ‘Nine Pints’ offers readers an engaging and insightful cultural and scientific history of blood.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
Wildfires make their own weather, and that matters for fire management
Mathematical equations describing interactions between wildfires and the air around them help explain their power and destruction.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Animals
How math helps explain the delicate patterns of dragonfly wings
Scientists have found a mathematical explanation for the complex patterns on the wings of dragonflies and other insects.
Notebook
Tech
A sensor inspired by an African thumb piano could root out bogus medicines
An inexpensive, user-friendly device that’s based on an mbira could help identify counterfeit and contaminated medications.
Features
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How to make organ transplants last
New strategies aim to help transplant recipients keep their organs healthy with fewer (or no) immune suppressing drugs.
More Stories from the October 27, 2018 issue
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, the safety of artificial sweeteners was fiercely debated
Scientists are still learning more about the health effects of chemical sweeteners
- Physics
Nuclear pasta in neutron stars may be the strongest material in the universe
Simulations suggest that the theoretical substance known as nuclear pasta is 10 billion times as strong as steel.
- Life
Here’s how clumps of honeybees may survive blowing in the wind
Honeybees clumped on trees may adjust their positions to keep the cluster together when it’s jostled by wind, a new study suggests.
- Neuroscience
Over-the-hill cells may cause trouble in the aging brain
Killing dormant cells in the brains of mice staved off memory trouble.
- Life
DNA from seized elephant ivory unmasks 3 big trafficking cartels in Africa
Scientists can sleuth out wildlife crime and aid law enforcement by tracing elephant DNA from ivory seizures back to the source.
- Genetics
In lab tests, this gene drive wiped out a population of mosquitoes
For the first time, a gene drive caused a population crash of mosquitoes in a small-scale test.
- Neuroscience
A paralyzed man makes great strides with spinal stimulation and rehab
Researchers find success at restoring movement to paralyzed legs, giving hope to people with paraplegia.
- Animals
This new fish species displays a splash of highlighter hues
Researchers stumbled upon a new species of coral reef fish with spectacular coloration and a unique habitat.
- Health & Medicine
A new vaccine raises hopes of someday curbing the tuberculosis epidemic
A new vaccine for those infected, but not sick, with tuberculosis reduced new active cases by 54 percent, compared with those given a placebo.
- Tech
Fiberglass-spinning robots could be construction workers of the future
A team of fiberglass-spinning robots could create tubing to help build bridges, buildings or other structures.
- Animals
Manta rays have an unusual mouth filter that resists clogging
Manta rays filter feed differently than other ocean creatures.
- Neuroscience
Survey raises worries about how screen time affects kids’ brains
A large study of U.S. children ties lots of screen time to lower thinking skills, but the relationship between the two is still unclear.
- Archaeology
Laser mapping shows the surprising complexity of the Maya civilization
A large-scale lidar survey of Guatemalan forests reveals evidence of ancient, interconnected Maya cities.
- Astronomy
We may not have found aliens yet because we’ve barely begun looking
A new calculation says SETI searches have combed the equivalent of a hot tub out of Earth’s oceans looking for extraterrestrial intelligence in space.
- Particle Physics
Hints of weird particles from space may defy physicists’ standard model
Signals from the ANITA experiment don’t square with the properties of elementary particles cataloged in the standard model.
- Plants
Gene editing can speed up plant domestication
CRISPR/Cas9 replays domestication to make better ground cherries and tomatoes.
- Health & Medicine
Discovery of how to prod a patient’s immune system to fight cancer wins a Nobel
Two scientists share the 2018 medicine Nobel for identifying proteins that act as brakes on tumor-fighting T cells.
- Physics
Dazzling laser feats earn these physicists a Nobel
The 2018 Nobel Prize in physics went to scientists — including the third-ever female winner — who made optical tweezers and boosted the strength of laser pulses.
- Animals
Giraffes inherit their spots from their mothers
Africa’s tallest creatures get their characteristic patterns of spots from their moms, a new study finds.
- Astronomy
Hubble may have spotted the first known exomoon
A single sighting with the Hubble Space Telescope seems to confirm that there’s a Neptune-sized moon orbiting exoplanet Kepler 1625b.
- Chemistry
Speeding up evolution to create useful proteins wins the chemistry Nobel
The three winners, which include the fifth woman to win the chemistry prize, pioneered techniques used to fashion customized proteins for new biofuels and drugs.
- Physics
A new ultrafast laser emits pulses of light 30 billion times a second
A new technique allows lasers to pulsate at a higher rate than ever before.
- Climate
Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees versus 2 has big benefits, the IPCC says
A new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change compares the impact of warming targets on extreme weather, sea level rise and habitat loss.
- Science & Society
The economics of climate change and tech innovation win U.S. pair a Nobel
Climate change and tech innovations inspired the new Nobel Memorial Prize winners in Economic Sciences.
