Life
‘Darwin’s Backyard’ chronicles naturalist’s homespun experiments
In the new book Darwin’s Backyard, a biologist explores Charles Darwin’s family life, as well as four decades’ worth of his at-home experiments.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
As Cassini’s tour of Saturn draws to a close, a look back at postcards from the probe
As Cassini prepares to plunge to its death, we celebrate the spacecraft's discoveries and breathtaking images of Saturn, its rings and moons.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Cosmology
Map reveals the invisible universe of dark matter
The Dark Energy Survey reports a new tally of the dark universe.
Notebook
Tech
50 years ago, NASA whipped up astronaut waste into rocket fuel
In 1967, scientists found a way to turn human waste into rocket fuel.
Features
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Birth control research is moving beyond the pill
After decades of research, reproductive biologists are on the verge of developing new birth control options that stop sperm from maturing or save a woman's eggs for later.
More Stories from the September 2, 2017 issue
- Anthropology
Ancient DNA offers clues to the Canaanites’ fate
DNA is painting a more detailed portrait of the ancient Canaanites, who have largely been studied through the secondhand accounts of their contemporaries.
- Space
Potential ingredient for alien life found on Titan
The atmosphere and oceans of Saturn’s moon Titan contain vinyl cyanide, a compound predicted to form cell-like bubbles.
- Materials Science
Diamond joins the realm of 2-D thin films, study suggests
Scientists squeezed graphene sheets into diamondene.
- Climate
South Asia could face deadly heat and humidity by the end of this century
If climate change is left unchecked, simulations show extreme heat waves in densely populated agricultural regions of India and Pakistan.
- Life
Light pollution can foil plant-insect hookups, and not just at night
Upsetting nocturnal pollinators has daylight after-effects for Swiss meadow flowers.
- Particle Physics
Neutrinos seen scattering off an atom’s nucleus for the first time
New type of interaction confirms that neutrinos play by the rules.
- Astronomy
The solar system’s earliest asteroids may have all been massive
A team of astronomers says the original asteroids all came in one size: extra large.
- Health & Medicine
Spread of misfolded proteins could trigger type 2 diabetes
Experiments in mice raise the question of whether type 2 diabetes might be transmissible.
- Particle Physics
Neutrino experiment may hint at why matter rules the universe
T2K experiment hints at an explanation for what happened to antimatter.
- Anthropology
Infant ape’s tiny skull could have a big impact on ape evolution
Fossil comes from a lineage that had ties to the ancestor of modern apes and humans, researchers argue.
- Genetics
The first look at how archaea package their DNA reveals they’re a lot like us
Archaea microbes spool their DNA much like plants and animals do.
- Genetics
Gene editing creates virus-free piglets
Pigs engineered to lack infectious viruses may one day produce transplant organs.
- Climate
Climate change is shifting when Europe’s rivers flood
Data spanning 50 years shows that today, floods come days, weeks, even months earlier in some areas and later in others.
- Paleontology
This ancient sea worm sported a crowd of ‘claws’ around its mouth
A newly discovered species of arrow worm that lived over half a billion years ago had about twice as many head spines as its modern kin.
- Astronomy
These chip-sized spacecraft are the smallest space probes yet
Space initiative dubbed Breakthrough Starshot sent the smallest spacecraft yet into orbit around Earth.
- Health & Medicine
One in three U.S. adults takes opioids, and many misuse them
More than a third of U.S. adults used prescription opioids in 2015, and nearly 13 percent of that group misused the painkillers in some way.
- Planetary Science
‘Death Dive to Saturn’ celebrates the Cassini probe’s accomplishments
A new documentary, “Death Dive to Saturn,” takes a look back at the Cassini spacecraft’s 13 years at Saturn and what to expect from its final days.
- Science & Society
How science has fed stereotypes about women
A new book, Inferior, shows how biased research branded women as inferior and aims to set the record straight.
