Space
‘The Milky Way’ wants you to get to know your home in the universe
In a new ‘autobiography,’ the Milky Way tells its own story with the help of astrophysicist Moiya McTier.
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Cover Story
How to make recyclable plastics out of CO2 to slow climate change
Companies are turning atmospheric CO2 from smokestacks and landfills into plastics to shrink their carbon footprint.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Animals
Sea urchin skeletons’ splendid patterns may strengthen their structure
“Voronoi” geometric patterns found in sea urchin skeletons yield strong yet lightweight structures that could inspire the creation of new materials.
Notebook
Physics
Spiraling footballs wobble at one of two specific frequencies
Researchers simulated the path of a flying football to study how pigskins wobble and why they drift sideways.
Features
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A carbon footprint life cycle assessment can cut down on greenwashing
As companies try to reduce their carbon footprint, many are doing life cycle assessments to quantify the full carbon cost of their products.
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How Kenyans help themselves and the planet by saving mangrove trees
Communities in Kenya took action to restore their coastal mangrove forests, reaping economic and environmental benefits. Others are following suit.
More Stories from the September 10, 2022 issue
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EarthThe Arctic is warming even faster than scientists realized
The Arctic isn’t just heating up two to three times as quickly as the rest of the planet. New analyses show that warming is almost four times as fast.
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Particle Physics50 years ago, physicists got a whiff of what glues together protons
In 1972, particle smashups hinted at the gluon, which we now know not only holds together the innards of the proton, but also makes up more than a third of its mass.
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Health & MedicineThe first known monkeypox infection in a pet dog hints at spillover risk
A person passed monkeypox to a dog. Other animals might be next, allowing the virus to set up shop outside of Africa for the first time.
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SpaceOver time, Betelgeuse changed color. Now it’s also lost its rhythm
A recent upset to the star’s variability and ancient records that describe the red star as yellow tell a tale of a star that is no stranger to change.
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AnimalsHow slow and steady lionfish win the race against fast prey
Lionfish overcome speedy prey with persistent pursuit, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Other slow predatory fish may use the technique too.
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AnimalsRelocated beavers helped mitigate some effects of climate change
Along a river in Washington state, the repositioned beavers built dams that lowered stream temperatures and boosted water storage.
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EarthNot one, but two asteroids might have slain the dinosaurs
A craterlike structure found off West Africa’s coast might have been formed by an asteroid impact around the same time the dinosaurs went extinct.
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HumansWhy humans have more voice control than any other primates
Unlike all other studied primates, humans lack vocal membranes. That lets humans produce the sounds that language is built on, a new study suggests.
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NeuroscienceAn hour after pigs’ deaths, an artificial system restored cellular life
Sensors, pumps and artificial fluid staved off tissue damage in pigs after cardiac arrest. The system may one day preserve organs for transplantation.
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SpaceHow balloons could one day detect quakes on Venus
A new study opens the door for future balloon-based missions to study the geology of other worlds.
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CosmologyThe Windchime experiment could use gravity to hunt for dark matter ‘wind’
Though decades away, the project hopes to use an array of ultrasensitive sensors as a “wind chime,” jostled by dark matter blowing past Earth.
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LifeSea sponges launch slow-motion snot rockets to clean their pores
Sea sponges rely on a sneezing mechanism to clear their pores, using mucus to flush out debris. This mucus provides food for other marine life.
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ChemistryThese researchers are unlocking Renaissance beauty secrets
An art historian has teamed up with chemists to uncover the science behind cosmetics used around 500 years ago.