6. The Beauty of Numbers in Nature: Mathematical Patterns and Principles from the Natural WorldBy Ian StewartThe prolific and engaging mathematician uncovers formulas underpinning everything from mountains to music in a fun read. 7. The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the WorldBy Anthony Brandt and David EaglemanNeuroscientist Eagleman and composer Brandt explore the many manifestations of our most unique trait. 8. The Archipelago of Hope: Wisdom and Resilience From the Edge of Cli ...read more

River floods can have a huge impact on the surrounding lands. Overflows can be harmful not just to local wildlife populations, but to human communities across the globe. Effects from climate change are on the rise, making it more important than ever to understand changes in seasonal flooding patterns. A study recently published in Science looked at data from more than 4,200 observational hydrometric stations in Europe over the past 50 years, and picked out some noticeable patterns. For example, ...read more

Researchers have partially hidden Earth’s largest life-form behind a small protective fence. On a cold, sunny October day, I travel with Paul Rogers, an ecologist at Utah State University, to see the largest known living organism on Earth. The creature resides in the high mountains of southern Utah on public land. It’s a 106-acre aspen stand named Pando — literally, “I spread,” in Latin. Linked by a single root system, Pando consists of tens of thousands of gen ...read more

For more than a century, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has exhibited exotic specimens from around the world. But recently that global focus has shifted, as biologists recognize that LA itself is among the planet’s most diverse ecosystems. A new Urban Nature Research Center is enlisting citizen scientists to catalog species that they find in their backyards, from spiders to squirrels. Their goal is to better understand how biodiversity is affected by urbanization and glob ...read more

High HDL levels don’t always mean a lower risk of heart attack. Open the freezer in the laboratory across the hall from Annabelle Rodriguez’s office at the University of Connecticut Health Center, and you will find rows of miniature fluid-filled vials, many of them holding tiny strands of DNA. For the past 13 years, Rodriguez, a physician-scientist in the university’s Center for Vascular Biology, has kept her eye on one particular gene in those DNA strands that is integral ...read more

“It’s always been hard in theory to build from pebble-sized chunks that will naturally form out of the solar nebula, up to things that are tens of miles or hundreds of miles across,” says New Horizons scientist John Spencer at the Southwest Research Institute. In computer models, these objects tend to destroy each other when they collide. Astronomers are starting to suspect that the pebbles mixed with gas in the early solar system and then clumped together, growing from pebbles ...read more

At the meeting, Patel, Prince and Saxena made a strong case that there was enough scientific evidence and enough need for discussion that a special issue on mental illnesses was warranted. Horton agreed. “My feeling was the time had come,” he recalls. “Global mental health was totally ignored. It was very clear we needed to jump in and seize this opportunity.” Still, while they had an idea of the global impact of mental disorders, in 2005 research on diagnosis and treatme ...read more

A toxic fungus infects crops eaten across the developing world. Scientists are engineering a solution. More than 10,000 years ago, somewhere in the Andean foothills between Argentina and Bolivia, two wild legume species mixed, probably with the help of some pollinating bees. Their offspring was atypical — a freak of nature that couldn’t remix with its wild ancestors and cousins. The freak plant continued to evolve, first on its own, and then by selection as farmers domesticated ...read more

1. With territories stretching from Arctic ice to south of the equator, the eight members of Ursidae include the planet’s largest land predators — and a seriously sketchy family tree. 2. For decades, researchers have struggled to chart the evolution of bears. A genomic analysis published in Scientific Reports in April explained why: Gene flow between different species is common and can result in fertile hybrids. 3. You may have heard about pizzlies and grolars, the offspring of grizz ...read more

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