Vol. 200 No. 8
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More Stories from the November 6, 2021 issue

  1. Chemistry

    Ink analysis reveals Marie Antoinette’s letters’ hidden words and who censored them

    Chemical analyses of letters written by Marie Antoinette solve a French Revolution mystery: Who censored the queen?

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  2. Physics

    Whirling maple seeds inspired these tiny flying sensors

    Scientists envision that small objects modeled after maple tree whirligigs could be used to monitor the environment.

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  3. Earth

    This pictogram is one of the oldest known accounts of earthquakes in the Americas

    The Telleriano-Remensis, a famous codex written by a pre-Hispanic civilization, describes 12 quakes that rocked the Americas from 1460 to 1542.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    A custom brain implant lifted a woman’s severe depression

    An experimental device interrupts brain activity linked to a woman’s low mood. The technology, she said, has changed her lens on life.

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  5. Quantum Physics

    Scientists are one step closer to error-correcting quantum computers

    In a quantum computer made with trapped ions, multiple quantum bits were combined into one to detect mistakes.

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  6. Archaeology

    Dog DNA reveals ancient trade network connecting the Arctic to the outside world

    People in Siberia were exchanging canines and probably other goods as early as 7,000 years ago with cultures as far off as Europe and the Near East.

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  7. Genetics

    All identical twins may share a common set of chemical markers on their DNA

    Identical twins may share a set of unique chemical tags on their DNA that could be used to identify individuals who were conceived as identical twins.

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  8. Anthropology

    ‘Ghost tracks’ suggest people came to the Americas earlier than once thought

    Prehistoric people’s footprints show that humans were in North America during the height of the last ice age, researchers say.

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  9. Earth

    Earth is reflecting less light. It’s not clear if that’s a trend

    A decrease in Earth’s reflectance shows our planet is absorbing more solar radiation, but it’s not clear if the trend will last.

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  10. Neuroscience

    50 years ago, scientists were on the trail of ‘memory molecules’

    In the 1970s, scientists found the first “memory molecule.” Several other candidates have popped up in the decades since.

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  11. Science & Society

    Methods of getting results from real-world experiments win 2021 economics Nobel

    David Card, Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens share the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for developing a science of naturally occurring social studies.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Discovering how we sense temperature and touch wins the 2021 medicine Nobel Prize

    Finding sensors on nerve cells that detect temperature and pressure nets California scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian a Nobel Prize.

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  13. Chemistry

    An easier, greener way to build molecules wins the chemistry Nobel Prize

    Chemists Benjamin List and David MacMillan have sparked a whole new field that’s aided drug discovery and made chemistry more environmentally friendly.

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  14. Physics

    Work on complex systems, including Earth’s climate, wins the physics Nobel Prize

    Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann pioneered work on computer simulations of Earth’s climate. Giorgio Parisi found hidden patterns in disordered complex materials.

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