Africa’s Great Divide
—Erin Biba
A giant superplume of primordial gases is tearing Africa apart.
Don’t Put the “Pee” in Pool
—Carrie Arnold
This study reports the little-known health risks of urinating in a swimming pool.
A Network That Never Goes Down
—Corinne Iozzio
Check out this Web site for more info on the widespread creation of reliable emergency cellular networks.
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Street-Legal Robots
—Corrine Iozzio
California has laid out new laws for driverless cars.
Know the Jargon: Unnatural Base Pairs
—David Biello
Read up on life’s expanded genetic alphabet in Nature. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.)
Pterosaur Tech
—Annie Sneed
Military-funded paleontologist Michael Habib envisions pterosaur-inspired technologies.
5 National Landmarks Threatened by Climate Change
—Annie Sneed
Climate change threatens many more national landmarks, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Foliage Friendships
—Peter Andrey Smith
Forget about the Human Microbiome Project—researchers have moved on to measuring plants’ microbial communities.
Rendezvous with a Comet
—Clara Moskowitz
Read about the Rosetta spacecraft’s voyage here.
Top-Down Control
—Jason G. Goldman
Megafauna extinctions are more than sentimental losses—they even harm human health, a study in PNAS reports.
Why Babies Forget
—Annie Sneed
Don’t worry, it’s probably a good thing you can’t remember your early childhood, according to a study in Science.
