Science Selections

A couple of articles about Apple's decision not to grant the F.B.I.'s request to help access the data on a terrorist's iPhone.

Orders of Magnitude. Extreme numbers: The unimaginably large and small pop up in recent experiments. By Kevin Knudson.

What happens when LIGO texts you to say it's detected one of Einstein's predicted gravitational waves? By Chad Hanna.

Understanding intense learning during childhood suggests strategies for correcting disorders later in life. By Takao K. Hensch.

Ant colonies have no central control. Understanding this might help us understand other systems that have no leader... Deborah M. Gordon.

Anti Gravity. The Ongoing Search for Fundamental Farces column by Steve Mirsky. 3x equals an omelet. Math can be fun for readers of all h's.

Nonhuman species can seem to comprehend procreation, but even apes lack the cognitive traits to truly understand. By Holly Dunsworth.

Every credible plan to cut global warming hinges on carbon-trapping playing a major role. That doesn't seem likely. By David Biello.

Where Am I? Where Am I Going? Scientists are discovering how the brain navigates. By May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser.

It's a wonder English ever caught on, said John McWhorter, because it's weirder than just about every other tongue.

The End of Work? When robots start doing all the work, what will be left for humans? By Ji Shisan.

What Killed the Dinosaurs? The asteroid strike was bad. The timing was worse. By Stephen Brusatte.

Grudges between three astronomer teams threaten the survival of ground-based astronomy's boldest, biggest projects. By Katie Worth.

Before we can share our lives with machines, we must teach them to understand and mimic human emotion. By Pascale Fung.

Every infant is a natural-born linguist capable of mastering any of the world's 7,000 languages like a native. By Patricia K. Kuhl.

The ambitious new Dark Energy Survey aims to solve the riddle of why space is expanding at an ever faster pace. By Joshua Frieman.

The construction of Egypt's most famous monument spawned a social organization that changed the world. By Zach Zorich.

As a massive El Nino builds in the Pacific Ocean, researchers hope to make the most of the chance to study it. By Quirin Schiermeier.

City leaders across the Americas are exploiting science to reduce homicide. By Rodrigo Guerrero Velasco.

Sleep On It! Your nightly rest turns out to affect your mind and health more than anyone suspected. By Robert Stickgold.