In The News
Features
8
5 STORY ONE
s NASA mission confirms that
Earth drags spacetime
8 ATOM & COSMOS
s Pluto may have grown a tail
s Thicker atmosphere once
made for a wetter Mars
18 GOING UNDER
General anesthesia makes
patients blissfully unaware of
scalpel-wielding surgeons, but
exactly how it acts on the brain
remains largely unknown.
By Susan Gaidos
9 BODY & BRAIN
s Armadillos suspected of
spreading leprosy
s Awake but not alert: Brain
cells doze in tired rats
22 DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS
COVER STORY: Studies of early
dino fossils suggest that precursors of Tyrannosaurus and
Brachiosaurus were chicken-sized critters whose planetary
rule was not guaranteed.
By Alexandra Witze
11
10 LIFE
s Calibrating the allure of
peacock tails, by the eyespot
s Robot mimics caterpillar roll
s Female dogs outsmart males
when it comes to surprises
s Fire ants stick together to
form watertight rafts
28 INTO ORBIT
The MESSENGER spacecraft
is designed to uncover new
details about Mercury’s core,
volcanism and magnetic field.
By Ron Cowen
Departments
BOT TOM IMAGE: NASA, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV. APPLIED PH YSICS LAB, CARNEGIE INSTITUTION FOR SCIENCE
12 EARTH
s Lithospheric drip may have
buoyed the Colorado Plateau
s Losing Arctic shores
2 FROM THE EDITOR
4 NOTEBOOK
30 BOOKSHELF
31 FEEDBACK
18
14 GENES & CELLS
s Gut microbe communities
come in three flavors
s Fruit flies on meth
15 ENVIRONMENT
s Prenatal pesticide exposure
may lower IQ
s Ozone hole’s rainy reach
32 FROM THE ARCHIVE
In the 1930s, solving nine
simultaneous equations
required a mechanical
calculator the size of a car.
16 HUMANS
s Poor multitaskers miss
gorilla-suited intruder
s Right-handed Neandertals
28
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May 21, 2011 | SCIENCE NEWS | 1
