In the early 1900s, in neighborhoods across the United States, real estate covenants to prevent nonwhite buyers from purchasing homes in certain neighborhoods were both legal and common. Although this overtly racist practice was outlawed in 1968, its effects are still with us today. As Asia Murphy describes in this issue’s Perspective column, “The Racist Legacy of Urban Green Spaces," neighborhoods that once had racist covenants today have a higher percentage of green spaces. Murphy explains that the lack of these environmental resources in a neighborhood has been found to have effects o ..read more

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In this roundup, managing editor Stacey Lutkoski summarizes notable recent developments in scientific research, selected from reports compiled in the free electronic newsletter Sigma Xi SmartBrief: www​.smartbrief.com/sigmaxi/ Invasive Insects Alter Lions’ Diet Philipp Hoenle Ad Right A non-native species of ants has shown how one tiny, invasive species can have knock-on effects that alter an entire ecosystem, including the behaviors of the largest animals and predators. Across the savannas of East Africa, native acacia ants (several Crematogaster species) live in whistling-thorn trees ..read more

Elizabeth Rasekoala is the president and a founding member of African Gong, a network of organizations from across Africa working to improve public understanding of and engagement with science and technology. In 2023, she edited and published the book Race and Sociocultural Inclusion in Science Communication (Bristol University Press). She also gave the keynote address at the Inclusive SciComm Symposium in October 2023. She has been working on science communication, meaning scientists communicating with the public about their work, since her early career as a chemical engineer. She spoke to s ..read more

In 1786, Joshua Reynolds painted a portrait of the surgeon and anatomist John Hunter. Reynolds depicted Hunter gazing into the distance, caught in mid-thought, quill in hand. On the table in front of him, apart from inkwell and paper, are some books, one propped open to a page comparing the skulls and arm bones of humans and apes. Next to the books is an anatomical specimen under a glass dome. In the upper right-hand corner is a mantel holding another anatomical specimen in a glass jar. A pair of large skeletal feet suspended in the air next to the jar hint at the large skeleton attached to t ..read more

ALIEN EARTHS: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos. Lisa Kaltenegger. 288 pp. St. Martin’s Press, 2024. $30.00. We stand at the doorstep of a scientific revolution: The discovery of extraterrestrial worlds that resemble our own could be just around the corner. For more than a decade, we have known that planets that are roughly the mass and radius of Earth orbit other stars. Without more detailed observations, however, these worlds are merely Earth-sized cue balls. Until now, astronomers have not possessed the capability to characterize exoplanets the size of Earth. But with the l ..read more

A core tenet of evolutionary biology is that for the process of natural selection to act on a behavioral trait, three things must be in place. First, there must be different behavioral variants in a population. For example, if the behavior is mate choice, then some animals might prefer colorful, risk-taking mates and others might prefer drabber-colored, risk-averse mates. QUICK TAKE When an animal develops a new skill, others in its group may start copying what they see. This behavior may then spread through social networks. It is often difficult for researchers to distinguish between the wa ..read more

A satellite in orbit around the planet moves at 8 kilometers per second. Right now, there are about 9,500 satellites circling Earth, and about three-quarters of them are classified as small satellites—with a mass less than 500 kilograms and possibly as little as a few kilograms. Space is vast, but orbits most useful to us are either geostationary (in which the satellite rotates with the Earth) or within about 1,000 kilometers of the surface. The likelihood of satellites in these orbits colliding with one another or with debris is very small, but the cost and consequences of such a collision c ..read more

https://www.americanscientist.org/node/5178 Deconstructing DNA Beyond the Helix Caryn Babaian Art Biology Aesthetics Genetics https://www.americanscientist.org/node/5179/ Gas Dynamics of Solar and Stellar Winds Bhimsen Shivamoggi Astronomy Mathematics Physics https://www.americanscientist.org/node/5183/ When Sharks Eat an Angler’s Haul David Samuel Shiffman Biology Environment Policy Animal Behavior Ecology Nature Conservation Oceanography https://www.americanscientist.org/node/5180/ Rumors Have Rules Emma S. Spiro Kate Starbird Anthropology Communications Psychology Sociology https://www ..read more

SCIENCE COMICS: FROGS: Awesome Amphibians. Liz Prince. 128 pp. First Second, 2023. $12.99. First Second’s graphic novel series Science Comics published Frogs: Awesome Amphibians in October 2023, and although the target age is readers 9–13, readers of any age will find this volume filled with fun facts. (Did you know that frogs use their eyeballs to help them swallow?). Liz Prince, whose biography describes her as a “lifelong amphibian-enthusiast,” writes about Fran, a young girl who moves from the city to the country with her dads because of a new job. None too thrilled about the move, she ..read more