Scientific American 2017 05.pdf

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THE QUEST TO EXPLAIN THE GALAXY’S STRANGEST STAR
PAGE
36
TECHNOLOGY
The discovery of
3.3
-
million
-
year
-
old
stone tools overturns
long
-
standing views
on human evolution
PLU
S
DAWN OF
HOW TO TURN
A FOX INTO A DOG
A bold experiment tests ideas
about domestication
PAGE 68
A WILD CARD IN CLIMATE CHANGE
India’s choices could have a profound impact
PAGE 48
WORLD’S FASTEST CAMERA
Chemical reactions caught on film
PAGE 62
© 2017 Scientific American
MAY 2017
ScientificAmerican.com
M ay 2 0 17
VO LU M E 3 1 6 , N U M B E R 5
68
A R C H A E O LO G Y
NEUROSCIENCE
28 The New Origins
of Technology
Ancient stone tools from Kenya
shatter the classic story of when
and how humans became innova­
tors.
By Kate Wong
A STROPHYSIC S
54 Schizophrenia’s
Unyielding Mysteries
Major gene studies have
failed to identify the disorder’s
causes, so scientists are
broadening the search.
By Michael Balter
C H E M I S T RY
36 Strange News
from Another Star
COURTESY OF LYUDMILA TRUT AND INSTITUTE OF CYTOLOGY AND GENETICS
Is alien technology making Boya­
jian’s star flicker? It’s surprisingly
hard to rule out.
By Kimberly
Cartier and Jason T. Wright
E VO LU T I O N
62 Split-Second
Reactions
Never before seen images of
drug proteins or photosynthesis
in action show how the molecules
work—or fail.
By Petra Fromme
and John C. H. Spence
GENETIC S
42 Missing Links
Defining human traits may have
emerged when we shed key pieces
of DNA.
By Philip L. Reno
C L I M AT E
68 How to
Build a Dog
To test ideas of animal domestica­
tion, a bold experiment in Siberia
put evolution on a fast track.
By Lyudmila Trut and
Lee Alan Dugatkin
ON THE C OVE R
Early human ancestor knaps stone tools, using
an anvil and hammerstone to remove sharp
flakes from a core. Archaeologists working in
Kenya have uncovered stone tools dating to
3.3 million years ago—the oldest artifacts in the
world. The discovery has upended conventional
wisdom about the origins of our genus,
Homo.
Image by Jon Foster.
48 The Global Warming
Wild Card
India’s energy decisions could
determine the fate of the planet.
By Varun Sivaram
May 2017, ScientificAmerican.com
1
© 2017 Scientific american
4 From the Editor
6 Letters
9 Science Agenda
Marching for science is good. Voting is much better.
By the Editors
10 Forum
A healthy democracy depends on the free and open
pursuit of knowledge.
By Jonathan Foley
12 Advances
Reconciling faith and evolution education. Brains
remember languages lost in childhood. An agile robot
to leap walls. Greener road to a hydrogen economy.
10
24 The Science of Health
Aspirin might reduce cancer’s ability to spread.
By Viviane Callier
26 TechnoFiles
How to build a better battery.
By David Pogue
74 Recommended
Apollo 8’
s historic orbit of the moon. How the
natural world helps humans innovate. Intuition
can blind us to science.
By Andrea Gawrylewski
77 Skeptic
Torture still doesn’t work.
By Michael Shermer
16
78 Anti Gravity
The greatest taboos in American science are . ..
medical marijuana and gun violence?
By Steve Mirsky
79 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago
80 Graphic Science
Why the Northwest Passage is so elusive.
By Katie Peek
ON THE WEB
The Eyes Never Lie
Richard Schwartz of the Graduate Center, City University
of New York, uses eye-tracking technology to better under-
stand children with specific language impairment (SLI).
Go to www.ScientificAmerican.com/may2017/sli
79
Scientific American (ISSN 0036-8733), Volume 316, Number 5, May 2017, published monthly by Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc., 1 New York Plaza, Suite 4500, New York, N.Y. 10004-1562. Periodicals postage
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Scientific American, May 2017
© 2017 Scientific american

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