Science Times: How Do You Find an Alien Ocean?

Plus: Why Elephants Don't Shed Their Skin —

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Margaret Kivelson in her office at the University of California, Los Angeles. Jenna Schoenefeld for The New York Times How Do You Find an Alien Ocean? Margaret Kivelson Figured It Out. By DAVID W. BROWN For forty years, the physicist at U.C.L.A. has been uncovering the outer solar system's secrets. Few scientists know more about the mysteries of Jupiter and its icy moons.

MUSE - Science Museum, Trento, Italy A Mysterious Fossil Points to the Origins of Lizards and Snakes By ASHER ELBEIN The ancestors of today's squamates were lost in time. Now paleontologists have identified the earliest known example: Meet Megachirella. Getty Images What a Frog Needs to Make That Leap By JAMES GORMAN A frog's leap is a study in power and accuracy. So how do frogs do it, and what can humans learn from its mechanics? Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press Viruses Spread by Insects to Crops Sound Scary. The Military Calls It Food Security. By EMILY BAUMGAERTNER Critics warn that a Defense Department-funded food security project that is still in the lab could set off a "biological arms race." Carnegie Institution for Science A Goblin World That Points Toward Hidden Planet Nine in the Solar System By KENNETH CHANG What astronomers have found about the curious orbit of a small ice world far away reinforces the idea that a large world is hidden out in the solar system.

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Illustration by Andy Gilmore How Do You Take a Picture of a Black Hole? With a Telescope as Big as the Earth By SETH FLETCHER A planet-spanning virtual observatory, years in the making, could change how we think about space, time and the nature of reality. Will it work? Pascal Goetgheluck/Science Source Deep in Human DNA, a Gift From the Neanderthals By CARL ZIMMER Long ago, Neanderthals probably infected modern humans with viruses, perhaps even an ancient form of H.I.V. But our extinct relatives also gave us genetic defenses. Michel Milinkovitch Why Elephants Don't Shed Their Skin By DOUGLAS QUENQUA The cracks in African elephants' skin help them keep cool and stay healthy. A new explanation for how those cracks form could offer insights into treating a human skin disease. Meghan Dhaliwal for The New York Times How a Seafloor Blob Became Mexico's 'Black Gold' By NATALIE SCHACHAR A frenzy for sea cucumbers, driven by demand in Asia, has brought populations near collapse in the waters off the Yucatán Peninsula. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Hidden Stories of Chinese Migration and Culture Found in Giant Genetic Study By STEPH YIN Scientists reported an assortment of findings resulting from a sweeping and novel analysis of data from the prenatal tests of 141,431 participants. Pool photo by Jonas Ekstromer Use of Evolution to Design Molecules Nets Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 3 Scientists By KENNETH CHANG Frances H. Arnold of the U.S. received half the prize, while her compatriot George P. Smith and Gregory P. Winter of Britain shared the other half. • Nobel Prize in Chemistry Goes to a Woman for the Fifth Time in History • For Just the Third Time in 117 Years, a Woman Wins the Nobel Prize in Physics

Hubble Telescope, Disoriented by Mechanical Failure, Takes a Nap to Reboot By DENNIS OVERBYE An Ancient Ant-Bacteria Partnership to Protect Fungus By NICHOLAS ST. FLEUR Taming the Groundcherry: With Crispr, a Fussy Fruit Inches Toward the Supermarket By VERONIQUE GREENWOOD Your Dog May Be Smart, but She's Not Exceptional By LAURA M. HOLSON Why Count All the Squirrels in Central Park? Why the Heck Not By ANDY NEWMAN Q&A If I had a test tube of pure DNA, what would it look like? By C. CLAIBORNE RAY

Climate Change Edmund D. Fountain for The New York Times As Storms Keep Coming, FEMA Spends Billions in 'Cycle' of Damage and Repair By KEVIN SACK AND JOHN SCHWARTZ FEMA has paid out billions for disaster recovery efforts. But many projects seem to be undertaken in defiance of climate change, leaving structures nearly as vulnerable as before. Brook Mitchell/Getty Images Major Climate Report Describes a Strong Risk of Crisis as Early as 2040 By CORAL DAVENPORT A landmark United Nations report paints a far more dire picture of the immediate consequences of climate change than previously thought and says that avoiding damage requires quickly transforming the world economy. Why Half a Degree of Global Warming Is a Big Deal By BRAD PLUMER AND NADJA POPOVICH It may sound small, but a half-degree of temperature change could lead to more dire consequences in a warming world, according to a sweeping new scientific assessment. • Why the Wilder Storms? It's a 'Loaded Dice' Problem Nick Thake Australia's Other Great (and Threatened) Coral Reefs By LIVIA ALBECK-RIPKA Every one of Australia's coral reefs is threatened by climate change, potentially devastating not just the country's ecosystems but its economy as well.

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Health Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution We Slow as We Age, but May Not Need to Slow Too Much By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS Although declines in running and other activities are unavoidable, they may be less steep than many of us fear. Keith Bedford/The Boston Globe, via Getty Images HPV Vaccine Expanded for People Ages 27 to 45 By DENISE GRADY AND JAN HOFFMAN The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Gardasil 9, a vaccine against nine strains of the human papillomavirus for older age groups. Gracia Lam Personal Health Unlocking the World of Sound for Deaf Children By JANE E. BRODY 'My mother practically cried when I heard a cricket chirping in the house,' says a woman who got a cochlear implant at age 11. Romain Etienne for The New York Times Flashy Science Hub and Vaping Parties Fail to Win Friends at W.H.O. Tobacco Talks By SHEILA KAPLAN Industry representatives, who were barred from the negotiations, ultimately failed to get delegates to designate a special exemption for new products.

Ask Well Does coenzyme Q10 help to reduce muscular issues and other negative side effects associated with statins? By RICHARD KLASCO, M.D. That New Apple Watch EKG Feature? There Are More Downs Than Ups By AARON E. CARROLL Amputations and Lacerations: Your Front Lawn Is a Jungle By NICHOLAS BAKALAR Psychedelic Mushrooms Are Closer to Medicinal Use (It's Not Just Your Imagination) By LAURA M. HOLSON

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