Science Times: Have Dark Forces Been Messing With the Cosmos?

Plus: DNA Gets a Bigger Genetic Alphabet —

View in Browser | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. Tuesday, February 26, 2019 NYTimes.com/Science »

Brian Stauffer Have Dark Forces Been Messing With the Cosmos? By DENNIS OVERBYE Axions? Phantom energy? Astrophysicists scramble to patch a hole in the universe, rewriting cosmic history in the process.

Nipam H. Patel Split-Sex Animals Are Unusual, Yes, but Not as Rare as You'd Think By KAREN WEINTRAUB From butterflies to chickens to lobsters, mixed male-female bodies offer clues as to why certain diseases strike one gender more often than the other. Millie Georgiadis/Indiana University School of Medicine DNA Gets a New — and Bigger — Genetic Alphabet By CARL ZIMMER DNA is spelled out with four letters, or bases. Researchers have now built a system with eight. It may hold clues to the potential for life elsewhere in the universe and could also expand our capacity to store digital data on Earth Ariel Schalit/Associated Press How Israel's Moon Lander Got to the Launchpad By KENNETH CHANG With $100 million and a lot of volunteer labor, SpaceIL's Beresheet spacecraft could be the first privately built vessel to reach the lunar surface. • After SpaceX Launch, Israeli Spacecraft Begins Journey to the Moon Alan S. Weiner for The New York Times Seven Black Inventors Whose Patents Helped Shape American Life By CLAUDIO E. CABRERA AND JULIA JACOBS Garrett Morgan created an improved gas mask. Marie Van Brittan Brown patented a home security system. Lonnie Johnson dreamed up the Super Soaker.

ADVERTISEMENT

Jorge Gonzalez Tiny Tyrannosaur Hints at How T. Rex Became King By NICHOLAS ST. FLEUR The deer-sized dinosaur preceded one of Earth's most fearsome predators. NASA, ESA, A. Simon, M. Wong and A. Hsu Neptune Has a Newly Discovered Moon. What Else Is It Hiding? By SHANNON HALL There is much more to learn about the solar system's eighth planet, which hasn't been visited by a spacecraft for 30 years. Clay Bolt The World's Largest Bee Is Not Extinct By DOUGLAS QUENQUA An expedition of conservationists found a living Wallace's Giant Bee on remote islands in Indonesia. It hadn't been seen since 1981. Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press Why Do Zebras Have Stripes? Scientists Camouflaged Horses to Find Out By JOANNA KLEIN If you spend time around horses or flies, you might want to invest in some zebra print.

NASA Renames Facility After Katherine Johnson of 'Hidden Figures' Fame By ELISHA BROWN Virgin Galactic Sends a Rocket Plane to Space Again, in Its Highest Flight Yet By JACEY FORTIN Japan's Hayabusa2 Spacecraft Lands on Ryugu Asteroid By MICHAEL ROSTON AND KENNETH CHANG Sleepless Flies Lived Long Lives. Why Not Us? By VERONIQUE GREENWOOD

GIVE US A PIECE OF YOUR UNIVERSE We welcome your comments and suggestions at sciencenewsletter@nytimes.com.

Climate Change Pete Marovich for The New York Times Nine Key Questions About the Green New Deal By LISA FRIEDMAN If you've heard a lot recently about the Green New Deal but still aren't quite sure what it is, we're here to help. Terry Chea/Associated Press White House Climate Panel to Include a Climate Denialist By CORAL DAVENPORT The Pentagon and federal intelligence agencies have said that climate change is a threat. Now, the White House is planning a panel to study whether that is true.

Health Gracia Lam Personal Health Falls Can Kill You. Here's How to Minimize the Risk. By JANE E. BRODY Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults. Every 19 minutes in this country, an older person dies from a fall. Jennifer Lett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel, via Associated Press CBD Is Everywhere, but Scientists Still Don't Know Much About It By RONI CARYN RABIN "It is a kind of a new snake oil in the sense that there are a lot of claims and not so much evidence," said one expert. Francis R Malasig/EPA, via Shutterstock Measles Outbreak: Your Questions Answered By PAM BELLUCK AND ADEEL HASSAN The disease was declared eliminated in 2000. So far this year, there have been more than 100 cases. Jonathan Bachman/Reuters Trump Administration Blocks Funds for Planned Parenthood and Others Over Abortion Referrals By PAM BELLUCK The new rule would steer federal family planning funds under Title X to anti-abortion and faith based groups. Getty Images The Challenges of a Child's Report Card By PERRI KLASS, M.D. When report cards were sent out on Fridays, child maltreatment seemed to increase on the Saturdays immediately following. Guide A Guide to Sleep Apnea By ANAHAD O'CONNOR Snoring at night, tired all day? These are just a few common symptoms of sleep apnea, and here's a guide for what you can do if you think you (or sleep next to someone who may) have the condition. Bows & Arrows How Many Push-Ups Can You Do? It May Be a Good Predictor of Heart Health By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS Men who could get through 40 or more push-ups had 96 percent less risk of heart problems in the next 10 years than those who quit at 10 or fewer. RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post, via Getty Images Teenagers Say Depression and Anxiety Are Major Issues Among Their Peers By KAREN ZRAICK A Pew Research Center survey found that teenagers across all demographic groups grapple with mental health issues.

Ask Well Is there a purpose to a yawn? I know it means you're sleepy, but is the body trying to accomplish something by the act of yawning? By RONI CARYN RABIN Pinterest Restricts Vaccine Search Results to Curb Spread of Misinformation By CHRISTINA CARON China Uses DNA to Track Its People, With the Help of American Expertise By SUI-LEE WEE Loneliness Is Bad for Your Health. An App May Help. By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

Make a friend's day: Forward this email.  Got this from a friend? Subscribe to the Science Times newletter. Check out other New York Times newsletters (all free!) including  Climate Fwd: for climate coverage and expert analysis. The Upshot for a data-driven look at the news. Well for the latest on health, fitness and nutrition. This Week in Good News for some happier stories.

ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW SCIENCE FACEBOOK @nytscience Get more NYTimes.com newsletters » | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps. Subscribe »

ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Science Times newsletter. Unsubscribe | Manage Subscriptions | Change Your Email | Privacy Policy | Contact | Advertise Copyright 2019 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018