Animals
Explainer: What is a shark?
These fish have skeletons made of cartilage, not bone — and aren’t nearly as scary as portrayed in the media.
Featured Articles in this Issue
-
Cover Story
Save the sharks to save the ocean
Humans have driven sharks and their cousins to the brink of extinction, but it’s not too late to turn the tide. At stake is the health of the entire ocean.
Explainer
Technically Fiction
Physics
Could we ever build the tech to shrink ourselves?
The atoms that make us up couldn’t be shrunk or smashed closer together — at least, not without catastrophic consequences.
Profile
Animals
A shark encounter inspired this researcher’s career in marine biology
Heidy Martinez never wanted to study sharks as a kid. That changed after encountering a white shark in South Africa.
Features
-
Does your natural history museum need a makeover?
A lot of their old-fashioned dioramas — a type of exhibit — are biased, boring or even unscientific. Here’s what modern museums are doing to fix that.
-
Save the sharks to save the ocean
Humans have driven sharks and their cousins to the brink of extinction, but it’s not too late to turn the tide. At stake is the health of the entire ocean.
More Stories from the November 1, 2025 issue
- Brain
Mice show us why food poisoning is so hard to forget
Working with mice, scientists have mapped a brain pathway that links an unfamiliar flavor with later food poisoning symptoms.
- Environment
Study uncovers secrets in water’s underground treks
Water's subterranean travels can be long, slow — and carry pollutants far from where they first got drawn into the Earth.
- Genetics
Orange cats get their ginger color from a single gene ‘cutout’
The variant gene is found on the X chromosome. This sex-linked trait for orange fur is found only in domesticated cats.
- Space
A passing star could fling Earth out of orbit — or into the sun
Computer models show that a star's tug could send Mercury, Venus or Mars crashing into Earth — or let Jupiter eject our world from the solar system.
- Archaeology
This may be the oldest, most complete Neandertal fingerprint ever seen
The print appears in a red ochre dot, which a Neandertal left on the ‘nose’ of a facelike rock roughly 43,000 years ago.
- Chemistry
Uncover leaves’ hidden colors in this science activity
Let’s use a technique called paper chromatography to separate the pigments lurking in tree leaves.
- Tech
Pickleballs inspire a new way to reduce drag on vehicles
Dimples in a skin can be adjusted on demand to reduce drag or to steer where a vehicle goes.
