Frontiers of Science
Discover celebrates 25 years of publication this month with a special issue: a detailed guide to the near future in 25 areas of scientific exploration. Welcome to the edge of groundbreaking research, where tangible results meet tantalizing possibilities.
Paleontology
New discoveries hint there's a lot more in fossil bones than we thought
Behavior
A risk for unborn children
Energy
Who needs oil or coal or gas when the world is full of plain old algae?
Tissue Engineering
Biochemistry that makes alchemy look easy
Genomics
Researchers focus on differences between groups to find bad DNA
Oceanography
Scientists wire the oceans with data cables, permanent observatories, and robots that can roam for years
Nanotechnology
Scientists copy nature's tricks to create life, molecule by molecule
Gravity
Does the force that keeps us on the home planet work differently at smaller scales?
Materials
We may finally be smart enough to build a new world, atom by atom
Archaeology
Two weeks of virtual digging at a fabled site upends two decades' worth of preconceived ideas
Data
Who knows what patterns lie in our growing mass of data? Topology does
Science Education
A creative proposal: Teach young minds spooky physics first
Infectious Diseases
The race is on to develop medicines faster and keep ahead of bacteria and viruses.
Space Travel
Nature's tricks could teach us a lot about other planets.
Sex
For better or worse, sex chromosomes are linked to human intelligence
Human Origins
Common hospital gear opens up a new way of reconstructing Homo sapiens' ancestors.
Microelectronics
Stop thinking transistors on chips and start thinking 'up' or 'down' electrons
The Brain
Neural implants will treat tremors, paralysis, and even memory loss
Geophysics
Is what's inside Earth simply the other half of our only satellite?
Nutrition
Nutritional genomics promises to make diets truly personal
Climate
Heading toward twice the CO2 in the atmosphere by 2100
Fertility
Now a woman can store her eggs and conceive a baby sixties.
Planets
The gravitational tug of a giant like Jupiter could lead us to Earth II