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1932

Comics

Evolution of the nervous system

COMIC: When, why and how did neurons first evolve? Scientists are piecing together the ancient story.

Why do thieves keep stealing catalytic converters? It’s elemental

COMIC: Rhodium is one of several precious metals that put the catalyst in catalytic. And right now it’s worth more than gold.

How the pandemic could change architecture

COMIC: Covid-19 has inspired a rethink of how we design and use our built environments

Coronavirus evolving: How mutations arise and new variants emerge

COMIC: As it spreads throughout the world, the virus that causes Covid-19 has been changing. Scientists are tracking those changes, hoping to stay one step ahead of worrisome strains.

The 2020 census has arrived. Here’s why the population count matters.

COMIC: Written into the US Constitution, the decadal tally has always started arguments. But it is also fundamental to governing.

As coral die, protected areas aren’t enough

COMIC: The reef-builders face larger threats, scientists say. Chief among these is warming seas.

When courtroom science goes wrong — and how stats can fix it

COMIC: Bite marks, shoe prints, crime-scene fibers: Matches to suspects are often far shakier than courtroom experts claim. Better statistical methods — among them, a little beast known as the “likelihood ratio” — can cut down on wrong convictions.

The monarch’s stupendous migration, dissected

COMIC: The feisty orange-black butterfly uses a toolbox of biological tricks to find its way down to Mexico for winter and flap north again in spring. Here’s how scientists figured out those tricks — and what they don’t yet understand.

Centuries of pondering — and squabbling about — trees

COMIC: Do forests warm or cool the Earth? What’s their effect on global climate change? A comic narrated by polymath Benjamin Franklin describes the evolution of thought on this issue and what we still don’t know.

Unpersuasive: Why arguing about climate change often doesn’t work

COMIC: In the US, where political parties have increasingly staked claims on one side of the issue or the other, beliefs may be more about belonging than facts

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