Scientific American 201905

(Rick Simeone) #1
May 2019, ScientificAmerican.com 1

May 2019

VOLUME 320, NUMBER 5

AKOS STILLER


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COMPUTER SCIENCE
58 Artificial Imagination
How machines could learn creativity,
common sense and other human qualities.
By George Musser
SOCIAL NEUROSCIENCE
64 The Roots of Human Aggression
Experiments in humans and animals have
started to identify how violent behaviors
begin in the brain. By R. Douglas Fields
ENERGY
72 Reactor Redo
New fuels could improve the safety and
economics of  nuclear power plants.
By Rod McCullum
ZOOLOGY
76 Night Visions
Many animals once thought to have weak
sight in the dark use tricks in their nervous
systems to see brilliantly. By Amber Dance

ON THE COVER
Basic facts of human life, such as the purpose of the menstrual
cycle, remain surprisingly mysterious. A special report on what
we don’t know about women’s reproductive health, why we don’t
know it, and where we go from here.

30 FERTILE GROUND 72
The long-neglected science
of female reproductive health.

32 THE POINT OF A PERIOD
Why is menstruation still
so poorly understood?
By Virginia Sole-Smith
ALSO: Why Are Girls Getting
Their Periods So Young?

40 SET IT AND FORGET IT?
What the rise of the IUD
says about the sorry state
of birth control.
By Maya Dusenbery

48 HOW TO REDUCE
MATERNAL MORTALITY
Step one: stop blaming women.
Text by Monica R. McLemore,
Graphics by Valentina D’Efilippo

52 EGGS ON ICE
Is the boom in egg freezing
getting ahead of the science?
By Liza Mundy

© 2019 Scientific american
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