CONTENTS
ON THE COVER
How to Beat Back Your
Phobias p.
What’s Inside Black Holes? p.
Inside the Public Health Crisis
of Gun Violence p.
Finally, a Weather Report You
Can Believe p.
Static Electricity’s Power
Potential p.
Saving Abandoned Flamingo
Chicks p.
Cover Photograph by
SolidMaks/Shutterstock
4
DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COMCOLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS
6 EDITOR’S NOTE
Look to the Evidence
Gaps in data complicate our understanding
of the causes and effects of gun violence.
7 INBOX
Readers weigh the pros and cons of DNA
testing kits, and of scratching that itch.
22 VITAL SIGNS
Out of the Blue
An older man’s discolored toes may be a
warning sign of a serious problem — or
an obvious oversight.
BY TONY DAJER
26 MIND OVER MATTER
Phobia’s Familial Roots
Whether it’s nature or nurture, your
relatives may be to blame for your fears.
BY AGATA BOXE
62 ORIGIN STORY
Getting Naked
Alone among primates, our species shed its
head-to-toe pelt. We sweat the details on
how and why it happened.
BY BRIDGET ALEX
9 THE CRUX
Flocking together; science
investigates itself; be a
vocabulary whiz; a stormy
surface of sorts on Jupiter;
yakking it up in Nepal; the latest
on whether Planet Nine is a
thing; revisiting the decade-old
promise of a cure for paralysis;
when Earth’s energy gets jerked
around; and much more.
68 OUT THERE
Taking the Plunge
Jump into a spinning black hole with us
and see what happens.
BY STEVE NADIS
74 20 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW
ABOUT ...
Comets
Sometimes they go missing, sometimes
they go dark, and sometimes they reveal
damaged DNA.
BY GEMMA TARLACH T
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p. 68
p. 26