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Maria Temming

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an animated image showing magnetized liquid droplets floating in oil and spinning

Three permanently magnetized liquid droplets floating in oil. As they spin in response to a rotating magnetic field, their activity wraps orange dye around themselves.

X. Liu et al/Science 2019

 Physics
Tiny new magnets are not only squishy but also liquid
The movement of external magnets might help control robots and more
three different humanoid bots from vaguely human (left) to very human (right)

Very realistic humanlike robots, like the one on the right, are often perceived as eerie. Activity in a region of the brain that makes social judgments may be responsible for these uneasy feelings.

A.M. Rosenthal-vonder Pütten et al/J. Neuroscience 2019

 Brain
This brain region may make lifelike robots creep you out
Bots that are almost, but not quite, human trigger different brain activity
solar-cell panels

This artist’s drawing suggests what a floating solar-electricity and water-cleansing system might look like. Here the solar-cell panels are mounted atop a water clean-up system.

WENBIN WANG

 Technology
Sunlight can produce energy and clean water at the same time
Such a two-for-one system might generate electricity as it produces water clean enough to drink
a sign warning of pesticide useage in English and Spanish in a crop field

The United States lags behind other agricultural nations in banning potentially harmful pesticides, a new study suggests.

Pgiam/iStock/Getty Images Plus

 Agriculture
U.S. farmers still use many pesticides that are banned elsewhere
American companies, not the government, drive most decisions on whether to phase out chemicals
an illustration of microbes in the gut

Bacteria living in your tummy (illustrated) could interfere with many oral medicines.

DR_MICROBE/iStock/Getty Images Plus

 Microbes
Gut bacteria may affect how well your medicines work
New research could help doctors choose drugs for patients based on their microbes
an illustration of Suskityrannus hazelae

At about 1 meter (39 inches) tall at the hip, the newly identified Suskityrannus hazelae (illustrated) suggests tyrannosaurs gained fearsome traits before they got really big.

Andrey Atuchin

 Fossils
This tiny dinosaur is officially T. rex’s cousin
Decades after it was discovered, this 92-million-year-old tyrannosaur finally has a family