2018-09-14

封面图展示的是一个灵活的无尾翼无线操控机器人，它具有4个扑翼，正在执行一种受果蝇启发的旋转机动飞行。这张图片将飞行中的机器人与其飞行路径的时间曝光结合在了一起。通过这个机器人的研究，为我们提供了一个关于昆虫飞行的全新视角，揭示了一种被动的空气动力学机制，这种机制可以帮助果蝇在飞行中进行快速倾斜转向，从而避免危险。

An agile, tailless untethered robot with four flapping wings performs a fruitfly-inspired turning maneuver. The image combines the robot in flight with a time exposure of its flight path. This robot offers a fresh perspective on insect flight, revealing a passive aerodynamic mechanism that helps fruitflies perform rapid banked turns to avoid dangers.

2018-09-21

封面图展示的是越来越多的科学家正在研究科学本身。这些“元研究者”正在探询的问题是研究人员是如何提出并测试假说的，他们所阅读、引用和发表的内容，以及他们是如何合作和建立网络的。有些人希望通过更好地理解科学的工作原理，会有助于解决诸如偏见及无法再现许多研究等系统性问题。

A growing number of scientists are studying science itself. These "metaresearchers" are asking how researchers generate and test hypotheses; what they read, cite, and publish; and how they collaborate and network. Some hope that a better understanding of how science works will help address systemic problems such as biases and the inability to reproduce many studies.

2018-09-28

封面图展示的是气球艺术，雕塑家会在特定的位置施加精确的力量制作清晰可辨的身体部位。同样地，像精心设计的分子机制，尽管在一个复杂的并且严格控制的水平上，也可以使一些看似相同的初始细胞转变成一个完整的动物。本期特刊着重讨论了控制基因表达的调控机制，在封面背景中这被描绘成一个热图。

In balloon art, the sculptor exerts precise forces at specific sites to make identifiable body parts. Likewise, choreographed molecular mechanisms, albeit at a complex and tightly controlled level, enable a few seemingly identical starting cells to transform into a whole animal. This special issue highlights the regulatory mechanisms controlling gene expression, depicted in the background here as a heat map.

2018-10-05

封面图展示的是“卡西尼”号于2017年9月13日拍摄的土星及其光环的最后一张广角照片，在拍摄完这张照片的2天后，该探测器在土星大气层中燃烧殆尽。图片中，太阳位于土星的远侧呈一斜角，横跨土星环投射下一道阴影。这张伪色合成图是通过卡西尼号的成像科学子系统拍摄的多幅图像合并制成的。

Cassini's final wide-angle view of Saturn and its rings, taken on 13 September 2017, 2 days before the spacecraft burned up in the planet's atmosphere. The Sun is at an oblique angle on the far side of Saturn, which casts a dark shadow across the rings. This color mosaic was produced from multiple images taken with Cassini's Imaging Science Subsystem.