Marginalia

A mathematician modeling Alzheimer's plaques with equations instead of microscopes, the Large Hadron Collider recreating a sliver of the Big Bang in surprisingly small collisions, and a laser microscope built on a 1930s Nobel trick

One item each from math, physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine — plus a discussion piece. A tiny jumping spider with REM-like sleep, a six-month program that put over half of patients' type 2 diabetes into remission, and the real, legitimate physics still hiding behind the phrase "cold fusion."