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Features and Background
The man who saw red: Percival Lowell was bewitched by
Mars, and his vision of the Red Planet, however flawed, helped
spawn the space age ... [more]
Cocktail hour: Get ready for high-speed pharmbots that
mix and match drugs and doses by the millions ... [more]
We're a long way from a "commitment pill" but scientists have
found a clue as to why some males are promiscuous and
some are doting and faithful ... [more]
Nicotine fix: Mounting evidence suggests that
the long-standing villain in tobacco could yet prove a hero in
medicine -- but researchers are wary of giving cigarettes a
good name (registration required) ... [more]
There's a Blue Moon coming on July 31st. But is the
moon ever really blue? ... [more]
Leading to lead: Modified disinfection methods may have
changed the chemistry of drinking water in Washington, DC,
making it more likely to dissolve lead-encasing minerals in
pipes ... [more]
A new meta-analysis of studies on stress and the immune
system shows that the effects depend on the type of stress
and its duration ... [more]
Images that pierce Titan's smoggy veil are
providing fresh insights about Saturn's methane-bound moon ...
[more]
The seismic underground: It's the sweet spot of the San
Andreas fault, the perfect place to build the ultimate
earthquake science lab. It's also 2 miles straight down ...
[more]
A UK scientist has worked out what a waterfall in space
-- or, more precisely, a methanefall on Titan -- might sound
like, ahead of a mission that could find oceans on Saturn's
largest moon ... [more]
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Iron seeding just doesn't pay:
inducing phytoplankton blooms is too expensive, and too
inefficient, to end global warming (registration required) ...
[more]
Longevity uncorked? A compound found in red wine shows
promise as the first real antiaging drug, but don't drink to
your health just yet ... [more]
Hubble's last hurrahs? The satellite telescope that has
captured some of the most wondrous images in the universe --
and vastly enlarged our knowledge of it -- may not be long for
this world ... [more]
A South African scientist has developed a cheap and simple
method for monitoring infection in HIV/AIDS patients,
and it's benefiting people throughout Africa and beyond ...
[more]
One slip, and you're dead ... The lethal toxins
produced by cone snails are being developed as potent drugs --
but for snail farmers, milking time is fraught with danger ...
[more]
Cryptographic analysis of a famously puzzling medieval
document, the Voynich Manuscript, suggests that it's
nothing but gibberish ... [more]
"How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour
..."
They've been fooling us all along, says a German
zoologist: bees would rather Zzzzzz than Buzzzzz ...
[more]
Scientists working in the Philippines say that rising global
temperatures are leading to a significant drop in rice
yields -- an alarming trend since it's the staple diet for
most of the world's expanding population ... [more]
Popping a capsule of prickly pear cactus extract before
boozing could offer drinkers some protection against
hangovers ... [more]
Bilingualism may have an unexpectedly beneficial
side-effect: it appears to protect the mind from deterioration
in old age ... [more]
Shrimp's meteoric rise as the West's favourite
crustacean has come at a heavy cost: shrimp farming has
devastated Asia's native mangrove forests and wild fish stocks
... [more]
Saved by the storm? Clouds formed by thunderstorms may
help brake global warming. Or maybe not ... [more]
A drink a day may keep the doctor away, but only from
some of us. It seems your doctor is still the best person to
ask for advice ... [more]
Data from the Cassini space probe's flyby of Saturn's moon,
Phoebe, give scientists hope for uncovering the mysteries
of the solar system, including its origin ... [more]
Just about everything that makes a living in or off of the
oceans owes its existence to phytoplankton, one-celled
wonder-plants that even influence global climate ... [more]
Some dogs can can predict epileptic seizures and
protect children from injuries -- and at the same time, help
kids deal with the daily struggle of their condition ... [more]
Computer-simulated psychosis could help psychiatrists
empathize with mentally and emotionally disturbed people ...
[more]
From the hardhead catfish, which goes on a multi-week
starvation diet while holding its young in its mouth, to the
South American marmoset, which cares for its babies from
birth, many animal fathers are hands- (and fins-) on
parents ... [more]
Ever felt as though a piece of music speak to you? You
could be more right than you know, says to an Argentinian
physicist ... [more]
The first private astronaut has rocketed into space --
and come safely home again -- potentially opening space for
widespread commercial development ... [more]
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Books and Media
Recent fiction has featured pi, Fibonacci numbers, and phi.
John Allen Paulos considers the narrative possibilities of
the number e ... [more]
William Souder's Under a Wild Sky paints
naturalist John James Audubon as a brilliant artist,
scientist and liar [more],
while Audobon's famed The Birds of America takes
on new life in Harmonie/Harmony,
an animated web exhibit ... [more]
Forget the radio, tune in to the net: Internet radio
services keep getting better and attracting bigger audiences.
But some of the services are better than others ... [more]
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A dozen recent ruminations about human body weight --
memoirs, science, self-help -- trip grievously on the
obesity dilemma, stumbling between the options, getting
lost even while pretending to reach certainty, says Virginia
Heffernan (registration required) ... [more]
At a time when books about the brain, mind and
consciousness compete for readers' attention, Dianne
Ackerman's An Alchemy of Mind presents a helpful
survey of the field, leavened by yeasty writing and
provocative insights ... [more]
Better science through gaming: Software for analysing
genomic data has been woefully inadequate, leaving scientists
in a DOS-like wasteland. One company is solving the problem
with a video-game sensibility ... [more]
The skin we’re in: In Flesh Wounds,
Virginia L Blum delves into the world of cosmetic surgery to
find out whether beauty really is skin deep ... [more]
FW: Send This Article to 10 Friends and Win Quick
Cash Now! Is Bill Gates offering big bucks to track your
email? On the trail of the most forwarded hoax in internet
history ... [more]
Germs of truth: In Greek Fire, Poison Arrows and
Scorpion Bombs, Adrienne Mayor makes the case that
biochemical warfare is not a modern invention ... [more]
When it comes to science, the US justice system is not only
blind but ignorant, says David Faigman in Laboratory
of Justice ... [more]
Isaac Asimov turned androids into pop culture icons --
and invented the science of robotics in the process. Half a
century later, his I, Robot is going Hollywood
... [more]
Trouble in paradise: Carolyn Merchant's
Reinventing Eden examines the environmental
fallout of the Genesis story ... [more]
The eating cure: Forget drugs -- diet is the way
forward in treating mental illness, says Lucy Mayhew in
Healing Without Freud or Prozac ... [more]
A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, but cultivated
ignorance is worse. And computer users' ignorance is what
dooms us to live with viruses and spyware, says Clive
Thompson ... [more]
Entomological tales: Thomas Eisner's For Love of
Insects is a manual for discovery, which also imparts
an intuitive understanding of evolution ... [more]
Paradise isn't lost. It's just waiting to be dug up,
suggests archaeologist Maureen Carroll in Earthly
Paradises, a slim but substantial survey of the
remarkable world of ancient gardening ... [more]
Is there such a thing as too much cancer testing? In
some cases, there may be, says Dr H Gilbert Welch
(registration required) ... [more]
A US 'neuromarketing' proponent says brain scans reveal
what audiences really like to see. But is this
high-tech cultural analysis, or just another pseudoscientific
mind-reading technique? ... [more]
The accidental scientist: The late Robert K. Merton's
book on serendipity and science notes that chance indeed
favors the prepared mind ... [more]
You, too, can dive with the dead and explore sacred
Maya cenotes -- in an interactive dig in the Yucatán ... [more]
Two US computer scientists have created a high-tech
artwork, called Imagination Environment,
which looks at the internet search as an exercise in free
association (registration required) ... [more]
"Blogologists" say webblogs are changing academia, politics
and traditional journalism. Blogs are certainly
influential, how much of an effect are they really having?
... [more]
Galileo in Rome focuses on the events leading up
to and including Galileo's trial by the Tribunal of the
Inquisition, but some of the most interesting material in the
book has nothing to do with that ... [more]
The universe made simple: Brian Greene, author of
The Fabric of the Cosmos, discusses philosophy,
physics, and the challenge of opening readers' eyes to the
hidden forces that govern our world ... [more]
Robert Finch reviews three new adventures in literary
birding: Peter Cashwell's high-octane and hyper-literary
The Verb 'To Bird', Mark Obmascik's obsessively
competitive The Big Year, and Robert Winkler's
intimate, devoted and lyrical Going Wild ... [more]
"Dear person who sent me a yet-unanswered e-mail, I apologize,
but I am declaring e-mail bankruptcy." Writer and
internet legal expert Lawrence Lessig is behind in his email
-- so far behind that he's finally given up ... [more]
Why do we suffer from jet lag? How do clocks affect our
sleeping? Why are medicines most effective at certain times of
day? It's all down to the Rhythms of Life, say
Russell Foster and Leon Kreitzman: the biological
clocks that control the daily lives of every living thing
... [more]
Another turn of the worm: With In the Beginning
Was the Worm, Andrew Brown has produced a compelling
account of the "worm workers" who adopted and tamed C. elegans
as a model organism for genetic research ... [more]
The Thermochemical Joy of Cooking: Superchef Alton
Brown is part MacGyver, part mad scientist. Welcome to his lab
... [more]
There's no question that the population bomb is still
ticking, warn Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich in One With
Nineveh. The question is: why do so many people remain
unconvinced and unconcerned? ... [more]
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Analysis and Opinion
The tyranny of design: How could sophisticated
biological mechanisms have evolved without some guiding hand?
Henry Gee finds his answer to the argument of Intelligent
Design in the lamprey ... [more]
There's no quick fix for Africa's food problems, says
David Dickson. What's required is less of a 'green revolution'
than a 'cultural revolution' -- including greater belief in
science-based innovation ... [more]
Mad-cow disease provides a case study in how
to manage risks while still learning the facts, says Paul
Brown ... [more]
A new
gadget that helps people shape their dreams could provide
new frontiers for the media. But like wild animals and flighty
birds, our dreams are loath to be tamed, says Norman
Solomon ... [more]
Laurie Garrett considers SARS in China, corrupt
governments, empty streets, and why silence is rarely the
solution ... [more]
Doom and gloom by 2100: Between unleashed
viruses, environmental disaster and gray goo, astronomer Sir
Martin Rees gives civilisation a 50-50 chance of making it to
the 22nd century ... [more]
The science of suffering: We know torture when we see
it -- the problem is those meting out the violence often
don't, says sociology professor Martha Huggins ... [more]
After spending his life finding water in Israel's Negev
desert, Arie Issar says more science and less religion will
bring water for all in the West Bank ... [more]
Genome, meet your environment: As the evidence
accumulates for epigenetics, researchers are reacquiring a
taste for Lamarckism (registration required) ... [more]
The Starship Free Enterprise: The successful
flight of SpaceShipOne was a milestone in the birth of
a new kind of space age ... [more]
Testing madness: More testing for mad cow disease does
not necessarily mean better testing ... [more]
Masha Gessen's genes have a fatal flaw: a high likelihood of
developing breast cancer. So she set out to discover
the best treatments to even the odds ... [more]
Saying no to Saddam: Hussain Al-Shahristani explains
why he chose prison over the Iraqi dictator's atomic weapons
programme, and why he has just turned down the job of prime
minister ... [more]
Selfish greens: Only science can help us overcome
global warming, warns James Lovelock ... [more]
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Arts
& Letters Daily
for excellent
items on art, literature and
philosophy. |
Psychologists are turning their attention to
workplace bullies, discovering why cruel bosses thrive
and how employees end up covering for managers they despise
(registration required) ... [more]
Like religion, science is not a unified set of
principles but a bunch of politicised factions, argues
Annalee Newitz ... [more]
Paul Roberts, author of The End of Oil discusses
the politics of the oil economy, the viability of alternative
energy sources, and the high cost of "energy
illiteracy" ... [more]
Doctors and executioner: Do doctors who assist with
judicial executions violate the most fundamental tenet of
medical ethics? Or are they providing a humanitarian service
to the condemned? ... [more]
My favourite wiretappers: Next time you're feeling
lonely online, just remember that somewhere out there,
somebody is probably listening, says Annalee Newitz ... [more]
The brain-gain revolution is already under way. But
will these "neural enhancement" drugs turn us into Einsteins
or Frankensteins? ... [more]
Controversial Danish statistician Bj©ªrn Lomborg has a brain
trust and a blueprint to solve the world's problems. He
says it's all down to the numbers: we can cure AIDS, or end
hunger -- but not both ... [more]
The cutting edge: A growing number of doctors are
moving away from performing genital surgery on babies of
indeterminate gender, says Claudia Kolker ... [more]
Cosmetic surgery was born 2,500 years ago and came of
age in the inferno of the Western Front. The controversy about
it is still growing, writes Ellen Feldman ... [more]
From the psychology of war to the maths of purest
coincidence, past research sheds light on current events in
the war in Iraq, says John Allen Paulos ... [more]
The paper chase: The paperless office is still a
distant dream. In the interim, we should be recycling more and
developing alternatives to wood-based paper, says Jim
Motavalli ... [more]
Since long before the debut of Dolly the cloned sheep in 1997,
genetic research has incited worldwide controversy. At the
crux of the biogenetic debate lies the central question: How
far should we go to refine humanity through science?
... [more]
To the moon and back: David Scott is one of just 12 men
to walk on the Moon. When the cold war thawed, he became firm
friends with cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, and they decided to
write about the space race ... [more]
Unease over petroleum prices and the security of the world's
oil supplies would seem to be good news for advocates of
alternative fuels. But are they really enough to boost
the case for renewables? ... [more]
Two studies, two trials and a debate: Most drug trials
are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. And that, some
critics say, can lead to a conflict of interest (registration
required) ... [more]
People of the forest: Anthropologist Conrad Feather has
trained an Amazon tribe to use GPS, so they can stake a claim
to their land and drive loggers out ... [more]
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