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Conservation In wolfs clothing (19 November 04:09) |
| Wolves are being blamed for damage actually done by dogsFARMERS have never liked wolves. That is why wolves are rare where farmers are common. Fashion, though, is swinging round to the wolf&... |
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Vehicle telemetry Calling all cars (19 November 04:09) |
| Tapping remotely into a car’s data systems provides lots of useful servicesIN THE early hours of the morning two men are robbed at gunpoint and ordered out of their Chevrolet Tahoe. Th... |
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Tuna fishing Changing tides (19 November 04:09) |
| The bluefin tuna is still being managed badly. A trade ban is on the cardsIN A world where wildlife is under increasing pressure, good management can mean the difference between survival and... |
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Sex and pharmaceuticals Arousing interest (19 November 04:09) |
| The search continues for a pill that will lift a woman’s libidoBACK in the 1990s a drug firm called Pfizer thought it had a treatment for angina. Unfortunately, the new medicine failed... |
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Correction Peat (19 November 04:09) |
| In “For peat’s sake, stop” (November 7th), an overenthusiastic spell-checking system led to the word “rewetting” being rendered as “reletting” in th... |
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Lagrangian coherent structures The skeleton of water (12 November 04:33) |
| Research is revealing a hidden structure within liquids and gases that guides the movement of everything from pollution to aeroplanesTHE connection between an 18th-century savant called Jose... |
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Gut bacteria and obesity Holy shit! (12 November 04:33) |
| A new way of finding out how diet affects gut microbesAS THE world’s fatties clock up the kilos, their excuses for being that way have piled up, too. Big bones, junk foods, genes or po... |
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Anatomy and sport Athletes foot (12 November 04:33) |
| Sprinters are different from other peopleIS ATHLETIC prowess attained or innate? Those who have suffered the tongue-lashing of a tyrannical games master at school might be forgiven for doubt... |
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Electronics Seeing clearly (12 November 04:33) |
| A transparent transistor that could be used in electronic displaysFAMILIAR friends can nevertheless sometimes surprise. Such has been the case with a compound used to make the first solid-st... |
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Dinosaurs How to exterminate a dinosaur (12 November 04:33) |
| Modern palaeontologists may exterminate a third of dinosaur speciesThis is the fossilised ornamentation of a dinosaur called Stygimoloch spinifer. Except that if Jack Horner of Montana State... |
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The horse genome Riding high (05 November 07:30) |
| The DNA of the domesticated horse shows evolution at workTHE genomes of many mammals have now been completed, including the cow, the dog, the chimpanzee and, of course, the human. This week ... |
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Agriculture and satellites Harvest moon (05 November 04:31) |
| Artificial satellites are helping farmers boost crop yieldsFOR farmers, working out the optimal amount of seed, fertiliser, pesticide and water to scatter on a field can make, or break, the ... |
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Nanobiotechnology Seeding the seeds (05 November 04:31) |
| Carbon nanotubes find an unusual use as fertilisersMANURE, compost and ash were used as fertilisers for centuries before the 1800s, but people did not understand how they worked until the sc... |
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Climate change For peats sake stop (05 November 04:31) |
| The world’s wetlands are big sources of greenhouse gasesBOGS, mires, marshes, swamps, fens and quagmires—whatever they are called, and wherever they are found, peaty wetlands emi... |
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Note to self (29 October 05:23) |
| The best ways to get enough omega-3 oilsTHE best ways to get enough “good” (ie, long-chain) omega-3 oils are either to eat lots of oily fish or to take, every day, supplements th... |
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Nutrition and health Food glorious food (29 October 05:23) |
| The way health claims about food are regulated is changingBARELY a day seems to pass without a new study reporting the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. A high intake of omega-3s has been lin... |
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The first and last flight of Ares (29 October 05:23) |
| The launch of the Ares I-X raises hopes at NASANASA’s new Ares I-X rocket was launched successfully from the Kennedy Space Centre, in Florida, on October 28th. It is part of the Americ... |
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Wine and sea food Red rags (29 October 05:23) |
| An old rule of cuisine is explained by chemistryTHAT red wine is not to be paired with seafood is nearly a religious dogma among connoisseurs. Their reason is that the combination usually re... |
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Cheaper desalination Current thinking (29 October 05:23) |
| A fresh way to take the salt out of seawaterTHERE is a lot of water on Earth, but more than 97% of it is salty and over half of the remainder is frozen at the poles or in glaciers. Meanwhile... |
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Nutrition Note to self (29 October 05:23) |
| The best ways to get enough omega-3 oilsTHE best ways to get enough “good” (ie, long-chain) omega-3 oils are either to eat lots of oily fish or to take, every day, supplements th... |
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NASAs new rocket The first and last flight of Ares (29 October 05:23) |
| The launch of the Ares I-X raises hopes at NASANASA’s new Ares I-X rocket was launched successfully from the Kennedy Space Centre, in Florida, on October 28th. It is part of the Americ... |
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A novel form of fusion power Psst kapow! (22 October 04:13) |
| An alternative approach to achieving nuclear fusion in the laboratoryLIKE conquistadors seeking El Dorado, physicists cannot leave the idea of fusion power alone. Some spend billions of doll... |
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Lunar landers Space hopper (22 October 04:13) |
| A prize for a moon lander will be won this monthIF PEOPLE are to explore the moon again they will need ways of travelling across the lunar surface and also of digging holes in it. But becaus... |
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New ideas for global health A challenge eh (22 October 04:13) |
| Some intriguing ways to improve the world’s healthCHALLENGES are all the rage in science this week. Besides the Centennial Challenges organised by NASA, America’s space agency (s... |
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Mass extinctions I am become Death destroyer of worlds (22 October 04:13) |
| The story of how the dinosaurs disappeared is getting more and more complicatedEVERYONE knows that the dinosaurs were exterminated when an asteroid hit what is now Mexico about 65m years ago... |
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The rise of epigenomics Methylated spirits (15 October 04:18) |
| The human genome gets more and more complicatedIT WAS, James Watson claimed, something even a monkey could do. Sequencing the human genome, that is. In truth, Dr Watson, co-discoverer of the... |
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Not watching the Earth from space Satellites in the alphabet soup (15 October 04:18) |
| America’s next generation of Earth-observation satellites is in troubleWITHOUT satellites, both forecasting the weather and studying the climate would be a lot harder than they are. Su... |
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Conservation and cookery Eat for the ecosystem (15 October 04:18) |
| A heartening tale of business and the environmentRED lionfish are pretty, but they are also greedy. A single one of them, introduced into a coral reef where the species is not native, can re... |
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Through-the-wall vision Looking beyond (15 October 04:18) |
| A cheap way of using small radios to see inside buildingsSUPERMAN had X-ray vision, which was useful for looking through walls when rescuing heroines and collaring villains. But beyond Holly... |
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The evolution of flying reptiles A patchwork quilt (15 October 04:18) |
| How new groups of creatures emergeEVOLUTION is not always a process of gradual change. Shifts in entire body shapes, leading to the foundation of whole new groups of animals or plants, somet... |
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From ancient life to alien life Living where the sun dont shine (08 October 04:17) |
| A Caribbean cruise may unlock one of biology’s oldest secrets—both on Earth and elsewhere in the universeMODERN life is powered by the sun. But photosynthesis, the process that c... |
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Climate change and warfare Cool heads or heated conflicts (08 October 04:17) |
| A lesson from history on how to prevent climate-induced warsTHE starkest views of climate change paint war as a looming threat. The idea that violence will erupt as drought and rising sea le... |
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The Nobel science prizes Winning ways (08 October 04:17) |
| Prizes for optical fibres, charge-coupled devices, ribosomes and telomeresHOW do you look through a window that is 100km thick? That, in essence, was the question facing Charles Kao in 1966.... |
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Tyrannosaurs Selling bones (08 October 04:17) |
| The market for dinosaur bones tumblesThe dinosaur market is in the doldrums. At an auction held in Las Vegas on October 3rd the star lot, a Tyrannosaurus skeleton nicknamed Samson (whose sku... |
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A palaeontological mystery Dead in the water (01 October 04:34) |
| What killed Fossil Lake?SINCE the early 19th century, Fossil Lake, a 52m-year-old site in south-west Wyoming, has been known for its fish, insects, reptiles, birds and mammals. It contains m... |
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AIDS treatment Almost halfway there (01 October 04:34) |
| The routine use of anti-AIDS drugs is spreadingMORE news from the battle against AIDS. A report published jointly by the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund a... |
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Quantum mechanics Schrödingers virus (01 October 04:34) |
| An old thought experiment may soon be realisedONE of the most famous unperformed experiments in science is Schrodinger’s cat. In 1935 Erwin Schrodinger (pictured), who was one of the p... |
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Palaeontology and conservation Avoiding the heffalump trap (01 October 04:34) |
| As the climate warms, conservationists might consider looking to the past to protect the futureTHE Earth is heating up—and, if a study presented by Britain’s Meteorological Offic... |
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Portable dialysis machines A clean break (01 October 04:34) |
| Kidney machines go mobileDIALYSIS is not as bad as dying, but it is pretty unpleasant, nonetheless. It involves being hooked up to a huge machine, three times a week, in order to have your b... |
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Paying to save trees Last gasp for the forest (24 September 04:23) |
| A new climate treaty could provide a highly effective way to reduce carbon emissions by paying people to not cut down forestsIN THE south-eastern corner of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, i... |
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Unhealthy showers The joy of bathing (17 September 05:29) |
| A new study finds that nasty bugs can live in showerheadsIT HAS long been known that the air and water encountered by people in their daily lives are filled with all sorts of micro-organisms... |
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Cleaning aircraft-cabin air Breathing more easily (17 September 05:29) |
| The air inside airplanes could soon be cleaner and more comfortable to breatheONE concern of travellers is that flying can make you ill. Despite soothing reassurances from airlines that the ... |
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Teenage sexual maturity Daddys girl (17 September 05:29) |
| A non-obvious explanation for why girls without fathers have sex earlierIT HAS long been a puzzle that girls who grow up without their fathers at home reach sexual maturity earlier than girl... |
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Rogue waves Monsters of the deep (17 September 05:29) |
| Huge, freak waves may not be as rare as once thoughtON JULY 26th 1909 the SS Waratah, en route to London from Melbourne, left Durban with 211 passengers and crew. She was due in Cape Town th... |
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Exercise and company Fitter with friends (17 September 05:29) |
| Exercising in a group can be more effective by making things easierTHE enduring image of Sylvester Stallone’s legendary pugilist Rocky Balboa is that of a solitary athlete, braving the... |
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Earthquake-proof bridges Beaten but not broken (10 September 04:07) |
| Engineers hope to keep bridges working after earthquakesTHERE are few safe places to ride out an earthquake. Surprisingly, though, a recently constructed bridge is often one of them. Enginee... |
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Tuna and pollock A tale of two fisheries (10 September 04:07) |
| How to pillage the oceans deliberately, and by accidentTHERE are two ways to overfish the sea. One is to ignore scientific advice and plunder on regardless. The other is to accept the advice... |
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Self-erasing paper Fade to red (10 September 04:07) |
| A way to write messages that will vanish spontaneouslyINVISIBLE ink has a lengthy history. As early as the first century AD, Pliny the Elder wrote that the sap of a tithymalus plant could be... |
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Space Flying high (10 September 04:07) |
| America’s government has no money for its human-spaceflight plans. The private sector has plentyTHE past, despite the disclaimer often found on advertisements for financial products, o... |
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AIDS vaccines A fluttering in the breeze (03 September 07:31) |
| AIDS-vaccine research has been in the doldrums. A project whose first discoveries were announced this week may put the wind back in its sailsTHE scientific study of AIDS has dropped out of t... |
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