Science News

All Stories by Science News

  1. BOOK REVIEW: The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age by Nathan Wolfe

    Review by Erika Engelhaupt.

  2. A Bee in a Cathedral: And 99 Other Scientific Analogies by Joel Levy

    One hundred analogies and metaphors make science more visual: Learn how chemical reactions are like school dances and how long it would take to type the human genome. A BEE IN A CATHEDRAL, JOEL LEVY Firefly Books, 2011, 224 p., $29.95

  3. Arctic Autumn: A Journey to Season’s Edge by Pete Dunne

    A naturalist shares memories and pictures of travels through some of the most dramatic wilderness in the Northern Hemisphere. ARCTIC AUTUMN, PETE DUNNE Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, 258 p., $24

  4. The Fact of Evolution by Cameron M. Smith

    An anthropologist explains how evolution occurs and why it must for life to survive on an ever-changing planet. THE FACT OF EVOLUTION, CAMERON M. SMITH Prometheus Books, 2011, 346 p., $18

  5. The Face of the Earth: Natural Landscapes, Science, and Culture by SueEllen Campbell

    An English professor takes readers on a poetic exploration of geology, aided by essays from scientists and other writers. THE FACE OF THE EARTH, SUEELLEN CAMPBELL Univ. of California Press, 2011, 320 p., $26.95

  6. Space

    European Planetary Science Conference and AAS Division for Planetary Sciences

    News from a joint conference held October 2-7 in Nantes, France.

  7. Mathematicians think of everything as rubber

    How the rubbery world of topology may help describe the universe.

  8. Letters

    Lumpy lunar illusion Are you folks aware of a phenomenon based on the universal expectation that objects are illuminated by light coming from above? Several startling optical illusions are based on this quirk of the mind. For example, the sharp moon map in “Orbiter delivers sharp moon map” (SN: 7/30/11, p. 12) makes the moon […]

  9. SN Online

    BODY & BRAIN ‘Normal’ B12 levels may not be enough for the brain. Read “B12 shortage linked to cognitive problems.” LIFE A penguin can find its kin even in a sea of black and white. See “Penguins may sniff out relatives.” ATOM & COSMOS A NASA probe has found bizarre landforms on the planet nearest […]

  10. Science Future for October 22, 2011

    October 31 Last day for artists to apply for a residency at the CERN particle physics lab near Geneva. Learn more at www.aec.at/prix/collide/ November 4 Chicago’s Field Museum opens its “Restoring Earth” exhibit. See www.fieldmuseum.org November 6 The National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., explores MIT labs as hot spots of invention. See […]

  11. Science Past from the issue of October 21, 1961

    ‘ALARM CLOCK’ BRINGS SNAKES TO SURFACE — A built-in “alarm clock” apparently helps a brightly-banded little desert snake come to the surface at night after he has buried himself to escape the day’s heat…. It had been noted that these snakes, which remain buried in the sand most of the time, appear to come to […]

  12. Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon by Alfredo Qui±ones-Hinojosa with Mim Eichler Rivas

    An autobiography charts one man’s voyage from migrant worker to brain surgeon. Univ. of California Press, 2011, 317 p., $27.50