Humans
- Math
A building of bubbles
Math Trek: The National Aquatics Center in Beijing, newly built for the Olympics, is a glowing cube of bubbles. The mathematics behind it are built around Lord Kelvin's tetrakaidecahedra and the physics of foam.
- Agriculture
Starved for Science: How Biotechnology is Being Kept Out of Africa
by Robert Paarlberg, Harvard Univ. Press, 2008, 235 p., $24.95.
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- Health & Medicine
The Handy Anatomy Answer Book
Naomi E. Balaban and James E. Bobick, Visible Ink Press, 2008, 376 p., $21.95.
- Humans
Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science
Richard Preston, Random House, 2008, 240 p., $26.
- Health & Medicine
MapQuest for the mouse spinal cord
The Allen Institute for Brain Science unveils an online atlas of the mouse spinal cord. The atlas is a tool for researchers studying spinal cord injury, disease and development.
- Archaeology
From Science News Letter, August 2, 1958
PORCUPINES GNAWED ON STONE AGE MAN’S TOOLS — Razor sharp edges on some of the bone chisels of Middle Stone Age man in Africa were found to have been put there by the needle-sharp front teeth of porcupines, Dr. Raymond A. Dart of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, reports. But the fact […]
- Astronomy
Science Future for August 2, 2008
August 16–24 Australia celebrates National Science Week. Visit www.scienceweek.info.au September 18 and 19 University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Holtz Center presents “Climate Change is Global.” Visit www.sts.wisc.edu October 8 Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch as part of the final mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Visit www.nasa.gov/missions
- Humans
Science should be prominent in U.S. foreign policy
Excerpted comments from a panel discussion at the World Science Summit that addressed the topic of the role of science in foreign affairs. Among the participants were the esteemed scientists Harold Varmus, David Baltimore and Nina Fedoroff.
- Health & Medicine
Insightful Light
Raman spectroscopy may offer doctors, dentists and forensic scientists a better tool for molecular detection.
- Health & Medicine
Finding the Golden Genes
Advances in gene therapy could tempt some athletes to enhance their genetic makeup, leading some researchers to work on detection methods just in case.
- Ecosystems
Tracing Tahitian vanilla
The discovery of Tahitian vanilla’s heritage could set off a custody battle between nations.
