Schoolgirl to Experience Zero Gravity
Nigerian schoolgirl Stella Felix rises at 5 a.m. to do chores and then walks nearly an hour to get to school. When she gets back home, homework is done by candlelight. This Saturday, Felix soared above all that, becoming the first Nigerian to experience what it is like to fly in space. Thanks to a U.S. group that aims to give more people access to the wonders of space, Felix was the first of many ... posted on Sep 25 2006, 1,988 reads

Staying Positive About Pluto
When the National Astronomical Union (IAU) recently reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet, people worldwide had strong and widely differing reactions. While some mourned the 'demotion' of the planet, others saw the change as demonstrative of the process of scientific progress where old knowledge must make way for new. As American scientist and TV host Bill Nye put it, " Pluto’s change in status a... posted on Sep 22 2006, 1,691 reads

Emotionally Sensitive Computers
Emotionally sensitive computers? The aggression of frustrated computer users towards their machines is a growing and increasingly costly problem. To address this unusual situation, scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute are re-examining communication between man and machine, to see if computers can be made to respond to what their users feel. Using devices that track pulse rate, body temperature, ... posted on Sep 17 2006, 1,499 reads

Taking a Page from Nature's Book
The future of space exploration could lie in biomimetics -- where engineering meets biology. In effect, it steals nature's evolutionary tricks to create revolutionary applications. Engineers like Dr Alex Ellery, head of the Robotics Research Group at the University of Surrey, are trying to find out how natural systems might inspire human-made technology in space. "One obvious way is in the way nat... posted on Sep 10 2006, 1,392 reads

Generosity -- A Strategy for Survival
Helena Cronin, 64, philosopher, social scientist, and Co-Director of the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science at the London School of Economics, has a different take on the survival of the fittest: "Look carefully at nature, and you will find that it doesn't always seem short, brutish, and savage. Animals are strikingly unselfish.” Cronin offers a way of coping with shared adversi... posted on Aug 31 2006, 2,789 reads

Smashing a Law of Physics?
Free energy anyone? Ireland-based Steorn, a technology firm, issued a challenge to the world's scientific community last week to give its verdict on technology it says smashes one of the basic laws of physics by producing "free energy." Sounds too good to be true, and so Steorn has placed an ad in The Economist seeking 12 top physicists to examine the technology -- based on the interaction of magn... posted on Aug 21 2006, 2,133 reads

A Village Goes Online
An Indian village has uploaded itself onto the Internet, giving the outside world a glimpse of life in rural India. Visitors to Hansdehar village's website can see the names, jobs and other details of its 1,753 residents, browse photographs of their shops and read detailed specifications about their drainage and electricity facilities.... posted on Aug 19 2006, 2,354 reads

Emotion Rules The Brain
The evidence has been piling up throughout history, and now neuroscientists have proved that it's true: The brain's wiring emphatically relies on emotion over intellect in decision-making.... posted on Aug 14 2006, 3,269 reads

Nobel Laureate Aims for Open-source Research
Harold Varmus won a Nobel Prize for changing how we think about cancer. Then he overhauled the National Institutes of Health. Now he’s battling to make all scientific research free and universally available. Varmus is the most visible character in the movement to free the scientific world of scholarly journals that restrict the flow of information by charging often hefty subscription prices for ... posted on Aug 05 2006, 1,822 reads

Learning from the Bees
When it comes to bees making decisions, the question is whether the bee or the hive is the individual. Here's how the honeybees do it: when hives of honeybees get too big, they split up; the old queen flies off with a swarm of 10,000 bees or so and over the course of several days, scout bees search for real estate and come back to do waggle dances to promote their finds. So, then, how do the bees... posted on Jul 26 2006, 2,429 reads