August 2008

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Departments

The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time

A new book explores what we still don't know about science.
by John Whitfield

Vernor Vinge

A science fiction giant reveals his reading list.

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Sports Technology

How science makes modern athletes go higher, move faster, and stay safer.
by Dean Christopher, with additional reporting by Andrew Grant and Susannah Locke

A Look at the World's First Computer

The Victorian-age machine is finally up and running.

Are Humans Really Any Different from Other Animals?

Our language capabilities, cultures, and abstract thinking aren't as unique as we'd like to think.
by Thomas Hayden

A GPS to Augment Your Entire Reality

Your cell phone will provide the important linkage between the real world and the digital universe.
by Stephen Cass

A Complete History of Carbon

A new book takes readers through the birth and unstoppable rise of this dangerous element.
by Amber Fields

Mind Control?

The CIA's experimentation with LSD led to disastrous results.
by Stephen Ornes

The Truth About Traffic

A look at the science behind gridlock, from Pompeii to L.A.
by Michael Mason

Will Loneliness Spell Society's Doom?

A new book explores the negative effects of being alone: heart disease, cancer, gastrointestinal ailments, etc.
by Josie Glausiusz

The Lifesaving Work of the Man Behind "A Civil Action"

"Popular epidemiologist" Phil Brown comes to the aid of environmental contamination victims.
by Sheila Kaplan; photography by Christopher Churchill

A First-Hand Look at the Grizzly Recovery

A weekend course sends visitors into the wild to see the bears up close.
by Hannah Hoag

How Your Brain Can Control Time

The three methods your mind uses to reverse, speed, and even slow the minutes.
by Carl Zimmer

Treating Disease in the Big Easy

A patient’s abdominal pain challenges doctors in post-Katrina New Orleans.
by By H. Lee Kagan

What is This? Video Game Soccer Balls?

Not quite, but you will find plenty in a locker room.