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July-August

Table of Contents July-August 2009

Discover Magazine's mission is to enable readers to lead richer lives by explaining and expanding their universe. Each month we bring you in depth information and analysis from various topics ranging from technology and space to the living world we live in.

FEATURES

Special Package: The Invisible World Around Us

by Corey S. Powell

The Secret Sauce of Hi-Tech: Obscure Metals

by Andrew Grant

The metals of modern technology lie hidden in a handful of unlikely spots, from frozen Russian plains to sweltering African valleys.

Set Your CT Scanner to "Kill" and Look Inside Some Fossils

by Amy Barth

Penetrating chunks of amber and ancient rock, powerful new imaging machines render 3-D portraits of fossil creatures concealed for millions of years.

Why Ghost Hunters Is the Best Science Show on TV

by Bruno Maddox

No matter how silly and misguided, Ghost Hunters captures an element of science that Numb3rs, House, and even Mythbusters miss.

Being Stephen Hawking

by Sir John Maddox

Former Nature editor John Maddox on one of the most famous scientists of our age.

Stephen Hawking is Making His Comeback

by Tim Folger

Stephen Hawking, the master of time, space, and black holes, steps back into the spotlight to secure his scientific legacy—and to explain the greatest mystery in physics: the origin of the universe.

How Much of Your Memory Is True?

by Kathleen McGowan

New research shows that memories are constantly being re-written by our minds.

Earth's Own Aliens: They Light Up & Live in the Deep

by Jane Bosveld

Marine biologist Edie Widder's underwater spy camera is an underwater SETI, finally giving humans a chance to see the freaky world of deep-ocean bioluminescent animals.

What Do Urban Sounds Do to Your Brain?

by Jennifer Barone

A sonic tour of New York, from the agonizing screech of the Union Square subway station to one of the quietest rooms in the city: Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center.

Shadow Life

by Paul McAuley

DISCOVER Fiction: In the post-economic future, big-ticket science is dead and amateurs hunt aliens using gear scored cheap on eBay.

In the Future, Doing Science Is Like Blogging

by Bruce Sterling

Fiction from Bruce Sterling: "If you can read a popular-science publication (and enjoy it), then you most likely have enough brainpower to help us make massive scientific breakthroughs..."

Slime City: Where Germs Talk to Each Other and Execute Precise Attacks

by Wendy Orent

For 300 years, scientists thought of bacteria as individual killers, like a bunch of piranhas. Recently, we've found that's almost entirely wrong.

DEPARTMENTS

Hot Science

The Best in Science Culture

by Sam Kissinger, Jeremy Labrecque

Clashes with aliens, America vs. Science, really horrible sci-fi, and more

5 Questions

5 Questions for the Mummy Doctor

by Amy Barth

Since 2005, Swiss pathologist Frank Rühli has focused on the cause of death for patients who died thousands of years ago.

Think Tech

Think Tech: Taking Pictures at Another Time and Place

A new Olympus camera lets you take pictures like a photojournalist or a 19th-century photo pioneer.

Vital Signs

Vital Signs: Where's That Infection?

by Tony Dajer

What seems like an ordinary urinary tract infection can sometimes be much worse.

20 Things You Didn't Know About...

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Eclipses

by LeeAundra Temescu

What Is This?

What Is This? A Close Look at Pocket Lint?

by Andrew Grant

Hint: It dates back to 6th-century China but never really caught on until the mid-1800s, when it was introduced in its packaged, modern form.

Big Idea

8 Ways Scientists Look at—But Don't Yet See—Dark Matter

by Stephen Ornes

Scientists hunt for the unseen matter that glues together the cosmos. But some wonder whether it even exists.

Numbers

Numbers: Allergies, From the Fecund Ragweed to Killer Peanuts

by Andrew Grant

Future Tech

Future Tech: The Carbon Nanotube Grows Up—Into Nanoyarn a Kilometer Long

by Stephen Cass

One company's special manufacturing process turns out yarns and sheets millions of time the size of normal nanotubes.

Discover Q&A

Discover Interview: Thanks, Evolution, For Making the Great Building Material Called DNA

by Stephen Cass

Electronic computers are great at what they do. But to accomplish really complicated physical tasks—like building an insect—Erik Winfree says you have to grow them from DNA.

The Brain

The Brain: Stop Paying Attention: Zoning Out Is a Crucial Mental State

by Carl Zimmer

Researchers say a wandering mind may be important to setting goals, making discoveries, and living a balanced life.

DATA

Battling Malaria, Ninja-Style

by Jeremy Labrecque

In the evolutionary arms race to defeat the disease, subtle and indirect maneuvers like targeting old mosquitoes and locking malaria inside blood cells may ultimately prove most effective.