Drug Hunters
A look at the scientists working to identify the endless stream of synthetic designer drugs that have flooded the market in recent years.
This Parasite Drugs Its Hosts With the Psychedelic Chemical in Shrooms
A look at an unflinchingly brutal fungal parasite that invades the abdomens of cicadas, turning them into “flying saltshakers of death” when they then fly around releasing spores from the fungus on to their brethren on the ground. The cicadas’ obliviousness to the catastrophic loss of their bottoms is perhaps explained by the fact that the fungus has been found to contain psychedelics and amphetamines.
Romain Pizzi is saving endangered animals, one operation at a time
A leading veterinary surgeon, the perfect man if you have “a tiger with gallstones, or a suspiciously sickly beaver”, has been turning his hand to a broad array of endangered animals.
Humanity’s fight against climate change is failing. One technology can change that.
A piece looking at the potential impact of carbon capture technology on climate change including analysis of large scale trends across different energy sources, industries, and parts of the globe.
What would it take to build a tower as high as outer space?
Such are the advances that have been made in structural engineering, that proposals now exist to create buildings that can reach space. For such “megastructures” to be viable however, we may need to look to the natural world for inspiration – perhaps even our own bodies, where an estimated 98% of atoms are replaced each year.
Does an Octopus Have a Soul?
A blackhat hacker operated on both sides of the fence, working with both the FBI and the criminals they were trying to stop.
When Your Child Is a Psychopath
A look at what can be done for children that display traits commonly associated with psychopaths. They do not feel the wrong of actions, though they might intellectually understand them – they Òknow the words but not the musicÓ. http://www.bit.ly/atlantic-psychopath
In Defectors From the North, Doctors in South Korea Find Hope and Data
A piece examining a project driven by hope – an in-depth study of the health of North Korean defectors that seeks to understand the long-term impact of living through the regime’s many hardships, with the goal of rendering a future reunification more straightforward.
Analysis of “The Uninhabitable Earth”
Climate Feedback is a platform created by scientists to highlight inaccuracy in media coverage of climate change (often that put forward by climate change skeptics) – they invited 17 scientists to comment on the article in their analysis piece. New York Magazine has felt sufficiently stung by the response to republish their piece complete with annotations and sources (this is the version we share here).
How The DNA Revolution Is Changing Us
Recent advances in genetic science bring with them huge opportunities – correcting mutations that cause cystic fibrosis, editing pig genes for organ transplant to humans or mosquito genes to remove dangerous viruses are all avenues being explored right now, amongst many others. They also present extremely thorny ethical questions that will need to be answered very soon.