The Plan to Bring an Asteroid to Earth Scientists and engineers met last week at Caltech to discuss the possibility of capturing an asteroid and placing it in orbit near Earth to use as a base for manned space missions further into the solar system. PASADENA, Calif. — Send a robot into space. Grab an …
Personality and appearance When Charles Darwin applied to be the “energetic young man” that Robert Fitzroy, the Beagle’s captain, sought as his gentleman companion, he was almost let down by a woeful shortcoming that was as plain as the nose on his face. Fitzroy believed in physiognomy—the idea that you can tell a person’s character …
Space Travel and Health A. Space biomedicine is a relatively new area of research both in the USA and in Europe. Its main objectives are to study the effects of space travel on the human body, identifying the most critical medical problems, and finding solutions to those problems. Space biomedicine centers are receiving increasing direct …
Development of Adolescence (The Adolescence) A The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes three stages of adolescence. These are early, middle and late adolescence, and each has its own developmental tasks. Teenagers move through these tasks at their own speed depending on their physical development and hormone levels. Although these stages are common to all teenagers, …
Antarctic Research AA little over a century ago, men of the ilk of Scott, Shackleton and Mawson battled against Antarctica’s blizzards, cold and deprivation. In the name of Empire and in an age of heroic deeds they created an image of Antarctica that was to last well into the 20th century – an image of …
THE MPEMBA EFFECT In 300 BC, the famous philosopher Aristotle wrote about a strange phenomenon that he had observed: “Many people, when they want to cool water quickly, begin by putting it in the sun.” Other philosophers over the ages noted the same result, but were unable to explain it. In 1963, a young Tanzanian …
How to handle the Sun A. The medical world appears to be divided on the effects of the sun upon the human body. From statements like, “There is no known relationship between a tan and health” to “perhaps sun-tanned skin absorbs the ultraviolet rays and converts them into helpful energy”, there are some things which are …
The Nagymaros Dam When Janos Vargha, a biologist from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, began a new career as a writer with a small monthly nature magazine called Buvar, it was 9 years after the story behind the fall of the Berlin Wall had started to unfold. During his early research, he went to a …
Deafhood A At this point, you might be wondering: what does ‘deafhood’ mean? Is it a synonym for ‘deafness’? Is it a slightly more politically correct term to express the very same concept you’ve grown accustomed to-a person who lacks the power of hearing, or a person whose hearing is impaired? What’s wrong with terms …
How Fair is Fair Trade? The fair-trade movement began in Europe in earnest in the post-war period, but only in the last 25 years has it grown to include producers and consumers in over 60 countries. In the 1950s and 60s, many people in the developed world felt passionately about the enormous disparities between developed …
