杏吧原创

Playing with fire – Despite international outrage and the terrible toll on public health, the incentives for Indonesian farmers to torch vast swathes of forest are as great as ever. Fred Pearce asks what can be done to stop the burning

The People eaters – After thirty years of fierce controversy, the idea that cannibalism was common is gaining acceptance. And, as Robin McKie reports, the theory is backed up by rigorous analysis of bones from around the world

Scramble for space – What do you get if you cross a jet engine with a rocket? Enough power to send NASA’s first space plane into orbit, says Ben Iannotta

Beyond reality – Watching information at play in the quantum world is throwing physicists into a flat spin, says Mark Buchanan

Open wide, we’re going to explore – Fighting tooth decay by annihilating all the mostly harmless bacteria in your mouth is like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Garry Hamilton looks at more subtle ways of stopping the rot

It all adds up

All the world’s a time machine – Imagine that there are loops in space-time, and that the future can influence the past. Marcus Chown meets a physicist who is convinced that this is exactly how the Universe works

The intraterrestrials – Deep in the Earth’s crust, undreamt-of life forms are scratching a living from little more than barren rock, discovers Stephanie Pain. And if life can survive there, why not inside another planet?

Making waves – Could this be the big idea that will break through computing’s speed barrier? Paul Marks meets a man who is trying out a radical new way of working with semiconductors

Trials and tribulations of a drug tester

Fast and furious 鈥� Tucking into a casserole straight out of the domesticmicrowave can be a searing experience. But for chemists the effects of superheatingare pure magic. Gavin Whittaker investigates

Hot Rocks – There’s a secret to cooking up the perfect fake diamond or emerald. Whatever your brand of alchemy, throw in a few flaws, says Amy Adams, or the gem police will get you

Land of the loveless – Three years ago Curtis Abraham set out for the northeast corner of Uganda to find out for himself the truth about the infamous Ika people. This is his story

Physics

Take a spin…