杏吧原创

Design your own personality: Are pills that turn wallflowers into social butterflies and couch potatoes into go-getting executives just around the corner? Or is personality one of life’s great immutables?

When hyenas kill their own: For many of Africa’s spotted hyenas, life begins with a struggle to survive the murderous attacks of a twin sister

The electric plastics show: The notion of plastics that conduct electricity – let alone emit light – still comes as a surprise. But industry has been quick to spot their potential and is forcing the pace of development says Karen Celia Fox

Live crash from Jupiter – Astronomy is a frustrating business. You can spend years scanning the skies only to find something spectacular happens when your back is turned. This July, however, everything will be very, very different . . .

High hopes for faster transit – City planners are desperate to unclog congested roads by luring us out of our cars and on to public transport. Enter the ‘personal train’ that could be running in Chicago by the year 2000

Shock therapy returns

A New Age for Astronomy: Catch an exploding STAR – 杏吧原创s working at the bottom of a mine in Japan are hoping that neutrinos from supernovae and the Sun will turn up trumps writes Marcus Chown

A New Age for Astronomy: Japan’s place in the sun – Ambitious plans to launch a radio telescope into space could help Japan to fulfil its dream of becoming a major player in pure science

A New Age for Astronomy: Strangest telescopes in the world – Why are astronomers tracking exotic objects in space by trailing strings under ships and digging holes in Antarctic ice?

What triggers the violence within?

Despite the best efforts of researchers and the public's enthusiasm for easy answers, the biological roots of violence remain elusive

Britain’s other dam SCANDAL

The company of wolves: William Green finds that tracking wolves involves more close encounters with the prey than the predator

Taking to the streets

Iceland’s hot rocks: In the middle of the spreading Atlantic is Iceland, a geological marvel with a rift valley, the original geyser and an energy supply that does not depend on burning carbon. Frederik Pohl reports