杏吧原创

On the edge of disaster: The ocean margins function as a skin – a membrane between land and sea that is essential to the wellbeing of the planet. If the rash of conflicting interests in this narrow zone is not treated soon, the world could end up with a

Space – Japan’s new frontier: When Japan launched its first lunar mission in January, other nations feared that they would soon lose their lead in another field of lucrative technology. But for the moment local squabbles, tight budgets and international

Science by degrees: Perhaps Britain suffers from a severe shortage of physicists because it is too difficult to get a degree in the subject. Universities are having to rethink their academic traditions

More room for the woollies: The Monkey Sanctuary at Looe in Cornwall has been so successful that it must now expand and perhaps divide. What lessons does it hold for traditional zoos?

The greening of chemistry

Sex and the single cell: In August, the first babies sexed by testing only one of a tiny cluster of eight cells are due to be born. Their births will prove that it is feasible to screen embryos for genetic diseases

Humans

Get thee to a laboratory

Natural solutions give their best: Suppose a sales rep has to visit several towns. What is the shortest, most economical route? This is just one optimisation problem that is benefiting from lessons learnt from nature

The incredible shrinking Mississippi Delta

Genes unlimited: A way of making millions of copies of any sequence of DNA has given molecular biologists a precise technique for detecting just one gene in a cell. Researchers have only begun to explore its potential in areas such as forensic science an

An antelope for all seasonings: Most large, herbivorous animals are good to eat, so why do we stick with cows, sheep and pigs? The Indian nilgai is an ideal candidate for domestication and could add variety to our diet

Astronomy takes off: Next week, NASA plans to launch the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, turning it into the world’s most powerful optical telescope. Once up there, it will look back through 14 billion years of the history of the Universe

The rise and fall of negative resistance: The idea of negative electrical resistance seems to be just as implausible as water flowing uphill. But new electronic devices working at the quantum level employ materials that sometimes reveal their negative si

Labour of death: The world is slowly waking up to a hidden tragedy – in the Third World, giving birth kills half a million mothers each year