Research News Accidental Discovery Could Treat Memory Disorders January 31, 2008 • A professor's attempt to reduce a man's appetite by implanting electrodes in his brain didn't curb his appetite — but it did cause the man to experience vivid memories instead. Now that professor — Andres Lozano at the Toronto Western Research Institute — is testing the procedure on people suffering from Alzheimer's.
Environment Space Is Filling Up with Junk January 31, 2008 • Fifty years ago, the United States successfully launched Explorer 1, its first satellite. Now, abandoned satellites and decaying rocket bodies clutter the space around Earth.
Report from a Conference on Bird Flu January 31, 2008 • Avian influenza was the subject of a recent international congress in Bangkok. Robert Webster, member of the Infectious Diseases Department at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, was there.
Space Explorer 1, America's Answer to Sputnik January 31, 2008 • Fifty years ago Thursday, a 30-pound satellite called Explorer 1 joined Sputnik in orbit around the Earth, sending the United States into the space race. Replicas of the historic spacecraft are on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
A Famous Hallucination: Ahab's Phantom Leg January 30, 2008 • The human brain can, indeed, make up things that aren't there — sights, sounds, feelings. Michele Norris has a literary reminder of a famous hallucination: Captain Ahab, from Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick. Ahab lost his leg but can feel it still.
Krulwich Wonders... Blind Man 'Sees' January 30, 2008 • David Stewart went blind about 10 years ago, then something strange happened: He started "seeing" things. He saw a sailor, imaginary paintings, green curtains and a pink dress. What explains these visual hallucinations?
Business 'Marketplace' Report: Cashing in on Britney January 29, 2008 • Britney Spears has been in and out of rehab, triggered a three-hour standoff with police and lost custody of her kids. For a growing number of media outlets and businesses, her real-life soap opera translates into money.
Environment Cruising Antarctica to See a Planet in Peril January 29, 2008 • The frozen wastes of Antarctica are attracting tourists who want a closer look at climate change. Layers of ice that have recorded 400,000 years of climate history are beginning to melt.
Krulwich Wonders... Hearing Things: When Sounds Come Unbidden January 29, 2008 • We are all, to some extent, human jukeboxes. And while hit tunes or ad jingles sometimes stick too long, for the most part we control what's inside our heads. But what happens when a person loses control?
National Prescription Drug Deaths Rise in West Virginia January 28, 2008 • For the first time in U.S. history, drug overdoses and other types of poisonings now kill more people than guns, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Record numbers of West Virginians are dying in the quiet epidemic, mostly from prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and methadone.
National FBI Unravels the Stories Skulls Tell January 28, 2008 • There is an old saying that dead men tell no tales. But forensic experts at the FBI's special projects lab could write a book from the information they get from a simple skull. The reconstructions that forensic artists build on skulls can give the dead new life.
Adaptation Dutch Architects Plan for a Floating Future January 28, 2008 • Architects in Holland are showing the rest of the world a way of turning adversity into opportunity. Instead of building around rising waters, they ask, why not build on water? Floating houses, gardens, even villages are the future vision of some Dutch planners.
Steven Pinker on Morality as a 'Sixth Sense' January 28, 2008 • Is moral sense hardwired in the human brain? Psychologist Steven Pinker examines morality and evolutionary roots and discusses his article, "The Moral Instinct," published recently in The New York Times Magazine.
Solutions Maldives Builds Barriers to Global Warming January 28, 2008 • When the 2004 tsunami hit, the Maldives islands were submerged for several minutes. Those waters retreated, but rising sea levels from global warming won't be so transient. Plans to adapt to a warmer world include a flood-resistant island.
National FBI's New Technology Revolutionizes DNA Analysis January 28, 2008 • At the FBI Crime Lab in Quantico, Va., experts are finding new and better uses for what many people see as a forensic sure thing — DNA. Cases unsolvable just a decade ago, are now ripe for reopening.