Algae, Art and Attitudes: A Roundtable About the AAAS Conference

Scientific American staffers Mark Fischetti and Robin Lloyd talk with podcast host Steve Mirsky about sessions they attended--including those about algae for energy, dissecting the astronomy in art and attitudes about climate change--at the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. [More]


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Are Pesticides from Plants Dangerous to Humans?

Chemicals derived from flowers may sound harmless, but new research raises concerns about compounds synthesized from chrysanthemums that are used in virtually every household pesticide .

Surviving Death on Larry King Live

Have you ever died and come back to life? Me neither. No one has. But plenty of people say that they have, and their experiences were the subject of an episode of Larry King Live last December on which I appeared as the token skeptic among a tableful of believers, including CNN’s medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, New Age author Deepak Chopra, a football referee who “died” on the playing field, and an 11-year-old boy named James Leininger who believes he is the reincarnation of a World War II fighter pilot.

Dr. Gupta started us off by recalling that when he was in medical school the residents were taught to mark the time of death to the minute, when death can often take anywhere from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours to occur, depending on the conditions. As Gupta noted, people who have fallen into freezing lakes and “died” were not quite dead, and their core body temperatures dropped so rapidly that their vital tissues were preserved long enough for subsequent resusci­tation. In other words, people who have near-death experiences (NDEs) are not actually dead!

The Poisoner's Handbook : The Sinister Side of Chemistry

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Deborah Blum talks about her new work, The Poisoner's Handbook , a look at how easy it used to be to kill someone with poison and the researchers who made poisoning much harder to get away with. Plus, we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Web sites related to this episode include blog.deborahblum.com  

[ The transcript of this episode will be available soon. ]

How Has Human Sprawl Affected Bird Migration--And the Spread of Avian Diseases?

Dear EarthTalk : How does growing human population, and its resultant landscape changes, affect the flight paths of migratory birds that might carry diseases? --Ronnie Washines, Toppenish, Wash.

Surprised? How the brain records memories of the unexpected

Remember the last time that something a friend did caught you off guard? Probably--and that's because the human brain is specially tuned to remember things that are out of the ordinary. [More]


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To Learn Better, Sleep on It

Wanna be lazy and productive at the same time? Try a nap--because napping can improve learning. So said U.C. Berkeley’s Matthew Walker February 21st at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego. [More]


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Living with Schizophrenia

A decade ago psychologist Ronald Levant, then at Nova Southeastern University, was telling some of his colleagues at a conference about patients with schizophrenia whom he had seen recover. One of them asked rhetorically, “Recovery from schizophrenia? Have you lost your mind, too?”

Until recently, virtually all experts agreed that schizophrenia is always, or almost always, marked by a steady downhill progression. But is this bleak forecast warranted? Certainly schizophrenia is a severe condition. Its victims, who make up about 1 percent of the population, experience a loss of contact with reality that puts them at a heightened risk of suicide, unemployment, relationship problems, physical ailments and even early death. Those who abuse substances are also at risk for committing violent acts against others. Contrary to popular belief, people with schizophrenia do not have multiple personalities, nor are they all essentially alike--or victims of poor parenting.

Hepatitis infection induced and cleared in mice with human liver cells

To understand how bacteria and viruses work and test potential treatments, scientists study them in animals. But what about diseases that only affect humans? A group out of La Jolla’s Salk Institute has worked around that problem with a compromise--a mouse with a human liver.

Making Scents of Sounds: Noises May Alter How We Perceive Odors

Editor's note: This story, from the April 2010 issue, is being posted early to coincide with a journal publication date.

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In the water: Arsenic's tumor-triggering mechanism discovered

Arsenic exposure has long been linked to cancer , but just how the toxic element triggers tumor growth has been unknown. [More]


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100 Years Ago: Madame Curie's Research

MARCH 1960 MODERN AGRICULTURE -- “The 20th-century Israelites came to a land of encroaching sand dunes along a once-verdant coast, of malarial swamps and naked limestone hills from which an estimated three feet of topsoil have been scoured, sorted and spread as sterile overwash upon the plains or swept out to sea in flood waters. The land of Israel had shared the fate of land throughout the Middle East. A decline in productivity and in population had set in with the fading of the Byzantine Empire some 1,300 years ago. Today most of the people of the world live in the lands where mankind has lived longest in organized societies. There, with few exceptions, the soil is in the worst condition. The example of Israel shows that the land can be reclaimed and that increase in the food supply can overtake the increase that will double the 2,800 million world population before the end of this century.”

Two hospital-acquired infections estimated to have killed 48,000, cost $8.1 billion in 2006

When patients get infections in the hospital , the ramifications can be expensive--and sometimes deadly. [More]


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Going for the Gaunt: How Low Can an Athlete's Body Fat Go?

Having won six medals in his career, Seattle-based speed skater Apolo Ohno stands to make U.S. Winter Olympic history if he wins another one in upcoming short-track competition--the 1,000-meter race this weekend or the 5,000-meter relay on February 26. In various reports, Ohno has said that he's in the best physical shape of his life, weighing five kilograms less than he did for the 2006 Games in Torino, Italy, and nine kilograms less than he did for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Ohno is now 65 kilograms of almost pure muscle : only 2.8 percent of his body consists of fat. [More]


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What causes chest pain when feelings are hurt?

When people have their feelings hurt, what is actually happening inside the body to cause the physical pain in the chest? -- Josh Ceddia, Melbourne, Australia

Calendar: MIND events in March and April

MARCH

1 How does the human brain process fear? Neuroscientist Joseph E. Le­Doux of New York University will reveal what we know about the biological underpinnings of fear and memory during a lecture hosted by the Oregon Health Science University. The lecture is part of a series leading up to Brain Awareness Week (March 15–21), which inspires events worldwide. This year O.H.S.U. is hosting seven weeks of activities, including talks by leading brain researchers and science writers such as Jonah Lehrer (a contributing editor for Scientific American Mind), a workshop for teachers, a brain fair and a scientific meeting. [More]


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Beyond the sugar pill: Are doctors misusing the placebo effect?

Would you feel better if, besides giving you a pill, your doctor also explained some potential benefits? [More]


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Untreated vision problems linked to dementia in the elderly

Elderly people with untreated poor vision are significantly more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia than their clear-sighted counterparts, according to a study published online February 18 by the American Journal of Epidemiology . What’s more, the study suggests that vision problems may be a contributing factor in the development of dementia, rather than a symptom of it. [More]


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