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When Matthew Blakeslee shapes hamburger patties with his hands, he experiences a vivid bitter taste in his mouth. And when Jeff Coleman looks at printed black numbers, he sees them in color, each a different hue. Blakeslee and Coleman are among a handful of otherwise normal people who have synesthesia. They experience the ordinary world in extraordinary ways and seem to inhabit a mysterious no-man's-land between fantasy and reality. For them the senses--touch, taste, hearing, vision and smell--get mixed up instead of remaining separate. Modern scientists have known about synesthesia since 1880, when Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, published a paper in Nature on the phenomenon. About four years ago, in 1999, we and others began to uncover brain processes that could account for synesthesia. Along the way, we also found new clues to some of the most mysterious aspects of the human mind, such as the emergence of abstract thought, metaphor and perhaps even language. A common explanation of synesthesia is that the affected people are simply experiencing childhood memories and associations. Maybe a person had played with refrigerator magnets as a child and the number 5 was red and 6 was green. INSETS: Overview/Synesthesia;COMMON QUESTIONS;THE PUZZLE OF LANGUAGE.

Focuses on the theories of quantum mechanics underlying a paper in the October 11, 1999 'Physical Review Letters.' Discussion of 'Schrodinger's cat' as an example of quantum theory; The importance of the results discussed in this paper.

Reports that researchers have found a way to transform hydrogen peroxide into a supercleaner with a class of environmentally friendly catalysts called Fe-TAML activators. Details of research by scientists at Carnegie Mellon University; Potential uses for the supercleaner, including removing sulphur compounds from fuel to prevent acid rain, and eliminating paper and textile dyes.

Presents a fictitious paper by Albert Einstein about the relativity of time. His quote that sitting with a pretty woman for an hour felt like a minute and that sitting on a hot stove for a minute felt like an hour; Suggestion of the paper that the quote was based on actual research; Other quotes by Einstein.

Research is being made available online in libraries and the general public does not have easy access to the restricted information. In June the journal shelves at the Health Sciences Library of the University of Pittsburgh began showing holes. Where current issues of "Leukemia Research" were once stacked, stands a small cardboard sign: "Issues for 2003 are available only in electronic form." or "You need an HSL Online password to use these computers." Restrictions in the contracts the university has signed with publishers prohibit librarians from issuing passwords to the public. "We are in the midst of a massive transformation to the digital library," says Patricia Mickelson, director of the University of Pittsburgh's medical library. Scientists and doctors find the electronic resources much more convenient and libraries can't afford both electronic and print versions. Pressured by a boycott, certain journals began offering free public access to back issues a year or more after publication. Minnesota Representative Martin Sabo introduced a bill, the Public Access to Science Act, that would forbid publishers from claiming copyright on government funded research--a large part of basic and medical research. Part of the problem, adds Deborah Lordi Silverman, the library's journal manager, is that the thousands of journals are put out by just a handful of publishers, who bundle their titles into "big deals" covered by a single contract.Also in June, a nonprofit group called the Public Library of Science announced that it plans to launch in October the first of two elite life science journals that will be free online to all readers. Funded by $9 million in start-up money from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and backed by prominent scientists such as Harold E. Varmus, former director of the National Institutes of Health, the group plans to recoup its expenses by charging the scientists who submit their papers for publication.

Investigates the practice of falsification or intentional misrepresentation of data in research. Instances where a principal investigator withdrew papers when he discovered that one of the co-authors had falsified data; Three of the most important factor limiting the critical examination of data by leading investigators.

The article reports on axions. They contribute to the dark matter that constitutes 22 percent of the universe. Axions produced during the big bang could still be present. According to a paper published in March, 2006, axions produced in the laboratory may have been detected for the first time. They are difficult to detect because of their very low mass and because they are electrically neutral and only interact partially with other particles. INSET: SAVING A SYMMETRY.

Focuses on the studies into ancient global warming episodes by Gavin A. Schmidt and Drew T. Shindell, of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. As researchers explore the impact of human activities on global climate, they are turning to the earth's past for valuable lessons. For a period lasting less than 100,000 years, average temperatures at the high latitudes rose by up to seven degrees Celsius. In a paper published in Paleoceanography last year, Schmidt and Shindell showed that a tremendous eruption of methane from underneath the seafloor may well have caused the intense warming. This finding has important implications for future climate change because the amount of methane in the atmosphere has doubled in the past 200 years as a result of increased rice cultivation, livestock raising, coal mining and natural gas production.

Comments on the article 'Marriage, Motherhood and Research Performance in Science,' by Jonathan R. Cole and Harriet Zuckerman, published in the February 1987 edition of the periodical 'Scientific American,' and focused on the why men publish substantially more research papers over the course of their careers than women with comparable backgrounds.

Comments on the article 'Marriage, Motherhood and Research Performance in Science,' by Jonathan R. Cole and Harriet Zuckerman, published in the February 1987 edition of the periodical 'Scientific American,' and focused on the failure of the factors of marriage and motherhood to explain why male scientists publish substantially more papers over men scientists in the U.S. as compared to that of male scientists.

This article reports that according to R. Michael Bagby, clinical research director at the University of Toronto's Center for Addiction and Mental Health, the most popular method for monitoring depression--the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale--is significantly flawed and needs replacement. Although the Scale, developed in 1960, has long been a "gold standard" in psychiatric evaluation, Bagby says its shortcomings are well noted. Bagby was the lead researcher of a meta-study that analyzed 70 independent research papers on the Hamilton scale's efficacy published since the last major review in 1979.