Search

The article focuses on the shrimp ponds in Thailand and their possible health hazards. The author expresses his suspicion on the quality of the shrimp that emerges in markets in the U.S., as he witnesses truck loads of these sea food favorite, being transported several hours with refrigeration. Moreover the ponds where they are cultivated, are reportedly unhygienic, where certain chemicals are also suspected to be used. These ponds were created by clearing huge areas of mangrove.

The article focuses on naturalist and author Charles Darwin. Particular attention is given to the enduring relevancy of his theories in science and scientific thought, and to scientists working to expand upon evolution by natural selection. The article discusses Darwin's research and his book "On the Origin of Species." A brief biographical account of Darwin's life is presented. The article explores how Darwin came to his conclusions about the mutability of species and why he was prompted to print his theories on evolution and natural selection. The article talks about how he couldn't figure out why there were related species on separate continents.

The article focuses on the problems related to air travel, its impact on earth and its people and the ways to ease the travel experience. It mentions the problems including crowded terminals, lost luggage and environmental harm. It discusses several ways such as upgrading air traffic control (ATC), using greener fuels and better engines. It cites that carbon dioxide produced from burning jet fuel harms the environment. Baggage claim settlements cost the U.S. airline industry $2.5 billion a year.

The article discusses the effectiveness of dietary supplements called nutraceuticals. Nutraceuticals are bioactive chemicals offered in greater amounts than available in food and include antioxidants, fatty acids and turmeric. Omega-3 fatty acids may improve health for heart patients. Studies suggest that the antioxidant lycopene may not lower risks of prostate cancer as previously suspected. Soy isoflavones may lower risks of osteoporosis but increase risk of breast cancer.

The article discusses the possibility of more super storms in the wake of the 2005 Hurricane Season. The author explains that hurricanes are a result of hot air that produce tropical disturbances and how researchers are now able to track storms with greater accuracy. Some scientists are now accepting that the increase in global warming is having an effect on the intensity of hurricanes. Debates on whether these statistics are accurate are common.

Presents a look at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. How the museum is home of one of the most important collections of Native American art and artifacts in the world; Consultation museum curators had with representatives of Indian tribes from throughout the Western Hemisphere; Number of artifacts and photographs in the museum's collection; Incorporation of the collection of New York engineer George Gustav Heye; Description of exhibitions within the museum; Symbolism used throughout the museum.

Discusses the life span of the sun and its impact to planet Earth. Explanation on the reaction that produces the sun's radiant energy; Description of the earth's atmosphere as a security blanket; Role of water vapor; Composition of the earth's climatic system.

Focuses on the rebuilding plans for New Orleans, Louisiana, following Hurricane Katrina. Geographic, economic and environmental obstacles to rebuilding; Role of technology in overcoming past mistakes and making the region a safer place; Need to reclaim the city from floodwaters; The staggering task of restoring the city's infrastructure; Problems with the drinking water systems; Overview of various rebuilding plans; Views of experts; How planners and engineers will look to other flood-prone countries such as the Netherlands for the latest flood control technologies; Outlook for New Orleans becoming a model of smart planning and coastal protection.

Discusses the changing trends in the U.S. food industry following World War II. Impact of the entrance of women into the workplace on food trends following the war; Increase in processed foods, including mixes, powders, cans and frozen dinners; Efforts of the food industry to make prepared foods better than traditional cooking; How food marketers won over women who first resisted processed foods.

Focuses on the Grand Canyon as part of the magazine's special feature called "America's Best Vacations." Recommendation for travelers that want to avoid the crowds that visit this natural monument; Location of the East Entrance of the Grand Canyon and where in Cameron (Ariz.) travelers can stay; Reasons why the author feels a pre-dawn trip to the Canyon is best; Description of certain sections of the Grand Canyon, including Grandview Point.

Reports that scientists are assessing the damage to critical ecosystems caused by the December 26, 2004 tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia. Contamination of farmland and fresh water by flooding with salt water throughout the region; Obliteration of whole stretches of coastline; Impact on coral reefs.

Encourages readers to listen to new music. How people lose their taste for novelty at a certain age; Web sites that offer music reviews and downloading options.

Focuses on Bismark, North Dakota, which was ranked one of America's least stressful small cities. The city which boasts shorter commutes, less violent crime, and better high school graduation rates than any other state in the union; Bismark's stable economy, low unemployment, affordable housing and sunny skies that make for a near-perfect recipe for low-stress living; The city's notoriously low wages; Lack of ethnic diversity; Observations of the Bismark's policemen.

This article discusses the art of being "hip," according to journalist John Leland, who wrote the book "Hip: The History." You see them everywhere: strutting around town in their retro T-shirts, zipping by in their VW Beetles and Mini Coopers, brandishing their disheveled locks and faux-jailhouse tattoos in the face of conformity like Van Helsing fending off vampires with a crucifix. Which, if you stray into their natural habitats--smoking in dive bars, pulling lattes at non-Starbucks coffee shops, running high-end advertising agencies--is usually a serious drag. But according to New York Times reporter John Leland in his new book, Hip: The History, there just might be more to this whole "hip" thing than inexplicable footwear and a big side of attitude with your morning cup of joe. As a journalist, Leland is by definition not hip, so he can afford to be a little more forthcoming. But despite spending much of the past two decades in close proximity to some of the coolest (Muhammad Ali, rapper Chuck D) and squarest (he busted notorious lip-synchers Milli Vanilli) cultural icons of our times, Leland admits that he too was stumped.

Focuses on Robert Baden-Powell, author of "Scouting for Boys," which has been reissued. Baden-Powell's blueprint for what became a worldwide movement; Biographical and career details; Original publication of the book in 1908; Simplicity of the program; Prejudices expressed throughout the book; Speculation on Baden-Powell's sexual leanings; Comments of literary historian Elleke Boehmer, editor of the new edition; Baden-Powell's emphasis on citizenship and healthy living.

Discusses whether there is anywhere in the world left to explore. Early migrations out of Africa; The steady push of exploration and the conquering of frontiers; Views of Taras Grescoe, author of "The End of Elsewhere"; Adventure races; Pollution in remote places; Outlook for exploration in outer space; Deep sea exploration; Contention that a journey over well-traveled ground can still be true exploration.

Reports on FM Global, a company based in Rhode Island which insures commercial and industrial properties. Reliance on engineers like Tom Lawson to experiment with fires, explosions, and hurricane winds to better construct buildings and protect them from becoming economic catastrophes; Discussion of FM Global's approach to controlling the impact of disasters; Comments of FM Global executive vice president Ruud Bosman and Mike Burke.

Discusses the relationship between deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). Consideration of RNA interface, a process in which RNA blocks the flow of orders from DNA; Characteristics of epigenetics, the ways in which cells can alter the function of their genes without altering their DNA sequence; Process of converting genes into proteins; Role of RNAi in nature.

Focuses on Sean O'Keefe, who heads the United States National Aeronautic and Space Administration's (NASA) Office of Management and Budget. Success O'Keefe has had in streamlining NASA's operations; Effect budget cuts had on the space program; Promises made to make NASA a bolder and more aggressive agency.

Sean O'Keefe did not come to NASA to handle this kind of disaster. A career bureaucrat and business school professor, the space agency administrator was reassigned from the Office of Management and Budget in December 2001 to wrestle NASA's out-of-control budget into submission. In just 14 months, however, O'Keefe has managed to win many of his critics over by streamlining the agency's moribund operations and articulating a new, bolder approach to space exploration. Now the budget guru must guide the troubled agency through its most feared crisis--the loss of a spacecraft and its crew--and through a critical reassessment that could shape our future role in space. After budget cuts, layoffs, and brutal internal squabbling in the 1990s, the NASA O'Keefe inherited had come to personify a sad twist on former Administrator Daniel Goldin's original formula for space missions of 'smaller, faster, cheaper'--the actual agency was smaller and cheaper, and talented employees were leaving it faster than ever before. O'Keefe, 47, a product of the business and public administration programs at Loyola University in New Orleans and Syracuse University in New York, had been a sharp critic of NASA at the budget office.

Focuses on the music of the indigenous peoples of North America. Diversity of Native American Indian music; How their songs were revived and revitalized; Growing number of contemporary Indian musicians who are blending traditional sounds and languages with European music; Historical roots of the powwow, or gathering of tribes; Mention of the Red Earth powwow in Oklahoma; Comments of members of the group Boyz and Cherokee rapper Litefoot; Significance of defining their music and experience.

Previews the curling competition for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Description of the sport as combining the aesthetics of bowling on ice with the scoring scheme of shuffleboard; Need for precision and cunning strategy to claim victory in this sport that tests who can slide a 42-pound curling stone toward a distant target without falling; Possibility that NBC, which is broadcasting the games, may choose to air curling on CNBC or MSNBC.

Focuses on speed skating in the United States and those athletes hoping to qualify for spots on the 2002 Olympic team. Popularity of the sport even in warm areas of the U.S. due to increases in in-line skating; Difficulty in transitioning from asphalt to ice; Olympic hopes for long track racer Derek Parra; Other skaters, including Jennifer Rodriguez and Joey Cheek.

Focuses on an epidemic that is killing foals in Kentucky. Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome (MRLS) Which is causing an epidemic of aborted and stillborn foals and devastated the region; Epidemiologist David Powell who headed a team from University of Kentucky to identify the problem; Detection of fungal toxins, ergot alkaloid and zearalenone, in grass and horse urine samples; How the epidemic will effect the thoroughbred race horse industry in Kentucky.

Discusses the International Space Station, in light of its first tenants in November, 2000. Plans for the expansion of the space station; Cost of the projected station; Politics involved in the project; Astronauts who will live on the station.

Reports on findings concerning dinosaurs which have spurred the development of theories which contradict conventional wisdom on the creatures. Possibility that some of them had feathers; Discovery of important species each year; Chance that dinosaurs were warm-blooded, as opposed to the traditional opinion that they were cold-blooded like most reptiles; Other theories that are emerging.

Discusses the creation of the universe and what evidence about creation tells scientists about how the universe will end. Discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation and reaction by scientists to the discovery; Experiment known as the Boomerang experiment performed in the spring of 2000 which produced the first-ever high-resolution map of the cosmic radiation; Hot or dense spots discovered in the boomerang experiment which tell scientists that the world ending in fire or in ice will not happen in the next 10 to 20 billion years.

Discusses commercial whaling. Action of anti-whaling groups such as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society; Norway and Japan's proposal to allow a commercial catch of minke whales; Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species' (CITES) ban against buying and selling whale products; View of environmentalists.

Mentions missions proposed by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration for the 21st century. Probes searching for past or present life; Speculation on human space travel; Destinations such as the planet Mars and the asteroid Ceres.

Reports National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist John Anderson's observation of the unexplained deceleration of exploratory space probes. Response to his team's publication of their observations; Possibility of misunderstandings of gravity or time. INSET: Lost Near Mars..

Focuses on the effects of the Internet on oceanography. History of the shift from expeditions to collect data to the use of the Internet to collect data; Benefits of the Internet in sharing specialized knowledge and data; Comments from Juli Berwald, a postdoctoral researcher working with University of Southern California oceanography professor Dale Kiefer.

Visits Auca Mahuevo, the Argentine desert site where paleontologists discovered fossilized titanosaur eggs. Members and background of the team that made the 1997 discovery; Information provided by eggshells; Discovery of fossil bones from embryos and fossilized skin; Life in the campsite.

Questions whether cultural forces such as feminism affect the direction and results of scientific research. Support for the idea in `Has Feminism Changed Science?' by Londa Schiebinger; Differences in the questions pursued by men and women scientists; Characteristics of feminine knowledge processing; Discoveries made when women began studying primates; Feminine insights into human evolution.

Reports on the archeological find of three mummies in the Andes mountains of Argentina in 1999. How the mummies are Inca children sacrificed 500 years ago; How they were excavated by an American-Argentine-Peruvian team; Where they were buried as part of the imperial religious belief of the Incas; DNA from the mummies to be analyzed.

Focuses on forensic use of DNA profiling. How the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) produces a DNA profile; Steps in the process; Famous successes and failures with DNA fingerprinting.

Discusses the case of two babies who were apparently switched at birth. Circumstances of the birth of Callie Marie Rogers and Rebecca Johnson at the University of Virginia Medical Center in 1995; Discovery that Rebecca was not Paula Johnson's biological child; Death of Callie Marie Rogers' parents in a July 1998 auto accident; Investigation of the switch; Possibilities of a legal struggle over the girls. INSET: Guarding against mishaps.

Reports on the expanding presence of Rock en Espanol. Movement start in Argentina; Rock and roll plus other musical influences on bands from Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia; Secondary importance of the music; List of Rock en Espanol albums popular as of September 1997.

Reports on the temperature rise in Antarctica and the effects of this on the population of penguins that live there. Rate of temperature increase over the last 50 years; Drop in number of penguin breeding pairs; Extinction of six penguin colonies; The decrease of sea ice and the effect of krill populations.

Focuses on the incidence of deformed frogs in the United States as of 1998. University of Minnesota herpetologist David Hoppe's investigation of the frequency of frog abnormalities in Minnesota; Suspicion surrounding overexposure to environmental retinoids, hormones that can cause birth defects; Other suspected environmental hazards, such as ultraviolet light; The link between water frogs and higher rates of deformities; Use of the insecticide methoprene. INSET: Jumping to conclusions.

Looks at methods used to recruit graduate students in the United States for internships in the summer of 1998. The demand for law and Master of Business Administration students; Companies hoping to get interns who will become full-time employees; Perquisites for summer associates; The effect of vocationally oriented higher education and low unemployment on internships.

Reports on a burst of gamma radiation in space detected by X-ray satellite BeppoSAX in December 1997. The gamma-ray burst (GRB) named GRB971214; The GRB being the most powerful and brightest blast of energy ever documented; The role of astronomer David Helfand and John Thorstensen in capturing the afterglow of x-rays, radio waves, and visible light from the GRB; The challenge of finding a theory to explain GRBs.

Looks at the effect of global warming on the increase in storms and the intensity of storms. Comments from Germany's environmental minister, Jürgen Trittin, and Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Belief that global warming is causing increased number of storms and is increasing their intensity; Criticism of United States President George W. Bush's refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol; Cyclical patterns which show that storms run in cycles; Effect of hurricanes on the coastal building boom.

Discusses the invention and popularity of the hamburger in the U.S. How the hamburger gained national prominence in 1904; Impact of the first hamburger chain, White Castle, on the popularity of the sandwich; Consideration of the book "Hamburgers & Fries," by food writer John Edge; Reasons for the hamburger's popularity, including its portability.

Focuses on how altruistic punishment, or being a busybody, may help hold human society together. Explanation of altruistic punishment, which is one's willingness to step in and enforce societal norms to no personal advantage and significant personal cost; Details of a social experiment that gives evidence that the impulse to punish cheaters and cheapskates is deep-seated.

Profiles David Estes, owner of the Tactical Tanks company in Texas, which gives customers the change to operate military tanks and other armored vehicles; Description of the battle simulation exercises hosted by Estes; Popularity of the service with paint ball enthusiasts, and other adventure-seeking tourists; Report that the company is popular with corporate executives for leadership training and team-building; Comments of Estes on the development of his armored vehicle collection; Potential influence of participating in a battle simulation to influence public opinion of the Iraq War and other conflicts.

Interviews director Stephen Low who made an IMAX film, "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea". Reaction of creationists to the film, which shows hydrothermal vent creatures; The need for funding for this type of documentary film.

Mentions a study that will be published in the journal, "Environmental Management," which suggests turf grass is the largest irrigated crop in the 48 contiguous U.S. states. Concern about the use of lawn chemicals; Views of lead researcher, Cristina Milesi; Methods used to estimate the impact of lawn care on the environment; How lawns contribute to carbon dioxide sinks; Suggestion that the individual homeowner is more apt to overdo watering and fertilizing than the golf course managers and farmers; Efforts of environmentalist groups such as Project EverGreen to make people aware of the problem; Views of Paul Robbins, a University of Arizona geographer who studies lawn-care behavior.

Presents an interview with actress Jane Fonda, who recently wrote the autobiography "My Life So Far." Why she wrote the book; How she began her workout business; Assertion that Fonda's former husband shares the same name as the author of this article; Confusion that it causes.