Search

In ''The Forbidden Garden,'' Simon Parkin examines the mad, heroic decision during the siege of Leningrad to guard biodiversity at the cost of human life. THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN: The Botanists [...]

Jason Roberts tells the story of the scholars who tried to taxonomize the world. EVERY LIVING THING: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life, by Jason Roberts A [...]

In Melissa Sevigny's ''Brave the Wild River,'' we meet the two scientists who explored unknown terrain -- and broke barriers. BRAVE THE WILD RIVER: The Untold Story of Two Women [...]

Matthew Cobb's ''As Gods'' questions the ethical -- and financial -- implications of genetic engineering. AS GODS: A Moral History of the Genetic Age, by Matthew Cobb It was late [...]

Frank Close's ''Elusive'' looks at the life and work of the man who changed our ideas about the basis of matter. ELUSIVE: How Peter Higgs Solved the Mystery of Mass, [...]

KETCHUP-THAT CHEERFUL RED SAUCE Sold in handy glass bottles--first came on the American market in the 19th century. But its ingredients were shockingly different than they are today. Food advocates [...]

THE UNIDENTIFIEDMythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession With the UnexplainedBy Colin Dickey On a spring day in 1876 -- as reported by national newspapers in lurid detail -- a [...]

THE IN-BETWEENSThe Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp EtnaBy Mira Ptacin In the spring of 1848, the ghost in the wall -- Mr. Splitfoot, they called him -- came knocking [...]

KELLY KLUMP IS A CURLY-HAIRED, COMPACT WOMAN WHO IS FASCINATED BY EATING disorders. Her own habits are healthy, but as a high school 'peer counselor' she found herself besieged by [...]

THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE KIND OF daycare Craig Ramey likes: It's noisy. Music is bouncing off the walls and teachers are talking to babies and toddlers and [...]

THEY WERE BROTHERS RAISED IN THE SAME house--same parents, same school--but very separate hells. The mother adored the older son. She never walked by him without a touch on the [...]

Gender identity has become more complicated since the present generation has men wearing makeup and women smoking cigars. Some people may also have a different gender in bed and in the Internet. Understanding what makes people different is the first step in understanding what binds them together.

How we make and read the fleeting split-second expressions that slip across our countenances thousands of times each day is crucial to our emotional health as individuals and to our [...]

Are some of us born more resilient than others? Can strength be taught? Here, a breakthrough report detailing what only decades of research can show-how people overcome terrible trauma, and [...]

We use the term 'falling in love' even though the first giddy days of a new romance feel buoyant, free from gravity as if some perfectly placed wind were boosting [...]

A SCIENTIST'S NEED FOR ENDANGERED MONKEYS IN STUDYING A DEADLY HUMAN DISEASE SPARKS A HARROWING SEARCH AND POSES DIFFICULT ETHICAL QUESTIONS. The Tulane Regional Primate Research Center, part of Tulane […]

In the early 1990's, an investigative reporter named John Crewdson began a series of articles on AIDS research, navigating a maze of claims and counterclaims over who first isolated the [...]

The article discusses arsenic levels in food and drinking water and how even trace amounts can post a health threat. It focuses on research by Brian Jackson, an analytical chemist at Dartmouth College, which looked specifically at baby food and formulas containing rice. Rice absorbs inorganic arsenic more efficiently than other grains, causing arsenic levels more than 10 times the safety limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

WHAT'S INSIDE BY DEBORAH BLUM PHOTOGRAPH BY SUN LEE F-100 THERAPEUTIC MILK MILK POWDER The distended bellies seen on some starving kids comes, in part, from a swollen liver. It's [...]

The article looks at methods developed to keep food fresh for longer periods. The challenges of maintaining food shelf life are listed including controlling moisture, atmosphere, and microorganisms like bacteria and mold. Topics discussed include high-pressure processing (HPP), which uses pressure to kill food bacteria, how long-lasting foods can serve during natural disasters, where electricity makes refrigeration difficult, and the economic gains that will stem from not throwing out spoiled food products. Heat-treated, or thermostabilized, foods are also mentioned.

THE LADY AND HER MONSTERS A Tale of Dissections, Real-Life Dr. Frankensteins, and the Creation of Mary Shelley's Masterpiece By Roseanne Montillo Illustrated. 322 pp. William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers. $26.99. The [...]

JANE GOODALL The Woman Who Redefined Man. By Dale Peterson. Illustrated. 740 pp. Houghton Mifflin. $35. In the world of primate research, scientists are strongly discouraged from establishing a personal [...]