Faster-Acting Experimental Antidepressants Show Promise
2012-03-07 08:10:00
Antidepressants restore well-being to many people, but sometimes at the cost of such side effects as weight gain or loss of interest in sex. And these side effects can be just part of the frustration. As Robin Marantz Henig wrote in " Lifting the Black Cloud ," in the March issue of Scientific American , the drugs that have long dominated the market--the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and the serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)--"do not help everyone and eventually fail in more than a third of users. A pill that seems to be working today might well stop helping tomorrow. And the drugs can take several weeks to start having a marked effect." Equally disturbing, some major pharmaceutical houses, such as GlaxoSmithKline , are pulling back from developing psychiatric medicines. [More]
Exercise Instantly Affects DNA
2012-03-06 21:03:08
Maybe this will motivate you to work out. New research supports the idea that you don't need to spend hours at the gym everyday for your body to start feeling the positive effects of exercise. In fact, a single session on a stationary bike can affect your very DNA. [More]
Why It Took So Long to Invent the Wheel
2012-03-06 18:15:00
Wheels are the archetype of a primitive, caveman-level technology. But in fact, they're so ingenious that it took until 3500 B.C. for someone to invent them. By that time -- it was the Bronze Age -- humans were already casting metal alloys, constructing canals and sailboats, and even designing complex musical instruments such as harps. [More]
The Inspiration Paradox: Your Best Creative Time Is Not When You Think
2012-03-06 10:45:00
A bus company in China has launched a new “safe driving” campaign by suspending bowls of water over their drivers. To avoid getting wet, drivers must drive gently. In today’s technology-obsessed world, this solution is elegantly primitive. You might imagine that this simple yet ingenious idea was conjured by someone functioning at their very best, that such “aha insights” come when innovators are at their peak. [More]
Raise It or Raze It?: How Will the Stranded Italian Cruise Ship Be Salvaged?
2012-03-06 05:00:00
At more than twice the size of the Titanic, the Costa Concordia was the largest passenger vessel ever to sink when it capsized off Italy's northwest coast on January 13. So far, Italian authorities say of the more than 4,200 passengers and crew on board, at least 18 are confirmed dead and 14 unaccounted for , and the insurance costs may reach billion, according to Moody's Investors Service. Now salvage companies around the world are gearing up for the mammoth task of recovering the ship, a challenge made all the more complicated by its precarious spot. "The wreck's on the edge of deep water, and can drop another 200 feet [60 meters] or more," says Mike Lacey, secretary general of the International Salvage Union. [More]
Could a Penny Dropped Off a Skyscraper Actually Kill You?
2012-03-05 17:45:00
City-slickers: Have you ever worried that, at any moment, you could be struck dead by a penny flung off the roof of a nearby skyscraper? [More]
Finding the Flotsam: Where Is Japan's Floating Tsunami Wreckage Headed? [Video]
2012-03-05 11:00:00
When the 10-meter-high tsunami wave that followed the March 2011 magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan receded, it took with it some 23 million metric tons of material, including pieces of buildings, wood, plastics and more. Whereas most of the wreckage sank to the ocean floor, some of it is still floating toward other Pacific nations . The "debris field"--the visible wave of material--has dissipated, leaving the junk invisible to satellites. [More]
Japan Tsunami Rubble May Be Headed for Hawaii
2012-03-05 10:59:00
The earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan last March created an estimated 25 million tons of debris, large amounts of which washed into the ocean. Soon after the disaster, satellites photographed and tracked large mats of wreckage--building parts, boats and household objects--floating off the Japanese coast. Now, according to computer models developed by Nikolai Maximenko and his colleagues at the University of Hawaii and at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the detritus is on course to reach the northwestern Hawaiian Islands early this year. [More]
MIND Reviews: Roundup
2012-03-04 10:00:00
Three books suggest ways to improve your life. [More]
Living Plastic Eats Spilt Food
2012-03-04 09:00:08
You are covered with fungus right now. But wouldn't it be cooler if you did it on purpose? [More]
Virtuous Behaviors Sanction Later Sins
2012-03-04 08:00:00
Anyone who has ever devoured a triple-chocolate brownie after an intense workout knows how tempting it can be to indulge after behaving virtuously. A new study suggests, however, that we often apply this thought process to inappropriate scenarios, giving ourselves license to act in unhealthy or antisocial ways. [More]
Is it possible to use more of our brain?
2012-03-03 10:00:00
Is it possible to use more of our brain? [More]
Is It possible to Use More of Our Brains?
2012-03-03 10:00:00
Is it possible to use more of our brain? [More]
Aerostats in 1912: A Look in Scientific American's Archives [Slide Show]
2012-03-03 08:03:00
In 1912 airships and balloons, powered and unpowered, were being developed to explore, to entertain, to travel, and to wage war. Aerostats (any lighter-than-air craft) remained highly sensitive to weather and many were floated by flammable hydrogen (at least until the destruction of the Hindenburg in May 1937) but despite the limitations, great hopes were placed on these frail craft. [More]
Aerostats in 1912: A Look in Scientific American 's Archives [Slide Show]
2012-03-03 08:03:00
In 1912 airships and balloons, powered and unpowered, were being developed to explore, to entertain, to travel, and to wage war. Aerostats (any lighter-than-air craft) remained highly sensitive to weather and many were floated by flammable hydrogen (at least until the destruction of the Hindenburg in May 1937) but despite the limitations, great hopes were placed on these frail craft. [More]