Monthly Archives: January 2004

It’s been commonly assumed that American ecosystems remained pristine until the arrival of European settlers, who, by cutting down forests, introducing foreign species, and polluting the environment, disturbed the indigenous flora and fauna. But prehistoric Native Americans also altered their … Continue reading →

Unless you’re a character in a Jules Verne novel, journeying to the center of the earth remains impossible. So researchers interested in understanding the still somewhat mysterious inner workings of our planet’s iron-rich core must obtain their information indirectly, for … Continue reading →

To the dismay of many would-be Dr. Dolittles who’d like nothing more than to talk to the animals, new research suggests that the ensuing conversation might not be particularly sparkling. Marc D. Hauser of Harvard University and W. Tecumseh Fitch … Continue reading →

Who knew? Your favorite tennis star may also be a master of Bayesian probability theory, according to a study in the Jan. 15 Nature. Konrad P. Kording and Daniel M. Wolpert of University College London report that the sort of … Continue reading →

Do you find opera perplexing? Grossly overweight consumptives notwithstanding, many people have trouble figuring out what the performers are actually singing, even when the opera is in their native language, hence the ubiquity of electronic subtitling in opera houses today. … Continue reading →

A cool, calm lake. Your dog frolicking along the beach. Your significant other admiring your attempt to skip a stone across the water — and, to your deep embarrassment, it plops straight down with nary a bounce. Has this ever … Continue reading →

When most people think of the color of the universe, the black of its vast, inky depths probably comes to mind. If it were possible to view the average of all the visible light in the universe, the true color … Continue reading →