As I told you a few weeks ago, my book SUPERBUG (Free Press 2010) is out in paperback. Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing.com has very kindly put up an interview and podcast about it. And Joanne Manaster, AKA @ScienceGoddess, has done one of her excellent and charming book review videos, calling it “not for the faint of heart or someone incessantly worried about their health.” (Heh.) I’m grateful to both.
Maryn McKenna is a former senior writer at WIRED. She covers health, public health, and medicine, and is a faculty member at Emory University’s Center for the Study of Human Health. Before coming to WIRED she freelanced for magazines in the US and Europe, including Scientific American, Smithsonian, The New ... Read More
All the Fancy Measuring Devices Used in Science Rely on Two Stone-Age Techniques
The many methods we use to gather data ultimately boil down to either counting or comparing.
Rhett Allain
Quantum ‘Jamming’ Could Help Unlock the Mysteries of Causality
To keep communications secure in a post-quantum world, cryptographers are digging down into the concept of cause and effect.
Matt von Hippel
Why Garlic Repels Mosquitoes and Keeps Them From Breeding
Garlic, as your grandmother may have told you, repels mosquitoes; it also completely blocks them from mating and laying eggs. Diallyl disulfide, it turns out, deserves the credit.
Fernanda González
The US Has a Plan to Combat Screwworm. It Involves a Lot More Flies
Releasing sterilized flies can crash a local population of flesh-eating screwworms. But the US currently has limited capacity to produce them.
Emily Mullin
Old Oil and Gas Wells Could Find Second Life Producing Clean Energy
States across the US are looking to take major sources of pollution and use them to generate much-needed power.
Maria Gallucci
The Universe Is Full of ‘Impossible’ Black Holes. Scientists Now Know Why
There are black holes that are too big to be born from the death of a star but aren’t quite supermassive either. There’s finally evidence for where those came from.
Jorge Garay
The First Atomic Bomb Test in 1945 Created an Entirely New Material
The discovery from the Trinity nuclear test site shows how extreme conditions can result in materials never before seen in nature or in the lab.
Marta Musso
Not to Alarm Anyone, but Flesh-Eating Screwworms Have Entered the US
The USDA this week confirmed the first known infection of the carnivorous fly larva, which feast on the flesh of living mammals, after the United States eradicated the nightmare bugs in the 1960s.
Beth Mole, Ars Technica
Build a Radio Wave Detector With Balls of Aluminum Foil!
Here’s how you can hack together a radio transmitter and receiver out of stuff you have at home—and explore the weirdness of wireless.
Rhett Allain
A Fundamental Principle of Aeronautical Engineering Has Been Overturned
It’s long been accepted that the smoother the surface, the lower the aerodynamic drag. That turns out not always to be the case.
Ritsuko Kawai
The Romance Scammer Who Made a Small Fortune Posing as a WWE Superstar
In this excerpt from WIRED Book Club pick The Yahoo Boys, journalist Carlos Barragán traces one scammer’s journey from flop to fortune.
Carlos Barragán
Inside the Race to Develop a Test for the Rare Andes Hantavirus
A University of Nebraska lab has developed a test that can detect the virus before symptoms become severe. Now, it's ready to start testing those returning to the US after a cruise outbreak.
Emily Mullin

