Week in Review
Editorial / By / July 3, 2009
Climatic signals are mixed, China takes a step toward academic freedom, and the European Union continues its love-hate relationship with biotechnology.
Catalyst
The Lesser Evil: Nuclear or Coal?
Five experts make their cases for arguably imperfect solutions.
New Idea
How to Build a Better Tree of Life
Taking an unconventional approach to building phylogenetic trees.
Departments
Ideas
The Extinction Oscillator
Is there a cycle to the creation and destruction of Earth’s biodiversity?
Books
Books to Read Now
July releases on how to join the commercial space race, a brief history of futurism, the inner world of mathematicians, and more.
Slideshow
David Malin’s Ancient Light
"Looking at science books as a child, all the galaxies and star forming regions were in black and white. It's a kind of journey back."
Interactive
The Desk of Oliver Sacks
A glimpse inside the life and mind of renowned neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, through the lens of his writing desk.
Seed's Daily Zeitgeist
July 4, 2009
- 1
Animal research facilities must disclose more
New York Times
Animal research facilities will be required to disclose more information online about their experiments under a court settlement signed by the Humane Society of the United States and the Agriculture Department.
- 2
Eco-friendly fireworks offer safer pyrotechnics
Discovery
Scientists are working to develop a new generation of “eco-friendly” fireworks that produce less smoke and emit fewer toxic chemicals that end up in soil and groundwater.
- 3
New class of black holes discovered
Wired
Only two sizes of black holes have ever been spotted: small and super-massive. Scientists have long speculated that an intermediate version must exist, but they’ve never been able to find one until now.
- 4
Details of snowfall on Mars explained
Space.com
A set of four papers published today in Science help explain the miraculous discovery of snow on Mars last year.
- 5
Rain zone moving north
Scientific American
The intertropical convergence zone, an area just north of the equator that builds rain clouds 30,000 feet thick, is moving north at an alarming rate of a mile per year.
ScienceBlogs.com
Selected Posts for July 4, 2009
- Climate change and the mystery of the shrinking sheep
Not Exactly Rocket Science
July 2, 2009
- What science is really all about
The Island of Doubt
July 2, 2009
- Facebook's "Click Through Activism": Illusory Participation?
Framing Science
July 2, 2009
- Gladwell Calls Out Insipid Digital Utopian
The World's Fair
July 2, 2009
Read more from ScienceBlogs.com »
