Seed Magazine Issue Number 22: The Last Experiment
The Last Experiment
Table of Contents
PORTFOLIO
A Library of Lungs
Scorpion “book lungs” are revealed in a series of scanning electron micrographs.
NOTEBOOK
Frontier: Bad Memories
Eyewitness testimony is both highly fallible and irreplaceable. How can we know when to trust it?
Pharyngula: The Deepest Links
Though evolutionarily distinct, the limbs of vertebrates and insects share a homologous genetic machinery. By PZ Myers
Europe: Continental Drift
Anti-migration rhetoric highlights the need for “knowledge nomads.”
By James Wilsdon
Design: A New Map
As the gravitational center of design shifts, ideas are taking precedence over products. By Paola Antonelli
What We Know: Critical Mass
For particle physicists who study phase transitions, a traffic jam is simply a solid made up of idling cars. By Jonah Lehrer
INCUBATOR
The Big Idea: The Extinction Oscillator
Sometimes, something kills nearly all life on the entire planet. The cause remains mysterious, but may lie in the movements of the stars.
On My Mind: Marcelo Gleiser
The astrophysicist discusses the origins of asymmetry in biology.
Plus:
Space elevators, artificial fingertips, and China’s fault lines.
FEATURES
The Seed Salon: Thomas E. Lovejoy and Mitchell Joachim
The tropical biologist and the urban designer discuss ecology-inspired infrastructures, making nature more tangible, and how to avoid being preachy.
The Last Experiment
The leading models for combating global warming are no longer coming only from climatology laboratories; the physical science is in. It’s now up to social science to make us act. Can we trick ourselves into saving ourselves? By David Zax
Why Environmentalism Needs High Finance
Conservationists may wish money were no object, but if nature is to survive, economic incentives and biological imperatives must align.
The Political Scientist
Paul Ehrlich believes that provocation and speculation lie within the bounds of good science, that scientists should tell us not only the facts, but also what we should do with them. By Steve Olson
Sites of Impact: A Photo Essay
Craters transcend the purely documentary and intersect the sublime in photographs taken over a six-year journey around the world. By Stan Gaz
REVIEWS
Love’s Labors and Costs
When research shows that more stuff doesn’t lead to more happiness, what drives humans to endlessly acquire? By Jonathan Gottschall
Seed Picks
The universe on DVD, botanical atrocities, deconstructing epidemics, and Darwin in rhyme.
Plus:
A home for the California Academy of Sciences and A Case of Conscience revisited.
Web Extras
The Seed Salon: Lovejoy + Joachim
Biodiversity expert Thomas E. Lovejoy talks with architect and urban planner Mitchell Joachim.
Now on SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
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World
Press Gang
With New York City about to let bloggers qualify for press passes, a look at what breaking down the walls between old and new media means for science reporting.
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Culture
The Ancient, Distant, and Dead
Inspired by scientific research, Katie Paterson creates art based on data from faraway melting glaciers, long-dead stars, and the initial moments of the universe.
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Ideas
A Sober Assessment
Alcohol is an important part of life in many cultures throughout the world, but there are many misperceptions about this common social lubricant.
