The Power of Nothing
Could studying the placebo effect change the way we think about medicine?
Could studying the placebo effect change the way we think about medicine?
In a lab at Harvard Medical School, a man is using his mind to wag a rat’s tail. To send his command, he merely glances at a strobe light flickering on a computer screen, and a set of electrodes stuck to his scalp detects the activity triggered in his brain. A computer processes and relays…
Manmade increases in carbon dioxide might be having effects that are larger than expected
The Commission on Science and Technology, in collaboration with the UN Conference on Trade and Development, plans to publish a series of case studies highlighting best practice in gender equality policies in science, technology and innovation (STI) of governments around the world. The goal is to promote more effective STI policies, by taking a greater…
Images sent back from NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on Wednesday confirmed that the precious sample is being held by the rover’s scoop, and will soon be delivered to two miniature chemical labs to undergo an unprecedented analysis. (Related: “Mars Rover Curiosity Completes First Full Drill.”) To the delight of the scientists, the rock powder has…
If humanity’s earthly tenure isn’t fated to end with the Mayan calendar, it is certain to end someday. It’s the sort of thing artist and author, Trevor Paglen, thinks about a lot. He knows, for example, that we homo sapiens have occupied the earth a mere .004 percent of its 4.5 billion-year history. He knows…
Outside of science fiction, the topic of sex in space has received surprisingly scant attention. But it was science fiction that inspired Dr. Robert S. Richardson to write an article in the March 1956 issue of Sexology: The Magazine of Sex Science, wherein he describes his vision of what sexual relations might look like when…