Pregnancy, Interrupted

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Picture rows of translucent tanks in a dark room. Partially formed embryos float silently, bathed in amniotic fluid. That’s the science fiction portrayal of an artificial womb, where machines gestate our babies, stirring unsettling undertones of inhumanity. It’s birth without pregnancy. As The Matrix’s Neo might say: Whoa. While that’s still the stuff of fantasy, there have been serious attempts to create artificial wombs dating back to the 1960s. Most fell far short of t ...read more

Why Would a Science Buff Take Multivitamins?

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

The full text of this article is available to Discover Magazine subscribers only. Subscribe and get 10 issues packed with: The latest news, theories and developments in the world of science Compelling stories and breakthroughs in health, medicine and the mind Environmental issues and their relevance to daily life Cutting-edge technology and its impact on our future ...read more

How Effective Are Turbines?

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

It’s a no-brainer to harness renewable energy sources like solar and wind. But a recent study in PNAS suggested that wind (and other renewables) will fall short of slashing carbon emissions, because there just isn’t enough of it in the U.S. Based on data from a company owned by one of the study’s authors, this map’s white areas show where wind turbines would be most effective — but because wind isn’t available all the time, they’d only produce roughly 50 ...read more

This Old Brain

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

The full text of this article is available to Discover Magazine subscribers only. Subscribe and get 10 issues packed with: The latest news, theories and developments in the world of science Compelling stories and breakthroughs in health, medicine and the mind Environmental issues and their relevance to daily life Cutting-edge technology and its impact on our future ...read more

Border Line

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

The full text of this article is available to Discover Magazine subscribers only. Subscribe and get 10 issues packed with: The latest news, theories and developments in the world of science Compelling stories and breakthroughs in health, medicine and the mind Environmental issues and their relevance to daily life Cutting-edge technology and its impact on our future ...read more