Everything Worth Knowing About … Virtual Reality

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

You're almost there. Forget reality: In virtual reality, you can be whomever and wherever you want. VR makes the unreal real, using computer software and hardware that responds to our body’s movements to immerse us in a convincing alternate existence. There’s plenty of space to roam. VR places can be huge. In Second Life, an early pioneer of virtual worlds, you can attend university, own a blimp, have blue fur — whatever. It includes more than 600 square miles of otherworl ...read more

What to Read This Summer

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Strange Contagion: Inside the Surprising Science of Infectious Behaviors and Viral Emotions and What They Tell Us About OurselvesBy Lee Daniel Kravetz After moving to Silicon Valley, science writer and new father Kravetz investigates a rash of suicides by teenagers in his community. He juxtaposes his personal journey into parenthood with the worries and rumors in the neighborhood about what led to the deaths. Using his background in psychology, Kravetz probes how humans’ inherent mimicry a ...read more

Everything Worth Knowing About … the Future of Food

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

Everything Worth Knowing About … Asteroids

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Our early solar system was a wild place. Dust grains grew into pebbles, and pebbles became world-building planetesimals. These rocks spun around and bumped into each other in a chaotic dance that left a trail of debris in its wake. The remnants of these festivities remain strewn about our cosmic backyard. Many rocky and metallic bodies now orbit in what’s called the Main Asteroid Belt, between Mars and Jupiter. More than just leftovers, asteroids offer clues to the earliest days of our sol ...read more

Everything Worth Knowing About … Surviving Space

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