Science & Environment

The First Web Page, Amazingly, Is Lost

Geoff Brumfiel — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:40:00 +0000

Given the World Wide Web's ubiquity, you might be tempted to believe that everything is online. But there's one important piece of the Web's own history that can't be found through a search engine: the very first Web page.

Now a team at the lab where the World Wide Web was invented is seeking to restore that page, and other pieces of memorabilia from the earliest moments of the http:// era.

Could African Crops Be Improved With Private Biotech Data?

Eliza Barclay — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:44:00 +0000

"I'm shocked by the optimism here," Howard Yana-Shapiro, the chief agricultural officer for Mars Inc. said Tuesday to the audience of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' Global Food Security Symposium in Washington, D.C.

Seated there before him were some of the leaders from the wealthiest international organizations and multinational companies of the fight to end hunger.

Research Reveals Yeasty Beasts Living On Our Skin

Rob Stein — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:18:00 +0000

Scientists have completed an unusual survey: a census of the fungi that inhabit different places on our skin. It's part of a big scientific push to better understand the microbes that live in and on our bodies.

"This is the first study of our fungi, which are yeast and other molds that live on the human body," says Julie Segre, of the National Human Genome Research Institute, who led the survey.

Trillions of microbes live everywhere in and on our bodies. Most of these viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms are harmless.

What Would Ben Franklin Do With A Bunch Of Balloons? Everything

Robert Krulwich — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:03:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQhvgo62l74

How Genomics Solved The Mystery Of Ireland's Great Famine

editor — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

An international group of plant pathologists has solved a historical mystery behind Ireland's Great Famine.

Sure, scientists have known for a while that a funguslike organism called Phytophthora infestans was responsible for the potato blight that plagued Ireland starting in the 1840s.

Quantum Or Not, New Supercomputer Is Certainly Something Else

Geoff Brumfiel — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:03:00 +0000

It's exactly the sort of futuristic thinking you'd expect from Google and NASA: Late last week, the organizations announced a partnership to build a Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab at NASA's Ames Research Center.

But questions surround the new type of computer at the lab's core. D-Wave systems, the company that makes the machine, says it is a quantum computer — a machine that runs on the strange laws of quantum mechanics.

Storm Chasers Seek Thrills, But Also Chance To Warn Others

Steve Mullis — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:43:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GhYAknfTkk

African Cities Test The Limits Of Living With Livestock

editor — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:18:00 +0000

Raising chickens has become so fashionable among some urban Americans that there's now a market for chicken diapers, as we reported this month.

For a bit of a reality check, let's consider what it means to raise urban livestock in the developing world, where people are poorer and hungrier, and cities are much more densely populated.

Vertical 'Pinkhouses:' The Future Of Urban Farming?

Michaeleen Doucleff — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:35:00 +0000

The idea of vertical farming is all the rage right now. Architects and engineers have come up with spectacular concepts for lofty buildings that could function as urban food centers of the future.

In Sweden, for example, they're planning a 177-foot skyscraper to farm leafy greens at the edge of each floor.

'Nanogardens' Sprout Up On The Surface Of A Penny

Michaeleen Doucleff — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:55:00 +0000

April showers bring May flowers. But in this case, the blossoms are too small for even a bumblebee to see.

Engineers at Harvard University have figured out a way to make microscopic sculptures of roses, tulips and violets, each smaller than a strand of hair.

To get a sense of just how small these flower sculptures are, grab a penny and flip it on its back. Right in the middle of the Lincoln Memorial, you'll see a faint impression of Abraham Lincoln.