Periodic Tabloid

Skeletons stalk the pages of many of our rare books. Here’s a crew wishing you a spooky weekend.

Last week I visited the Boerhaave Museum in the Netherlands, and found that museums are not just about history, they also have their own history.

Last week President Obama awarded Helen M. Free with a National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor that the U.S. government can bestow on an American scientist.We were fortunate enough to interview Helen a little over 10 years ago.

This week alchemy was front page news in the (New York Times) Science Times, Again!

The 25^th anniversary of the discovery of Buckminsterfullerene was held this week at Rice University in Houston. According to established nomenclature, this would be the quasiquivigintennial. Easier to remember (and pronounce) is the more common usage—silver anniversary.

The clash between religion and science has been getting lots of press recently, what with Richard Dawkins saying the two are incompatible (and that intelligent people must side with science), Sam Harris pushing morality completely out of the religious sphere and into the scientific one, and many creationists opposed not only to evolution but also the Big Bang.  

Andre Geim is one of two Russian scientists honored with this year's Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on graphene. But a decade ago Geim won a more dubious prize: an Ig-Nobel for his work levitating frogs with magnets.

Perusing the September 10 issue of Science, I noticed that the journal had somewhat more heft than usual. Further investigation revealed that the red-edged pages in the back of the issue were apparently responsible for the additional poundage.

For centuries scientists have sought to control the weather. With climate change a top concern in modern times, scientists continue to explore drastic options for engineering weather patterns. Historian James Fleming explains how these efforts have panned out over the ages.

SCI Gordon E. Moore Medal winner Emmett Crawford defies the stereotype of the cold, emotionless scientist while accpeting his award and sharing his struggles en route to success.