A pig of a problem FEARS about the wisdom of giving people pigs' organs were reawakened last week. A study in the US shows that transplanting pig tissue into mice can lead to their becoming infected by viruses lurking in the pigs' DNA, while another in France suggests that controlling these viruses will be even harder than anyone thought. It's … News
Steamed up IF YOU were to go out in the street and ask people what the North Pole is like, most would probably tell you that it is very cold and very difficult to get to, unless you like hauling sledges across vast sheets of ice while worrying about attacks by polar bears. A few might also … Opinion
Metal heads AN ORE prospector might think he was nearing the mother lode. For buried within the grey and white matter in your head, stashed safely inside nuggets of protein, is a surprising quantity of metal. In fact, the human brain contains about 6 milligrams of copper, enough to print a small circuit board. Zinc, iron and … Features
Mindblasting Too much contemplation of the infinite can damage your health. Amir Aczel, in The Mystery of the Aleph, makes this clear in what is mostly the biography of the celebrated George Cantor, who became intermittently mad while grappling with the rarefied mathematics of transfinite numbers. Theoretical mathematicians will revel in this well-written, witty book and … Books & Arts
Feedback A FRIEND working for the European Commission in Brussels had her Monday morning brightened up by this circular in the internal mail. "EU internal market ministers concluded four years of debate last week by agreeing legislation which defines honey as a 'natural sweet substance' produced by Apis mellifera bees." "Mellifera" means honey-making, so what the … Regulars