Life Rare genetic mutation explains lack of fingerprints Thanks to a rare genetic mutation, a handful of people have no fingerprints. That's not the implausible premise of a crime story but a real condition, and it's more notable for causing confusion at border control than for baffling detectives. Now, geneticists have identified a mutation that may cause it. It is unlikely to save … News
Ecology could teach economists a thing or two The latest financial crisis shows that we have still not learned all the lessons of the credit crunch ONCE upon a time, ecologists talked of the "balance of nature". It seemed that any small fluctuation in an ecological system was always balanced out by some other change, maintaining equilibrium even in complex situations. Though a … Opinion
Beyond Room 101: The hyperaggressive rat See more: To see the image this article refers to, keep checking Picture of the Day on our news blog Short Sharp Science THIS hyperaggressive rat is a legacy of a remarkable experiment started in the former Soviet Union in 1972 by Dmitry Belyaev. Like Charles Darwin before him, he was interested in the process … Regulars
Life First life: The search for the first replicator Dawn of the living Life must have begun with a simple molecule that could reproduce itself – and now we think we know how to make one 4 BILLION years before present: the surface of a newly formed planet around a medium-sized star is beginning to cool down. It's a violent place, bombarded by meteorites … Features
Science straight from the source Future Science , Max Brockman's latest collection of essays by frontier researchers, is both thrilling and bewildering MAX BROCKMAN clearly has designs on the family business. While his literary agent father John represents many of the big beasts of science writing – the Richard Dawkinses and Steven Pinkers of this world – Max focuses on … CultureLab
Enigma Number 1659 Pairs of numbers I have before me four two-digit numbers, all eight digits being different. I have grouped them into pairs, such that the product of the two numbers in each pair is the same, and is a perfect cube. What are the four numbers? WIN £15 will be awarded to the sender of the … Regulars
Feedback: Myriad malfunctioning metaphors Myriad malfunctioning metaphors NOT only is the world of computing riddled with icons and images representing obsolete kit – such as that which encourages us to save a file to a barely existent floppy disc (25 June) – many of them are broken. Robert Cailliau writes that "the clock widget on my computer screen has … Regulars