Health Low sperm count? Your bones might be to blame Sex hormones are already known to play an important role in maintaining healthy bones – but the relationship may be a two-way street. New evidence suggests that bones are important for controlling testosterone levels. Gerard Karsenty at Columbia University in New York City and his colleagues applied osteoblasts – bone cells involved in building new … 51¶¯Âþ
Kepler shows us a galaxy fit for life ARE we alone in the universe? For centuries that question has been purely speculative, but now, for the first time, there is genuine cause for hope of getting an answer. The first results from NASA's planet-detecting Kepler space telescope suggest that Earth-sized planets are more common than we dared hope. Its survey of some 150,000 … Opinion
Physics Reality check: Closing the quantum loopholes Guiding light: the tracking laser of the Tenerife observatory Can the universe really be as weird as quantum theory suggests? Ingenious experiments are coming close to settling the issue WHEN Rupert Ursin stood in the darkness at the highest point of La Palma in the Canary Islands he found it scary. "Really scary," he says. … Features
A vast history of information James Gleick's The Information: A history, a theory, a flood is a biography of information that puts today's revolution in some much-needed context FOR most of history, messages were things : clay tablets, scrolls, scraps of paper, even glyphs tattooed on to the head of a slave, which were revealed only when he visited the … CultureLab
Enigma Number 1635 Marty's date Our niece Ennie, nephew Iggy and their friend Marty were born on different dates in December. Ennie's birth date is the 19th and Iggy's is the 21st. The trio have tried writing down all numbers that can be expressed as a multiple of 19 plus a multiple of 21 plus a multiple of … Regulars
Feedback: Gates and doors for quantum users only Gates and doors for quantum users only READER Geoff Kirbly sends us a photo of a sign at Southwell Business Park in Portland, Dorset, UK. It says: "NOTICE. This gate must be locked at all times." At first, Geoff says, he wondered how access could be possible through a gate that was always locked. Then … Regulars