COSMOS magazine | The science of everything

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news features opinion fiction reviews gadgets media room Free sample! Read a complete digital edition of COSMOS now. View sample	Online news Wednesday, 14 May 2008 Bats fall prey to mysterious killer Thousands of hibernating bats in the U.S. have been found dead or dying due to an unknown disease. Experts have noted similarities to the colony collapse disorder, which has ripped through North American bee populations. read more Video simulates a spectacular supernova Simulating spectacular supernovae could help unlock some of the darkest secrets of the cosmos, say scientists. They are using the world's fastest supercomputer – the Argonne Blue Gene/P – to model exploding stars. read more Other news Probe finds missing baryonic matter More safety questions over Taser stun guns Bouncing Solar System killed the dinosaurs Fat kids risk lifetime of weight problems Vultures facing extinction in India Earth's poles long overdue for reversal View all news COSMOS magazine: current issue On sale in newsstands now! COSMIC ROULETTE Will the world's most expensive experiment finally solve the riddle of matter? Physicists around the world are staking the lot on the Large Hadron Collider. In this issue of Cosmos, Peter Calamai reviews the odds of success. Also in this issue: Time - it can fly or it can crawl, but is it real or just an illusion? Mind maps - advances in brain scanning are allowing psychiatrists to move from cautiously diagnosing symptoms to actually seeing the underlying malfunctions of the mind. Looking to the skies - where physics and philosophy (and even theology) intersect is where Paul Davies feels most at home. What makes us human - what is it that sets us apart from other animals? Subscribe now to Cosmos magazine! View the full contents Online features The platypus unravelled by Elizabeth Finkel \| It's been an enduring mystery since Western science 'discovered' it 200 years ago, but the publication of the platypus genome is now giving us an unprecedented insight into this perplexing hybrid of mammal and reptile. read more The missing link in Australian genomics by Jennifer Graves & Sue Forrest \| Given top billing on the cover of Nature, the first Australian animal to be sequenced should have been a triumph for Australian science – but the majority was sequenced overseas. Why did we miss the bus? read more Read more features Online fiction Not Enough Stars In The Night by Brendan DuBois \| Science and progress has turned inward, creating new realities and entire new worlds. Fletcher works as a virtual reality tester to escape to the past, and longs for a bygone era when humankind could still gaze into space. read more Read more fiction Post Mortal Syndrome Exclusive \| A serialised novel by Damien Broderick & Barbara Lamar. This original novel is an exciting blend of thriller and science fiction, with a poignant love story at its heart. Read the novel here Selected COSMOS magazine features The acid test by Alex Wilde \| It's been banned for 35 years, but some scientists argue that a comeback for the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs is overdue. Is there a place for LSD in medicine today? read more Fusion 2.0 by Robin McKie \| Fusion could one day generate limitless cheap energy from little more than water, while emitting no greenhouse gases. We look at its promise as the ultimate power panacea for a warming world. read more Read more features Selected COSMOS magazine fiction Wormwords By Matt Weber \| If the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, how many bits does it take to remake a man? read more Family values by Sara Genge \| Politics is a game for experts, even on a wildly alien world, but sometimes charm and audacity can more than make up for a lack of experience. read more Read more fiction Reviews Atoms and Alchemy William Newman highlights the work of Daniel Sennert, a German academic who in 1618 declared that since the transmutation of metals had been seen in nature, “the same can also be done by art”. read more Why The Sky is Blue Why is the sky blue? It’s a question that has been asked for at least 2,500 years and presumably much longer. In this book, Hoeppe documents our attempts to answer the question, starting in the fourth century BC and continuing up to the present. read more Read more reviews Gadgets Reading the times The Seiko and E Ink watch is only a prototype at this stage, but interest is already stirring worldwide, so it's only a matter of time before we see electronic paper watches hit the stores. read more Together at last Some pairings, unlikely at first, can have an uncanny synergy - like maple syrup and bacon. Then again, others, while logical, can end up suffering the reverse Gestalt: the whole is less than the sum of the parts. read more Read more gadgets	COSMOS newsletter! Sign up to the COSMOS newsletter Enter your email address Receive regular updates highlighting the latest in science from COSMOS. Unscientific poll Should we be allowed to sell our kidneys for transplant, to ease the donor shortage?: Yes - It would save lives and discourage the black market. Maybe - It should be allowed in some special cases. No - It's morally wrong.