MEMORY ENGINEERS
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DARWIN'S LAST JOURNEY
When Charles Darwin proposed his grandiose theory of evolution 150 years ago in November, the heated controversy flared for decades. But, as Iain McCalman recounts, by the time he died 23 years later, the battle was over – and Darwin had won.
CHILDREN OF EVOLUTION
Evolution is an elegant and powerful way to describe life. But it doesn’t explain everything, Rachel Ehrenberg writes, and it takes advances in genetics and molecular science to give us even deeper insights.
MISSING LINKS
Transitional fossils are the hardest to find, but sometimes tell the best stories, as Sid Perkins discovers when he sets out to find fossil hunters who are mining the gaps.
DANGEROUS LIASONS
From maze-like genitalia and terrifying spikes to ornamental handicaps and disloyal mothers, evolution seems to have found some seriously stupid designs for sex, finds Susan Milius.
THE ELECTRIC REVOLUTION
Your next car will likely be an electric vehicle. Tim Thwaites looks at the rapidly developing technologies that will see the motoring world we’ve known turned on its head – and help cities store renewable energy to boot.
LEARNING TO FORGET
Can science delete painful memories that cause distress with drugs and treatment? A barrage of recent studies suggest memories can be manipulated, downplayed and even made to disappear, as Emma Young reports.
Life, the universe and everything; a word from the editor, Wilson da Silva.
Letters – and photos – from our readers, who have opinions and like to travel.
Nothing is safe from them, and up to 40% of an ecosystem can be made up of parasites. Electron microscope images of some of the nastier ones.
“Running an artificial intelligence inside your head is all fun and games until someone loses an I.” Original new fiction by Stuart Gibbon.
A look at the sci-fi movie Moon, directed by Duncan Jones. A band that isn’t scared of dark energy, Richard In Your Mind’s album The Future Prehistoric. In books, Caveman Logic by Hank Davis; Quantum by Manjit Kumar; In Search of Time by Dan Falk; The Illustrated Atlas of Wildlife edited by Jennifer Taylor; and Wildlife of Australia by Louise Egerton and Jiri Lochman. Also, COSMOS asks celebrated astronomical artist Jon Lomberg what he is reading.
Our genetic and evolutionary heritage may be responsible for our failure to tackle climate change, argues Helen Camakaris.
