Surprising Science — April 29, 2010

Scanning for a Cure

A recent study of multiple sclerosis has found no genetic dissimilarities between identical twins who have and don’t have the disease.

bigthinkeditor

A recent study of multiple sclerosis has found no genetic dissimilarities between identical twins who have and don’t have the disease. “We find no smoking gun on the genetic level,” said National Center for Genome Resources geneticist Stephen Kingsmore. It’s still possible that a genetic factor in the disease exists, undetectable by even the most advanced tools. But Kingsmore thinks the disease is probably due to “an unknown environmental influence.”

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Culture & Religion

Reviving Cities

Tim Logan writes that the trouble with talent attraction as an economic development strategy is that talent seeks opportunity—and without jobs, a “creative class” city will wither.