For tens of thousands of years, dogs have been part of the human community. Recent research suggests they were first domesticated by European hunter-gatherers between 18,800 and 32,100 years ago, but it’s also possible dogs were domesticated earlier elsewhere around the globe. Domestication might even have arisen simultaneously in different human populations. After all, people always…
Author Archive | Cat Ferguson
Tar sands, explained
There’s been a lot of discussion in the last few years about the Keystone Pipeline, a network of pipelines being built to transport oil from Canada to the United States. President Obama has gotten hit from both sides: some have criticised him for slowing down a valuable source of energy for the U.S. Others have…
The Future of Biohacking in the Age of Patent Trolls
We stand at a strange moment in human history, when lawyers and corporations wage war amongst each other over one question: who owns your body? Off to the side, biohackers—the freaks, geeks, rebels, and punks who do biotechnology experiments in garages and basements—must decide whether to abide by the outcomes. Maybe you’ve heard about…
What does your coffee say about you?
Hand a glass of white wine to a professional wine taster—how will he rate it? Let’s say 88 on a scale of 80 to 100. Give the same wine to him again, even minutes later—the rating will be plus or minus four points, on average. After adding flavorless dye to one of the glasses, researchers at…