Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

With the rising popularity of the radio and increased interest in broadcasting, Scientific American began running a section called “Radio Notes” which appeared monthly. [More]

If you're ever pursued by a colony of fire ants , it might occur to you to try to escape their painful, itchy stings by diving into the nearest body of water. Wrong move. It turns out that thousands of fire ants can easily self-assemble into a waterproof raft, which can float on water for months.

Wildfires have burned about 1.5 million acres in Texas since January, egged on by a drought that federal forecasters say is the worst to hit the state in 45 years. Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say their weather models predict the severe drought that has parched the southern United States will continue to midsummer -- and beyond. "Predictions over weeks to one to three months suggest the drought will continue, and even intensify, in some areas as we struggle to get any rainfall," said David Brown, director of climate services for NOAA's Southern Region

By Geoff Brumfiel of Nature magazine From the name, one might expect the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to have been a major force in the response to the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan. [More]

Like many biologists, the German biologist Oliver Zompro spends thousands of hours looking at specimens of dead animals. He found his first new species when he was twenty. By the age of thirty he had named dozens of wild new forms.

If possible, think back to a time you or a loved one had to be in a hospital for a significant amount of time. What do you remember from the experience? Many people report an eerie feeling about their stays in hospitals.

(Adds farmers' protest) By Shinichi Saoshiro [More]

MAY 1961 Cosmonaut [More]

On April 26, 1986, the world's worst nuclear disaster took place. How has the area recovered, and what lessons does it hold

Take a fire ant--don’t forget your gloves. Toss it in water, and it’ll eventually drown. But throw a group of fire ants into the water, come back the next day, and they’ll still be floating

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Climate change could cut water flow in some of the American West's biggest river basins -- including the Rio Grande and the Colorado -- by up to 20 percent this century, the Interior Department reported on Monday.

Carmakers have long known that everything takes a back seat to emotion when it comes to buying a new vehicle, so it is no surprise to see plenty of emphasis on gadgets, environmentally friendly engines and safety at this year's New York International Auto Show . [More]

COCODRIE, La.-- Five million barrels of oil seems like a lot. That is approximately what spewed from the blowout at BP's Macondo well last year, about enough to fill an American football field more than 90 meters deep--and much of it has gone missing. [More]

BOULDER, Colo.

NEW YORK -- A new scientific study suggests that the severe flooding that hit northern Australia earlier this year may have not been caused by rising global temperatures induced by greenhouse gases, but rather by the hole in the ozone layer. Research published last week by scientists at Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Science, in conjunction with partners in Canada, purports to demonstrate how the massive hole in the ozone layer of the atmosphere high above Antarctica is altering rainfall patterns in the Southern Hemisphere. The study ran in Science magazine Friday