Sorry, science-fiction fans: Time travel is impossible. That is the sobering conclusion, anyway, of a Hong Kong-based team of physicists. They found that the maximum speed of a single photon, the basic unit of light, “obeys the traffic law of the universe,” Agence France-Presse reports. The photon cannot go faster than the speed of light—186,282 miles per second—and thus provides […]
Read more
As an evolutionary strategy, the evolutionary roots of monogamy have long puzzled scientists: When a male pairs off for life with one female, he limits how many offspring he can produce, thus reducing his chances to pass on his genes. Few species are monogamous, yet 5 percent of mammal species are, including wolves and beavers—and about a quarter of primates. […]
Read more
“Expectation is the root of all heartache.” – William Shakespeare
Read more
You pick away at the Earth as if your grave was filled with the wait for flowers :one foot already pleased, the other still wrapped in dirt weighed down stone by stone the way fruit is ripened keyed up and seaworthy, is lowered into a wooden box that never leaves shore just the loading and unloading […]
Read more
Remembering His Third Wife Never speak ill of the dead, his father always said, and his father was a pastor who preached from the pulpit. That’s why whenever he thinks of his third wife, and he does almost daily, he never says anything bad. Instead, he sends himself an email and records for history yet another evil deed she managed to […]
Read more
There are many other possibilites. The busy homeworker sees more washing up to do. The cat sees something to knock over. The lovers see something to share. The conspiracy theorist sees that the water was drugged, and the glass had a gun and was on the grassy knoll. The racist believes that the glass will be stolen by immigrants. […]
Read more
“Man makes his end for himself out of himself; no end is imposed by external considerations.” – Oscar Wilde
Read more