DiscoBlog

Meet My Personal Trainer, Mario

2007-02-15T10:58:04-05:00

Nintendo's new Wii game system—and particularly its "Wii-mote"—has drawn raves from video game junkies for being one of the rare visionary leaps forward in gaming. (The Wii-mote, for those not in the know, is the first major motion-sensing video game...

The Human Footprint: Live Webcast Tonight, 7pm

2007-02-13T11:16:40-05:00

Tonight is the night: DISCOVER executive editor Corey Powell will debate whether human civilization has gone too far at the NY Salon's Human Footprint event. The event will be webcast live from 7pm-8:30pm.

The Human Footprint—Has Civilization Gone Too Far?

2007-02-04T18:26:29-05:00

On Tuesday, February 13, the NY Salon will host a discussion, discourse, dialogue, and—okay, I'll say it—a debate called The Human Footprint—Has Civilization Gone Too Far? DISCOVER's fearless leader, Corey Powell, will take part in the debate, and judging by...

Find Out If You're Tone Deaf

2007-01-24T23:03:30-05:00

This is great: take this nifty series of listening tests and in 15 minutes you objectively find out how acute your sense of pitch is. The third test determines if you have a weak sense of rhythm, which is known...

Don't Focus on Porn

2007-01-22T16:25:06-05:00

Last September, Douglas Rushkoff wrote in his Peer Review column that high definition interfered with his TV watching because the boob tube had suddenly become too realistic--once you can see the very wrinkles in Tony Soprano's suit, "the screen wasn't...

PBS Goes Plebiscite

2007-01-02T20:16:54-05:00

In the spirit of keeping public television public, PBS is putting its viewers in power by allowing them to pick the station's newest science show. Whittled down from 19 solid submissions, PBS will air its three finalist pilots throughout January...

Science Poem of the Week (8)

2006-12-27T13:08:15-05:00

When the British bumped Shepherd's Pie off the school dinner menu* a decade ago, it heralded a wave of terror over the mysterious rise of mad cow disease (aka bovine spongiform encephalopathy) a cattle ailment caused by rogue proteins called...

Podcast Predicts Senatorial Sickness

2006-12-23T23:32:48-05:00

Earlier this month, news was a-buzzing about South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson after he began slurring his speech and forgetting words in the middle of a conversation with reporters. He was first reported to have had a stroke, but doctors...

Quantum Teleportation

2006-12-19T17:51:54-05:00

Anton Zeilinger of the University of Vienna recently used quantum teleportation to transfer information between two islands more than 87 miles apart, breaking the previous record of a just half a yard. But what exactly does this mean? And when...

Lisa Randall on Charlie Rose Show

2006-12-15T15:17:49-05:00

Harvard theoretical physicist Lisa Randall—best known, of course, for her online chat on Discover.com—appeared on the Charlie Rose Show last Tuesday. It should be clear which one is her and which one is Kissinger.