Stories by Ciara Curtin

Scientific American MIND Reviews The Man Who Wasn't There

Anil Ananthaswamy's book explores “Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self”

Do Living People Outnumber the Dead?

NASA Spent Millions on a Pen Able to Write in Space

Fact or Fiction?: Living People Outnumber the Dead

Booming population growth among the living, according to one rumor, outpaces the dead

Fact or Fiction?: Glass Is a (Supercooled) Liquid

Are medieval windows melting?

Fact or Fiction?: Vodka and Citrus Sodas Keep Cut Flowers Fresh

Lemon-lime soda brightens those drooping bouquets and vodka gets in the way of aging

Think of Money, Be Less Helpful

Fact or Fiction?: Urinating on a Jellyfish Sting is an Effective Treatment

It worked for Monica on Friends, but how does the alleged remedy hold up under scientific scrutiny?

Fact or Fiction?: NASA Spent Millions to Develop a Pen that Would Write in Space, whereas the Soviet Cosmonauts Used a Pencil

The problem of weightless writing was not solved by either Soviet central planning or good old American sub-contracting, but by a private investor and a good idea

Subliminal Messages Drive the Mind to Distraction

What you don't "see" may distract you anyway

Ebola Epidemic Wiping Out Gorilla Populations

Thousands of gorillas in the Republic of Congo fall victim to the nastiest strain of the hemorrhagic virus

New Roads Act as a Highway for Diarrhea

Highway construction in Ecuador unites remote villages but also spreads diarrheal pathogens

Chemical Treatment May Explain the Sweet Music from Stradivarius Violins

The renowned 17th-century violin maker used oxidizing and hydrolyzing agents on the wood.

For Healthy Coral: El Niño, Bad; Atmospheric Aerosols, Good

Keeping Money in Mind Makes People Less Helpful

Tooth Enamel Indicates that Early Hominid Had a Varied Diet

Biofuels Discovery Promises to End Dependence on Natural Gas

Lonely People Wake Up with a Hormonal Boost

Organic or Conventional? For Wheat, It Might Not Matter

Cradle or Museum? For the Tropics, Both