Love Me, Love My Mix Tape | Newsweek Scope

Chris Daughtry, Unplugged
Ramin Setoodeh 7/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
Chris Daughtry finished fourth on American Idol in 2006, but the debut album from his band, Daughtry, went on to become the best-selling record of 2007. Their second album, Leave This Town, drops Tuesday. He spoke with NEWSWEEK's Ramin Setoodeh—excerpts:
Life’s Complexities
Fred Guterl 6/27/2009 12:00:00 AM
If a person's genes are his destiny, why do Sunney Xie's twin daughters have different personalities, and even different fingerprints? The girls share identical genes and nearly identical upbringings, and yet somehow, as they developed through toddlerhood, their biological paths diverged. Biologists have been pondering the relative influence of nature and nurture since long before Crick and Watson discovered the basic structure of DNA in 1953, but is it possible, after all these years, that they've been missing a third influence? Xie, a biologist at Harvard, has for the past three years performed experiments in his Cambridge, Massachusetts, lab aimed squarely at this question, and he thinks he's found the overlooked factor. It is pure chance.
TECHNOLOGY
How I Defeated Adoraburglar
Joshua Alston 4/29/2009 12:00:00 AM
I take really long showers, the kind of shower that single-handedly depletes my hot-water heater. I know it's terribly selfish, from an environmental standpoint, but a shower for me is more than a perfunctory morning ritual. The shower is my think tank. I puzzle through my problems and have colossal breakthroughs. I write rough drafts of stories in my head, and give stirring vocal performances that the world will sadly never hear. But a little under two months ago, it's where I got my calling to become a cyberdetective.
TECHTONIC SHIFTS
Apple’s New Weapon
Benjamin Sutherland 4/18/2009 12:00:00 AM
Tying the hands of a person who is speaking, the Arab proverb goes, is akin to "tying his tongue." Western soldiers in Iraq know how important gestures can be when communicating with locals. To close, open and close a fist means "light," but just opening a fist means "bomb." One soldier recently home from Iraq once tried to order an Iraqi man to lie down. To get his point across, the soldier had to demonstrate by stretching out in the dirt. Translation software could help, but what's the best way to make it available in the field?
FASHION
Technology To Wear
Kiki Von Glinow 4/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
We've sprouted fifth appendages that are our iPods and BlackBerrys. We make choices by simply touching a screen. Our lives have become digitalized, mechanized and compartmentalized, and fashion has begun to take on the silhouette of our gadgets.
AMERICAN GEEK
The Future Of The iPhone
N’Gai Croal 12/16/2008 12:00:00 AM
The recent rumor that a $99 iPhone would be making its way to Wal-Mart set the Internet abuzz last week. That is until the idea was debunked. For the record, Wal-Mart will sell iPhones next year, but the entry-level $199 price isn't expected to change. Nevertheless, it prompted me to seek out some informed speculation about the iPhone's possible future—emphasis on the speculation, given how closely Apple holds its future cards to its vest.