Why We Believe in ESP, Ghosts & Psychic Phenomena | Newsweek Science

The World’s Most Reviled Genius
Jeneen Interlandi 10/9/2009 12:00:00 AM
He wasn't always. In the past three decades, Duesberg has been described as a genius, a martyr, and a genocidal lunatic—often by the same person, usually amid the fierce debates and international headlines that come with major scientific breakthroughs. In 1971, at the age of 33, he became the first scientist to identify a cancer-causing gene—a biological holy grail that secured his place among an elite group of the country's top researchers. Tenure at Berkeley and a coveted spot in the National Academy of Sciences followed. So did rumors of a Nobel and millions in grant money from the National Cancer Institute.
On Top of the World
Daniel Stone 10/9/2009 12:00:00 AM
Every 101 minutes or so, a Department of Defense imaging satellite circles the Earth, capturing images from the equator to the polar ice caps. It's that DOD drone (colorfully named the DMSPF-17) that monitors geologic changes, such as the decreasing size of the Arctic and Antarctic ice covers. The images it snaps are the ones most people see of the Earth's two white domes, which have been steadily diminishing for the past decade.
Unexpected and Beautiful
Claudia Kalb 10/8/2009 12:00:00 AM
They are shades of the rainbow—blues, yellows, reds, and greens—arranged in a luminous pattern of imperfect rectangles. They look like swatches of silk fabric. Or the tops of paintbrushes, one next to the other, dipped in multiple pots of color. Amazing to think that the glorious shapes in this digital photograph are actually the scales of a moth's wing. Magnified 100 times under a microscope, they are far more intricate than the shimmering wing you'd see with your naked eye. Charles Krebs, the photographer who took the image, is positively joyful when he talks about the drama of nature seen up close. "It's just absolutely stunning to peel off layer upon layer," he says. "Instead of getting simpler and simpler, it gets more complex."
An SOS for Science
Daniel Lyons 10/1/2009 12:00:00 AM
Two weeks ago I spent time with some of the top scientists in the field of alternative energy, including John Holdren, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, a.k.a. our national "science czar." We were attending a conference in Washington, D.C., that drew CEOs of Fortune 100 companies, as well as entrepreneurs and investors. I came away convinced that the United States, which for decades has been the world leader in science and technology, will soon be eclipsed by China and other countries. Alternative energy is the next tidal wave in tech innovation. If we miss it, we will not only weaken our economy and harm our national security—we will turn ourselves into a second-rate nation. And as I sat there listening to the experts speak, all I could think was, we're doomed. (Click here to follow Daniel Lyons)
THE ARTS
One Very Explosive Opera
Vibhuti Patel 10/15/2008 12:00:00 AM
"Opera," says composer John Adams, "has a curious ability to handle life's biggest themes in a way no other art form can approximate." Adams has repeatedly used opera to convey some of the major contemporary themes that have engaged him: "Nixon in China" (1987) focused on market economy vs. socialist ideology, "The Death of Klinghofer" (1991) explored terrorism and "Dr. Atomic" (2005), which opens at New York's Metropolitan Opera this week, deals with the creation of the atom bomb. The idea was to create a "contemporary Faustian myth" centering on J. Robert Oppenheimer, leader of the team of scientists who created the first nuclear bomb in 1945 and who, in his pursuit of ultimate knowledge, essentially made an infernal compact with the U.S. government and its military to deliver the world's most powerful WMD. "What gives me great satisfaction," Adams says, "are those pieces that weave American cultural and historical material … to summon up the essence of America's collective psyche."
MUSIC
BIRTH OF A BREAKTHROUGH
David Gates
To call John Adams's "El Nino" exactly what it is--an oratorio on Christ's nativity, supplementing the New Testament account with Spanish poems by women poets--may give you the wrong idea. Is this some trite attempt to subvert the Santa Clausian sublimity of Handel's "Messiah" with perverse postmodernism? (Adams, after all, is the guy whose 1987 opera "Nixon in China" gave Tricky Dick an aria about hamburgers.) Or to replace a patriarchal, English-only narrative with a more "inclusive," "woman-centered" text? Well... wrong. Just about no one who's heard "El Nino" has been able to resist its house-rocking rhythms and its rich variety of melodies and textures: from the astringent medieval harmonies of a trio of countertenors to the lush, operatic outpourings of its two Marys, the silver-toned lyric soprano Dawn Upshaw and the golden-toned mezzo Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, to a heaven-shaking adult chorus and an achingly gentle chorus of children. It's probably too soon, but we might as well say it: this was a great rendering of a great work by a great composer.