The Lettered League

The plague is back.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/456831.stm

BBC NEWS | Health | Bubonic plague 'could return to the UK' Climate changes and increasing globalisation could bring back the diseases of the Middle Ages, an expert has warned.

Guaranteed to make you hungry. Scientifically.

The Flavor Connection [Interactive]: Scientific American Scientists link common flavor compounds across the world's favorite ingredients

Carol asks: "Can you soothe me re: fracking? Uneasy on many levels not least the environment re: methane gas releases. What are the impacts?". And as much as we'd like to answer this, New Scientist published a fantastic article on exactly this topic last week- http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23968-frack-on-or-frack-off-can-shale-gas-save-the-planet.html?page=1 #.UhTfdJU7Qts

Sign in to read: Frack on or frack off: Can shale gas save the planet? - environment - 08 August... Such reassuring words are the hallmark of a certain way of thinking, sometimes known as rational optimism. Things will always turn out fine because we humans are almost infinitely creative and adaptable. Confronted with a problem, our technological ingenuity will provide a solution.

Think light's the quickest, most unstoppable thing in the universe? Not so fast. "Stop-times" for light are now at around the minute mark.

Bringing light to a halt: Physicists freeze motion of light for a minute Physicists have been able to stop something that has the greatest possible speed and that never really stops. We’re talking about light. A decade ago, physicists stopped it very for a short moment. In previous years, this extended towards stop times of a few seconds for simple light pulses in…