Drosophila melanogaster*
You make my heart beat fasterWith your lovely simple genesYou tell us what our genome means
Poetry and science are two genres whose paths rarely cross, but Prospect is bravely bridging the cultural divide. Pen a four-line ditty on a science theme, and the wittiest entry will win its creator all six books shortlisted for the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, awarded on 17th November. They include Ian Sample’s excellent Massive, about the hunt for the Higgs boson, and Through the Language Glass, Guy Deutscher’s acclaimed study of language. Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society, will judge. Send your entry by 17th November to competitions@prospect-magazine.co.uk. The winner will be announced in our January 2012 issue.
*Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit fly, has a quick breeding cycle that allows biologists to study many generations in a short time.
The space shuttle has folded its wings but, in a milestone for the commercialisation of space travel, a private company will send a spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). Nasa has given the go-ahead for SpaceX to launch its Dragon spacecraft (pictured above) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on 30th November. The spacecraft, which will ferry non-essential cargo to the ISS, should dock nine days later. Stripped of its own shuttle fleet, Nasa is now committed to helping private operators under its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services programme.
The much-touted possibility that neutrinos can travel faster than light will add an extra frisson to a meeting of neutrino scientists in Zurich on 7th-9th November. The NNN11 conference will showcase new detectors and hear about global research, including Opera, the Cern experiment that led to speculation that Einstein may have been wrong. Hang on, I feel inspired:
The naughty neutrinoWent faster than lightIt left here this morningAnd got back last night
Poetry and science are two genres whose paths rarely cross, but Prospect is bravely bridging the cultural divide. Pen a four-line ditty on a science theme, and the wittiest entry will win its creator all six books shortlisted for the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, awarded on 17th November. They include Ian Sample’s excellent Massive, about the hunt for the Higgs boson, and Through the Language Glass, Guy Deutscher’s acclaimed study of language. Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society, will judge. Send your entry by 17th November to competitions@prospect-magazine.co.uk. The winner will be announced in our January 2012 issue.
*Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit fly, has a quick breeding cycle that allows biologists to study many generations in a short time.
The space shuttle has folded its wings but, in a milestone for the commercialisation of space travel, a private company will send a spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). Nasa has given the go-ahead for SpaceX to launch its Dragon spacecraft (pictured above) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on 30th November. The spacecraft, which will ferry non-essential cargo to the ISS, should dock nine days later. Stripped of its own shuttle fleet, Nasa is now committed to helping private operators under its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services programme.
The much-touted possibility that neutrinos can travel faster than light will add an extra frisson to a meeting of neutrino scientists in Zurich on 7th-9th November. The NNN11 conference will showcase new detectors and hear about global research, including Opera, the Cern experiment that led to speculation that Einstein may have been wrong. Hang on, I feel inspired:
The naughty neutrinoWent faster than lightIt left here this morningAnd got back last night
