A FARAWAY SUPERNOVA explosion may have contributed to a minor mass extinction here on Earth 2.59 million years ago, a new study suggests. (ILLUSTRATION: Artist’s illustration of the supernova remnant known as 1993J, which came from a double-star system.) Fast-moving, charged particles…

by Helmut Stuka I WILL CALL her Mrs. M., because that was her name. I had always been something of a teacher’s pet, for reason of superior intelligence and polite behaviour — or so I thought. My teachers always seemed to like me; and I trusted them. Thus I was not surprised when one day, when I was ten years…

by William Scott, Jr. and Kevin Alfred Strom IMAGINE FOR a moment that you are a physician and you have come across a patient who has some very strange symptoms. Although at first he seems healthy, upon closer examination you can see that he is suffering from a dangerous and possibly deadly illness. There…