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BRACE YOURSELF
CONTRIBUTORS
the history of bailing out
a recipe for rigor mortis
one very deadly day in april
want to raise an all-star? let them play the field
the kids are all injured • Teens are increasingly having surgery to fix overused elbows.
he feels the burn so you don’t have to
the ultimate fear factory
Fright in the flesh • Alarm strikes your body within seconds of recognizing a threat. Here’s what’s going down.
asteroid smackdown
death in transit
what lies beneath
the plagues we made
GUARDIAN OF THE GALAXY
RIDE OR DIE
LUMBER PARTY!
SURVIVE AN AVALANCHE
BLADE STUNNERS
THE FAST AND THE FLURRY-EST
DRESS FOR DISTRESS
ESCAPE ARTISTS
BUMPY RIDE
CAN WE PREDICT FLU OUTBREAKS?
BREAKOUT! • CAN SUPER-INTELLIGENT AI ESCAPE OUR CONTROL AND DESTROY US? SKYPE CO-FOUNDER JAAN TALLINN PUTS MONEY ON IT—AND ON FINDING A SOLUTION.
ALARM WILL SOUND • As long as nuclear power exists, there will be attempts to swipe its radioactive fuel. Meet the people trying to keep that from happening.
IT WILL BE OUR FAULT • Seismologist Lucy Jones is on a crusade to prepare us—and our infrastructure—for the next Big One.
DEADLIEST CATCH • VENOMS THAT CAN KILL CAN ALSO CURE
How a cone snail kills its prey • Different species hunt different kinds of food, but they all pack a lethal punch.
FOOD FATALE • THE DESIRE TO BE THIN CAN TURN TRENDY DIETS INTO LETHAL WEAPONS.
A LONG HISTORY OF QUICK FIXES • FAD DIETS CAN SPEED WEIGHT LOSS BUT HAVE RISKY SIDE EFFECTS
EAT BAD GOOD • THE BEST WAYS TO CHEAT, ACCORDING TO SCIENCE
BORN [NOT] TO RUN • POLICE CRUISERS AND GETAWAY CARS ARE RACING TOWARD AN UNKNOWN FUTURE.
The Chemical Weapons DETECTIVES • TOXIC SUBSTANCES, IN WAR AND ASSASSINATION, ARE HARD TO T RACE. ELITE CHEMISTS ARE HELPING ID THE PERPS.
AGENTS OF DEATH • There are four major categories of chemical weapon, each targeting a vital bodily function.
A HISTORY OF CHEMICAL WAR • For thousands of years, people have used hazardous chemicals to kill, injure, and incapacitate one another. As our understanding of human biology has increased, we’ve gotten better at purifying and packaging weapons designed to sabotage it. Here is a brief timeline of this terrible ingenuity.
BUILT TO OUT LAST • AS CLIMATE CHANGE INTENSIFIES, ARCHITECTS, DESIGNERS, AND SCIENTISTS ARE DEVISING BETTER WAYS TO DEAL WITH ALMOST ANYTHING NATURE THROWS OUR WAY.
STREET-DRAINING TILES
TORNADORESISTANT HOUSE
FLOATING HOUSES
The WIZARD of AWE • YOU SEE KEN MILLER’S SMOKE DISPLAYS AT NFLGAMES AND AIR SHOWS. WHAT YOU DON’T SEE ARE THE EXPLOSIONS, DIY ROCKETS, AND SMOLDERING CRATERS THAT SPECKLE HIS MINNESOTA FARM. HIS PERSONAL PYROTECHNIC EXPERIMENTS DONT’S BELONG ON THE SO-YARD LINE OR IN ANYONE’S BACKYARD.
from bank clerk to arctic explorer • ANN DANIELS, WORLD-RECORD-BREAKING POLAR EXPLORER
burning bush • CRYSTAL KOLDEN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT THE COLLEGE OF NATURAL RESOURCES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO
sit, stay, sniff • JENNIFER DAY, BIOLOGIST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE
inside daredevil brains • JANE E. JOSEPH, NEUROSCIENCE PROFESSOR AT MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
scooping lava from active volcanoes • JESSICA JOHNSON, GEOPHYSICS RESEARCHER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA
peril in the lab • You might expect...