E. is for Einstein
Alfred E. Neuman, Mad magazine’s resident philosopher, once said, “One thing is sure about the speed of light. It gets here too early in the morning.” Want to dig a little deeper than that? Then read on.
Overweight Americans can rejoice after reading about the fat gene in this month’s Scientific American. The genetic mutation that kept cavemen and cavewomen alive when food was scarce is now called Type 2 diabetes. It’s not your fault if you’re fat! The title doesn’t carry as many graphics as other titles, lending it the air of an academic title. New York canyon dwellers who can’t remember when it was they had eight hours of uninterrupted slumber won’t want to miss the cover piece about the power of a good night’s sleep and what monsters we can become when we’re deprived. Apparently, lack of sleep makes the body less sensitive to insulin and increases the risk of obesity. Again, not your fault — carry on eating fast food.
This month’s Popular Science lives up to its name, with movie tiein pieces throughout. The mag scored a compelling interview with Ridley Scott, the director of Matt Damon vehicle “The Martian,” and his NASA consultants about its scientific accuracy. The nerdy mag scores a nice surprise by spotlighting a woman in its 14th annual “Brightest Young Minds” awards: Kathryn Whitehead is a 36yearold chemical engineer from Carnegie Mellon trying to design drugs to wipe out disease. From blender reviews to smart guns that can be used only by their owners, Popular Science makes good on its mission to see the science in everything — although a promising interview with the Google X futurist Astro Teller failed to take off.
Discover magazine is like that friend who spouts random facts about a bizarre variety of topics. The November edition carries pieces on everything from magnetosperm to 20 things to know about sheep. Sandwiched in between these ‘who knew’ features are some interesting tidbits on astronomy, archaeology, ocean life and the downsides of LED lighting (it makes life harder for astronomy fans.) The highlight isn’t the guide to the sun’s eclipse in 2017 — the editors are very excited about this — but an article about Wilma Subra, an Erin Brockovichtype and environmental crusader.
Popular Mechanics digs deep into the industrial empire of the $100 billion Koch brothers, a largely nonpolitical piece that finds the Wichitabased headquarters has a growth rate of 12 percent and is doubling earnings every six years. The mag unex pectedly scored an interview with pressshy Charles Koch, asking what the company does to mitigate pollution. “Do you want to go back to living in caves?” was part of his response. As a partDIY mag, partscience mag, PM has a bit of everything for comparison shoppers looking for a good chainsaw to those curious about cancer drug research.
The New Yorker takes particular delight in dragging Jeb Bush through the mud over his brother, and whether or not W. is an asset or an embarrassment in the GOP presidential race. While Jeb and his aides hem and harangue, we enjoy the refreshing candor of Lindsay Graham: “Republicans know it’s not popular to be for Obama’s foreign policy, but they’re nervous about how far to go.” Faced with disasters in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya, Graham is asked for his own case to be more hawkish. “How about Germany and Japan?” he says. We’re not sure if he’s presidential material, but we’d like to see the gentleman from South Carolina on more talk shows.
If you’re looking to understand what’s going on with college sex, New York’s cover package may or may not help. Searching for the cutting edge of unbridled identity politics, the mag scours hotbeds like Bard College to unearth “genderqueers” performing “hookups” that are, at turns, only vaguely sexual. That actually sounds sweet compared with the dark, refrigerated recesses of the meat market that passes for what’s enlightened on campus these days. Fully adult columnist Rebecca Traister bemoans “joyless, exploitative encounters that reflect a persistently sexist culture,” saying they have gone “largely uninterrogated.” Of course, she fails to mention that this complaint (and its bitter irony) has persisted on campuses since, say, the late 1960s.
If you thought millennials were annoying, brace yourself: they’re having kids now. In what looks like an attempt to terrify the nation, Time reports that 30something couples are raising a new generation that threatens to be even more entitled than itself. Loading just about everything (except maybe their own honest fear and loathing) onto Facebook, these budding parents are seriously stressed over whether their toddlers are in the mood to eat their vegetables, and whether, say, they feel like being boys or girls. “They’re backing away from the overscheduled days of their youth, preferring a more responsive, less directorial approach to activities,” the mag reports. Speaking of which, Jeb really looks like he could use a nap in the wellwrought profile by Zeke Miller.