Arts & Entertainment, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 30, 2004

Voice of Reason: Giving up the Ghosts

In early December 2004, a woman named Mary Anderson put her father's ghost up for sale at the online auction site eBay after her six-year-old son said he was afraid that his grandfather's ghost would haunt him. The grandfather's ghost -- or, at least, his cane --was purchased by the...

Oct 31, 2005

Leonardo Da Vinci's 10 Best Ideas

The Vitruvian Man Leonardo da Vinci's 'Vitruvian Man' is said to illustrate the golden ratio. Da Vinci modeled his perfect human form after the proportions laid out by Vitruvius, an ancient Roman architect. The angry-looking man drawn by Da Vinci has reason to smile - he's now considered one of...

Sep 30, 2005

New Digital Brush Makes the World Your Palette

Painters used to look to nature for their colors, extracting blues and red from plants and clay. A new digital paintbrush takes the practice to an amazing new level. Artists can now sample colors, textures and even movements directly from the environment for use in a composition. The eyes in...

Jun 30, 2005

Voice of Reason: 'War of the Worlds' Truths and Myths

The recent Hollywood movie War of the Worlds by Steven Spielberg is garnering much attention, but it's nothing like that accorded the 1938 radio version of H.G. Wells' novel. Although the extent of the panic that broadcast caused is still debated, along with the claim that it was intended to...

Apr 30, 2005

Tech Firms Owe Debt to 'Star Wars' Creator

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ After filming the first Star Wars'' movie with special effects far from special, George Lucas spent millions to develop a complete digital editing system to populate his sequels with armies of X-wing fighters and Gungan warriors. Then, he virtually gave it away. We were 10 years...

Feb 28, 2005

IMAX theaters Reject Science Shows under Religious Pressure

Some IMAX theatres are refusing to show movies that mention evolution or the Big Bang because of protests by religious groups who say the ideas contradict the Bible. While the number of protests is small -- perhaps a dozen or fewer IMAX theaters -- the effect could be significant because...

Oct 31, 2006

Legendary Violins Were Chemically Treated

The stirring sounds of two legendary types of violin have haunted musicians and baffled craftsmen for centuries.? Now, a researcher claims he is one note closer to recreating the secret recipe that produced the famous Stradivarius and Guarneri instruments. Some have suggested that the celebrated Italian violin makers, Stradivari and...

May 31, 2006

New Device Disables Digital Cameras

Researchers have built a prototype device that disables digital cameras. Future versions might thwart unwanted photo-taking at a specific location and even prevent clandestine videos from being made. The technology might one day prevent espionage in a building or stop pirating of movies from theaters. It could even be used...

Apr 30, 2006

'Poseidon' Packs Punch of Real Science

MOVIE REVIEW Pity the cruise ship Poseidon, for fortune does not follow her. But it’s that same doomed nature that drives director Wolfgang Petersen’s 2006 update of the 1972 disaster epic The Poseidon Adventure. One is forced to wonder whether another remake of producer Irwin Allen’s Adventure is warranted—especially after...

Apr 30, 2006

Al Gore Takes 'Inconvenient Truth' to Cannes

CANNES, France (AP)—Michael Moore has been the American on a mission at the Cannes Film Festival for the past few years. This time it's Al Gore's turn, with the studious but engrossing documentary An Inconvenient Truth.'' The former U.S. vice president climbed Cannes' famous red carpet in black tie this...

Mar 31, 2006

The Meaning of White Space

Did the white space above this story attract your attention? Designers in advertising and media have used white space for decades just for that reason. But why? Consumers associate white space with refined taste and upscale qualities, according to a new study that traces the history of its use in...

Dec 31, 2005

Earliest Maya Writings Found

Newly discovered hieroglyphs show that the Maya were writing at a complex level 150 years earlier than previously thought. The glyphs, which date to about 250 BC, were found on preserved painted walls and plaster fragments in the pyramidal structure known as Las Pinturas, in San Bartolo, Guatemala. Las Pinturas...

Jul 31, 2007

U.S. Healthcare Paradox: The Best and Worst in the World

Watch Michael Moore's new movie Sicko, about the state of U.S. healthcare, and you might want to swim shark-invested waters to Cuba, where healthcare is inexpensive and largely on par with care in the United States. After all, Cubans smoke, drink and hang out in the sun at far higher...

May 31, 2007

PG-13 Films Loaded with 'Happy Violence'

If you take a young child to the movies these days, you might find him staring placidly at the violence while you, the adult, look away. A new study suggests why kids today don't cringe at the violence in films: They don't associate violence with its natural consequences. PG-13 films...

May 31, 2007

Thieves Steal Herman Munster's Identity

WASHINGTON (AP) — Did Internet thieves steal Herman Munster's MasterCard number? Crooks in an underground chat room for selling stolen credit card numbers and personal consumer information offered pilfered data purportedly about Herman Munster, the 1960s Frankenstein-like character from “The Munsters” TV sitcom. The thieves apparently didn't realize Munster was...