For as long as I remember, there have been jokes and pop-culture references to scientists creating life in a test tube–usually with the understanding that such a thing was an impossibility outside of horror movies. But last week scientists in the U.S. announced their intention to create the first completely artificial form of life, a …
This week’s science column…
SCIENCE Edward Willett Glow, little GloFish, glimmer, glimmer… In January, a U.S. company hopes to offer for sale the first pet fish genetically engineered to glow under ultraviolet light. This has alarmed some people, but scientists have been creating glowing organisms for several years now–and their ability to do so has revolutionized many fields of …
This week’s science column…
This will be up later today on my Web site… ***** SCIENCE Edward Willett Can we make sleep optional? It’s a safe bet that there have been a lot of bleary-eyed people around Regina this week, following last week’s Grey Cup revelry. But then, there are a lot of bleary-eyed people around all the time, …
Life finds a way…
No matter how extreme the environment, life manages to get a foothold. This means two things to me. One, it’s highly unlikely human beings can ever really manage to eradicate all life on the planet (althought we might be able to knock it down to the insect or even microbe level, if we really tried, …
Making sleep optional
It’s a safe bet that there have been a lot of bleary-eyed people around Regina this week, following last week’s Grey Cup revelry. But then, there are a lot of bleary-eyed people around all the time, since very few of us ever get as much sleep as we really need. That being the case, wouldn’t …

