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Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Throughout the 15th century, the Portuguese Crown yearned for a piece of the Far Eastern spice trade. For centuries this trade had been dominated by the Venetians who obtained pepper, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon from their Middle Eastern trading partners, the Mamluks and Ottomans. Vasco da Gama Arriving at Calicut, IndiaRoque Gameiro (Public Domain)...

From Nature magazine A rare, hereditary form of autism has been found — and it may be treatable with protein supplements. Genome sequencing of six children with autism has revealed mutations in a gene that stops several essential amino acids being depleted. Mice lacking this gene developed neurological problems related to autism that were reversed by dietary changes, a paper published today in Science shows1. “This might represent the first treatable form of autism,” says Joseph Gleeson, a child neurologist at the University of California, San Diego, who led the study....

By Fayen WongSHANGHAI (Reuters) - A choking smog across much of northern China threatens not just the health of local residents, but also of major coal projects globally that are still on the drawing board.Beijing’s plans to tackle pollution largely target coal-fired power, which will hit already slowing demand in the world’s top importer of the fuel.With China’s coal demand the primary driver for a slew of mine investments over the past decade, this trend could derail a list of capital intensive coal projects from Australia to Indonesia and Mozambique....

A person with a genetic condition that causes blindness has become the first to receive a CRISPR–Cas9 gene therapy administered directly into their body. The treatment is part of a landmark clinical trial to test the ability of CRISPR–Cas9 gene-editing techniques to remove mutations that cause a rare condition called Leber’s congenital amaurosis 10 (LCA10). No treatment is currently available for the disease, which is a leading cause of blindness in childhood....

When a researcher asks a volunteer to slide head-first into the open eye of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, the expectation is that the device’s magnetic field will penetrate the skull to produce a faithful picture of the brain without changing its behavior. A new study suggests, however, that MRI machines do, in fact, manipulate brain activity—and they change the brain in a way that helps treat depression. In other words, MRIs may be unintentional antidepressants....

One fine afternoon last may, Jayne Belnap drove north out of Moab, Utah, in her beige Lexus SUV when the highway vanished. In an instant, a 100-foot-tall cloud of dust had swallowed up her vehicle. She wanted to brake, but she worried about another car slamming into her from behind. She tried to pull over, but she couldn’t see the shoulder. So Belnap split the difference: “I figured if I just crept slowly enough that I’d eventually get out of there or fall off the road....

Coffee shops where patrons can cuddle with a cat or pet a dog have sprung up in cities around the world in recent years. But some venues have gone beyond typical domesticated pets: during a visit to Japan, Sharne McMillan heard about otter cafés. She happened to be researching a rare Eurasian otter population for her Ph.D. at the University of Hong Kong, and her interest was piqued, so she investigated further....

Picture twilight in Los Angeles: the city’s labyrinth of eight-lane freeways is jammed with millions of cars, engines burping pollutants into the air. The people in those cars may be drowning in a sea of smog, but they at least can take solace in seeing a scarlet sunset blazing across the horizon. According to urban legend, air pollution enhances the beauty of a sunset. And pollution does indeed change the appearance of sundown, but whether it tips it in the direction of beauty is a matter of personal taste—and the overall amount of that pollution in the air....

THE IDEA THAT A BLACK HOLE could possibly exist came from an English rector, John Michell. In 1783 he calculated that the force of gravity exerted by a massive star could prevent light from escaping its surface. Michell’s work was largely forgotten for 200 years. In 1971 astrophysicists noticed flickering x-rays coming from the constellation Cygnus, 6,000 light-years away: the radiation indicated that a black hole was apparently circling a star....

How often have you come across a great story about climate change, sustainable energy or biodiversity, and wished you could share it with others who care deeply about the subject? This week, in preparation for Earth Day, you have your chance: Scientific American is partnering with NewsTrust, a not-for-profit Web site designed to “help people find good journalism online” by encouraging its readers to submit and review articles from across the Web....

By Abu Arqam Naqash and Adnan Abidi MUZAFFARABAD/SRINAGAR (Reuters) - The death toll from the heaviest rain to fall on Kashmir in 50 years rose to more than 400 on Tuesday, with thousands still trapped on rooftops and residents criticizing Indian and Pakistani authorities for not doing enough to help them. On the Indian side of the heavily militarized Line of Control that divides the Himalayan region, the city of Srinagar lay submerged along with more than 2,000 villages....

Stephen Hawking has long relied on technology to help him connect with the outside world. For the past decade the renowned physicist, who has battled a degenerative motor neuron disease for half a century, has used a voluntary twitch of his cheek muscle to compose words and sentences one letter at a time. Each tweak stops a cursor that continuously scans text on a screen. But in recent years his condition has deteriorated, and he now communicates at the rate of just one word per minute....

This weekend, the Internet world mourned one of its heroes: Aaron Swartz, 26, a prodigy, programmer and well-known Internet activist, who hanged himself in his New York apartment on Friday. Swartz was to face an imminent trial for having downloaded some 4 million articles from JSTOR, a not-for-profit scholarly archive hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He faced extraordinarily severe charges — see here and here — carrying a possible penalty of 35 years in prison, and more than US$1 million in fines....

On May 20, if all goes well, the first private spacecraft built to sail on sunlight will soar into the heavens from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The spacecraft is called LightSail and is a project of the Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization that promotes space exploration. Although they have no mass, the photons in a sunbeam do carry momentum. In sufficient numbers they can push objects around in the vacuum of space....

Without steep cuts to the world’s greenhouse gas output, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could soar by the end of the century to a level not seen for 34 million years. Understanding how that would affect the climate will require going beyond historical records of climate change, or even the information encoded in tree rings or ice cores, to what scientists call “deep time” records of conditions on Earth, according to a new NAS analysis....

The wind sweeps quietly across the barren, dry landscape. There is not a shrub in sight, not a tree, not a single blade of grass that the wind might disturb. Only barren grayish-red rocks. The wind never touched us as we peered out of our only window, which was more of a porthole than a real window. We did hear it, though, as it swept across our white dome, perched on the slope of the volcano....

Planning for Earth Peter H. Gleick’s “Freshwater Use” [Solutions to Environmental Threats] neglected to mention one obvious water-conservation measure: meter all freshwater and charge for it. Why should some—most notably agribusiness—receive this valuable resource for free? It is already the policy in some countries to assume that all freshwater is the property of the federal government, owned by all citizens equally. If we were to adopt such a policy in the U....

Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping and Beyond by Robert R. Provine Harvard University Press, 2012 ($24.95) Provine, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, has written a charming ode to “Small Science”—science that does not require a large budget or fancy equipment but that is interesting nonetheless. Taking examples from his own research, some of which involved nothing more complicated than stalking graduate students and observing how and when they laugh, he explains the origins of some of the most prevalent, but often overlooked, human behaviors....

Watch a live stream below of an event, “The Science of Storytelling and the Storytelling of Science.” The event, set for 10 pm EDT on Saturday, March 30, will feature popular science educator Bill Nye, Hayden Planetarium astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, theoretical physicist Brian Breene, Science Friday’s Ira Flatow, science fiction writer Neal Stephenson, World Science Festival Executive Director Tracy Day and Lawrence Krauss, director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University (ASU)....

A United Nations panel has proposed the first global greenhouse-gas emissions standard for aircraft. The draft rule, released by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on February 8, applies to most commercial and business aircraft, including designs already in production. It would require minimal changes to aviation design over the next 12 years, and many environmentalists say that the proposal is inadequate to combat climate change. The plan—which would take full effect in 2028—could decrease fuel consumption in new aircraft at cruising speed by an average of 4% compared to the current level, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), a non-profit research group based in Washington DC....