The editor of the world-leading scientific journal Nature says current procedures to assess and censor research potentially useful to bioterrorists are “problematic” and need to be improved.

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Research censorship ‘problematic’

Fan violence has sparked match cancellations on both sides of the Arab-Israeli divide. The stakes for Egyptian and Israeli soccer fans are high – the nature of the society they want to live in and in some cases the very existence of some of their financially troubled clubs – even if the two groups are likely to agree on little more than their passion for the game.

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Conflicting Visions of Society Spark Israeli and Egyptian Soccer Violence

Annabel Clark documented a pair of conjoined twins for a project that is not about a physical bond, but the nature of a very intimate relationship.

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Lens Blog: Photographs of Conjoined Twins by Annabel Clark

Basic differences about Scripture, the afterlife and the nature of God leads many, though not all, Christians to conclude that Mormons cannot be considered Christian.

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Evangelical Christians’ Unease With Romney Is Theological

The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity has urged Science and Nature to keep details out of reports that they intend to publish on a highly transmissible form of the bird flu.

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U.S. Asks Journals to Censor Articles on Bird Flu Virus

The Higgs particle is also known as the Higgs boson, or “ the God particle ,” a term that Leon Lederman used some years ago and which delighted journalists but surely offended photons and electrons throughout the universe. The Higgs is named after Peter Higgs, a theorist who four decades ago predicted its existence as part of the Standard Model of particle physics. No one’s ever found one. Discovering the Higgs is a central purpose of two very elaborate experiments being conducted at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. On Tuesday, the CERN scientists will announce their latest batch of results, and, as Scientific American has reported , rumors abound that they’ve homing in on the Higgs. More here from Nature . Read full article > >

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Joel Achenbach:
Higgs particle: Getting closer

. PERHAPS IT’S JUST the nature of a man who lives a mile high, but Mike Keefe has decided to go out on top. And what a peak it’s been. Even given his illustrious dossier, Keefe has had a career year in 2011: Read full article > >

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‘RIFFS PICKS OF THE WEEK: 2011 Pulitzer winner calls it quits; and five cartoons for your holiday cheers

BEIRUT — Syria faced growing international condemnation Sunday as the Arab League said it would meet this week to consider new moves against the country, after a deadline for the government to end a crackdown on protesters and admit international monitors expired Saturday. The group of Arab states on Sunday rejected Syria’s request for modifications to a proposed program for monitors to enter the country, saying Syria’s requests would “change the nature of the mission” of the monitors. The Arab League said it planned to meet Thursday to discuss measures that could include heavy sanctions on Syria and exclusion from the League. Read full article > >

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Syria faces new Arab League pressure

Lavender halos encircle tiny yellow sunbursts. Fields of tall grass glitter like precious metals. Red dots cling to branches as if the sky had drizzled cherry juice. These are the other colors of fall, the B-side of foliage that also deserves an audience. Based on the oohs and whoas issuing from the mouths of leaf-lookers, you’d think that Mother Nature had only three shades in her crayon box. Yes, the punchy yellows, oranges and reds of maples, poplars, beeches and other deciduous trees get the most attention. But the more demure flora — the wildflowers and grasses, the berries and cornstalks — are worthy of more than just a passing peep. Read full article > >

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Pennsylvania fall colors far from the trees

Days after finishing Alex Shakar’s “Luminarium,” I’m still stumbling around the house in a mixture of wonder and awe. His new novel considers how our perceptions of the world are manipulated and controlled. I can’t claim to have understood all of it, but I did find it completely absorbing, and anyone hungry for a deeply philosophical novel that, nonetheless, maintains its humility will find here a story worth wrestling with. You know who you are: You left “ The Matrix ” and “ Inception ” dazzled but wishing for a little less computer-generated wizardry and a lot more articulation of the movies’ ideas (which also indicates that you should never become a Hollywood producer). In “Luminarium” those ideas — about the nature of reality and the interplay of technology and perception — are explored with great care and maturity. Read full article > >

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Ron Charles reviews “Luminarium,” by Alex Shakar

Astronomers spot an enormous collision between four galaxy clusters, shearing apart hundreds of galaxies and hinting at the nature of dark matter.

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Giant galaxy cluster crash imaged

Are the days of “public broadcasting” over? PBS officials have told member stations that the science shows Nature and Nova will have “promotional breaks” during the show rather than airing before and after as they currently do. The plan has been hotly…

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PBS to Air Promotional Breaks

In the wake of disastrous Mississippi River flooding, you might wonder why presumably reasonable people continue inhabiting a known flood plain. Other devastation unleashed by nature this year suggests that much of the planet seems fated to be violently shaken, engulfed by wildfires, lashed repeatedly by tornadoes or inundated by seasonal downpours. Is land suitable for agriculture, industry or building homes so scarce that we must populate geologically and climatically vulnerable landscapes? In fact, scarcity of land that is intrinsically safe and appropriate for development is usually not the reason people settle in places at risk. Other motivations explain our persistent defiance of Mother Nature. Read full article > >

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Big risk of living in known natural disaster areas

What to make of this strange, ambitious, near-brilliant piece of ventriloquism from controversial memoirist James Frey ? “ The Final Testament of the Holy Bible ” presents the reader with a knotty exercise in genre disorientation. The book is, among other things, a vivid re-imagining of the life of Jesus Christ, a pricey quasi-objet d’art from super-gallerist Gagosian , a calculated act of provocation, a gesture of almost stupefying egotism, and a sincere and moving examination of the nature of spirituality. The multiple ironies at hand are potentially disabling. Read full article > >

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Michael Lindgren reviews James Frey’s ‘The Final Testament of the Holy Bible’

The BBC’s Fergus Walsh considers the nature of the radiation risk in Japan.

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VIDEO: What is the Japan radiation health risk?