Pesticide companies used to sell concoctions of poison mixed with sugar in attempts to control cockroaches. The sugar would attract the insects and the poison would kill them. At least, that was the initial idea.

Geneticists have enough challenges trying to comprehend the enormously elaborate yet precise ways cells access, copy, alter, interpret, and execute linear-coded genetic information. But now, non-linear genetic information adds a whole new dimension that multiplies the challenge of comprehending a living cell's inner workings.

In September 2012, a Russian and a Belarusian astronomer using the Kislovodsk Observatory co-discovered a comet heading our way. Comet Ison should become visible to Earth viewers in December 2013 after passing perilously close to the Sun during November. It may even appear brighter than the moon, triggering discussions about when and how comets formed.