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Karen Olsson

Features

The Final Frontier

Karl Gebhardt and Gary Hill, two astronomers from the University of Texas at Austin, are racing to solve one of the greatest mysteries in science: What is dark energy? How does it work? Can it explain the origins of the universe? There’s only one problem. Dark energy may not actually exist. April 2008

Keep Out!

Which is worse: looking the other way as millions of illegals stream across the border or building an unconscionably expensive and impractical fence that few in the Valley (a) want or (b) believe will make a difference? November 2007

Human Mate Selection Is a Many-Splendored Thing

David Buss understands how Stone Age hookups made us who we are—but can that help me get a date? June 2007

Eating A Dead Horse

Even if you’ve never dined on the delicious remains of a noble steed, you probably have an opinion on whether the state’s two slaughterhouses should remain open. Boone Pickens does. And Charlie Stenholm. And Bo Derek. Not to mention the many traders and “killer buyers” for whom business is business. December 2006

Keep Waterloo Weird

In this excerpt from Karen Olsson’s forthcoming novel set in a fictional state capital (wink, wink), a reporter for a weekly newspaper watches a rural conservative who “shares your values” announce his candidacy for governor. October 2005

About a Girl

Audra Thomas can't read these words and, in a few months, wouldn't remember them anyway. Nevertheless, she has an extraodinary sense of the world around her—and of herself. August 2003

Mr. Right

The line on James Leininger is fairly simple: He's a doctrinaire conservative who spends millions supporting candidates and causes he likes—and opposing those he doesn't. That makes him one of the most influential players in Texas politics in the post-Bush era. November 2002

The Evolutionary

What do you do when you win a $295,000 MacArthur “genius” grant? If you’re biologist David Hillis, you keep teaching at the University of Texas as if nothing happened, and you keep chasing frogs. June 2000

Columns | Miscellany

No Place Like Home

Bienvenidos a Farmers Branch, the headline-worthy Dallas suburb where the biggest hard-liner on illegal immigration could soon be known as Mr. Mayor. May 2008

The Old College Try

The mayor of El Cenizo is 23, is still in school, and lives with his mother. But he’s serious about making life better in his impoverished border hometown. August 2006

The Buck Stops Nowhere

Is the Texan who oversaw Abu Ghraib a hero, a villain, or both? April 2005

The Gay Non-Issue

The election of a lesbian sheriff in Dallas County is a reminder of how far we’ve come, in a very short period, on the question of sexual orientation. January 2005

Party Crashers

If we had more than two big-time candidates, maybe we could have a genuine presidential race in every state. Even Texas. October 2004

Reporter

Fred Garza

Tick Rider January 2008