What's New

PUBLISHING

Door for undiscovered authors

new york - Representing a virtual foot in the door for talented but overlooked authors, AOL Time Warner this week launched iPublish.com, a new online community where aspiring writers can submit their works directly for consideration for publication. Selected titles will be published as eBooks, and many will be available in print through print-on-demand technology. The most successful works may also be given the opportunity for national print runs.

Showcasing everything from online writing courses to a wide selection of published eBooks, iPublish.com represents the first fully integrated, end-to-end digital publishing business. Its centerpiece is iWrite, where writers must review at least three short excerpts from works by other authors before they can post an excerpt of their own work for consideration. If an excerpt receives high ratings, an iPublish.com editor will read the full manuscript and decide if the work should be published as an eBook and, if it meets certain requirements, as a print-on-demand book. The Web venture is seeking fiction and nonfiction of any length in a wide range of genres, including romance, mystery, science fiction, and business.

SCIENCE

Mirrors reflect dolphins' IQ

washington - Bottlenose dolphins can recognize themselves in a mirror, an advanced intellectual ability observed previously only in humans and apes, a study finds. Researchers at the New York Aquarium installed mirrors so that they could be seen by two bottlenose dolphins and then tested to see if the animals were self-aware enough to look at the reflected image of markings on their bodies. Both animals responded by looking long and hard at temporary ink marks placed on their face and sides. The dolphin, according to the findings to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (www.pnas.org), seems to be the first nonprimate to pass this self-recognition test. Animals that have failed the exam include monkeys, lesser apes, and elephants.

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor