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   Features Miracle PillDoors are opening into a brave new future where drugs that mimic kilojoule-starved diets can offer us longer lives and fewer age-related diseases - without the hardship.  How will the world end?Despite the conspiracy theory and the movie, the end of the Mayan calendar system in 2012 does not spell apocalypse for humanity. But there are risks to our continued existence on Earth. Here's what to look out for.  World's most bizarre mating ritualsSpanning cannibalism and partner swapping to hermaphroditism and parasitic insemination, sex in the animal world can give even the most broad-minded human pause to think. Queens of the jungleIf humans engage in homosexuality, it's no surprise that other animals do too. But how do you explain the rejection of sexual reproduction in terms of Darwin's theory of evolution?  The day the Dead Sea diedScientists drilling into the bed of the Dead Sea have found records of an ancient mega-drought, plus tantalising indicators of Biblical chronologies.  Where the wild berries growThe wild berries of Alaska may safeguard both the health and economic future of native communities, but only if rising temperatures don't interfere first.  Time pieceThe battle to keep precise time is a frontier encounter between quantum physics and technological know-how.  Beyond the Solar SystemNASA's IBEX spacecraft has directly sampled multiple heavy elements from the Local Interstellar Cloud for the first time, giving us a glimpse of the material that lies outside our Solar System.  Shaky groundScientists who failed to warn citizens of a major earthquake have been charged with manslaughter, igniting debate and raising the question - will we have any warning before future big earthquakes hit?  A mammoth rundownMammoths are one of the largest known mammal species to ever inhabit the Earth, and have been found on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Here's an overview of all the species that have so far been discovered.  The mammoth experimentWith scientists attempting to resurrect the woolly mammoth within the next five years, it's time to get familiar with this formidable prehistoric pachyderm.  COSMOS Special: Mammoth WeekWhat killed the mammoths, should we bring them back to life and how much does a mammoth skeleton sell for these days? This week COSMOS explores the phenomenal mammal that could one day be resurrected if a team of ambitious scientists get their way.  Inside the Square Kilometre ArrayIn February 2012, the location of one of the world's greatest science facilities is expected to be revealed. Until then, it's anyone's guess as to whether the Australian/NZ or Southern African consortium will win the bid to host the A$2.5 billion radio telescope.  The blue carbon strategyMangrove forests, seagrass beds and salt marshes possess a huge carbon storage capacity, which scientists say can be used to mitigate climate change. Known as blue carbon, this resource could one day be quantified and sold on international carbon trading markets.  Sexual evolutionWhile sex purges our genome of harmful mutations and pushes biodiversity, it's a costly exercise for the average organism. So when, and why, did it all begin? John Long trawls the fossil record to find out. 
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