Alphabets are as simple as... (Filed: 18/04/2006) Writing systems may look very different, but they all use the same basic building blocks of familiar natural shapes, reports Roger Highfield If there is one quality that marks out the scientific mind, it is an unquenchable curiosity. Even when it comes to things that are everyday and so familiar they seem beyond question, scientists see puzzles and mysteries. Familar form: letters have been shaped by everyday sights such a the crescent moon Look at the letters in the words of this sentence, for example. Why are they shaped the way that they...