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Past regional cold and warm periods linked to natural climate drivers Knockouts in human cells point to pathogenic targets
First-ever blueprint of a minimal cell is more complex than expected Building real security with virtual worlds
Ecological speciation by sexual selection on good genes Research sheds light on workings of anti-cancer drug
Is the 'Giant Impact' hypothesis in reality the 'Origin of the Moon' ? Plasma produces KO cocktail for MRSA

Federal Court to Hear Autism-Vaccine Link Case

May 13, 2008 by kb

A federal court is hearing a case in which the plaintiffs believe that mercury in childhood vaccines led to their children's autism, according to a Reuters story.

Why are humans risk-averse?

May 13, 2008 by coglanglab

coglanglab's picture

After my first foray into computational simulations successfully predicted that losses should loom larger than gains, at least when the stakes are high, I decided to take on an even more complicated phenomenon in psychology and economics: risk aversion.

Could "dark energy" be a sign of Earth's special place in the universe?

May 12, 2008 by Fred Bortz

Fred Bortz's picture

Ever since Copernicus placed the Sun at the center of the universe instead of the Earth, scientific discoveries have been repeatedly making our home planet less special and more ordinary. But could the "principle of mediocrity" turn out to be wrong in one critical recent discovery--dark energy--and could that discovery really mean something other than what physicists have suggested?

Designer Genes - Drew Endy uses DNA to make new and improved versions of life

May 9, 2008 by imus586

When Drew Endy envisions the future, he sees giant gourds engineered to grow into four-bedroom, two-bathroom houses. He sees people alerted to nascent tumors in their bodies by internal biological sensors, and cars fueled by bacteria-produced gasoline. Endy, 37, is a pioneer in synthetic biology, a field that combines biology, chemistry, and engineering to remake biological systems to act according to human design. In other words, he’s a little like God, if God were a geek.

Why admissions interviews should be banned

May 9, 2008 by coglanglab

coglanglab's picture

An important part of the admission process to a competitive college is the admissions interview. I'm against it. And that isn't just because interviews were originally instituted to keep Jews out of Harvard. It's because they are poor predictors of future performance and, even worse, they are poor predictors that people weight very heavily.

Space Shuttle Columbia's Hard Drive Data Recovered

May 8, 2008 by kb

A data recovery company has retrieved 99% of the data from a hard drive recovered from the space shuttle Columbia crash in 2003, reports Computerworld.

Flowers 'Wave' to Attract Insects

May 8, 2008 by kb

Flowers "wave" in the breeze on long stalks to attract passing insects, reports BBC News.

Rechargeable batteries question

May 7, 2008 by MainFragger

MainFragger's picture

Help settle a scientific argument between father and son!

Platypus Genome Sequenced

May 7, 2008 by kb

The always-confusing avian-reptile-mammal playtpus has had its genome sequenced, according to a report by the BBC.

Updates to the Science Shelf, Spring 2008 edition

May 7, 2008 by Fred Bortz

Fred Bortz's picture

I won't have time to post the latest newsletter for the Science Shelf Book Review Archive or mail it to subscribers for a few days, but here's a link.

Read on for a bit more.



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