Sometimes vaccines can eradicate widespread disease, like MMR, diphtheria, polio, smallpox. Sometimes they can mired in controversy, like the fight over whether they cause autism. In this…

It feels good, for a die-hard sceptic like I am, to live and let unexplained phenomena die. The phenomena in question are measured deviations from the predictions of the Standard Model (SM), our…

It's a laughing matter - apes make "weird" sounds when they are tickled, and these "tickle-induced vocalizations" are akin to human laughter, according to a study discussed on NPR. "The results…

Teasing out the effects of natural selection on our genomes from the effects of other evolutionary processes is hard. A group at the University of Washington, using comparisons with the genomes of 5…

Fraud Takes A Lot Of Brass There have been many daring and dastardly deeds of deception throughout history.  The daring deeds of the French Maquis and Britain's SOE in the second world war are…

The encouragement (or requirement) of diversity sometimes gets labeled reverse racism, under the assumption that encourgaing diversity is only about somehow making up for past injustices by…

In the last few columns, I described how laboratory simulations of a volcanic prebiotic environment showed that interesting organic reactions can be driven by the heat and pressure associated with…

If you have not yet heard, David Carradine, aged 72, was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room on Wednesday, probably of a suicide (or perhaps something more INXS-related?).    I was in my den…

Chicago O’Hare IncidentAt 4:30pm on November 7, 2006, United Airlines ramp employees were pushing back flight 446 bound for Charlotte, NC. In their accounts of what followed, said employees denied…

An educational culture where it's an embarrassment to not know the names of five plays by Shakespeare but OK not to know the difference between a gene and a chromosome isn't functional.   …

Human laughter can be traced back 10-16 million years to the last common ancestor of humans and great apes, according to new research published today.   Dr Marina Davila Ross, a primatologist of…

New research shows that when two species of stickleback fish evolved,  different genes in each species caused the loss of their pelvises and body armor.  Researchers say they were surprised…

Using single-molecule manipulation, researchers at Harvard University say they have uncovered a fundamental feedback mechanism that the body uses in regulating the clotting of blood. A new physical,…

Dating human migration has always been something of a guess, especially without corroborating archaeological evidence. Researchers at the University of Leeds say they have devised a more…

Bats, unlike most animals, don't primarily use their voices for communication.  Instead, they use echolocation to navigate their surroundings but they can also use it, and the characteristics of…

The genetic code is fixed in most organisms, but sometimes microbes pull off a swap. How that swap works is hard to fathom, because you can screw up nearly all of your genes by doing it. A paper out…

Speak Out : Silence is the Enemy. Injustice promotes unrest.  Unrest promotes war.War promotes injustice. It is not possible to have a productive and stable society in which there is widespread…

In previous posts I have made the argument that the brain constructs a data organization framework which represents our worldview (or belief systems). It is against this structure that new…

One of the biggest recent breakthroughs in stem cell research is the ability to reprogram non-stem cells into stem cells using genetic engineering. The hitch with this technique is that genetic…

Comic books have warned us time and time again to keep villains away from radiation.  It only makes them stronger.  Researchers at University of Delaware have discovered that ultraviolet…