A large-scale international study involving 700,000 participants has revealed 83 genetic variations controlling human height.  It is well-known that above-average-height parents often have above…

CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology, a way to generate very precise gene knock-out kits, has now been used to produce cows with resistance to bovine tuberculosis. Bovine TB, caused by Mycobacterium…

Lubos Motl published the other day in his crazily active blog a very nice new review of "Anomaly! Collider Physics and the Quest for New Phenomena at Fermilab". The review is authored by Tristan du…

The email was simple enough. It was a request from a member of the press asking “I would appreciate your reaction/comments to the recently published study on GMO corn for an article I am putting…

After a successful Women's March to protest statements made by President Donald Trump about women in 2005, and other issues, a group of science advocates got the idea for a similar "Science March" to…

A primitive, non-photosynthesizing microbe, Methanospirillum hungatei, which is thought to have existed since before the development of photosynthesis, possess genes similar to those that play a role…

Though scant progress has been made in treating or understanding Alzheimer's disease in the last 100 years, one thing is known; there are declines in glucose levels in the hippocampus early on. What…

Mitochondrial dysfunction, which leads to rare genetic disorders in children, some forms of heart disease, and most likely some cases of Parkinson’s disease, is bewildering in the variety and…

Yes of course it is damn scary when once again, at a time as supposedly new Hitlers are arising, it is the media again who come into focus as a social problem. Or is it that the Hitlers arise as a…

Today I have a decision problem for you. Alice offers Bob participation in a simple coin toss game. It's called triple or bust. Alice start the game by writing an IOU to Bob for an amount of $ 1…

Today I have a decision problem for you. Alice offers Bob participation in a simple coin toss game. It's called triple or bust. Alice start the game by writing an IOU to Bob for an amount of $ 1…

They say two people can’t see the same mirage. I wonder who the hell started saying that?  Last fall, in the article, Polls Are Not Rigged, But They Also Aren't 'Scientific', prolific science…

Last December I took on a new challenge.  I was asked to speak to a large Canadian audience of agricultural producers about climate change.  ‘Bout time I stepped into a controversial area.…

Today is the first day of the Chinese Year of the Rooster, 2017. I am addressing this in particular to North American friends, since yesterday evening on TV we saw Michael Portillo on one of his…

Today I took delivery of my copy of Tony Zee’s third contribution to the Princeton University Press In a Nutshell series: “Group Theory in a Nutshell for Physicists”. With this book Tony…

A lot has been said about the so-called "hiatus" in Global Warming starting in 1998, a major El Niño year. Perhaps the best illustration of the problem with the talking point is an animation titled…

Technology development and use is one of the distinguishing human characteristics. Throughout history, technological developments have led to new opportunities and problems as civilizations…

After being only theorized for 80 years, Harvard scientists claim they have succeeded in creating the rarest - and potentially one of the most valuable - materials on the planet. That material is…

The number of theoretically possible fatty acids with the same chain length but different structures can be determined with the aid of the famous Fibonacci sequence. The ability to calculate the…

I have written this for young children and others scared the world is about to blow up. If you read the news announcements today, you can understand why they seem to say this. Take them literally and…