"We can think of scientific knowledge as a consensus of experts."--Naomi Oreskes "There is a tendency among public intellectuals who are entirely reasonable in some areas to descend into the…

When a system is well understood, a well-constructed mathematical model of that system can make realistic predictions based on the data sets fed into it. However, when a system is not well-understood…

Monsanto's signature herbicide glyphosate, first marketed as "Roundup," is now the most popular weed-killer in the history of chemical agriculture in both the U.S. and globally, according to a paper…

Early in the New Year is the traditional time for setting ambitious goals for better health, fitness and, often, a slimmer body. This resolve commonly reflects guilt stemming from the dissipation of…

Logging can encourage black rats to invade tropical rainforests by creating habitats they prefer, giving them the chance to displace native mammals. Logging stresses animals living in tropical…

Supposed "junk" DNA, found in between genes, plays a role in suppressing cancer, according to new research by Universities of Bath and Cambridge. The human genome contains around three metres of DNA…

Cover your coughs in the Carolinas and don't double dip in Denver, because when your team is in the Super Bowl, health can wait. A new paper in the American Journal of Health Economics found cities…

Bottom Line: Men and women in Appalachia continue to have higher cancer incidence rates compared with those in the rest of the United States regardless of race or location. The disparity is…

Scientists chase unicorns because a world with unicorns, metaphorically speaking, is a better place. Michigan State University plant biologist Maren Friesem felt like she was on a unicorn hunt…

When the moon is high in the sky, it creates bulges in the planet's atmosphere that creates imperceptible changes in the amount of rain that falls below. New University of Washington research to be…

Vice President Joe Biden's 'moonshot' initiative to defeat cancer - an outline which will be written by political staffers and delivered a month before the Obama administration leaves office -…

I believe it is appropriate if I restart this column today, after a two-month period of semi-inactivity, with a description of what has  been going on in my private - well, semi-private -…

In 2010, a research team garnered attention when it published evidence of finding the first animals living in permanently anoxic conditions at the bottom of the sea. But a new study, led by…

Sexual Harassment in federally funded research should be considered a federal crime.   This blog post originates as a comment on this blog at Forbes  "Advice For The Reformed Harasser On…

Political journalists will file countless reports from Iowa in the final days leading up to the caucuses, much of based on polls. Another poll, this one by the Iowa State University/WHO-HD Iowa…

The Director of the Centers for Disease Control recently highlighted a campaign to convince up to 86 million Americans that they have pre-diabetes, a condition that doesn't even exist. Meanwhile, the…

Historically called the disease of kings, gout was common among wealthy gents who could afford to eat and drink to excess. These days it doesn’t just affect the rich: rates of gout have been…

The Molecular Microbiology Research Group in the UAB's Department of Genetics and Microbiology describes for the first time, in a work published in PLOSone, a model of behaviour of a bacterial colony…

A honey bee visits and apple blossom.  It may someday be protecting that flower from a bacterial infection (This post originally appeared on Forbes on 2/1/16) Bees and other…

Aging is one of the most mysterious processes in biology. We don't know, scientifically speaking, what exactly it is. We do know for sure when it ends, but to make matters even more inscrutable, the…