Because I blog, speak, and comment in support of various agricultural technologies, I am routinely accused of being a "shill for Big Ag" or for some company which you can probably guess.  They…

If you want to turn down the emotional intensity before making an important decision, turn down the lights, say Alison Jing Xu, assistant professor of management at the University of Toronto…

Researchers have created an adult stem cell based method for restoring strength to damaged skeletal muscles in the elderly.  Skeletal muscles are some of the most important muscles in the body,…

In the 'sometimes what you don't find can be important too' department, a new high-accuracy calibration of the LUX (Large Underground Xenon) dark matter detector's sensitivity to ultra-low…

For THE WIRED WORLD IN 2013 annual prognostication issue, predictions for the year by some of the luminaries in science media, I predicted that one of the Big 5 organs would be created. The benefit…

Survey results related to how men approach old age found that happiness remains relatively stable for some 80 percent of the population, but perceptions of unhappiness – or dealing with "hassles" –…

Twice in recent history, the periodic El Niño event has caused sea level drops abruptly in the tropical western Pacific. The tides remain below normal for up to a year in the South Pacific,…

In 1964, the physicist John Bell tackled locality and the disparity between classical physics and quantum mechanics, stating that if the universe is based on classical physics, the measurement of one…

Politics always make strange bedfellows. When George W. Bush was president, the claim of his political opposition was that Iraq was 'no harm to anyone outside its own borders' and so we should not be…

Calling Bill Haley and the Comets, because PSR J0738-4042, which lies 37,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Puppis, is being rocked around the clock. As in being constantly hit…

Jazz musicians do a lot of spontaneous, improvisational music and brains scans show robust activation of brain areas traditionally associated with spoken language and syntax, which are used to…

Call it the buoyancy of the brood. When facing a flood, ants build rafts and find other ways to minimize injury or death - they can basically use the brood to act as a life preserver - according to a…

Recently, it was claimed that all of the big questions in science had been answered and it was now just about filling in the details. It isn't the first time the concept has taken hold; Lord Kelvin…

Recently, it was claimed that all of the big questions in science had been answered and it was now just about filling in the details. It isn't the first time the concept has taken hold; Lord Kelvin…

 Wherever he is, Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim a/k/a Paracelsus must be doing the Foxtrot in his grave. Because somehow a bunch of dopes have managed to “…

Why are some people are unable to break free of their delusions, despite overwhelming evidence explaining the delusion isn't real? A new paper by a philosopher offers as good an explanation as any,…

Chronic pain diagnoses are easy to obtain. Because it is symptom-based medicine and a subjective ailment, it's difficult to say what is real and what isn't. In cases where the ailment is…

Duckweed is a tiny floating plant  that often becomes a hard-to-control weed in ponds and small lakes. Yet these ecological lemons might become energy lemonade. It's not all bad, duckweed has…

If China wants to save .009 of its population by 2050, they need to implement UN tobacco control policies, including surveillance and monitoring of tobacco use prevalence, creation of smoke-free…

It used to be that only rich people could afford to be fat. Now only rich people can afford to be thin. And there's even a growing income gap when it comes to suicide. Assisted suicide is legal in…