High taxes or low taxes, anti-global warming or anti-GMO. You can often figure out how an American votes by asking their stance on a few issues. The government is currently in the middle of a…

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is the name given to women who are in a bad mood when they are about to get their periods.  Most women are unaffected by the hormonal changes of the menstrual…

In the award-winning children’s book ‘Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus’ by Mo Willems, (Hyperion Books for Children, 2003) a persistent pigeon ‘asks, pleads, cajoles, wheedles, connives,…

Since 1996, corn containing a gene that allows it to create a protein that is toxic to certain insects yet is safe for human consumption has been grown in the United States. Most of this genetically…

James Rothman, Randy Schekman and Thomas Südhof have been awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on how the cell organizes its transport system. Disturbances in the control system…

In a world of over-diagnosis, virtually anything can be considered a mental disorder if you are willing to pay someone to give you therapy for it. Afraid of attractive women? You have Venustraphobia.…

This page is a rewrite of the page that was here a few days ago, I had some issues with getting the sign of the data right. The values are the same, only the direction of the change in minimum…

I have recently been to the European Philosophy of Science Association meeting, where my colleague Maarten Boudry and I have hosted a symposium on our recently published book on the Philosophy of…

Healthcare workers' use of disposable gowns and gloves upon entering all patient rooms on an intensive care unit, versus only in rooms on standard isolation protocol, helped reduce patient…

Huge ice channels almost as tall as the  Eiffel tower have been discovered beneath a floating ice shelf in Antarctica. They are 250 meters high, stretch hundreds of kilometers along the ice…

Fumigation is important in reducing food waste.  Weevils, moths and borer beetles live in a very comfortable environment when in the middle of a silo or warehouse fill with grains, where they…

Researchers have developed a new concept for a microscope that would use neutrons,  subatomic particles with no electrical charge, to create high-resolution images instead of the more…

Consumer confidence in the safety of foods and beverages sold in the U.S. has dropped over the past five years according to survey results conducted in May/June of 2013. Among a national sample of 2…

New therapeutic targets and drugs may someday benefit people with certain types of leukemia or blood cancer. Pre-clinical and pharmacological models found that cancer cells with a mutation in the KIT…

Speculation is rampant that the discovery of the Higgs boson will get a Nobel prize. We'll see. The modern Nobel committee is usually pretty astute and they don't seem to give out awards based on…

A new paper details how methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) regulates the critical crosslinking of its cell wall in the face of beta-lactam antibiotics, the mechanistic basis for how…

Paleontologists usually find fossils jumbled up, broken apart, crushed and spread out over a large area, not in one piece. A whole 35-foot dinosaur may be slumbering inside the rock a construction…

Paleontologists usually find fossils jumbled up, broken apart, crushed and spread out over a large area, not in one piece. A whole 35-foot dinosaur may be slumbering inside the rock a construction…

The mystery of why life on Earth evolved has gotten more complicated, not less. Scientists in a new paper say they have ruled out a theory as to why the planet was warm enough to sustain the planet's…

Doctors who abuse prescription drugs often "self-medicate" for physical or emotional pain or stress relief, according to a new paper. Based on focus groups with physicians in treatment for substance…