A book that criticizes alternative medicine to treat conditions that have names but no criteria is controversial - because it runs up against a supplement and alternative medicine enabled by governments that believe science can't be trusted
Targeting cognition through the body. Cognition by ShutterstockBy Michal Schwartz, Weizmann Institute of Science; Aleksandra Deczkowska, Weizmann Institute of Science, and Kuti Baruch, Weizmann Institute of Science
Standing up for science. Credit: Sense About ScienceBy Lydia Le Page, University of EdinburghThe 3rd annual John Maddox Prize has been awarded to Emily Willingham, a science writer in the US, and David Robert Grimes, a physicist at the University of Oxford, in recognition of their work in the face of public hostility.
Ebola: EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, CC BY-SABy Richard Kock, Royal Veterinary CollegeThe still growing Ebola virus outbreak not only highlights the tragedy enveloping the areas most affected but also offers a commentary on they way in which the political ecology in West Africa allowed this disease to become established.
Come play with us. For ever. And ever. And ever. Alex EylarBy Baden Eunson, Monash UniversityRecently, the Danish Toymaker Lego announced its plans for a reality TV show to be launched in 2015, rumored to be based on the idea of Master Builders, the top “construction workers” in the insanely successful Lego Movie earlier this year.
Jean Tirole's theories, capturing reality as an afterthought? IMF, CC BY-NC-NDBy David Spencer, University of LeedsIt’s that time of year again – when academic economics, thanks to the Nobel Prize announcements, is thrust into the public gaze.
By Simon Redfern, University of CambridgeHow is it that Earth developed an atmosphere that made the development of life possible? A study published in the journal Nature Geoscience links the origins of Earth’s nitrogen-rich atmosphere to the same tectonic forces that drive mountain-building and volcanism on our planet. It goes some way to explaining why, compared to our nearest neighbors, Venus and Mars, Earth’s air is richer in nitrogen.
Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, with other members of his unit. Credit: Germany Army.By Ingrid Sharp, University of LeedsThe idea of a war hero is still strong in the UK and in the other Allied countries. War memorials are a central feature of the regular commemoration services, Churchill is regularly rolled out in biographical and fictional form, and there are soon to be a total of 888,246 ceramic poppies for 888,246 war heroes adorning the Tower of London.
Country music's soaring popularity in the Northeast isn't so much a novelty as it is a rebirth. Image: US NavyBy Clifford Murphy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
There are four factors to making the perfect cup of coffee. Credit: Andy Ciordia/Flickr, CC BY-NC-NDBy Don BrushettIt’s hard to get a bad coffee these days. Plenty of baristas have fine-tuned the process of making espresso, but really there are only a handful of variables they can control:
How much risk can health workers be asked to take on? Mike Segar/ReutersBy Catherine Womack, Bridgewater State UniversityTaking care of sick people has always involved personal risk. From plague to tuberculosis to smallpox to SARS, health-care workers have put themselves in danger in the course of fulfilling their duties to care for others. Many have lost their lives doing just that.
A recent study shows plants may absorb more carbon than we thought. Jason Samfield/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SABy Pep Canadell, CSIROThrough burning fossil fuels, humans are rapidly driving up levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which in turn is raising global temperatures.
Remember the big, somewhat bulky Mercedes Benz cars of the early 1990s?
