Better Health Through Nature
October 3, 2013
Humans were meant to thrive in the environment. We sequester ourselves from the natural world at our own peril.
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Mars May Have Been Wet, But Never Lively
September 27, 2013
Astrobiologists got excited with evidence for early water on Mars, but other discoveries are putting the quash on hopes it has or had life.
Induced Stem Cells Get Faster, Better, Cheaper
September 24, 2013
Scientists have not only made the production of induced pluripotent stem cells much more efficient, but also have made them just as capable as embryonic stem cells of being able to produce any cell type.
Sherpa Fitness Is Not Evolution
September 22, 2013
A study about mutations that might confer benefit to high-altitude Sherpas is being announced as an example of evolution, but variation within species is not Darwinian evolution.
Reverse Engineer Living Solutions
September 20, 2013
Need solutions to practical engineering problems? Save time and effort; see how animals and plants do it.
Junk Science Gets Good Press if It Supports Darwinism
September 13, 2013
The headlines for some scientific news stories might leave philosophers of science wagging their heads. Few, though, are the reporters willing to call something really dumb, or at least questionable—especially if it appears to support evolution.
"Evidence-Based" Findings May Not Be
September 12, 2013
Patients are encouraged to seek only "evidence-based" treatments for disease, but a look behind the scenes of clinical trials reveals some of the same human foibles that plague any science: shortcomings in honesty and transparency.
More Reasons to Love Plants
September 10, 2013
For food, for visual pleasure, and for the health of the whole planet, plants are worth loving and learning about.
Bach to the Feature: Music More Cognitive Than Language
September 8, 2013
The ability for the human mind to gauge hierarchical structures in music over the span of lengthy works suggests that we exercise greater cognition in that skill than in language.
Ethical Stem Cells Can Be Used Unethically
September 1, 2013
Induced pluripotent stem cells allow researchers to ethically create any cell type from an adult cell, raising hopes for regenerative medicine. Eyebrows started to raise recently, though, when labs grew brains with them and turned others into sperm and egg cells.
Psychotherapy Has a Shrink
August 27, 2013
For better or worse, the practice of psychotherapy is shrinking, reports say.
Stem Cell Science Can Proceed Ethically
August 19, 2013
With adult and induced pluripotent stem cells in abundance, it should not be necessary to destroy human embryos to understand stem cell science.
Scientists Are Not Experts on Values
August 18, 2013
The "fact-value split" is a dubious distinction, illustrated by several recent articles. Scientists cannot act as if their findings are values-free.
Secrets of Sight
August 16, 2013
The number of processes involved in eyesight continues to grow, adding more focus and clarity to the miracle of vision.
Meet Your New Teacher, Prof. Neanderthal
August 14, 2013
Far from being dumb brutes stuck in caves, Neanderthals may have taught modern people techniques that are still used today.