The Simmering Struggle Over the Origins of Altruism
Prominent scientists are in a bitter struggle over the origins of kindness. But the root of this conflict may be the most ironic part of all.
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Boosting STEM Education at Community Colleges
A 2011 report about STEM workforce needs from the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University indicates that by 2018, 92% of STEM workers will need post-secondary education. Of that total, around 65% will need a Bachelor’s degree or higher, while 35% will be comprised of those with sub-baccalaureate training. The breakdown in…
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Source of Animals’ Magnetic Sense Found
Scientists say they’ve identified ‘internal compass needles’ in the noses of rainbow trout, helping explain the way many creatures can navigate using the Earth’s magnetic field. Neuroscientists recently discovered ‘GPS maps’ in pigeons’ brains, explaining how information on magnetism is encoded in the brain – but until now, nobody’s ever been able to pinpoint the…
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‘Frankenstein’ Mummies Are a Mix of Corpses
Mummies found off the coast of Scotland are Frankenstein-like composites of several corpses, researchers say. This mixing of remains was perhaps designed to combine different ancestries into a single lineage, archaeologists speculated. The bodies were first unearthed in 2001 during excavations beneath the foundations of an approximately 3,000-year-old house on South Uist, an island in…
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Four Keys to Successful Family Planning
Making progress on family planning will require not only principles and commitments, but successful implementation, which must include four crucial elements, says John May of the US-based think tank Centre for Global Development. Millions of women, particularly in developing countries, lack information on — and access to — family planning services. This not only jeopardizes…
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A Blip That Speaks of Our Place in the Universe
It is natural for those not deeply involved in the half-century quest for the Higgs Boson – one of the most important missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that is nature – to ask why they should care about this seemingly esoteric discovery. There are three reasons. First, it caps one of the most remarkable…
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Why “Big Science” Is Worth the Cost
Physicists at CERN delivered big news when they announced the almost certain discovery of the Higgs boson — the so-called “God particle” thought to be the key to the formation of matter, and life. They were able to detect what they believe to be the Higgs boson by firing particles around a giant, $10 billion…
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Mystery Wave in Milky Way Galaxy Suggests Recent Crash
A mysterious wave discovered in the Milky Way suggests our galaxy is still ringing like a bell from a galactic collision, a crash that possibly occured within the last 100 million years, scientists say. Astronomers discovered that stars north and south of the midplane of the galaxy are distributed differently, suggesting that some recent event…
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Protected Habitat Shrunk for U.S. Endangered Species
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) consistently disregarded scientific advice when determining how much land to protect for endangered species during the George W. Bush Administration, a new study shows. The analysis, which includes decisions made between 2002 and 2007, shows that the agency was much more likely to ignore expert advice to increase…
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New Studies Refute Report of Arsenic-Loving Bacteria
It was a provocative finding: strange bacteria in a California lake that thrived on something completely unexpected — arsenic. What it suggested is that life, a very different kind of life, could possibly exist on some other planet. The research, published by a leading scientific journal in 2010, led to overheated speculation about how life…