Professor of psychology Michael Gazzaniga is spelling out a cautionary tale about the uses of neuroscience in society.
Loneliness can send a person down a path toward bad health, and even more intense loneliness, studies have shown. But while some have assumed the culprit was a dearth of others to remind a person to take care of himself or herself, new research suggests there’s a direct biological link between being lonely and ill…
President Barack Obama promised to take action on climate change in his inaugural speech, putting the issue at the forefront of his agenda for the second term. Americans’ obligations are not just to self, “but to all posterity,” Obama said. “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do…
Targeting “messenger RNAs” may correct mutations in human mitochondrial DNA, experts at UCLA say. Currently, there is no way to successfully repair or compensate for these mutations in the human mitochondrial genome, implicated in neuromuscular diseases, metabolic defects and aging. The findings could lead to a form of gene therapy. Author Metanexus Editors
The Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that the metaphorical doomsday clock is now at five minutes to midnight, putting humanity one figurative minute closer to catastrophic destruction than it was just two years ago. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in the 1940s by members of…
In a closely watched case, the Supreme Court threw out a lower court ruling allowing human genes to be patented, a topic of enormous interest to cancer researchers, patients and drug makers. The Court overturned patents belonging to Myriad Genetics on genes linked to increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Scientists say genes carrying…
Scientists have long believed that comets and, or a type of very primitive meteorite called carbonaceous chondrites were the sources of early Earth’s volatile elements — which include hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon — and possibly organic material, too. Understanding where these volatiles came from is crucial for determining the origins of both water and life…