A SciDev.Net survey reveals the challenges of applying research insights to policy and practice, and underscores that evidence is not enough.
The late astronaut Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, was memorialized in ceremonies around the country on Aug. 31. Armstrong, 82, passed away Aug. 25 due to complications resulting from cardiovascular surgery, which he underwent earlier this month. In July 1969, Armstrong commanded Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission. His first words…
What’s the point of the humanities? Of studying philosophy, history, literature and “soft” sciences like psychology and poly sci? The Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences, consisting of academic, corporate, political and entertainment big shots, tries to answer this question in a big new report to Congress. The report is intended to counter plunging…
DARPA has funds set aside in its budget for 2012 that will pour $7 million into a plan that sounds much like the James Cameron flick Avatar. DARPA says the goal of the plan is to “develop interfaces and algorithms to enable a soldier to effectively partner with a semi-autonomous bi-pedal machine and allow it…
A new university-backed project aims to investigate cryptic species such as the yeti whose existence is unproven, through genetic testing. Researchers from Oxford University and the Lausanne Museum of Zoology are asking anyone with a collection of cryptozoological material to submit descriptions of it. The researchers will then ask for hair and other samples for…
A fire-free farming method practiced by early inhabitants of the Amazonian savannahs could help inform efforts to conserve and rehabilitate these important ecosystems around the world, a study has found. The research provides greater historic context for findings presented at a conference in January, which suggested that slash-and-burn — in which trees are felled, left…
The 5,300-year-old Iceman had brown eyes, Lyme disease and modern-day Mediterranean relatives