The task of finding the genetic roots of common disease seems much harder, dimming the promise of personal genomics and the chances of quick medical payoffs from the human genome project, given new data about the human genome in two reports published online in the journal Science. It now appears that large numbers of very…
Two U.S. senators have introduced legislation that would make it easier for international students studying science, technology, engineering, or mathematics to stay in the United States after graduation and earn permanent residency. The SMART Jobs Act would create a new student-visa category for graduate students pursuing degrees in the so-called STEM disciplines. Students would be…
A new Center for Biological Diversity analysis of 110 endangered species finds that 90% are on track to meet recovery goals set by federal scientists. The review examined population trends of plants and animals protected by the Endangered Species Act in all 50 states, including gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, Florida panthers, Aleutian…
Researchers have revealed details of a promising way to make a fundamentally different kind of computer memory chip. The device is a “memristor”, a long-hypothesised but only recently demonstrated electronic component. A memristor’s electronic properties make it suitable for both for computing and for far faster, denser memory. Researchers at the European Materials Research Society…
Creativity enhances life. It enables the great thinkers, artists, and leaders of our world to continually push forward new concepts, new forms of expression and new ways to improve every facet of our existence. The creative impulse is of particular importance to scientific research. Without it, the same obstacles, ailments, and solutions would occur repeatedly…
People with higher levels of education and higher income have lower rates of many chronic diseases compared to those with less education and lower income levels, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Highly educated people tend to have healthier behaviors, avoid unhealthy ones and have more access to care.
Earth’s ecosystems keep soaking up more carbon as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, new measurements find. The research contradicts several recent studies suggesting that “carbon sinks” have reached or passed their capacity. By looking at global measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the new work, presented at an annual conference on global monitoring, calculates instead…
The vast majority of the radioactive plutonium on the planet is man-made—roughly 500 metric tons, or enough to make 100,000 nuclear weapons by the calculations of the International Panel on Fissile Materials. Much of it is the legacy of the nuclear arms race between the U.S. and Russia in the latter decades of the 20th…
A paralyzed Massachusetts woman picked up a bottle of coffee and sipped from it by moving a robotic arm with her thoughts — the latest advance in the race to restore movement to people who have lost control of their muscles. The moment marked the first time in 15 years the 58-year-old, who had suffered…
A new study consisting of inducing cells to express telomerase, the enzyme which, metaphorically, slows down the biological clock, was successful. The research provides a “proof-of-principle” that this “feasible and safe” approach can effectively “improve health span.” A number of studies have shown that it is possible to lengthen the average life of individuals of…