From the editors at SciAm: Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, died on July 23 of pancreatic cancer. She was 61. Outside her trail-blazing career as an astronaut, Ride was also a major champion of STEM education. In 2010, she helped found an initiative called Change the Equation [a CEO-driven initiative to increase…
A race to unlock genetic clues behind living to 100 is set to begin next year, after a US team announced it will compete for the $10 million Genomics X Prize. Genetic entrepreneur Jonathan Rothberg is entering the challenge to identify genes linked to a long, healthy life. His team – and any other contenders…
Three simple numbers that add up to global catastrophe – and that make clear who the real enemy is
A mammoth effort has produced a complete computational model of the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium, opening the door for biological computer-aided design.
An international team of researchers has provided the first molecular evidence that Neanderthals not only ate a range of cooked plant foods, but also understood its nutritional and medicinal qualities. Until recently Neanderthals, who disappeared between 30,000 and 24,000 years ago, were thought to be predominantly meat-eaters. However, evidence of dietary breadth is growing as…
If we fail to understand and take care of the natural world, it can come back to haunt us in ways we know little about. A critical example is a developing model of infectious disease that shows that most epidemics — AIDS, Ebola, West Nile, SARS, Lyme disease and hundreds more that have occurred over…
Almost 30 million people live with Alzheimer’s disease worldwide, a staggering health-care burden that is expected to quadruple by 2050. Yet doctors can offer no effective treatment, and scientists have not been able definitively to pin down the underlying mechanism of the disease. Recently published research offers some hope on both counts, by showing that…
Diseases that can be transmitted between animals and humans, such as bird flu and tuberculosis, can wreak havoc on the health of both organisms. Now researchers have found 13 so-called zoonoses are responsible for 2.2 million human deaths every year. The study, detailed in the report “Mapping of Poverty and Likely Zoonoses Hotspots,” shows the…
As nonconventional medical treatments become increasingly mainstream, we take a look at the science behind some of the most popular.
Health apps are hot, but until now the field has been unregulated. It is hard to know which apps actually live up to their claims or provide accurate information. Now, the FDA is laying down the law, releasing a first draft of guidelines that require developers making medical claims to apply for FDA approval. But app developers are bristling.