Other Science News

Did they die from an asteroid or climate? Fill it up or charge it, please The untimely and unwarranted death of bees Woke science
Today, there is simply too much known in far too many diverse fields for any person to hold it all in their brain. This means that, no matter how smart one might be, there are times when we have to push the “I believe” button and simply accept the statements of others. The problem is that these others are too often wrong, the topic is too often very important, and the statements made are too wildly disparate. We feel we must choose, yet we don’t know how.
Let’s play Unintended consequences Reassessing the Luddites Aging and Martin Scorsese Lie, mistruth, or editing?
Spy vs. Spy The real Uncle Tom Education File this under unintended consequences of regulations
I was always an early riser, but having to be at the hospital by 5 or so AM refined that predisposition. A new study of sleep shows that when we go to bed, how long it takes to fall asleep, and countless other measures of our biological need to sleep are part genetic and part cultural.
The honest answer to our shortage of primary care physicians Musical scoring of Indiana Jones Are our perceptions top-down or bottom-up? Rules for Readers
As an inveterate number cruncher, I couldn’t resist playing with a set of state-level data on prison populations that came my way. It has often been noted that the U.S. has among the highest rates of incarceration in the world. However, most of us feel that we enjoy a basically fair, just, and healthy society even though we are far from leading the world regarding life expectancies.
Peer-reviewed research is the gold standard for science. We rely on that system to weed out the discoveries from the detritus. However, growing concerns over how the peer-review system operates are forcing the academic community to take a long, hard look at the process and ask, “How can we improve this?”
How do we spend our time? Not individually, but globally? Channeling Frederick Taylor, the “father” of time management, a group of researchers sought to answer how the eight billion members of our species spend a mythical 24-hour day. It may not have quantitative meaning, but the qualitative findings should give us pause to reflect.
Why do we get sick? Why are factory farms exempt? Why does adoption seem more difficult than IVF? Are shoppers more angry?
As a vascular surgeon, the underlying physics explaining the biological system we care for, our arteries and veins, is well understood. But in many instances, the systems we built to carry fluids in the real world have been based more on “the laws of physics” than the “lessons of biology.”
I still remember the thrill I felt when I made my first scientific discovery – feeling that the late nights and hard work had all been worth it. I remember, too, the feeling that, at that moment, I knew something that nobody else – anywhere – knew or had ever known. It was a heady feeling. And then I wanted to tell everyone!