Weather extremes have been a lot in the news recently prompted by the Hurricanes Harvey and Irma wreaking destruction in the Caribbean. Some commentators say this is what to expect with man-made climate change, and that hurricanes are an example of extremes that are occurring right now along with heat waves and intense rainfall.
A harmful virus that can cause devastating brain damage in babies could offer up a surprising new treatment for adult brain cancer, according to US scientists.
Environmentalism has gone too far; renewable energy is a disaster; scares about pesticides and chemicals are horribly overdone; no, the planet is not going to end any time soon; and, by the way, the answer is nuclear…
Climate researchers excluded crucial pieces of data while conducting a study that would eventually show ExxonMobil allegedly denied or sowed doubt about the science behind global warming.
Loss of muscle is an inevitable consequence of aging that can lead to frailty, falls or mobility problems. Eating enough protein is one way to remedy it, but it would seem that spreading protein equally among the three daily meals could be linked to greater mass and muscle strength in the elderly.
In a study analyzing the genomes of 210,000 people in the United States and Britain, researchers at Columbia University find that the genetic variants linked to Alzheimer’s disease and heavy smoking are less frequent in people with longer lifespans, suggesting that natural selection is weeding out these unfavorable variants in both populations.
The driverless trucks are coming. This is not the premise to an upcoming sci-fi thriller, although the front pages of the UK’s papers have recently led some to believe that this is the start of something very sinister.
‘Invoking aliens as a potential solution to an ongoing mystery is lazy,’ complains science writer. Mysterious signals detected in a distant galaxy by astronomers working for Stephen Hawking’s project to find alien life have sparked a debate over whether they could be from UFOs.
Animals are often used by scientists and psychologists to illustrate or prove theoretical ideas. Naomi Alderman has been looking at the story of Pavlov’s dogs in Science Stories.
Image copyright: RTA/VOLOCOPTERImage caption: Dubai says it will begin a five-year test period of the Volocopter later in 2017
Tech companies are competing to develop the first viable passenger-carrying sky taxis, whether manned or pilotless, but how soon could these clever copters really be whizzing over our cities? And would you trust one?