Medical use of marijuana is fully legal in 28 states, with another 17 states allowing limited use in specified cases. But policy has outpaced research and investigation into cannabis’s effects on the brain — both positive and negative.
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“Urban walking is simply the best way to get to know a place and to develop deeper connections to its story,” David Williams insists. In Seattle Walks, he provides 18 maps and 50 color illustrations for walks in his home town that take readers to such sites as a downtown building with dozens of carved faces, an unexpected Civil War cemetery, Seattle’s most infamous lost ship, and one of the city’s earliest houses of ill-repute. Seattle visitors and armchair travelers will enjoy tagging along.
NASW joins 80+ organizations in signing a statement on #pressfreedom prepared by the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC). Read the statement here.
Supported by President Barack Obama’s BRAIN Initiative, three female neuroscientists have made significant advances in studying the brain in active subjects.
While scientists have not yet made changes to human reproductive cells that can be passed down through generations, the most recent breakthrough in gene editing technology — CRISPR-Cas9 — has brought us to the brink of this possibility.
Research by cognitive psychologist Henry Roediger and his colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis suggests testing one’s memory is an important part of studying.
“Is genetic knowledge empowering or fear-inducing, or both? Will it heighten the anxieties of already hyper-anxious helicopter moms and dads, always waiting for the genetic shoe to drop? … Will it stress parents out or make them savvier?” — Bonnie Rochman poses these questions in The Gene Machine, as she explores not only present and potential advantages of genetic screening of fetuses and children, but also its drawbacks.
NASW's newly formed Governance Committee is looking for volunteers. The committee will work to ensure that the organization is effective, efficient, and performs to standards of due diligence. It will review the constitution and bylaws on a regular basis and recommend best practices.
Scientists and professionals at research institutions eager to inform the public about their work need to go where the readers or, increasingly, the viewers are. Instead of driving traffic to their websites, a panel of public information officers, editors, and journalists recommend creating science content specifically for use on Snapchat, Facebook Live, Twitter, Tumblr, and other social media outlets.