Research on the bird flu H5N1 and its possible person-to-person transmission will resume. But what about those dead ferrets? Saturn and its moons via upgoerfive. Blog posts from ScienceOnline2013 have begun to trickle in. And yes, there will be #SciO13 video. Eventually.
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Hey, kids! Let's clone a Neanderthal! Why? Human genetic diversity! Alien communication! Effects of agriculture on human evolution! Because we can (maybe)! Or, none of the above. Get real, it's an absurd notion. Also, coming next week: ScienceOnline 2013! aka #scio13 UPDATED!
What's new with the flu? Well, it's an average flu season. Or maybe it's a bad flu season. We'll see. The flu therapy Tamiflu is lacking effectiveness data, and the current vaccines aren't great either. But there's hope for new vaccines effective against many flu viruses — and maybe other respiratory viruses. Not soon, though. Also: Ice recession research in Alaska. Why 'Net content goes viral. In memoriam Carl Woese, who deserved a Nobel but now won't get one.
So it wasn't the end of the world after all. Up next: Comet ISON. We'll see. The many medical developments of 2012. Contraception and Obamacare. Cardiology news. Teleportation and quantum computing on the way. Right after Comet ISON. Lead, the criminal element. So get the lead out. Blogging advice for the new year. Do we need a new policy on blogging comments?
TWENTYSOMETHING: WHY DO YOUNG ADULTS SEEM STUCK?
Robin Marantz Henig (NASW member) and Samantha Henig
Hudson Street Press, November 2012, $25.95
A fiftysomething mother (Robin) and her twentysomething daughter (Samantha) explore challenges of early adulthood for the Baby Boomers’ and the Millennials, telling what has changed and what remains the same.
The Mayan Apocalypse will take place next Friday, December 21. Or not. Science is making earnest — but probably doomed — attempts to refute the Doomsday scenario. Meanwhile, despite the swift approach of the End of the World, National Geographic has recruited blogging stars Zimmer, Yong, Switek, and Hughes to form its own new blog network. Discover fights back with Keith Kloor. Holiday hiatus here, but will return in the New Year, apocalypse or no.
Organic compounds on Mars! But Curiosity's carbon find might have come from Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, NASA announces another Mars rover for 2020. The National Academy of Sciences says NASA is lost in space and it's all Obama's fault. Meanwhile, in inner space, the backlash against brain porn goes mainstream.
A NASA scientist calls new Martian data "one for the history books." So does that mean Life on Mars? Heavens no, says NASA. It was all just a misunderstanding. Tune in Monday to find out. Meanwhile, Elon Musk wants to send millions of people to Mars. How? Perhaps reusable rockets. Have they found the gene that makes us human? Oh, c'mon. You know perfectly well that no single gene makes us human.
Spyfall: Finding a way to bring science to the David Petraeus-Paula Broadwell-Jill Kelley-John Allen-Frederick Humphries II-CIA-FBI-Pentagon-Gmail scandal. Lessons for digital privacy: There isn't any. If only Petraeus had known about oxytocin and the evolutionary trend toward monogamy. An oxytocin variant in C. elegans. A vegetative patient speaks, in a manner of speaking. The people speak too, and vote for legal marijuana. The result: more research and more work for science writers.