Why 700,000 year-old horse DNA is a very big deal. Captive research chimpanzees are an endangered species. NIH is setting its research chimps free. Mostly. "Endangered" designation could affect hundreds of chimps in private research too. Rise of the blog networks. Parsing Obama's new actions on climate change. Are the debates about climate science over?
Member articles
Felicia the ferret, a heartwarming tale of particle physics in the last century. How to find fossils. How do seals breathe under sea ice? The US Supreme Court on Big Pharma's reverse protection racket, on prostitution in Congress, and more on the Myriad BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene patenting decision. What do you get when you smash galaxies together? Flights of fancy in the public relations department. Summer solstice!
The Supreme Court declares — unanimously — that the Myriad Genetics patent on BRCA genes is not valid. The decision is being interpreted to mean no "natural" genes can be patented, but that patenting cDNA is a possibility. Patent lawyers are hopeful. Is the Court's genetic ignorance patently obvious? Justice Scalia expresses a second opinion that reveals he's a genetic ignoramus — or maybe a very clever wordsmith. The disgraced and disgraceful Jonah Lehrer has bounced back with a new book.
The contraception debate gets legally weirder. Judges and the FDA don't agree on how the morning-after pill should be sold. The two-pill version is really one-step too. The health care system is a dumping ground for all our sexual anxieties. Michael Douglas, the poster child for HPV vaccination. An etymological aside on Latinate dirty words. A NASA video assures young gays that things will get better.
This month’s books explore the secret world of red wolves; the work of an influential and colorful, yet little known, 20th century physicist, George Gamow; astronomy science and the delights of amateur astronomy; and the natural world via sonnets written by a nature writer.
The FDA insists that docs who want to try fecal transplants on their desperate patients must jump through new regulatory hoops. Outrage follows. Also ambivalence. Will the new regs lead to more do-it-yourself fecal transplants? Also: Clashing interpretations of new work on Alzheimer's, the origin of birds, and human cloning. A new Theory of Everything. Learn the periodic table in 3 minutes.
The Angelina Jolie Story, writ large. Her surgeon's notes. The BRCA1 gene and breast cancer. Carl Zimmer presents an evolutionary weirdness about the mutant BRCA1 gene. Pros and cons of bilateral mastectomy. Costs of genetic testing and breast cancer surgery. Obamacare will pay, but will it pay all? More on gene patenting and the Myriad Genetics story. Finally: it appears that breast implants increase breast cancer deaths.
Will sucking a baby's pacifier reduce the risk of eczema and allergies? Is vaginal delivery better than C-section? The evidence, such as it is. Winter is Coming, and so is Obamacare. The organizational challenges are immense, and opposition hasn't gone away either. Plus the fate of DSM5, Wehrner von Braun, Ed Yong on science blogging, the media and the anti-vaccine movement, and a shoutout to the Knight Science Journalism Trackers.
How dangerous is the new bird flu virus H7N9? Who knows? Does WHO know? New cases of the SARS-like coronavirus too. But Saudi Arabia has been laggard with disclosures about the new coronavirus. It is being compared unfavorably to China, which seems to be open about H7N9. Meanwhile, how bad was the US winter flu season? Pretty bad. Moving on to Fun with DNA. It's sinister how often DNA isn't right. Plus how to make a DNA model out of licorice and jelly babies.