New Technology Is Keeping The Air We Breathe Under An Unprecedented Level Of Scrutiny
Measure twice, cut once, they say. Unless you are trying to save the planet. In that case, measure and cut constantly.
Doorstep Visits Change Attitudes On Gay Marriage
New research reveals a powerful way to change attitudes on marriage equality.
Japan Plans To Resume Whaling Next Year
After being ordered to stop hunting whales by the International Court of Justice in March, Japan has submitted plans to start hunting again for what they claim are scientific purposes in 2015.
Stress Reaction May Be In Your Dad’s DNA, Study Finds
A study published in Nature Communications journal found that mice who were purposefully stressed before reproducing had offspring that were more resilient.
Partisans Segregate Themselves In Separate News Universes, Study Finds
A Pew Research Center project has shown that conservatives and liberals revolve in their own separate media and news universes.
Study: IQ, Exposure To Violence Could Predict Which Kids Will Commit Murder
Scientists have found two factors that could help predict who is more likely to commit murder.
Is Autism Like A Magic Show That Won’t End
A new study explains that Autism is a disorder where there is an impairment in the ability to predict behavior and make order of the outside world.
In Virtual Mega-Drought, California Avoids Defeat
Researchers used computer modeling to forecast how California would change after seven decades of “unrelenting mega-drought”.
Study: California Drought Linked To Climate Change
A new study shows that the geophysical cause behind California’s long-term drought could be influenced by climate change.
Scientists Study Evolutionary Roots Of Lethal Combat Among Chimpanzees
What does this research say about human behavior?
Early Treatment May Decrease Autism Signs
By Geoffrey Mohan, Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES — How early can autism be detected in babies, and how soon can they be treated? A baby’s first birthday visit to the pediatrician usually includes a screening for the social deficits common with autism spectrum disorder. But doctors and scientists tend to agree that they can’t […]
Study: Dementia Patients Continue To Get Medications With Little To No Benefit
By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES — More than half of nursing home patients who suffer severe dementia and are likely to die within a year or two are administered medications that offer little to no benefit and may cause pointless discomfort, a new study finds. The latest research, published in JAMA Internal […]
Bras Cause Breast Cancer? Apparently Not, Study Says
By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times Uplifting news for the girls: Regularly wearing a brassiere does not increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer after menopause, a new study finds. Not found in the latest research: Compared with their bra-wearing sisters, aging women who avoid such structural support in hopes of reducing their breast […]
Welcome To Laniakea, Your Galactic Supercluster Home
By Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES — Home, supercluster home. Astronomers studying the skies have found that our galaxy, the Milky Way, is part of an enormous supercluster of galaxies that has been named Laniakea, which comes from the Hawaiian words for “immeasurable heaven.” Laniakea, described in the journal Nature, stretches roughly 500 […]
As Messenger Nears Crash Landing On Mercury, Scientists Racing To Collect Best Data Yet
By Scott Dance, The Baltimore Sun BALTIMORE — NASA’s Messenger spacecraft has swung around its namesake planet for three years, beaming observations of Mercury back to Earth, but next March it will smash into the cratered surface it has been studying from afar. The satellite’s oblong orbit around the solar system’s innermost planet brings it […]
What Can Fido Teach Us About Jealousy?
By Monte Morin, Los Angeles Times Jealousy is such a powerful emotion that at least one study has characterized it as the third leading cause of non-accidental homicide in all cultures. Is it possible that this universal green-eyed monster evolved as a survival mechanism? In a study published this week in the journal Plos One, […]
Facebook Policy Didn’t Mention ‘Research’ At Time Of Controversial Experiment
By Brandon Bailey, San Jose Mercury News Fueling more debate over a controversial experiment, Facebook acknowledged Tuesday that its official data-use policy didn’t specifically list “research” among the ways that members’ information might be used at the time it was conducting a study to see how some users’ emotions were affected by subtle manipulation of […]
Lab Mice Get Addicted To Sun Exposure
By Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES — Does basking in the sun make you feel relaxed and happy, like nothing can bother you? There may be a biological reason for that. Researchers found that mice who were regularly exposed to UV light had a higher pain tolerance than mice that were not exposed […]
Study: When Money’s Tight, Humans Define ‘People Like Me’ As More Deserving
By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times In the recession from which the United States is recovering, unemployment among blacks and Latinos has been deeper and more entrenched, incomes in black and Latino communities have fallen more sharply and recovery has been slower and far less complete. Labor economists cite a host of structural and institutional […]
Brain’s Limits Lead To Unconscious Choices In What We See And Remember
By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times The human brain is a marvel of power and flexibility, and a pair of new studies demonstrate that when it runs up against the limits of its capacity to take in and store information, the brain often relies on its agility to fill the gap. In the process, however, […]
Democrats Push To Restart CDC Funding For Gun Violence Research
by Lois Beckett, ProPublica. Two congressional Democrats are unveiling legislation this morning that would restart the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s gun violence research efforts. Since 1996, when a small CDC-funded study on the risks of owning a firearm ignited opposition from Republicans, the CDC’s budget for research on firearms injuries has shrunk to […]
High-Tech Medical Research For Severely Wounded Warriors
By Martha Quillin, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — North Carolina researchers are trying to make sure the U.S. military isn’t fighting the war of the future while treating its wounded with medicine from the past. Their work eventually could speed the growth of new skin over traumatic burns, replace lost arms […]