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Feed SubscriptionSchizophrenia ‘in a Dish’
By Ewen Callaway of Nature magazine Before committing suicide at the age of 22, an anonymous man with schizophrenia donated a biopsy of his skin cells to research. [More]
Read More »U.S. on track to meet 1 million plug-in autos goal
DETROIT (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's goal of having 1 million plug-in vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015 is on its way to being met, a Department of Energy official said on Wednesday. "It's looking good," said Assistant Energy Secretary David Sandalow when asked by reporters on the chances of meeting the goal set by Obama.
Read More »Smart Grid Works for Utilities But Not Yet for Consumers
When a frigid cold wave knocked out 50 power plants in Texas during February's Super Bowl week, utilities had to impose rolling blackouts across entire communities with a "blunt ax," said Robert Shapard, CEO of Dallas-based Oncor, the state's largest transmission company.
Read More »Corporate Whitewash?: Why Do Cleaning Product-Makers Keep Most of Their Ingredients Secret?
Dear EarthTalk : Why don’t cleaning products have to list their ingredients? Are these products tested for what they might do to your health? --Patricia Greenville, Bethel, Conn.
Read More »Regeneration: The axolotl story
Last week, the science community was set a-buzz with a new study that showcased the unique relationship between salamanders and algae.
Read More »Too Much Information? Noninvasive Genetic Tests for the Unborn
Today expectant parents concerned about the diseases that could afflict their unborn children don’t have a lot of options. Blood tests can determine whether parents carry mutations for such genetic diseases as cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs, but they can’t determine whether the baby will inherit them
Read More »How "Inadmissible" Brain Scans Can Still Influence the Courts
The world of law as practiced in the real world is far removed from that usually discussed by law professors and philosophers or shown on television and in movies. In idealized or fictional cases the law always operates formally and may seem to pursue some abstract quest for justice. In the everyday practice of law, however, things work differently--it is all about cobbling together the most compelling and convincing story possible either for or against a defendant
Read More »Neuroscience in the Courtroom (preview)
By a strange coincidence, I was called to jury duty for my very first time shortly after I started as director of a new MacArthur Foundation project exploring the issues that neuro
Read More »China may freeze nuclear approvals until 2012
BEIJING, April 13 (Reuters) - China's suspension of nuclearproject approvals, put in place in the wake of Japan's nuclear [More]
Read More »China may freeze nuclear approvals until 2012
BEIJING, April 13 (Reuters) - China's suspension of nuclearproject approvals, put in place in the wake of Japan's nuclear [More]
Read More »Coast Benefits: NASA Announces Retirement Homes for Space Shuttles
The launching and landing of space shuttles has always been a fairly coastal affair: The shuttles take off from Florida and almost always touch down in Florida or California. (Once, in 1982, a shuttle landed at New Mexico's White Sands Space Harbor.) NASA is continuing that coastal tradition with the placement of its retired and retiring shuttles , whose final homes were announced April 12. The three shuttles will be displayed in Florida, Los Angeles and Virginia, and a test-flight shuttle that never reached orbit will go to New York City.
Read More »Octopuses and squid are damaged by noise pollution
Not only can squids and octopuses sense sound, but as it turns out, these and other so-called cephalopods might be harmed by growing noise pollution in our oceans--from sources such as offshore drilling, ship motors, sonar use and pile driving. [More]
Read More »Is Fukushima really as bad as Chernobyl?
One month to the day after the devastating twin blows of a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent 15-meter tall tsunami, Japanese officials have reclassified the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant at the highest possible level. The partial meltdown of three reactors and at least two spent fuel pools, along with multiple hydrogen explosions at the site now rate a 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale--a level previously affixed only to the meltdown and explosion at Chernobyl
Read More »Radiation Release Will Hit Marine Life
By Quirin Schiermeier of Nature magazine As radioisotopes pour into the sea from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, one reassuring message has been heard over and over again: the Pacific Ocean is a big place. That the isotopes will be vastly diluted is not in question
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