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Middle-Aged Brains Are Already Past Their Prime

You may want to read this twice if you’re older than 45. In fact, you may have to. That’s because your mental abilities are already in decline, according to a study of 7,390 British civil servants just published in BMJ, the British Medical Journal. For men and women who were between 45 and 49 when [...]

Monkey Experiments Boost Hope For Human AIDS Vaccine

Researchers trudging down the long and twisted path toward an AIDS vaccine are encouraged by new studies that show an experimental vaccine protects monkeys against infection with a virus that is very similar to HIV. The vaccine protected 80 percent of monkeys from infection with SIV, the simian version of HIV. By comparison, an experimental [...]

Zoo Crafts Love Nest To Save Ozark’s Salamanders

It’s flat. It’s slimy. And it hides under rocks on the river bottom. It’s the Ozark hellbender, and at up to two feet in length, it’s one of the world’s largest salamanders. But Ozark hellbenders are disappearing: Fewer than 600 are left in the rivers of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. Scientists have been making [...]

Man-Made Quakes? Blame Fracking And Drilling

Small earthquakes in Ohio and Arkansas associated with hydraulic fracturing for gas have taken many people by surprise. Gas industry executives say there’s no hard evidence that their activities are causing these quakes. But some scientists say it’s certainly possible; in fact, people have been causing quakes for years. In the 1960s, geologists realized that [...]

Flying Robots Build A Tower Near Paris

Uh Oh. Construction workers please note: Somebody just built a 20-foot tower using flying robots. No people involved. The demo took place in a warehouse-like art gallery called FRAC, just outside Paris. As humans (none of them, I presume, in the construction trades) applauded and gaped, four helicopterish thingies swooped through the air, somehow avoiding [...]

Stephen Hawking: Exploring An ‘Unfettered Mind’

Make a list of the world’s most popular scientists and it’s likely Stephen Hawking’s name will be near or at the very top of the list. Hawking, the author of A Brief History of Time and a professor at the University of Cambridge, is known as much for his scientific contributions to theoretical cosmology and [...]

Rain Drives Cattle Prices Up

Rain is good for farmers, but is starting to impact cattle prices, if only for the time being.

Twins Data Reshaping Nature Versus Nurture Debate

Almost 150 years ago, English scientist Francis Galton coined the phrase “nature versus nurture” — and proposed that research on twins could resolve the debate. Genetics have long seemed to weigh heavily in favor of the role of nature in shaping the people we become. But even identical twins are different to varying degrees, and [...]

Double-Blind Violin Test: Can You Pick The Strad?

In the world of violins, the names Stradivari and Guarneri are sacred. For three centuries, violin-makers and scientists have studied the instruments made by these Italian craftsmen. So far no one has figured out what makes their sound different. But a new study now suggests maybe they aren’t so different after all. OK, here’s a [...]

Biotech Firms Caught In Regulatory No Man’s Land

Companies making genetically modified animals face a regulatory morass in this country. It’s not always clear which federal agency has responsibility for regulating a particular animal, and even when one agency does take the lead, the approval process can drag on for years. The companies say this uncertainty means their technologies may die without ever [...]