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Parasites Raise Unsettling Questions About Human Free Will
When people think of zombies, it’s usually in a fictional context or in connection with Halloween. But science writer Matt Simon, whose spent an awful lot of time studying parasites, says that the...
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Whack! Jab! Crack! It’s a Blackback Land Crab Smackdown
Last month, as much of Colorado was enduring a snowstorm, hundreds of crabs in Fort Collins were enjoying more pleasant conditions: 75-degree heat with 80 percent humidity. In the “Crab Lab” at...
View ArticleRapid DNA Analysis Used to Help ID Camp Fire Victims
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities are using a powerful tool in their effort to identify the scores of people killed by the wildfire that ripped through Northern California: rapid DNA testing that...
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DACA Recipient Makes History With Rhodes Scholarship Award
This year’s list of Rhodes Scholars is remarkable for many reasons. Almost two-thirds of the recipients are women and nearly half are first-generation Americans or immigrants. But one scholarship...
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Science Summit Denounces Gene-Edited Babies Claim, But Not Future Research
A Chinese scientist’s claims that he created the world’s first gene-edited babies is a “deeply disturbing” and “irresponsible” violation of international scientific norms, according to a formal...
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One Twin’s Difficult Birth Puts Project Designed to Reduce C-Sections to the...
The tiny hand and forearm slipped out too early. Babies are not delivered shoulder first. Dr. Terri Marino, an obstetrician in the Boston area who specializes in high-risk deliveries, tucked it back...
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WATCH: How Germs Become Unwelcome Companions During Air Travel
When Emirates Flight EK203 landed at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport last September, it did not proceed to its scheduled gate. Arriving with a number of sick passengers, the plane was instead...
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Under Earth’s Surface, a Wild Menagerie of Strange Organisms
There’s life on Earth, and there’s life in Earth. And the latter, overlooked for so long, is coming into focus as a wild menagerie of strange, diverse organisms. We’ve known for some time that life can...
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Bee Vaccine Targets Queen to Help Fight Off Deadly Disease
Bees may soon get an ally in their fight against bacterial disease — one of the most serious threats the pollinators face — in the form of an edible vaccine. That’s the promise held out by researchers...
View ArticleSo, It’s New Year’s Eve … Can You Prevent That Hangover?
Adam Rogers is a deputy editor for Wired magazine and the author of “Proof: The Science of Booze.” He recently sat down with KQED’s Danielle Venton to talk about the science of hangovers. And yes, they...
View ArticleNew Software Can Spot Genetic Mutations Using Photos
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ome people’s faces — or even just a photo of them — hint at the genes they carry. And now, an algorithm can predict not only whether they carry a genetic mutation, but which genes...
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For Peanut Allergy Sufferers, A Look at the Latest Treatment Research
Whenever I see a report touting possible new peanut allergy treatments, I devour it. I can’t help it. It’s an occupational hazard for any health journalist whose reporting specialty and medical history...
View ArticleCancer Death Rate in the U.S. Has Been Falling for Last 25 Years
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. cancer death rate has hit a milestone: It’s been falling for at least 25 years, according to a new report. Lower smoking rates are translating into fewer deaths. Advances in...
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Turret Spiders Launch Sneak Attacks From Tiny Towers
Most Bay Area hikers pass right by without ever noticing, but a careful eye can spot tiny towers rising up from the forest floor. These mysterious little tubes, barely an inch high, are the homes of a...
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Jerusalem Crickets Only Date Drummers
Potato Bug. Child of the Earth. Old Bald-Headed Man. Skull Insects. Devil’s Baby. Spawn of Satan. There’s a fairly long list of imaginative nicknames that refer to Jerusalem crickets, those six-legged...
View ArticleResearchers Find a Web of Factors Behind MS
As the story goes, nearly 80 years ago on the Faroe Islands — a stark North Atlantic archipelago 200 miles off the coast of Scotland — a neurologic epidemic may have washed, or rather convoyed, ashore....
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Making Sense of the CRISPR Patent Dispute Between the University of...
Anyone fond of intricate intellectual property disputes (and really, who isn’t?) is going to have their cup runnething over when it comes to the long-running battle between the University of California...
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How Your Dog’s Nose Knows So Much
On a sunny day near Martinez, California, a friendly-looking German shepherd named Zinka rushes down the crisscrossing trails of Briones Regional Park wearing a vest covered in sensors, batteries and...
View ArticleGrandmothers May Be Key to Understanding Human Longevity
Killer whales, Japanese aphids and Homo sapiens — they’re among the few organisms whose females live on long past the age of reproduction. Since the name of the evolutionary game is survival and...
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Tonight’s the Night 2 a.m. Disappears. Tomorrow’s the Day You Feel Like Crud....
In the early morning hours of Sunday, March 10, clocks will spring forward, as the popular reminder goes, from 1:59 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. There will be no 2 a.m. It will be as if it has evaporated. This...
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