Blog

Is Global Warming Over?
In the typical story of climate change, greenhouse gases – predominantly from emissions associated with burning fossil fuels – are released into the atmosphere and warm the earth. As we continue to emit more greenhouse gases, Earth’s average surface…

Earth’s Climate: Stable up to a (Tipping) Point
On the scale of a human lifetime the Earth’s climate appears to be relatively stable and predictable: we plant in the spring, we harvest in the fall, and if we are fortunate, we might vacation in the winter someplace warm.  We understand that Earth’s…

Beyond the Ivory Tower: How Scientists Talk About Climate Change
Scientific conclusions about climate change have moved beyond the realm of pure science and begun to percolate into social policy and political decisions. As a result, many non-scientists are interested in the latest news about climate change, from…

Help from the Hydra: Can Cancer Ever Be Truly Eliminated?
Cancer research laboratories have historically studied tumors in vertebrate models, such as monkeys and mice, and in a few invertebrate species, like fruit flies. Only recently have scientists chosen to pursue cancer from a completely new perspective.…

Earth-sized and in its habitable zone
A recent story that's stillplanet scape - space art making waves is the detection of Kepler 186f, a planet the size of Earth and in the so called "habitable zone" of its host star. It would seem K186f is then very much like Earth but that's not exactly…

Genetically modified yeast and Science Fiction
About two months ago we published a short report on a new study that pioneered creating an entire chromosome of yeast; an organism with similar cellular organization as humans. Just a week ago, a discussion flared up on Reddit about the consequences for…

Gene Editing Technique Allows for HIV Resistance?
While previous gene therapies often made unpredictable changes in the cell’s genetic structure, these researchers showed an efficient method of disrupting a specific gene without making any other changes in DNA, removing unacceptable side-effects.