Blog
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November 15, 2015
How Science Can Reduce Violence
This week we’ve seen another spate of terrorist attacks on everyday people, starting in Beirut and ending in Paris. World leaders are reacting to the incidents with emotion, and talk is of fighting back, bombing, declaring war. However, before we set off on a path of mutual assured destruction, could science contribute to our efforts … Read more
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November 2, 2015
Why Translation and Editing Software is Bad for Your Reputation
You got that modest grant to carry out your research. You ran your study as frugally as possible and ate ramen noodles five nights a week. Now you’re tempted to run your data and text through inexpensive translation and grammar software before submitting for publication. Think again. Translation software is not savvy. Humans are. Even though … Read more
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October 18, 2015
Is This the Future of Research Funding?
The never ending quest to obtain funding for scientific research just got more difficult for a lot of scientists. The U.S. National Institutes of Health is taking steps to radically change the way it funds cardiology studies, making the move to allocate money to fewer studies with a deeper reach. The agency is confronting the … Read more
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October 4, 2015
The Hidden World of Sand
Even if you lay your cheek upon the surface of a sun-baked beach, you’re unlikely to see clearly the kaleidoscopic world beneath you. Gary Greenburg, a research affiliate at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, created a 3D high-definition light microscope in the 1990s, and he’s been capturing fascinating sand close-ups since then. He’s put out … Read more
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September 29, 2015
Might we be Martians?
Watch out Mars, here we come. Maybe. Someday. NASA used to play down the notion that the arid, desolate landscape of Mars could ever possibly be home to future life. However, the recent announcement confirming the flow of liquid water on Mars is causing its planetary science division to reconsider. In a recent paper published … Read more
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September 27, 2015
Get ready for the Super Blood Moon eclipse
Want to see all the sunrises and sunsets in the world at one time reflected off the surface of the full moon? That’s what we observe during a total lunar eclipse. Combine this with the moon passing closest to the earth during its monthly orbit, known as a supermoon, and you’re in for a rare astronomical treat. If … Read more
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September 21, 2015
New class of drugs to target cancer’s metabolism
In research published in Cancer Cell, Thomas Burris, Ph.D., chair of pharmacology and physiology at Saint Louis University, has, for the first time, found a way to stop cancer cell growth by targeting the Warburg Effect, a trait of cancer cell metabolism that scientists have been eager to exploit. The Warburg effect is a cancer … Read more
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September 20, 2015
Image of the Week : Arctic Eclipse
Called “one of the astronomical highlights of the year,” this photo of the moon’s total eclipse of the sun in March earned the French photographer Luc Jamet the title of astrological photographer of the year, presented at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. To see all the compelling and luminous images which won distinction in this year’s competition, follow this link. At Oxford … Read more
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September 6, 2015
Image of the Week: Wearable analytics
Google’s Life Sciences division announced that diabetes would be the first major disease target in their bid to bring new technology to the management of an increasingly common condition. With Google being a powerhouse for analytics, the company appears to be using their know-how to develop smarter ways to quantify disease progression. One of their developing … Read more