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In a matter of hours, lucky observers with clear skies will be able to watch Venus pass in front of the Sun. Transits of Venus are rare – this is the last one until 2117 – but that’s not the only reason you should find a way to watch it...
A pair of security researchers in the U.K. have released a paper [PDF] documenting what they describe as the “first real world detection of a backdoor” in a microchip—an opening that could allow a malicious actor to monitor or change the information on the chip...
I love optical illusions. They make me feel clever if I can figure them out and even when I have to peek at the answer, it’s still fun to find out how my brain was tricked.
The pharmaceutical industry rightly calls the stage in drug development between basic research and clinical trials the “Valley of Death.” This is when a potential treatment that’s worked in mice, monkeys, and the like catapults to a phase 1 clinical trial to assess safety...
Science in crisisScientists - and science generally - are in a moment of crisis on multiple fronts. The gap between science and society has grown to a chasm, with disastrous consequences for issue after issue...
The international renown of Johns Hopkins Medical School isn't always a good thing. Its proximity to Washington, DC is another problem. Together, they produce a stream of foreign doctors intent on seeing Washington and then Hopkins, an hour away in Baltimore...
“Energy policy” and “clean energy” may be political hot buttons this year, but the technological realities and challenges to achieving energy and environmental goals are seldom discussed...
Sequencing of the exome – the protein-encoding parts of all the genes – is beginning to dominate the genetics journals as well as headlines, thanks to its ability to diagnose the formerly undiagnosable.The 2011 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting honored the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel’s coverage of a 4-year-old whose intestinal disorder was finally diagnosed after sequencing his exome...
Over the past few months, we have been flooded with emails from distressed parents asking whether their deaf child will be able to hear one day.With each new email comes a poignant story about a child whose world is silent...
Ever notice that we’ve got a thing for round numbers? We like our data neat and tidy.The world of ocean pollution and litter prevention is filled with nice round numbers.
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